RPM Discs has been molding discs in New Zealand for over 20 years, but have only recently started promoting their product to other countries. Their newest putter, the Ruru, might be the best putter you haven’t heard of yet.

Manufacturer’s Notes

“The Ruru or (Morepork) is RPM’s dedicated Putter and named after a NZ native owl. The flight is slow and consistent, stable with a very small late fade. The Ruru has a small bead and a deep Rim and comes in 4 different plastic types and with many effects.”

Manufacturer site: http://www.rpmdiscs.com/product/ruru/

Available plastics: Atomic, Cosmic, Magma, Strata

Flight Rating: 3 speed, 3 glide, 0 turn, 1 fade

Initial Reactions

RPM Discs sent us a few Ruru’s to test. The rubber-like Magma plastic is grippy and soft to the touch with a medium firmness. The Cosmic plastic, in silver here, reminds me of a typical opaque premium plastic but feels a little cleaner. Both have a firm structure with a flexible flight plate.

It’s a toss-up as to what you notice first about these New Zealand discs, the uniquely pretty plastic or the beautiful, detailed stamps. Simon at RPM Discs told me they “take extra time on the molding to be sure that we get good results.” And I can tell you it shows! The picture of the black one on the right just doesn’t do it justice. Imagine a racing tire with a stealthy looking stamp that sheens as light hits it. This is one of our favorite looking discs.

The Ruru is a smaller diameter disc like the Kastaplast Reko. It has a small bead and a blunt nose. Imagine if a Dynamic Discs Judge and a Gateway Magic had a baby.

By the Numbers

Flight chart will be posted soon.

Putting Notes

If you like smaller diameter putter you really need to give the Ruru a try. The rim is a little deep but that didn’t affect my putting. This putts a lot like the Dynamic Discs Marshal, straight to slightly overstable with a moderate amount of glide, and performs decently in the wind. The blunt nose makes me think it will be susceptible to rollaways, but I haven’t experienced anything like that yet.

I was able to putt fairly well with a spin putting style. The smaller diameter and moderate glide leads to some nice consistency on the longer putts. The Ruru putts decently with my standard straddle style as well as a normal push putt style.

Upshots

The Ruru is a stable putter. On full throws with a fan grip the disc flies straight with a touch of fade. It will hold both a hyzer and anhyzer very well as long as I don’t over torque the disc. I wouldn’t call it a workable disc since it doesn’t work its way to flat, but it holds any line you throw and that’s a good thing. I haven’t spent enough time with the Ruru to master the flick shot with it – it doesn’t have enough fade to overcome the torque a normal flick imparts so throwing it with a little hyzer will allow for a small flip and glide.

When the disc floats to a landing, you won’t get much skip out of it. It lands straight and the deeper rim grabs any grass. I tried a few rollers with the putter and the flat rim allows it to roll straight, making it a nice get-out-of-jail roller disc.

Here’s a video of me throwing the Ruru on a short, 211′ par 3.

Final Verdict

The RPM Discs Ruru is a fantastic putter. I think spin putters would like it a little better than push putters. The Ruru also works great as a straight approach disc with consistent and repeatable results. The Magma plastic is wonderful inside the circle and the Cosmic plastic works well for approach shots.

Don’t forget to follow the DG Puttheads on Facebook here, and check us out the DG Puttheads on YouTube here where we’ll be stepping up our efforts soon!