The game of golf is reactive and responsive to technological changes and advancements. New science into the golf swing, material advancements and golf ball technology have allowed golfers, especially the best, to hit the ball further, straighter and more precisely.
Karl Danneberger, Ph.D
In response, the game has set rules, including equipment standards for maintaining the integrity of the game. A famous example is the “square groove” controversy, which led to the introduction of Ping Eye 2 irons in 1982 and their ban from 1985 through 1989. The Ping Eye 2 remains iconic and is still the most popular iron ever sold.
In response to the technological advancement of golf, superintendents use course setup and maintenance to provide resistance. Course changes can consist of lengthening golf holes, narrowing fairways and raising the height of cut for the rough. Bunkers continually evolve to fortify the course further, often becoming deeper and more challenging to meet increasing distances.
Putting greens have evolved into the last defense against the best golfers. The availability of the USGA Stimpmeter to clubs in the late 1970s became a watershed moment, both a curse and a blessing for maintaining putting greens. On a broad scale, golf course superintendents began pushing the limits on putting green quality. Slope, speed, smoothness and firmness became golf course superintendents’ weapons for defending the green.
Maintenance practices are often responses to changes in the game. I believe the improvements in the putting green surface were a catalyst for a more in-depth study and understanding of the science of putting.
Prior to the Stimpmeter, the putters available to golfers, even the best players, were based on a trial-and-error method. Some famous putters were Bobby Jones’ “Calamity Jane” and Arnold Palmer’s Wilson 8802.
Although iconic, these putters could never be replicated.
In the late 1940s, a teaching professional named James Reuter invented a putter that “swung like a pendulum,” which he called the “Bulls Eye.” Reuter joined Titleist in 1958 to mass-produce the putter, which became the most popular of the time. In my teenage years, the “Bulls Eye” was the putter of choice. Although not cheap by yesterday’s standards, the putter cost 16 dollars.
Most putters, however, were not much more than a flat blade with a shaft stuck near the heel. That changed in 1961 when Karsten Solheim created the Ping A1 putter, followed in 1966 by the revolutionary Ping Anser. Karsten Solheim was an engineer at General Electric when he released his first putter. Through his work, he applied scientific principles to his putters to allow for a more consistent uniform roll. Solheim’s lasting legacy will be the investment dye casting method he introduced to golf club making and concurrently advancing the science of club making.
In the 1980s and ’90s, professional golfers were looking for better putters that were more consistent and had a desired feel to better putt on the continually improving putting green quality. At this time, the first CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milled putter was developed. Instead of manual operation, CNC machines use computer code to move and monitor milling tools. This allowed for more precise cutting, faster speeds and cleaner finishes than traditional milling. The advantages of milled putters are more design options, greater precision and a softer feel. The disadvantage is the higher, often much higher, cost associated with them.
In the early 1990s, Scotty Cameron, a Mizuno club maker, went out on his own and created custom-made milled putters for golfers. His expertise and understanding of the milling process improved putter technology significantly for both professional and average golfers.
Today, golf course superintendents, present and past, should be proud of how they have led and impacted golf by advancing agronomic management practices, given the nature of that profession, which will continue in the foreseeable future.
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