Ping Putters – Syndication Server

Masters: Tony Finau awarded a patent for a Ping prototype putter

Finau was presented with a patent certificate in Ping’s PGA Tour van on Wednesday.

When he is faced with a delicate chip from the collar or an awkward shot from a few inches off the green, Tony Finau has been known to turn his putter, a Ping PLD Anser 2D, counter-clockwise in his hands and strike the ball with the toe-end of his putter, popping the ball onto the putting surface.

In fact, he loves the feeling shots like that create so much that he worked with designers and engineers at Ping to build a prototype putter that replicates the sensations of that shot and was just named as one of three people on a utility patent awarded to Ping (U.S. #11,911,670 B2) for a compact putter head. Tony Serrano, Ping’s principal putter design engineer, and John A. Solheim, the company’s president, are also on the patent.

Finau was presented with a patent certificate in Ping’s PGA Tour van on Wednesday outside the gates of Augusta National Golf Club.

“When Tony turns his putter over and hits a putt with the toe, all the mass is directly behind the ball,” Serrano said. “So he came to us and said, ‘How can we make a putter that has some of these feelings and attributes and sounds that I get when I turn this putter over?’”

That led Serrano and his team to develop a few prototypes that would give Finau what he wanted while also conforming to the USGA’s Rules of Golf and equipment standards.

Tony Finau’s compact prototype putter is shaped like a cube and replicates the feeling of hitting a putt with the toe-end of a putter. (Ping)

The putter that Finau liked and worked with Ping to develop is cube-like in shape, with a small area in the back hollowed out to create some perimeter weighting. There is also a T-shaped alignment system on the top and a plumber’s neck hosel.

“He looks at the top rail of the putter when he turns it. It’s long and right down the center and helps him align the putter with the ball,” Serrano said. The small T accomplishes the same thing and helps Finau focus on a tiny area and make solid contact more easily.

The small hosel was designed and positioned close to the grooved hitting area so that when Finau putts, his stroke has to pull the center of gravity and the putter’s weight, like a traditional putter, instead of pushing the head’s weight as Finau would do with a flipped-over putter.

“Tony said that he plays with this putter all the time,” when he is home in Utah, Serrano said. Finau has yet to use the un-named putter in a PGA Tour event, but he plans to keep using it as a training aid going forward, and Ping plans to study the tiny putter more closely to see whether attributes of it could be designed into future PLD and retail putters.

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Tony Finau adds a second driver for 2024 Masters at Augusta National

Finau realized that unless very unusual conditions arise, he was not going to hit his 3-wood off the ground.

Phil Mickelson won his second green jacket at the 2006 Masters while carrying two drivers in his bag, and it appears that big-hitting Tony Finau is planning to try to capture his first major this week at Augusta National using the same strategy.

According to Kenton Oates, a PGA Tour rep for Ping, Finau is planning to use two Ping G430 LST drivers during the 2024 Masters because, after developing his course strategy, he realized that unless very unusual conditions arise, he was not going to hit his 3-wood off the ground. Perhaps if the anticipated rain on Thursday significantly softened the turf on the par-5 eighth hole, or if the wind blew into Finau on the second shot on that hole, maybe a 3-wood would be in order, but aside from that, he was not going to need the club.

With that in mind, Ping built Finau a second G430 LST driver, built to his 3-wood specifications. Finau’s standard driver is a 9-degree G430 LST, but it has an actual loft of 7.75 degrees and is fitted with a 45.25-inch Mitsubishi Diamana GT 70TX shaft. The stated loft of the 3-wood-replacement-driver is 10.5 degrees, but with the adjustable hosel set to the small minus position, Kenton Oates, a PGA Tour rep for Ping estimates the head has about 8.9 degrees of loft. Ping gave the short driver to him last week in Texas. Finau brought the shorter driver to Augusta with the rest of his gear this week.

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“It’s probably going to give him a carry distance of about 290 yards and then roll out to about 300,” Oates said. “It’s still going to go really far. Tony was getting ball speeds with his gamer driver in the high 180s and ball speeds with the little one in the low 180s on the range this week.”

According to Oates, the increased loft and shorter shaft allow Finau to shut the face more aggressively and produce the draw-style flight. That shot shape could be very handy on the newly lengthened second hole, as well as the seventh, 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th holes, which all encourage a right-to-left shot.

Past the Masters, Oates explained, Finau and other pros may start to consider carrying two drivers more frequently because if they don’t need to play a 3-wood off the turf to reach par 5s, elite golfers could find having a draw driver and a fade driver to be an advantage worth exploring.

Best new golf putters you can buy in 2024

Check out Golfweek’s list of the best putters available to purchase in 2024.

The big trend in drivers this season is adding stability and boosting the moment of inertia (MOI) so tee shots that you mis-hit fly straighter and farther. The big trend in putters in 2024 is similar — more forgiveness and stability.

Twenty years ago on the PGA Tour, most players used heel-to-toe weighted blades like the classic Ping Anser, Scotty Cameron Newport and Odyssey #1. Then, in the mid-2000s, the Odyssey 2-Ball putters exploded and mallets found their way into more and more bags on tour and in local clubs. Fast forward to the mid-2010s, and TaylorMade’s Spider Tour putter, a mid-size mallet with a high MOI but some toe-hang for golfers who have an arced stroke, takes the putting world by storm. Odyssey’s #7 and Scotty Cameron’s Futura X 5, with stability-boosting extensions in the heel and toe became more popular over the last decade too.

Plenty of golfers still love the look and feel of classic blades, but mallets, often made with multiple materials, are here to stay because they allow designers to shift weight into performance-enhancing areas and create bolder alignment features.

The best putter for you is waiting at your local shop, and after going through a putter fitting that includes discovering your idea putter length, lie angle, loft and balance, you will know exactly what it is. The putters listed below can give you a starting point to learn more about clubs you might want to try.

Note: Putters are often released on two-year product cycles, which means updates are released every two years. For that reason, you will see several 2023 offerings alongside new 2024 putters.

Ping PLD Milled Anser, Anser 2D, Oslo 3, DS72 and Ally Blue 4

Ping is expanding its PLD Milled putter family with new blades and mallets with customization options.

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.

The Ping PLD Anser 2024 is the latest version of the most-copied putter in golf. (Ping)

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.

Customized Ping PLD Milled putters for 2024. (Ping)

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

Ping’s limited-edition PLD Anser celebrates Seve Ballesteros’ 1988 victory

In 1988, each of the four men’s majors was won by a player using a Ping putter, a first.

The fourth and final putter in the Ping Slam Limited Edition family will be made available on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, and it commemorates Seve Ballesteros’s 1988 British Open victory.

In 1988, each of four men’s professional major championships was won by a player using a Ping putter, an accomplishment that had not been done before and that has not been achieved since. Before the start of the Masters, Ping made 88 special Ping Slam Pal putters available to commemorate Sandy Lyle winning the 1988 Masters. To honor Jeff Sluman’s win at Oak Tree Golf Club, 88 PLD Limited Pal 2 putters with a natural finish were sold, and last month, before the U.S. Open, 88 PLD Limited Zing 2 putters honoring Curtis Strange’s 1988 U.S. Open victory at The Country Club were sold.

“Even though at the time it was the third major of the season, it’s fitting to complete this part of the ‘Ping Slam’ celebration by recognizing Seve’s win at the Open Championship that year,” said John A. Solheim, Ping’s executive chairman in a release. “Seve was our most loyal and accomplished Anser user, earning 47 wins with it, including all five of his major championships. His victories are represented in more than three rows on a rack in the Ping Gold Putter Vault and have helped make the Anser the winningest putter of all time.”

Ping Limited-edition PLD Anser Ping Slam. (Ping_

The limited-edition PLD Anser is milled and has been given an antique finish that makes it look like Ballesteros’s tarnished, manganese bronze original Anser. And, like the Spanish Hall of Famer’s putter, this Anser has a floating face, otherwise known as a sound slot, cut into the sole for a crisper feel and sound.

Like the three previous Sing Slam putters, only 88 are being offered, and all of them will be available starting at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday for $990 on pingpld.com. The three previous Ping Slam putters offered in 2023 sold out in minutes.

On Dec. 5, 2023, Ping will make 35 complete, four-putter sets of the limited-edition PLD putters available for $4,990, and each will come with a custom-designed display unit.

Limited-edition Ping Slam PLD Zing 2 dropping before 2023 U.S. Open

To celebrate Curtis Stange’s win at the 1988 U.S. Open, Ping is offering 88 commemorative Zing 2 putters.

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In the days leading up to the 2023 Masters and PGA Championship, Ping released 88 limited-edition PLD putters to honor the winners of 1988’s first two major champions, Sandy Lyle and Jeff Sluman, who both used a Ping putter to earn their major victories. Now, just a few days before the start of the U.S. Open, Ping is set to drop the third commemorative putter in the Ping Slam family, the PLD Limited Zing 2 that honors Curtis Strange’s 1988 U.S. Open victory at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In a release, Ping executive chairman, John A. Solheim, said, “We’re really enjoying celebrating the ‘Ping Slam’ and reliving some wonderful memories from 1988, Curtis’s thrilling win at the U.S. Open was soon followed by the U.S. Women’s Open champion using a Zing 2, giving us wins at both national championships that summer. The next year, Curtis won the U.S. Open again with his Zing 2. That was a remarkable run for the Zing 2 and secured its place in Ping’s putter history.”

Ping PLD Limited Zing 2 putter — The Zing 2 has a distinctive, curved back flange and thin topline. (Ping)

The 88 commemorative PLD Limited Zing 2 putters are each milled from a block of 303 stainless steel and have a short slant-neck hosel. There is a distinctive curve to the back flange, with extra mass in the heel and toe areas that create more perimeter weighting and stability. The original Zing 2, which was first released in 1984 and was cast instead of milled, is nearly identical to the original Zing putter in appearance, and both putters became classics that still look at home in modern golfers’ bags.

“A lot of what we did back then is still critical to our putter designs today, so we went to great lengths to maintain the subtleties of each model while giving them the precise details and strikingly clean, premium appearance made possible through the milling process,” Solheim said.

The 88 PLD Limited Zing 2 putters will go on sale Tuesday, June 13 at 2 p.m. Eastern and cost $990 at pingpld.com. If you want one, act fast, because the previous Ping Slam putters sold out in a matter of minutes. On December 5, Ping will offer 35 complete sets of the PLD Limited Ping Slam putters for $4,990.

Special-edition Ping PLD Limited Pal 2 honors Jeff Sluman’s 1988 PGA Championship victory

Golf enthusiasts and collectors can own a part of Ping’s storied putter history with the PLD Limited Pal 2 putter.

Golf enthusiasts and collectors can own a part of Ping’s storied putter history with the release of the PLD Limited Pal 2 putter. The precision-milled putter is the second of four Ping putters being released this year to celebrate the brand’s achievement of winning all four major championships in 1988. The company is referring to the achievement as the “Ping Slam.”

The fully machined and custom-built putters are created by Ping WRX master craftsmen at the company’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Ping’s engineers and historians scoured the company archives to retain the integrity of the four classic designs during the milling process. They even visited the Ping Gold Putter Vault to study and analyze each model’s intricacies to ensure Karsten’s original designs remain intact.

During Masters week, Ping released the Ping Slam Pal to commemorate Sandy Lyle winning the 1988 Masters using an original Pal. To honor Jeff Sluman’s win at Oak Tree Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma, this PLD Limited Pal 2 putter has been milled using 303 stainless steel with a natural finish, along with a white sightline along the trailing edge and a Zing-style hosel.

Only 88 PLD Limited Pal 2 putters are being made. Each has been serialized for authenticity, and each will come with a special headcover. The putters can be purchased for $900 starting at 2 p.m. Eastern time on May 14 at pingpld.com.

If you hope to get one, act fast. The PLD Limited Anser Patent 55 putter was introduced last year to honor the 55th anniversary of the granting of the Anser patent to Ping’s founder, Karsten Solheim, and it sold out in less than three minutes. Four other limited-edition PLD putters have also been released and sold out in minutes.

If you miss out, you can try to nab each of the Ping Slam putters on Dec. 5 when 35 complete sets of the putters, including a custom-designed display unit, will go on sale for $4990.

Limited-edition Ping Slam putters commemorate the brand’s success 35 years ago

Only 88 are being created, and they will cost $990 each.

After a player wins a PGA Tour event, golf equipment companies routinely see a surge in interest in the gear that the golfer used. The effect is magnified after major championships because the whole world is watching, so in 1988, when all four men’s major championships were won by players using a Ping putter, the Phoenix, Arizona-based company had plenty of reason to thump its chest … and ramp up production of its putters.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of that accomplishment, which has not been equaled, Ping is set to release the first of four extremely-limited PLD putters in the Ping Slam collection.

You might recall that last year, Ping released the PLD Limited Anser Patent 55 putters to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Anser. Each of the four variations sold out in less than three minutes, according to the company, proving there is a huge demand for its limited-edition offerings.

Scottish golfer Sandy Lyle (right) celebrates his victory on the 18th hole during the final round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia, USA, 10th April 1988. (Photo by Getty Images)

This year, replicas of the 1988 major-winning Pal, Pal 2, Zing 2 and Anser will be made available starting on the Tuesday of this year’s men’s major championship weeks, but only 88 are being created, and they will cost $990 each at pingpld.com. However, on December 5th, 35 complete sets of Ping Slam putters, including a custom-designed display unit, will go on sale for $4990.

“We’re excited to offer these legendary putters to golfers,” said John A. Solheim, Ping’s executive chairman and the son of the company’s founder, Karsten Solheim. “It’s a great way to pay tribute to Karsten’s success and all he brought to putter designs while celebrating with our loyal Ping fans. Whether golfers want to purchase one of the 88 individual putters during the week of the major or wait until the end of the year to collect all four at once, we expect the putters to go fast, so we encourage those interested to plan accordingly.”

Each Ping Slam series putter is fully machined and custom-built in the Ping WRX department at the company’s headquarters, where the putters used by pros like Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Tony Finau are produced. Each Ping Slam putter also is serialized for authenticity.

On Tuesday, the Ping Slam Pal will become available to commemorate Sandy Lyle winning the 1988 Masters using an original Pal. While Lyle’s putter was cast from manganese bronze, the Ping Slam model is milled from an aluminum/bronze alloy, but it has the precise shape and the perimeter-weighted head featuring a shorter blade length and an Anser hosel.

As this season’s major approach, Golfweek will feature the rest of the Ping Slam lineup.

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Ping releases 10 new putters to offer a wide variety of options for every player

With 10 different head styles to choose from, the new Ping putters offer options to a wide variety of players.

Gear: Ping putters (2022)
Price: $300 each

Specs: Milled stainless steel, tungsten inserts and aluminum bodies with 10 head styles available, including heel-toe weighted blades, mid-size mallets and high-MOI mallets.

Who they are for: With 10 different head styles to choose from, along with different neck and hosel configurations, Ping is trying to offer look and feel options that can appeal to a wide variety of players.

The Skinny: Instead of spreading one technology across a range of putters in a family, Ping’s newest putter offerings have been built to provide options for golfers who have different types of strokes and who prefer different shapes and alignment aids. With the help of a fitter, there should be something to please almost every golfer here.

The Deep Dive: The bedrock of Ping Golf was created when its founder, Karsten Solheim, developed the Ping Anser putter back in 1966. He had made putters before that model, but the Anser put the company on the road to being one of the most successful and influential brands in the industry.

But a funny thing started happening about five to 10 years ago. Ping started developing a reputation as a brand known for extremely stable, high-performing drivers after it brought out the G, G400, and, more recently, the G410 and G425 drivers. Bubba Watson, Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau, Cameron Champ, Tyrrell Hatton and others have used those clubs to win PGA Tour events, major championships and Ryder Cups. They also proved popular with recreational golfers and influential in the industry.

As great as that is for the Phoenix-based company, the wood success may have started to overshadow Ping’s putter heritage. The release of the PLD Series, 2021 Putters and PLD Custom program have helped to re-establish Ping as elite putter brand to many players, reminding them in addition to giving your more yards off the tee, Ping can provide you more feel and control on the greens.

Now Ping is bringing out 10 new putter models and not pigeonholing them into a family. With a combination of chrome and dark finishes, they are cosmetically cohesive, but the goal with the release of these clubs is to create a stable of putters that can provide golfers with several options that will optimize their stroke but give them choices when it comes to looks and feel.

“What’s most exciting about our new Ping putter models is how different they are from each other,” said John K. Solheim, Ping’s CEO and president. “For example, several of the new models offer milled faces for a firmer feel, and others provide a softer feeling insert.”

While there are heel-toe weighted blade, mid-size mallets and ultra-stable high-MOI mallets, Ping classifies these putters by the stroke type they are designed to help: straight, slight-arc and strong arc. Putters for golfers who make for slight-arced strokes have some toe hang (approximately 30 degrees), while putters designed for golfers who have a strong arc have significant toe hang and models for straight-stroke players are face balanced.

Ping releasing the Anser Patent 55 limited edition putter

Ping is releasing an ultra-limited run of Karsten Solheim’s masterpiece.

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.

The Ping PLD Anser Patent 55 in machined aluminum bronze. (Ping)

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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