Old Ping Putters

[sheepdawg]

Love the My Day, so did Brad Faxon. Karsten didn't know what to call his new design. His daughter took one of his prototypes out for a spin. When she gave it back to her dad she remarked that putter made my day.

 

Here's one of the first batch.

 

[Maine Golfer]

6 hours ago, mshills said:

Any Ping made over the decades of classic Ping is still 100% usable today. I love them, especially on greens slower than a pool table. 
 

Putters made of German stainless steel forged by the hand of God on Mount Fuji while the blacksmith fires are stoked with the breath of 50 virgins are a nice marketing gimmick, but don’t make any more pressure four-footers. 🙂

I dont wish to tell other golfer's how to do thing's but Scotty's bore me. If next year I had an extra $1,500 bucks or even 1 millions, no way Im buying a high end putter.The luxury putter markets isn't for me and never will be. 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Maine Golfer
typo

[ezgoer]

17 hours ago, Maine Golfer said:

I dont wish to tell other golfer's how to do thing's but Scotty's bore me. If next year I had an extra $1,500 bucks or even 1 millions, no way Im buying a high end putter.The luxury putter markets isn't for me and never will be. 

Understandable. Only thing is if you are a new golfer looking to buy a brand new name brand putter honestly what’s the difference between $295 and $400. Obviously $105 bucks but they are all way to expensive nowadays. This isn’t a defense of the luxury putter market, just saying. Used to be a Scotty was twice the price but now it can only be about $40 difference from a PING or Taylor Made or Odyssey’s. Guess the big brands figured out they were leaving money on the table. There’s deals to be had but it’s pretty sad when $185 is a deal. Unless you’re into searching out these classics like we do for very little cost when we are lucky “they” sure have done a great job of conditioning people. $$$$$$$$

Edited October 30, 2023 by ezgoer

[bcstones]

1 hour ago, ezgoer said:

There’s deals to be had but it’s pretty sad when $185 is a deal. Unless you’re into searching out these classics like we do for very little cost when we are lucky “they” sure have done a great job of conditioning people. $$$$$$$$

Totally agree....that said, I still have a Scotty Studio Stainless Newport 2.5 putter that needs to find a home, I'm sure not ever gonna use it.

[Maine Golfer]

the nicest/newest that intrest me is a few models back of Odyssey White Hot stuff.  I adore my 06 Marxman Blade. 

[ColinKelvin]

On 10/29/2023 at 7:28 PM, Binson said:

I love the MyDay and Zing shapes.  The B60 style is also one that just seems to work for me. 

 

BeCu always turns heads but when it comes to feel, I'll take BeNi, Stainless, and MgBr over BeCu.  I have a bunch of BeCu putters but only one feels/sounds good with a deep thud sound upon impact.  The rest are quite tingy (which I personally do not prefer) and I have no clue what makes the good one an anomaly.     

A weird theory perhaps but sometimes I think the grip makes a difference. If it is old/thin, the putter will feel tingier.  All my becus have midsize PP58s or old Ping wrap grips on them now and they feel solid and make a nice thunk sound.

[elwhippy]

My first Ping putter was a My Day. Paid £30 for it in a sports store in York. Had to argue with my parents that it was an investment, not a waste of money. 

[BIG STU]

I do not know if I told this before and I am too lazy to go back and look.

Back in the day my Old man was a Pro and ran a course. For a while he was a Macgregor staffer but switched when his salesman friend switched to Wilson. What also helped on the Wilson deal was the fact they had a distribution warehouse of all their sporting equipment right in town.

One day this young Salesman came by with the Ping line of stuff. My old man for some reason liked him and agreed to let him put like 5 Ping Putters in on consignment plus a demo. My Old man told him they were the ugliest POS he had ever seen and told him they would not sell but give it a try. He sold all 5 that weekend and was on the horn early Monday morning ordering more.

I still have the original Demo from 1972 for his shop. For some reason it was 33" from the factory. It is a Floating face Anser. I dug it out last week and used it on my Par 3 round until after 12 holes I felt my back starting up again. LOl I putted with my 6 iron the rest of the round. Yep it still has the original grip which is getting a little dry rotted now

[ezgoer]

52 minutes ago, BIG STU said:

I do not know if I told this before and I am too lazy to go back and look.

Back in the day my Old man was a Pro and ran a course. For a while he was a Macgregor staffer but switched when his salesman friend switched to Wilson. What also helped on the Wilson deal was the fact they had a distribution warehouse of all their sporting equipment right in town.

One day this young Salesman came by with the Ping line of stuff. My old man for some reason liked him and agreed to let him put like 5 Ping Putters in on consignment plus a demo. My Old man told him they were the ugliest POS he had ever seen and told him they would not sell but give it a try. He sold all 5 that weekend and was on the horn early Monday morning ordering more.

I still have the original Demo from 1972 for his shop. For some reason it was 33" from the factory. It is a Floating face Anser. I dug it out last week and used it on my Par 3 round until after 12 holes I felt my back starting up again. LOl I putted with my 6 iron the rest of the round. Yep it still has the original grip which is getting a little dry rotted now

Never thought of it this way but it must have been an issue for PING initially cosmetically in the pro shops. Sure your old man had a pretty good idea what was gonna sell. Guess pretty good testament to merit of design of their product. Wonder how much was trying out on the practice green vs magazines and word of mouth vs tour players using? I’ve never looked but gotta be a story about PING getting their putters on the tour. Wonder if there was any type of ugliness bye the big companies of the time. Anser hit in 66 right? 

[BIG STU]

9 hours ago, ezgoer said:

Never thought of it this way but it must have been an issue for PING initially cosmetically in the pro shops. Sure your old man had a pretty good idea what was gonna sell. Guess pretty good testament to merit of design of their product. Wonder how much was trying out on the practice green vs magazines and word of mouth vs tour players using? I’ve never looked but gotta be a story about PING getting their putters on the tour. Wonder if there was any type of ugliness bye the big companies of the time. Anser hit in 66 right? 

I have read the Anser came to be about 66 or so. Around my area it was in like 70 to 72 somewhere in that time frame. After the Anser took off in our area we ended up with and selling all of the Ping putter designs. My Old Man was 180* wrong on them. He said they were a ugly POS and would never sell. How wrong he was. He refused to play one and always stuck to his Wilson Biltmore or Golf Craft mallets. But he was an astute businessman and sold what sold. He further stated he thought they were a ugly POS but they sold well. Just because other putted with them did not mean he had to.

[bcstones]

4 hours ago, BIG STU said:

I have read the Anser came to be about 66 or so. Around my area it was in like 70 to 72 somewhere in that time frame. After the Anser took off in our area we ended up with and selling all of the Ping putter designs. My Old Man was 180* wrong on them. He said they were a ugly POS and would never sell. How wrong he was. He refused to play one and always stuck to his Wilson Biltmore or Golf Craft mallets. But he was an astute businessman and sold what sold. He further stated he thought they were a ugly POS but they sold well. Just because other putted with them did not mean he had to.

I Love it - "...Just because other putted with them did not mean he had to." That attitude sure would put the "business of golf" in a hurt, if more people today thought & played that way today.

 Your "Old Man" was totally correct in his assessment of Anser's being anugly POS, I like his go to putters...think I have at least 1 Biltmore in that stash, not so sure about Golf Craft tho. I wonder what he'd say about today's putters - even more UGLY than yesteryears....😂

[sheepdawg]

Karsten got help selling his putters from one of the best putters on tour at the time, George Archer.

[sheepdawg]

 

 

Kermit Zarley and Harold Henning were also on the Ping Anser bandwagon.

Edited November 2, 2023 by sheepdawg
Double post

[sheepdawg]

[sheepdawg]

From Karsten's second batch of 2,000 Ansers. Davis Love used one of these for years.

 

[BIG STU]

3 hours ago, sheepdawg said:

Wonder what year that was from where SRP was $20? I can not remember what my old man sold them for in like 70 or 72.

[NRJyzr]

4 minutes ago, BIG STU said:

Wonder what year that was from where SRP was $20? I can not remember what my old man sold them for in like 70 or 72.

 

Stu, I took a look at the Maltby Guide to see what was in there.  It showed $20 for 1968 to 1975.

 

[sheepdawg]

3 hours ago, BIG STU said:

Wonder what year that was from where SRP was $20? I can not remember what my old man sold them for in like 70 or 72.

It shows a Karsten Co. Anser but it does mention Karsten Manufacturing Co. which was stamped in the cavity of Ansers after the Karsten Co. batch so I'd take a stab and say 1968.

[dan360]

1981 'pat pending' Anser 2 and a Jim Wells Anser 2 that looks similar

[TxsGolfer]

Always heard it was the putters with the Redwood City stamp that were really valuable!  Those were scooped up in the 80's-90's by Asia based collectors.  

[elwhippy]

Proud to have met Karsten and John at The Open. 

[anser85029]

On 11/2/2023 at 1:15 PM, BIG STU said:

Wonder what year that was from where SRP was $20? I can not remember what my old man sold them for in like 70 or 72.

 

Stu, I can confirm that I paid $20 for mine in the spring of 1969.  That was a lot of $ for a 14 year old me back then.

[RobotDoctor]

On 11/2/2023 at 1:15 PM, BIG STU said:

Wonder what year that was from where SRP was $20? I can not remember what my old man sold them for in like 70 or 72.

Looking at the ad, the Anser pictured is a Karsten CO so this would put it around 1967 iirc.

Edited November 9, 2023 by RobotDoctor

[Mike_C]

On 10/24/2023 at 8:53 PM, ezgoer said:

Another old PING putter wandered in to my possession. Unsure if it’s truly old. While PING definitely made some un attractive clubs I’ve yet to try one that played horrible. Can’t wait to give this one a shot. Feels light even for an old Ping but does have an oversized Wynn grip that of course is deteriorating. Don’t know anything about it. Unfortunately I scrubbed off some patina to be able to read it. May have to store in the garage so tarnish can re start. 

This was my first Ping putter, I think I got it in 1977 or 78.

 

I was using some real old school putter that was my grandfather's, I played in a junior tournament one time and shot 84 the first day with 41 putts.   I was so disgusted, I went right in to the pro shop after the round and bought this Echo 2 and went out the practice green.  I changed my set up completely, and put it in play the next day.  I remember distinctly to this day hitting the first green in regulation to about 35 feet and leaving the first putt about 6-8 feet short, and thinking, "oh well, here we go again", but then making the putt.  Went on to have 28 putts that day and never looked back.  The echo was in the bag for a couple of years, then replaced by a B60 for several years, and I rotated now and then.

 

I still have both Pings......

[caniac6]

I have used a Scotty Cameron for the last couple years, but have not putted well lately. The last two rounds I have putted with a Zing 2 and an Anser 2 patent pending, and haven’t putted this well for awhile. 

[mshills]

Getting into off-season if you are not in AZ, FL, Cali, etc…..greens get a little shaggier and great time to break out the older light headed Pings!

[caniac6]

I have a patent pending Anser2 and a patent pending B60. Is there such a thing as a patent pending Zing2?

[sheepdawg]

6 minutes ago, caniac6 said:

 

Delete

Edited November 26, 2023 by sheepdawg

[Binson]

1 hour ago, caniac6 said:

I have a patent pending Anser2 and a patent pending B60. Is there such a thing as a patent pending Zing2?

I have not seen one (and I've seen many).  Doesn't mean there isn't one though!

[bcstones]

15 hours ago, caniac6 said:

I have a patent pending Anser2 and a patent pending B60. Is there such a thing as a patent pending Zing2?

why not contact Ping and ask them?