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As it is with most great works of art, Karsten Solheim’s inspiration for the Ping Anser couldn’t wait to be diagrammed neatly on a clean sheet of paper.
The January 1966 sketch, a blueprint for what would become one of golf’s most copied and influential clubs, came on the dust jacket of a 78-rpm record. The Norwegian-born engineer who worked on jet fighters and missile guidance systems after World War II had a vision of a putter with a distinct offset hosel that allowed an unfettered view of the face, all while giving players the feeling they were pulling through the ball rather than pushing it. The cavity-back head featured perimeter weighting, a low center of gravity and lines parallel to the face to aid golfers in keeping the face square.
Nobody in golf had seen anything like it. Some initially laughed it off, referring to it as a “plumber’s nightmare” given the unprecedented relationship between the crooked hosel and head. But when Solheim quickly made samples and offered them to professionals at that year’s Phoenix Open, it didn’t take long for the brilliance of design to outweigh its kinks. Within two months, Lionel Hebert used an Anser to win the Florida Citrus Open Invitational – the event now known as the Arnold Palmer Invitational – and it opened the floodgates.
George Archer used one to win the 1969 Masters. Gary Player, Tony Jacklin and Gene Littler were early adopters. By the mid-1970s, more than half the putters in play on tour were Ansers. The patent lasted only 17 years, ending in 1984 and opening the market to other companies that would mimic the design, which only proved how groundbreaking the club had been. The Anser itself has been the winningest putter in history, responsible for more than 500 tour victories and 19 men’s majors, but it could be argued that putters directly influenced by the Anser have won at least as many events.
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