“A slot-back mid-mallet, also offered in an armlock length, blending blade look with mallet stability. Slight toe hang works for a very mild arc or a straighter stroke.”
The SS28 is Bettinardi's crossover answer to golfers who want a blade's look with more forgiveness: Robert Bettinardi finely milled a slot into the rear flange of a wider blade body to frame the ball at address and add perimeter mass without ballooning into a full mallet. Developed with input from Bettinardi's PGA Tour staff, it's milled from 303 stainless in a Diamond Blast satin finish at 358 grams with roughly 1/4 toe hang -- near face-balanced but not fully square, suiting a stroke with a slight arc. Bettinardi later spun the same 28 body into a Center-Shaft (CTR) version and an Armlock version, making the SS28 shape one of the more versatile single-head platforms in the modern Studio Stock catalog.
Independent reviewers (Independent Golf Reviews, Golfmagic) single out the SS28 as a standout in the Studio Stock refresh for genuinely bridging blade feel and mallet stability, and Bettinardi has kept spinning off variants (CTR, Armlock) from the same body across multiple product years -- real, sustained demand -- but it hasn't crossed into tour-win legend or broad forum mythology the way a true cult classic would.
Better players and low-to-mid handicaps who like a blade's compact address look but want more stability on off-center hits and easier alignment from the milled slot -- a natural step up for someone outgrowing a pure blade without wanting a full Spider-style mallet.
Launched in Bettinardi's January 2019 Studio Stock/Queen B refresh, the SS28 shape competed with slot-back and mid-mallet designs like TaylorMade's Spider and Odyssey's Toulon-adjacent shapes of the same period; its Roll Control asymmetrical face groove pattern (shared across the 2019 Studio Stock line) was Bettinardi's answer to face-insert putters from competitors chasing a softer feel without milling depth.
The 358g head with a wider body and a milled slot in the rear flange delivers extra MOI over a traditional blade, and reviewers note it performs well from mid-to-long range for lag putting; the roughly 1/4 toe hang keeps it playable for a slight-arc stroke rather than truly face-balanced. It sits ahead of Bettinardi's blades but behind the brand's dedicated high-MOI mallets (Studio Stock 38, Jumbo), which is the correct middle placement for a slot-back mid-mallet.
Calibrated across the whole catalog — a tour blade scores low here on purpose; it means control, not ease.
Clean SS28 heads with headcover typically bring $200-300 in 2026 against a roughly $400 launch MSRP; the CTR and Armlock variants can command a slight premium from buyers specifically hunting a center-shaft or armlock stroke fit, while the standard toe-hang SS28 is the more commonly available (and therefore slightly cheaper) version on the secondary market.
Reading is one thing — hitting is another. Book a bay and see the numbers for yourself before you buy anywhere.
