Gear: Ping PLD Milled Anser, Anser 2D, Oslo 3, DS72 and Ally Blue 4
Price: $485 each
Specs: Milled 303 stainless steel
Available: February 13
Who It’s For: Golfers who want tour-inspired looks and elite levels of feel and precision in their putter.
The Skinny: Using feedback from tour pros, Ping is expanding its PLD Milled putter family with new blades and mallets while also expanding the personalization and customization options.
The Deep Dive: Two years ago, Ping launched a three-level putter program that brought tour-level clubs to the masses and allowed consumers to customize their new Ping putters like never before. The four PLD putters were straight-from-the-bag of players like Viktor Hovland, but now Ping is releasing a line extension that includes five new PLD putters, the Milled Anser, Anser 2D, Oslo 3, DS72 and Ally Blue 4.
Like the first PLD putters (PLD stands for Putting Lab Design in homage to the company’s putter testing facility inside its Phoenix, Arizona, headquarters), the new Anser, Anser 2D, DS72 and Oslo 3 are each milled from a solid block of 303 stainless steel in a process that takes about four hours to complete. They come standard with a gunmetal finish and a deep-milling pattern in the hitting area that creates the sound and feel that tour players prefer.
- Anser – This classic heel-toe weighted blade comes at a standard weight of 350 grams with 3 degrees of loft.
- Anser 2D – This is the Tony Finau putter, a wider version of the original Anser. At 365 grams, its added weight and size make it more stable.
- DS72 – The Viktor Hovland putter, this compact mallet is suited for golfers with a straight putting stroke. The gap in the back flange can help players align the face more easily.
- Oslo 3 – This semi-circular mallet is a favorite of Tyrrell Hatton and has a higher moment of inertia to increase stability.
The fifth putter, the high-MOI Ally Blue 4, is a mallet with an aluminum body, stainless steel soleplate and aluminum hosel. Its size, shape and weight distribution help it resist twisting on off-center hits and keep mis-hit putts rolling on your intended target line.
In addition to announcing the release of the five new PLD putters, Ping is allowing golfers to personalize their putters more deeply by utilizing an online tool on ping.com called PLD Milled Plus.
Instead of going with the standard features that come on the PLD putters, PLD Milled Plus lets golfers select their own alignment aids, paint fill, custom graphics and paint-filled grips. For instance, if you want a single dot added to the topline of your DS72, filled in red, no problem. If you want two alignment lines added to your Anser, one in purple and the other in golf, you got it. Laser etching also always allows golfers to add stars and stripes or Mr. Ping logos.
Once golfers are done designing their putter online, they can take their unique design specifications to an authorized where the custom order is placed before Ping’s custom shop builds the club.
Below are several close-up looks at the 2024 Ping PLD putters and some customized putters created in the Ping PLD Milled Plus program