The Fresh PXG Putter Marco Penge Is Using at The Genesis Invitational

It was only a couple of weeks ago that PXG announced some new additions to its stable of PGA TOUR players, including Aldrich Potgieter and Marco Penge. Of the two men, it was Marco who came second to Rory McIlroy in the 2025 Race to Dubai and won three times on the DP World Tour to earn his PGA TOUR card for this season.

With so many changes to his golfing life on the horizon this season, his full gear swap to PXG from Mizuno was a bit of a surprise, and came with a fair bit of armchair quarterbacking from a number of sources. But this week at Riviera and the Genesis Invitational, Marco is demonstrating why he was the second-best player on the DP World Tour in 2025 and is currently tied for the lead halfway through the event.

Marco Is Playing To His Strengths

Now, if you're playing catch-up on Marco, let me get you up to speed quickly - this dude is LONG, like top-end flat-out speed LONG. He cruises in the 180s for ball speed and gets into the 190s without much of an issue. The example below demonstrates just what he can do off the tee, and this wasn't even his fastest drive of the day.

This week at Riviera, he's not only number-1 in strokes gained off the tee, but he's also number-2 in strokes gained putting, which is a nice combination to have firing on all cylinders. One of the reason for this putting improvement is a swap to PXG's most recent low-torque offering the Hot Rod ZT, this is a big departure from his previous putter.

At the heart of this design (like with many zero-torque putters) is the shaft's position just slightly above the center of gravity towards the toe. This encourages the putter to stay square to the arch of the stroke to help eliminate variables in face angle to get more putts online, more often.

(PXG Hot Rod from Address)

This putter also feature is a built-in 3-degrees of forward press to help golfers get into the ideal impact position at address. This 3° of slant works in conjunction with the putter's 6° of loft so the putter plays like a traditional 3° once the hands are in the correct position.

Additional Hot Rod Tech Features

What also separates the Hot Rod ZT from other putters in PXG's zero-torque line is its construction. Rather than relying on their hollow S-Core technology to generate feel and forgiveness, the Hot Rod is fully machined from 6061 Aluminium and built with interchangeable tungsten weights to balance the putter. These weights also allow the putter to weigh anywhere from 340-410 grams.

As for the face, it utilizes PXG's aggressive milled pyramid pattern to promote forward roll, along with a crisp impact sound for more precise distance control.

It just goes to show that sometimes, all you need is something a little different to look at on the greens to turn your putting around. In the case of Marco, that look also happens to be a big change in putter stroke fit, and if it keeps working the way that it has so far, we could be looking at an even bigger prize come Sunday.