March 5, 2025 • 23 mins
Shane and Marty are joined in the PING Putter Lab by Tony Serrano, PING Principal Design Engineer, to discuss the new Scottsdale putter family. They dive into the PEBAX insert, the return of the Craz-E, and the SuperStroke grip collaboration.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how
much the equipment matters.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I just love that I can hit any shot.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I kind of want we're gonna be able to tell
some fun stories about what goes on here to help
golfers play better golf.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Ping prooven Grounds podcast.
I'm Shane Bak and joined as always by Marty Jertsen.
Tony Serrano is back on the pod. Been a minute
since we've chat. It'd been a minute since the Scott
Stills putters were a part of the new launch of
Ping golf Clubs. I know that's exciting for twenty twenty five, right,
It's been quite.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
A few years now since we've done a scuts Sell
putter back. I think it's about ten years or so.
We did a Scott Still, then we followed up with
a Scott Still tier.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, I've had one for a long time already. I
remember I had the Scott Stale in the bag for
a long time, kind of answer style and it you
remember the adjustable shafts, remember that run back in the day.
I had that thing in there forever. I mean, I
think I probably played my Scott Still I think it
might have been the original run of them had in
the bag for four or five years, so I was
excited to hear the returns here.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, I think this family has some similarities. I mean,
one thing, back when the way we did Scott Stale
ten years ago had that red color kind of master G.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Fifteen and things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Here, you're going to see Scott our new Scottsdale family
have a color tie, a brand tie, that.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Psychological tie to our G four forty yep.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Right, So Tony talked a little bit about just the
name Scottsdale, like what is it?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
What does it mean to the company.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, So I think over the last few years our
naming of our putters, we've done a few different things
and tried some different stuff. Some of the feedback we've
had had from our sales reps and accounts is like,
can't we get back to a name of this line
of putters and what how that works? It keeps a
lot cleaner, a lot easier to understand. So we went
(01:40):
to John k and said, Hey, this is something we'd
like to do. He was open to it, asked for
some suggestions of names. The list was very short, right,
So we went back to him. We talked a little
bit to John K about the names and what they
meant to PING and Scottsdale stood out. And the reason
they stood out was a few reasons. It's one that
you just talked about is we had a line of
putters before that. It was very successful for us, and
(02:01):
we had a really good run with those lines with
that line of putters. But also it's just Scottsdale in general.
It's a golf haven's. We had the scott Stale putter
that had the peel box or address in the backs
that it's a little bit of a tie there. And
and then just overall, I think where pings at and Scottsdale,
(02:21):
the golfing, the waste management, all that stuff just kind
of made sense. So that's John K was good with that,
and we jumped on that name and are moving forward
with it.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, So Scottsdale family. So we have pld's this is
kind of the meticulously milled putters, customized things of that
nature that's doing quite well for us. What is the
big differentiator between PLD in this Scottsdale family.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Good question. So, the like you said, the PLD is
a very high precision mill part that we started out
a block and we machine the whole. All those putters
are machined and their tolerances are extremely tight, but there's
there's no one. It's for the player that likes a
little bit more of a firmer fiel off the face.
(03:05):
But even with our scots that we offer a couple
different levels of firmness. I would say our deep mill
on the pold is probably the softest one for a
milk putter, and I would say in the Scotstone. Now
with this answert, it's the next step in that direction
of a softer feeling face. So that's the biggest difference.
But I will jump into taking an answert and putting
(03:28):
it into a putter that allows you to do a
few things with your designs. YEA One is if you
imagine taking a solid face putter and you're taking this
much material out, but you're taking forty or fifty grams
out right and you're putting ten back in, so you
have forty issue grams of discretionary weight to work with.
So that allows us to move our weight around to
(03:50):
make the putter more forgiving a little bit bigger without
losing the shape or look of that design. So the
answert allows us and I think we've on Scott's all
the putter heads are approximately eleven percent higher and Mali
because of the answer.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Allows us to do that.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
It also allows us to really focus and keep our
CG where we want it, so it helps the player
perform better for the player.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Tony, when when somebody comes to the lab and they
want to get fit for a putter now, and obviously
Scott Stille's back in the line, how does that conversation
go in terms of do I go PLD, do I
go Scott? Still? Is it the type of player you are?
A skill set? Like? How does that make sense for
the player coming in?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I personally think it's more of a personal preference when
a guy comes in. There's certain players that come in
that want that milk putter, that really clean look the
million lines, and then there's another player that comes in
and wants a softer, filling putter, a little bit bigger,
more forgiving. So I think it's a personal preference when
a player comes in and does a fitting, and they'll
(04:51):
have those options to go back and forth with that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Also nine models is that right? I saw that I
was like nine models, seems like substantial amount of different heads. Yeah,
in the Scottsdale line.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, I think back to our original Scotstone. Some of
the lines we've done in the past, we've had, you know,
anywhere from eight to ten to twelve models, and it's
always hard to say what that number is because we
want to offer as many different putters as you can
with the different stroke types for different fittings for different players.
But at the end of the day, we got to
pick a number and then try and fill those spots
(05:22):
out with a blade, a midmulet of mallet, and then
then different stroke types of those putters that help the
different players.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Marty, I mean it is interesting, you know, you do
think about it feels like putters these days, I mean,
the options are basically unlimited, you know, you think about
I mean I just went through this a few months ago,
getting into a PLD and kind of going through some
of the models a little bit more mallet style, trying
to go through that. And every time I go through
a fitting here at Pinging for putters, it feels like
there's more opportunity and there's more styles out there to
(05:49):
fit a certain player, and it's like making sure you
get your hands on the right ones. You don't want
to have too many, I'm assuming, because you don't want
to give somebody thirty options, right and then they get
consumed by that number. But you want to make sure
that there's some out there to make any player coming
through comfortable with what they're going to walk away with.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that can be. You know, folks
can walk into let's say you go to your retail store.
You know, you go into a putting craal, You got
all these options, you.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Know, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So where do you start?
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Where do you start?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So we've built you know, I know last year when
we launched the S one fifty nine wedges, we launched
this really cool tool called webfit Wedge. It takes a
couple of minutes to go through easy questions to answer.
We got a QR code out there to go through it.
We're launching now with the Scottsdale a similar solution called
webfit Putters, which you go through you answer some very
(06:38):
basic questions. For example, one of the aspects of getting
fit for the right putter is do you pull your
putts or do you push your putts? And we had
doctor Sasha Mackenzie on we went super deep on the
science of the kinetics and kinematics here, but on a
simple level, if you pull your putts and you play
a more tow down putter or in our vernacular it's
(07:00):
like strong arc that will deliver the face more open.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
So you go through this very.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Simple webfit putter app a couple minutes and it narrows
down your options from nine. It gives you your rank
order list of two or three interesting that then you
can go try in the corral. So we've tried to
really simplify that because we we love having a lot
of options. It is really hard to narrow down to nine.
But at the same time then you got to zoom
zoom consumers in so they aren't confused.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And Tony, I know crazy is back, which is exciting
I know for a lot of people kind of within
the company.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, I think that was brought back by just demand
we here. I've heard for years just where's the crazy?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Where's it crazy?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
And we've done different variations of the crazy. Uh, the
scot silk putter or the crazy that we're coming back
to is more in line with the original crazy. Size
and shape. People are very excited about it.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
People have been.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Waiting for it, and just the feedback from again from
our reps, consumers, people that come in here into the
lab are like, hey, do you have a crazy I
remember had a crazy G two at G five, and
I think we just decided as a team this it's time.
It's a good time to bring this back and get
this back out there. So it's it's a putter that
has very close ties to Ping.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
It's very it's for us.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
It's a very special design for us. And yeah, it's
it's the mass properties on that putter are really good
and we're excited to get it back and get in
people's hands again.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Marty, we joked about this when we were talking four forty.
It's like nothing goes away, really. I mean, you can
perfect it, you can add you know, modern engineering to it,
but nothing really goes away at Ping, Like you can
always bring back some of the stuff that was successful
ten twenty thirty years ago.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Yeah, the crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I have the original G two in my in my
collection at home in my garage, and I always set
it down every month I'm out there, certain one for
a putter, and I see that original one. And now
with the Scottsdale bringing back the original shaping proportions of
the original crazy with the new insert. And so Tony,
I want to talk a little bit more about the insert. Okay,
(09:03):
it saves weight from the face the average Amalie eleven
percent higher. Tell us about this feedbacks material because people
are gonna look at the insert. They're gonna say, hey, okay, great,
you know face insert, you know, a little bigger potter,
more forgiving. What is it about this feedbacks material and
the feedback that we got from both players tour in,
our players we test with.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So we've been back to the original scotts So we've
been always working with a feedbacks material, right. We've tried
different thickness is, different derometers, we've tried one piece, two piece,
so we have a lot of experience with it and
we've done a ton of testing with it. On this
particular one, we went back to just a single piece
and the doramas we tried three or four different dramas
(09:46):
and we've done a lot of testing here with players
to get feedback on what feels the best, what sounds
the best, and what rolls the best to them. So
on this one, it's it's It's one of those things
where we got to a point where the feedback we
were getting was so good on this thickness, on this material,
on this hardness, but even the texture on the face, Yeah,
(10:10):
is a big part of this. The little details like
that I think really contribute to how this putter feels, sounds,
and how the ball comes off the face. I'm very
excited about this insert, and I think if it's not
the best innswert we've done in a while here at Ping,
it's one of the best that we've we've produced. And
I say that because a lot of testing we've done
in the feedback we've got is this again, it's a
(10:32):
little it's a softer feel versus like a PLD, but
I would say that it's not super soft. It has
some firmness to it. The sound is great, the feel
is great, But the best the best thing I would
say about this is how the ball responds off the face.
It's very consistent. We focused on the designs to make
most of these putters full face inserts, so that the
(10:55):
consistency across the face with this answert and how the
ball comes off is very good and consistent. The only
model i'd say that we don't try and do the
full face answers the D seventy two, and that's because
the insert is ball with which matches kind of the
geometry of the head. Broll also allows to keep some
of that weight on the face out towards the heel
and toe for forgiveness, Will.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
You see tour players introduce the Scott Still line into
their bag? Do you feel in twenty twenty five is
this something that certain players like in terms of an
insert versus not? I do.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I do.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I think even some of our current insert putters that
are out there, we do see some interest in it.
And again back to this answer, I feel like this
censor is going to fit some of our players on
tour perfectly. I think the size, the shape, the coloring,
just a whole new look for us with the Scott
Still line is going to grab a lot of attention
and I think especially in Japan and our LPGA players
(11:50):
are really going to be this is going to really
be good for them.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And something else Marty with that, I thought, I think
is really cool that it's the first time that Ping
has partnered up with Superstroke in terms of a grip
and really aligns well with the Scottsdale Putters.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, I think this partnership is new for us. We've
never done a ton with a superstroke, but we're excited
to jump in with this grip and work with the superstroke.
The one thing about the grip I would say that
really I feel like it's good for this whole putter
line is that it has the grip tapers down like
(12:25):
a traditional grip. It has some pistol to it.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
What we like to do with our putter grips and
how we want to see that design. But also I
think it brings some really nice shelf appeal. Superstroke is
a very popular grip out in the industry. We all
know that, and again this is the first time for
us going in with them, So we're excited with this
relationship and we'll kind of see how it shakes out
as we move forward. But we really feel like this
(12:51):
grip is going to complete the whole package. So everything
looks really nice out there. And so part of this
was when we went into this is we really want
to differentiate from PLD. We really want to separate those
two lines where if you walk into a putter crow
you see the Scott still line the blue and then
you see the pod stuff. So there is no question
of what what is, which putter is, which this is
(13:12):
And that was a big goal for us going into
this project. It's differentiate between Scottsdale and PLD and this
grip really helps do that.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Tony putting is is tough, you know, and sometimes golfers.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Get a little vulnerable. They get they get they want.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
To seek and try and try new things. Okay, so
what about golfers, I mean they want to try you know,
I think we're calling it.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think the industry is kind of call it mid.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Length, you know, the Victor Hoblin style putting where you
get a longer grip, you grip down on it a
little bit, you got a little extra weight, or even
you know Jimmy hard k armlock style. Uh, tell us
a little bit about this version and what folks can
do to try, uh, you know, either mid length or armlock.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, so the crazy putter. This one thing that's unique
with the Scott's silene, the crazy putter, that you'll be
able to get in the standard length or at a
counterbalance or armlock or mid length mid length. We can
do that with both so the consumer can get just
a standard thirty five inch or they can do something
at thirty eight or thirty seven with this grip. And
(14:13):
the grip again is the shelf appeal, the colors, the
whole package that works with the rest of the putter.
It works with the standard grip. But like Marty said,
we're trying to venture out a little bit more to
some of this non traditional these putters, I don't even
know if they're non traditional anymore, but just trying to
get out with that counterbouance, the armlock and even start.
(14:34):
We're doing more and more work with the long putters too.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I don't see a pepper on this at cover. What's
going on, Tony? Come on, man? I thought the pepper
was like, was your calling card? Right? Like the wet
bandits putting the things in the sink, Like, where's the pepper?
We got to get one on there. We could work
on that perfect perfect. I got to make sure your
signature's on.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Besides the crazy coming back, what's your personal favorite model
of the of all the models here in Scottsdale.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I think the.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Man there's so.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I gotta go crazy. Really, it's just I mean, it's
been around so long, and just it was nice to
bring it back and just work with it again and
just again dive into those numbers and MOI and what
that putter does, how well performs the forgiveness of it,
and just to look, it's very unique. It's very close
to ping. So that I think was.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
One of the secrets of the crazy is a very
low center gravity, right, so the lower the CG. You've
seen this theme in the G four to forty line,
now you're seeing it here in Scottsdale. Low center of gravity.
That's a big part that makes it feel feel good
off the face. Tony, what about the B sixty three?
Tell us a little story about the B sixty three.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah, so the B sixty is well again another iconic
putter with ping. We've done this putter for a long time.
It's very close and special to us. On this particular design,
we were working with a couple of players in Japan,
but also Billy horseshow at the time was interested in
the B sixty, but he was looking for something with
that mid slint hozzle. I personally think that that geometrail
(16:04):
of the of the B sixties, it's a lot of
round corners and edges and softness. It's not a lot
of hard edges on it. So I think that putter
fits that design perfectly because it's it's a mid slant.
It kind of flows into the head and the whole
head kind of flows all together. But it was it
was originally working with some players to see a B
(16:25):
sixty with a different towdown angle and with that type
of a look.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
So that's strong arc.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
It's it's a slight slid slide sixty three slid, yeah,
and the B sixties usually around thirty degrees, and then
this one has a little bit more toe hang soka.
But I think more importantly, I think just that hozzle
fits the geometrail of that head. Again, was kind of
a tour inspired.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I mean, it's one of my favorite parts. I mean,
golf clubs are golf clubs, and I know that they are,
you know, years in the making in terms of how
they're produced, but I feel like in terms of the
golf clubs that are unique or new models, it feels
like the Potter more than anything, can be inspired by
tour players coming to you guys and saying, can I
see this? Can you guys adjust this?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Then?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
All of a sudden, they become the putter that people
can buy. I just think that's so cool and it's
such a cool story to tea.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, and I think that's one of the things of
my job I really enjoy, is like you can go
out with players that Oh I remember I had that
putter in my garage. I remember my dad played this putter.
I really like that putter. But man, I'd really like
to see what would look like with this right that,
or something that fits my stroke type better. What can
I do to get this model to fit me better?
So that helps us as a company, as in designing putters,
(17:34):
is to come up with new stuff, maybe a little
spin on something old, but we're always looking to make
that better if we can improve on something we've done before.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
I mean, Tony, those are these like email like let's
let's go through the Billy Horsell story, or these emails
or these conversations. Are these him coming in and showing
you what he likes, Like, how does that process work?
From Hey, I'm a top twenty player in the world.
I've got some ideas to Oh, Now, all of a sudden,
it's one of the nine models that we're offering. In
the Scott Still line.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I would say it's a little bit of both. It's direct,
you know, emails or text from a player that wants
to see something, and a lot of times I think
we talked about this before. It could be me doing
some some CAD work and sending them four or five
or different looks and they say, hey, pick your top three,
and we just kind of narrow down to a look
that they like on the screen. And then the next
(18:22):
thing for me is I print something out on our
three D printer and then go out on tour and
take it out and have them actually set it down
behind a ball and see if they like that, they
like or don't like whatever. We just go through that
process a few times before we actually start cutting apart.
But yeah, a lot of Billy was mostly like sometimes
to suit their asients. It's through our reps. It's he's
(18:45):
been in here several times and just sitting down talking
about stuff in the past. Maybe he's played with us
that he's had success with and just kind of kind
of revisiting some of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
He's used our feedbacks answer a lot. He's a big
fan from a sound and field standpoint.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
He's been in our putter for a couple of years
now with the same type of materials, the same type of.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I got another one, Shane that we had on the
Pod last year. Matt McCarty right, Tyne, he's playing a
time center shafted. So tell us about the primetime see
in this family yep.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So the primetime putter has been really good for us.
It's it's very popular. A lot of times when we
set out to say, hey, we're gonna do nine models,
they will review it with a team. A lot of
times we just get this feedback from our sales teams.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
You have to have a time putter.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It just does really well for us. A center shaft
putter with the time just seemed like a really good mix.
We've done some of that with Pod, with some of
that with with Matt. We've done some of that work
on tour. So we know that that model, it's a
symmetric design and that hozzle. The hozzle is another thing
that's new, not new, but we've gone back to putting
(19:56):
the little stem on top of that, which it's interesting
a lot of players is like if you show them
both one where the chef just goes directly into the head.
One with the stem. A lot of guys will look
down and like they can't really tell you what's different,
but they know they like that one, which is the stem.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
So some of that feedback. H Mackenzie Hughes is a
big proponent of that, right, and some of the guys
that played center shaft for a long time always go
back to, hey man, that stem, it just looks different,
it looks better. So based on that feedback, went back
and added that to that.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
That's one of that might be arguing my favorite little
piece in detail. The Scottsdale family is the primetime see
and that little stem, it just it cleans it up.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And I think we can tell Matt McCarty maybe he's
grew up in Scottsdale. Maybe this family well, I mean,
winning like he's been doing in twenty four it might
be something smart to do.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I mean, the guy, you know, you think about that too.
I mean it's just so interesting. You talk about the
progressions of a professional golfer and if you're Matt McCarty,
you go from you know, I'm playing corn Ferry Tour
golf too, I'm having some success on corn Ferry Tour
Golf to now I'm winning on the court to down
one on the PGA Tour, and now I'm an influence
on a whole line of putters. I mean, it is
a cool part of the progression of pro golf is
(21:08):
all of a sudden, Ping has obviously been interested in you,
but now we're listening to what you're saying because you
now become one of the best golfers in the world. Well, Tony,
we always appreciate the time. We always appreciate chatt uh putters.
I know you're excited about the Scottsdale line, and I
know we always push people to get fit for putters.
I'm assuming that's a big part of this as well.
(21:29):
Make sure you go through the web tool and make
sure you get fit for one of these models, because
as we said, there are nine there.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
We work closely with Marty and his group and when
we go in I keep going back to when we
pick our models. A big part of that is we
work with Marty and his team is making sure we
have the different stroke types and different putters for all
different golfers and different strokes that we have. A guy
can go and get fit and figure out there's two
or three models that will fit his stroke type. So
(21:56):
it's important, I know for Marty and for our team
is to make sure we're bring all the different types
of putters and stroke types.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, we're in this interesting era, Shane, where you know
you've seen a lot of the market try these heel
shafted deep CG putters. You have to have a lot
of torque, and I've played with a lot of people,
so both the theory of it and anecdotally, a lot
of people miss those putters to the right. Then we've
seen some players try these center shafted putters. Have a
little different design philosophy. Everyone's missing those to the left.
(22:27):
The right answer is in putters is that you need
to match, You need to fit how you apply force
and torque to the putter, to the putter itself. And
we have a kind of a simplified strategy on that. Now,
if you pull your putts, play more totem putter, push
your putts, play more face balance putter, we can we
can really simplify that. So if folks want to go
to go out and try our our webfit tool, go
(22:49):
to putter dop webfit dot ping dot com. Only takes
a couple of minutes, great way to kind of get
to know the whole Scottsdale family and our pod family too.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
It might take longer to like type that into your browser.
Actually did do exactly, Tony. We appreciate the time. Is
always excited about the Scottsdale line. This is the thing
Forking Ground's podcast. Mm hmmmm hmm
The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how
much the equipment matters.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I just love that I can hit any shot.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I kind of want we're gonna be able to tell
some fun stories about what goes on here to help
golfers play better golf.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Ping prooven Grounds podcast.
I'm Shane Bak and joined as always by Marty Jertsen.
Tony Serrano is back on the pod. Been a minute
since we've chat. It'd been a minute since the Scott
Stills putters were a part of the new launch of
Ping golf Clubs. I know that's exciting for twenty twenty five, right,
It's been quite.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
A few years now since we've done a scuts Sell
putter back. I think it's about ten years or so.
We did a Scott Still, then we followed up with
a Scott Still tier.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, I've had one for a long time already. I
remember I had the Scott Stale in the bag for
a long time, kind of answer style and it you
remember the adjustable shafts, remember that run back in the day.
I had that thing in there forever. I mean, I
think I probably played my Scott Still I think it
might have been the original run of them had in
the bag for four or five years, so I was
excited to hear the returns here.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, I think this family has some similarities. I mean,
one thing, back when the way we did Scott Stale
ten years ago had that red color kind of master G.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Fifteen and things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Here, you're going to see Scott our new Scottsdale family
have a color tie, a brand tie, that.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Psychological tie to our G four forty yep.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Right, So Tony talked a little bit about just the
name Scottsdale, like what is it?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
What does it mean to the company.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, So I think over the last few years our
naming of our putters, we've done a few different things
and tried some different stuff. Some of the feedback we've
had had from our sales reps and accounts is like,
can't we get back to a name of this line
of putters and what how that works? It keeps a
lot cleaner, a lot easier to understand. So we went
(01:40):
to John k and said, Hey, this is something we'd
like to do. He was open to it, asked for
some suggestions of names. The list was very short, right,
So we went back to him. We talked a little
bit to John K about the names and what they
meant to PING and Scottsdale stood out. And the reason
they stood out was a few reasons. It's one that
you just talked about is we had a line of
putters before that. It was very successful for us, and
(02:01):
we had a really good run with those lines with
that line of putters. But also it's just Scottsdale in general.
It's a golf haven's. We had the scott Stale putter
that had the peel box or address in the backs
that it's a little bit of a tie there. And
and then just overall, I think where pings at and Scottsdale,
(02:21):
the golfing, the waste management, all that stuff just kind
of made sense. So that's John K was good with that,
and we jumped on that name and are moving forward
with it.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, So Scottsdale family. So we have pld's this is
kind of the meticulously milled putters, customized things of that
nature that's doing quite well for us. What is the
big differentiator between PLD in this Scottsdale family.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Good question. So, the like you said, the PLD is
a very high precision mill part that we started out
a block and we machine the whole. All those putters
are machined and their tolerances are extremely tight, but there's
there's no one. It's for the player that likes a
little bit more of a firmer fiel off the face.
(03:05):
But even with our scots that we offer a couple
different levels of firmness. I would say our deep mill
on the pold is probably the softest one for a
milk putter, and I would say in the Scotstone. Now
with this answert, it's the next step in that direction
of a softer feeling face. So that's the biggest difference.
But I will jump into taking an answert and putting
(03:28):
it into a putter that allows you to do a
few things with your designs. YEA One is if you
imagine taking a solid face putter and you're taking this
much material out, but you're taking forty or fifty grams
out right and you're putting ten back in, so you
have forty issue grams of discretionary weight to work with.
So that allows us to move our weight around to
(03:50):
make the putter more forgiving a little bit bigger without
losing the shape or look of that design. So the
answert allows us and I think we've on Scott's all
the putter heads are approximately eleven percent higher and Mali
because of the answer.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Allows us to do that.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
It also allows us to really focus and keep our
CG where we want it, so it helps the player
perform better for the player.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Tony, when when somebody comes to the lab and they
want to get fit for a putter now, and obviously
Scott Stille's back in the line, how does that conversation
go in terms of do I go PLD, do I
go Scott? Still? Is it the type of player you are?
A skill set? Like? How does that make sense for
the player coming in?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I personally think it's more of a personal preference when
a guy comes in. There's certain players that come in
that want that milk putter, that really clean look the
million lines, and then there's another player that comes in
and wants a softer, filling putter, a little bit bigger,
more forgiving. So I think it's a personal preference when
a player comes in and does a fitting, and they'll
(04:51):
have those options to go back and forth with that.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Also nine models is that right? I saw that I
was like nine models, seems like substantial amount of different heads. Yeah,
in the Scottsdale line.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Yeah, I think back to our original Scotstone. Some of
the lines we've done in the past, we've had, you know,
anywhere from eight to ten to twelve models, and it's
always hard to say what that number is because we
want to offer as many different putters as you can
with the different stroke types for different fittings for different players.
But at the end of the day, we got to
pick a number and then try and fill those spots
(05:22):
out with a blade, a midmulet of mallet, and then
then different stroke types of those putters that help the
different players.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Marty, I mean it is interesting, you know, you do
think about it feels like putters these days, I mean,
the options are basically unlimited, you know, you think about
I mean I just went through this a few months ago,
getting into a PLD and kind of going through some
of the models a little bit more mallet style, trying
to go through that. And every time I go through
a fitting here at Pinging for putters, it feels like
there's more opportunity and there's more styles out there to
(05:49):
fit a certain player, and it's like making sure you
get your hands on the right ones. You don't want
to have too many, I'm assuming, because you don't want
to give somebody thirty options, right and then they get
consumed by that number. But you want to make sure
that there's some out there to make any player coming
through comfortable with what they're going to walk away with.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that can be. You know, folks
can walk into let's say you go to your retail store.
You know, you go into a putting craal, You got
all these options, you.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Know, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
So where do you start?
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Where do you start?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So we've built you know, I know last year when
we launched the S one fifty nine wedges, we launched
this really cool tool called webfit Wedge. It takes a
couple of minutes to go through easy questions to answer.
We got a QR code out there to go through it.
We're launching now with the Scottsdale a similar solution called
webfit Putters, which you go through you answer some very
(06:38):
basic questions. For example, one of the aspects of getting
fit for the right putter is do you pull your
putts or do you push your putts? And we had
doctor Sasha Mackenzie on we went super deep on the
science of the kinetics and kinematics here, but on a
simple level, if you pull your putts and you play
a more tow down putter or in our vernacular it's
(07:00):
like strong arc that will deliver the face more open.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
So you go through this very.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Simple webfit putter app a couple minutes and it narrows
down your options from nine. It gives you your rank
order list of two or three interesting that then you
can go try in the corral. So we've tried to
really simplify that because we we love having a lot
of options. It is really hard to narrow down to nine.
But at the same time then you got to zoom
zoom consumers in so they aren't confused.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And Tony, I know crazy is back, which is exciting
I know for a lot of people kind of within
the company.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, I think that was brought back by just demand
we here. I've heard for years just where's the crazy?
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Where's it crazy?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
And we've done different variations of the crazy. Uh, the
scot silk putter or the crazy that we're coming back
to is more in line with the original crazy. Size
and shape. People are very excited about it.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
People have been.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Waiting for it, and just the feedback from again from
our reps, consumers, people that come in here into the
lab are like, hey, do you have a crazy I
remember had a crazy G two at G five, and
I think we just decided as a team this it's time.
It's a good time to bring this back and get
this back out there. So it's it's a putter that
has very close ties to Ping.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
It's very it's for us.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
It's a very special design for us. And yeah, it's
it's the mass properties on that putter are really good
and we're excited to get it back and get in
people's hands again.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Marty, we joked about this when we were talking four forty.
It's like nothing goes away, really. I mean, you can
perfect it, you can add you know, modern engineering to it,
but nothing really goes away at Ping, Like you can
always bring back some of the stuff that was successful
ten twenty thirty years ago.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Yeah, the crazy.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I have the original G two in my in my
collection at home in my garage, and I always set
it down every month I'm out there, certain one for
a putter, and I see that original one. And now
with the Scottsdale bringing back the original shaping proportions of
the original crazy with the new insert. And so Tony,
I want to talk a little bit more about the insert. Okay,
(09:03):
it saves weight from the face the average Amalie eleven
percent higher. Tell us about this feedbacks material because people
are gonna look at the insert. They're gonna say, hey, okay, great,
you know face insert, you know, a little bigger potter,
more forgiving. What is it about this feedbacks material and
the feedback that we got from both players tour in,
our players we test with.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
So we've been back to the original scotts So we've
been always working with a feedbacks material, right. We've tried
different thickness is, different derometers, we've tried one piece, two piece,
so we have a lot of experience with it and
we've done a ton of testing with it. On this
particular one, we went back to just a single piece
and the doramas we tried three or four different dramas
(09:46):
and we've done a lot of testing here with players
to get feedback on what feels the best, what sounds
the best, and what rolls the best to them. So
on this one, it's it's It's one of those things
where we got to a point where the feedback we
were getting was so good on this thickness, on this material,
on this hardness, but even the texture on the face, Yeah,
(10:10):
is a big part of this. The little details like
that I think really contribute to how this putter feels, sounds,
and how the ball comes off the face. I'm very
excited about this insert, and I think if it's not
the best innswert we've done in a while here at Ping,
it's one of the best that we've we've produced. And
I say that because a lot of testing we've done
in the feedback we've got is this again, it's a
(10:32):
little it's a softer feel versus like a PLD, but
I would say that it's not super soft. It has
some firmness to it. The sound is great, the feel
is great, But the best the best thing I would
say about this is how the ball responds off the face.
It's very consistent. We focused on the designs to make
most of these putters full face inserts, so that the
(10:55):
consistency across the face with this answert and how the
ball comes off is very good and consistent. The only
model i'd say that we don't try and do the
full face answers the D seventy two, and that's because
the insert is ball with which matches kind of the
geometry of the head. Broll also allows to keep some
of that weight on the face out towards the heel
and toe for forgiveness, Will.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
You see tour players introduce the Scott Still line into
their bag? Do you feel in twenty twenty five is
this something that certain players like in terms of an
insert versus not? I do.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I do.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I think even some of our current insert putters that
are out there, we do see some interest in it.
And again back to this answer, I feel like this
censor is going to fit some of our players on
tour perfectly. I think the size, the shape, the coloring,
just a whole new look for us with the Scott
Still line is going to grab a lot of attention
and I think especially in Japan and our LPGA players
(11:50):
are really going to be this is going to really
be good for them.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And something else Marty with that, I thought, I think
is really cool that it's the first time that Ping
has partnered up with Superstroke in terms of a grip
and really aligns well with the Scottsdale Putters.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, I think this partnership is new for us. We've
never done a ton with a superstroke, but we're excited
to jump in with this grip and work with the superstroke.
The one thing about the grip I would say that
really I feel like it's good for this whole putter
line is that it has the grip tapers down like
(12:25):
a traditional grip. It has some pistol to it.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
What we like to do with our putter grips and
how we want to see that design. But also I
think it brings some really nice shelf appeal. Superstroke is
a very popular grip out in the industry. We all
know that, and again this is the first time for
us going in with them, So we're excited with this
relationship and we'll kind of see how it shakes out
as we move forward. But we really feel like this
(12:51):
grip is going to complete the whole package. So everything
looks really nice out there. And so part of this
was when we went into this is we really want
to differentiate from PLD. We really want to separate those
two lines where if you walk into a putter crow
you see the Scott still line the blue and then
you see the pod stuff. So there is no question
of what what is, which putter is, which this is
(13:12):
And that was a big goal for us going into
this project. It's differentiate between Scottsdale and PLD and this
grip really helps do that.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Tony putting is is tough, you know, and sometimes golfers.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Get a little vulnerable. They get they get they want.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
To seek and try and try new things. Okay, so
what about golfers, I mean they want to try you know,
I think we're calling it.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
I think the industry is kind of call it mid.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Length, you know, the Victor Hoblin style putting where you
get a longer grip, you grip down on it a
little bit, you got a little extra weight, or even
you know Jimmy hard k armlock style. Uh, tell us
a little bit about this version and what folks can
do to try, uh, you know, either mid length or armlock.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, so the crazy putter. This one thing that's unique
with the Scott's silene, the crazy putter, that you'll be
able to get in the standard length or at a
counterbalance or armlock or mid length mid length. We can
do that with both so the consumer can get just
a standard thirty five inch or they can do something
at thirty eight or thirty seven with this grip. And
(14:13):
the grip again is the shelf appeal, the colors, the
whole package that works with the rest of the putter.
It works with the standard grip. But like Marty said,
we're trying to venture out a little bit more to
some of this non traditional these putters, I don't even
know if they're non traditional anymore, but just trying to
get out with that counterbouance, the armlock and even start.
(14:34):
We're doing more and more work with the long putters too.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I don't see a pepper on this at cover. What's
going on, Tony? Come on, man? I thought the pepper
was like, was your calling card? Right? Like the wet
bandits putting the things in the sink, Like, where's the pepper?
We got to get one on there. We could work
on that perfect perfect. I got to make sure your
signature's on.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Besides the crazy coming back, what's your personal favorite model
of the of all the models here in Scottsdale.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I think the.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Man there's so.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
I gotta go crazy. Really, it's just I mean, it's
been around so long, and just it was nice to
bring it back and just work with it again and
just again dive into those numbers and MOI and what
that putter does, how well performs the forgiveness of it,
and just to look, it's very unique. It's very close
to ping. So that I think was.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
One of the secrets of the crazy is a very
low center gravity, right, so the lower the CG. You've
seen this theme in the G four to forty line,
now you're seeing it here in Scottsdale. Low center of gravity.
That's a big part that makes it feel feel good
off the face. Tony, what about the B sixty three?
Tell us a little story about the B sixty three.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah, so the B sixty is well again another iconic
putter with ping. We've done this putter for a long time.
It's very close and special to us. On this particular design,
we were working with a couple of players in Japan,
but also Billy horseshow at the time was interested in
the B sixty, but he was looking for something with
that mid slint hozzle. I personally think that that geometrail
(16:04):
of the of the B sixties, it's a lot of
round corners and edges and softness. It's not a lot
of hard edges on it. So I think that putter
fits that design perfectly because it's it's a mid slant.
It kind of flows into the head and the whole
head kind of flows all together. But it was it
was originally working with some players to see a B
(16:25):
sixty with a different towdown angle and with that type
of a look.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
So that's strong arc.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
It's it's a slight slid slide sixty three slid, yeah,
and the B sixties usually around thirty degrees, and then
this one has a little bit more toe hang soka.
But I think more importantly, I think just that hozzle
fits the geometrail of that head. Again, was kind of
a tour inspired.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
To do that.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I mean, it's one of my favorite parts. I mean,
golf clubs are golf clubs, and I know that they are,
you know, years in the making in terms of how
they're produced, but I feel like in terms of the
golf clubs that are unique or new models, it feels
like the Potter more than anything, can be inspired by
tour players coming to you guys and saying, can I
see this? Can you guys adjust this?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Then?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
All of a sudden, they become the putter that people
can buy. I just think that's so cool and it's
such a cool story to tea.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, and I think that's one of the things of
my job I really enjoy, is like you can go
out with players that Oh I remember I had that
putter in my garage. I remember my dad played this putter.
I really like that putter. But man, I'd really like
to see what would look like with this right that,
or something that fits my stroke type better. What can
I do to get this model to fit me better?
So that helps us as a company, as in designing putters,
(17:34):
is to come up with new stuff, maybe a little
spin on something old, but we're always looking to make
that better if we can improve on something we've done before.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
I mean, Tony, those are these like email like let's
let's go through the Billy Horsell story, or these emails
or these conversations. Are these him coming in and showing
you what he likes, Like, how does that process work?
From Hey, I'm a top twenty player in the world.
I've got some ideas to Oh, Now, all of a sudden,
it's one of the nine models that we're offering. In
the Scott Still line.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I would say it's a little bit of both. It's direct,
you know, emails or text from a player that wants
to see something, and a lot of times I think
we talked about this before. It could be me doing
some some CAD work and sending them four or five
or different looks and they say, hey, pick your top three,
and we just kind of narrow down to a look
that they like on the screen. And then the next
(18:22):
thing for me is I print something out on our
three D printer and then go out on tour and
take it out and have them actually set it down
behind a ball and see if they like that, they
like or don't like whatever. We just go through that
process a few times before we actually start cutting apart.
But yeah, a lot of Billy was mostly like sometimes
to suit their asients. It's through our reps. It's he's
(18:45):
been in here several times and just sitting down talking
about stuff in the past. Maybe he's played with us
that he's had success with and just kind of kind
of revisiting some of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
He's used our feedbacks answer a lot. He's a big
fan from a sound and field standpoint.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
He's been in our putter for a couple of years
now with the same type of materials, the same type of.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
I got another one, Shane that we had on the
Pod last year. Matt McCarty right, Tyne, he's playing a
time center shafted. So tell us about the primetime see
in this family yep.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
So the primetime putter has been really good for us.
It's it's very popular. A lot of times when we
set out to say, hey, we're gonna do nine models,
they will review it with a team. A lot of
times we just get this feedback from our sales teams.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
You have to have a time putter.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It just does really well for us. A center shaft
putter with the time just seemed like a really good mix.
We've done some of that with Pod, with some of
that with with Matt. We've done some of that work
on tour. So we know that that model, it's a
symmetric design and that hozzle. The hozzle is another thing
that's new, not new, but we've gone back to putting
(19:56):
the little stem on top of that, which it's interesting
a lot of players is like if you show them
both one where the chef just goes directly into the head.
One with the stem. A lot of guys will look
down and like they can't really tell you what's different,
but they know they like that one, which is the stem.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
So some of that feedback. H Mackenzie Hughes is a
big proponent of that, right, and some of the guys
that played center shaft for a long time always go
back to, hey man, that stem, it just looks different,
it looks better. So based on that feedback, went back
and added that to that.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
That's one of that might be arguing my favorite little
piece in detail. The Scottsdale family is the primetime see
and that little stem, it just it cleans it up.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
And I think we can tell Matt McCarty maybe he's
grew up in Scottsdale. Maybe this family well, I mean,
winning like he's been doing in twenty four it might
be something smart to do.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I mean, the guy, you know, you think about that too.
I mean it's just so interesting. You talk about the
progressions of a professional golfer and if you're Matt McCarty,
you go from you know, I'm playing corn Ferry Tour
golf too, I'm having some success on corn Ferry Tour
Golf to now I'm winning on the court to down
one on the PGA Tour, and now I'm an influence
on a whole line of putters. I mean, it is
a cool part of the progression of pro golf is
(21:08):
all of a sudden, Ping has obviously been interested in you,
but now we're listening to what you're saying because you
now become one of the best golfers in the world. Well, Tony,
we always appreciate the time. We always appreciate chatt uh putters.
I know you're excited about the Scottsdale line, and I
know we always push people to get fit for putters.
I'm assuming that's a big part of this as well.
(21:29):
Make sure you go through the web tool and make
sure you get fit for one of these models, because
as we said, there are nine there.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
We work closely with Marty and his group and when
we go in I keep going back to when we
pick our models. A big part of that is we
work with Marty and his team is making sure we
have the different stroke types and different putters for all
different golfers and different strokes that we have. A guy
can go and get fit and figure out there's two
or three models that will fit his stroke type. So
(21:56):
it's important, I know for Marty and for our team
is to make sure we're bring all the different types
of putters and stroke types.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, we're in this interesting era, Shane, where you know
you've seen a lot of the market try these heel
shafted deep CG putters. You have to have a lot
of torque, and I've played with a lot of people,
so both the theory of it and anecdotally, a lot
of people miss those putters to the right. Then we've
seen some players try these center shafted putters. Have a
little different design philosophy. Everyone's missing those to the left.
(22:27):
The right answer is in putters is that you need
to match, You need to fit how you apply force
and torque to the putter, to the putter itself. And
we have a kind of a simplified strategy on that. Now,
if you pull your putts, play more totem putter, push
your putts, play more face balance putter, we can we
can really simplify that. So if folks want to go
to go out and try our our webfit tool, go
(22:49):
to putter dop webfit dot ping dot com. Only takes
a couple of minutes, great way to kind of get
to know the whole Scottsdale family and our pod family too.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
It might take longer to like type that into your browser.
Actually did do exactly, Tony. We appreciate the time. Is
always excited about the Scottsdale line. This is the thing
Forking Ground's podcast. Mm hmmmm hmm
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