Fifty-five years ago, the most influential putter in the history of golf was sketched out on a record sleeve by Karsten Solheim. You know that heel-toe weighted blade putter you ogle and ‘Like’ on Instagram, it can be traced back to the putter that was patented on March 21, 1967, by the U.S. Patent Office and assigned the number D207-227. The world knows it as the Ping Anser.
To celebrate the 55th anniversary of the patenting of the Anser, Ping is releasing a limited edition version of the putter, the Anser Patent 55 and they will be available starting Monday, March 21.
The putter got its name after Solheim had a conversation about the club with his wife, Louise. She suggested calling it the Answer, but Karsten wasn’t crazy about that name and pointed out that the six-letter word was too long to stamp into the back. The next morning, she suggested dropping the W and simply calling the putter, the Anser. He liked it and the rest is history.
In 2003, Golfweek’s associate editor, Jim Achenback, wrote, “The Ping Anser has been the most copied club in golf. No other club is close. The clones are so pervasive that golf jagon now includes the phrase, ‘Anser-style putter,’ meaning, ‘Yea, we copped the Anser.'”
The Anser has been a staple of nearly all Ping putter families for decades, including the Sigma 2, 2021, and the recently-released PLD Milled lineup.
Only 55 Anser Patent 55 putters are going to be made, with each being machined from aluminum bronze and costing $790. The putters will come with a Ping PP58 grip, and as cool as it would be to drop this in your bag, most people would consider it to be a showpiece.
The Anser Patent 55 is the first release in the new Ping PLD Limited line, a family of extremely-limited release putters that Ping has planned for 2022. A stainless steel version of the Patent 55 is scheduled to drop in mid-June, then a carbon steel version is slated to be released in September. Finally, in December, a stainless steel Anser Patent 55 with a special finish will be made available.
The Ping Anser Patent 55 will go on sale at 2 p.m. Eastern on March 21 at pingpld.com, and there is a limit of one purchase per customer.
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