Two-time major champion Minjee Lee will debut a broomstick putter when she makes her first appearance for 2025 at this week’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Florida.

The idea was first floated in October last year, Lee and coach Ritchie Smith spending the summer in Perth trialling an Odyssey Square to Square No.7 broomstick putter.

Given how comfortable she was in using it almost instantly – including winning putting comps against younger brother Min Woo Lee during the Webex Players Series Perth tournament they hosted three weeks ago – it is a move they are now ready to put into tournament play.

Acknowledging that Lee’s putting from inside four feet had become something of an Achilles heel the past two years, Smith said that a desire for more consistency is behind the switch.

“It’s important to note that Minjee is one of the best putters on tour over 10 feet but she’s probably one of the weakest inside four feet, and it just wasn’t getting any better,” Smith conceded.

“She would have long periods where it was really good, and then she would have a round or two where she’d miss five or six in a row, and it would knock her confidence around.

“What we’re looking for is a more consistent result rather than highs and lows. And I think that we’re going to get it with this putter.”

For a player regarded as one of the best iron players in world golf, poor putting at times as prevented Lee from accumulating more than 10 LPGA Tour wins to date. It was the back nine of the 2024 Women’s US Open that solidified Smith’s belief that it was time for a change.

Leading by two strokes heading into the back nine of the final round, the 2022 champion three-putted for bogey at the par-4 10th, including a nervy miss from inside four feet.

It was the catalyst for a back nine of 6-over 41 to ultimately finish seven strokes back of Japan’s Yuka Saso and in a share of ninth.

There were misses from close range during the ISPS HANDA Australian Open at Kingston Heath last November, but Smith is excited by how the 28-year-old has embraced the change.

“We needed time to actually apply a bit of training to it and actually educate ourselves on it because a broomstick’s a different beast, and we’d never even considered using it,” Smith added.

“The pre-season has been unbelievable. She’s swinging it great. She’s happy, she’s fit, she’s motivated.

“In the last half of last year, she wasn’t very happy with her golf. She certainly wasn’t happy after what happened at the US Open.

“Because of the nature of the grip and the nature of its operation, there’s a lot more stability in the face, a lot more stability in the way that it’s stroked.

“The putter has created a sense of freedom, a new start.

“She has that spark back now and she’s really motivated to train, really motivated to get back to where she was.

“As soon as she started using it, she started smiling again.”

The broomstick putter is not the only change for Lee in 2025.

After two years with Brad Beecher on the bag, Lee will have Scotsman Mikey Paterson caddie for her in 2025. Paterson has previously caddied for seven-time major champion Karrie Webb, John Senden and Peter O’Malley, among others.