wirehair
Life's too short to drink cheap wine.
- Apr 29, 2005
- 2,489
- 3
I see a lot of folks chasing Scotty putters lately, but if what you're after is a high quality milled putter don't limit yourself to a Scotty. He's the market leader and the easiest to find, but other guys are making some pretty nice putters. These "boutique" makers aren't readily available, and you'll need to look for a while but offer an appealing price performance ratio. They'll have a good bit of nice hand work, that appeals to me.
Bettinardi - dodge the Hogan or Mizuno models and look for Bettinardi Studio clubs. The Studio models are milled from blocks of steel, the "Manufacturer" models are forged then skim milled. Lots of styles. Bettinardi did the milling for most of Scotty's older putters. Love the honeycomb face.
Palombi - IMHO the best of the bunch. Pretty much newport/anser styles but he's made some nice 8802/napa style putters. Among putter collectors, George is pretty much considered the best putter mechanic in the business.
TP Mills - Dodge the Spalding models - they're cast. Look for workshop or professional series. TP's son David is making them now, He seems to do best with studio design/circa styles since thats the style that TP developed.
Byron Morgan - Mills some pretty nice sticks. I've never actually owned one of his, but he's well respected as a quality maker.
Tom Slighter - He got a bad rep for stamping putters up to look like tour Scotty's a while back, but he'll build you exactly what you want.
These aren't the only guys, there's other makers, like Webb & C&L but their output is pretty limited & very hard to get.
Here's a couple on my watch list now to give you an idea what I'm talking about:
tp mills TIG weld putter from tour event - eBay (item 150274690796 end time Jul-30-08 11:20:35 PDT)
Milled by R.J. Bettinardi BB 1 M.S. Honeycomb Putter - eBay (item 270255544353 end time Jul-26-08 17:00:00 PDT)
Slighter Portland Putter Seattle Mud *BEAUTIFUL* - eBay (item 150275261603 end time Jul-29-08 19:49:35 PDT)
Bettinardi - dodge the Hogan or Mizuno models and look for Bettinardi Studio clubs. The Studio models are milled from blocks of steel, the "Manufacturer" models are forged then skim milled. Lots of styles. Bettinardi did the milling for most of Scotty's older putters. Love the honeycomb face.
Palombi - IMHO the best of the bunch. Pretty much newport/anser styles but he's made some nice 8802/napa style putters. Among putter collectors, George is pretty much considered the best putter mechanic in the business.
TP Mills - Dodge the Spalding models - they're cast. Look for workshop or professional series. TP's son David is making them now, He seems to do best with studio design/circa styles since thats the style that TP developed.
Byron Morgan - Mills some pretty nice sticks. I've never actually owned one of his, but he's well respected as a quality maker.
Tom Slighter - He got a bad rep for stamping putters up to look like tour Scotty's a while back, but he'll build you exactly what you want.
These aren't the only guys, there's other makers, like Webb & C&L but their output is pretty limited & very hard to get.
Here's a couple on my watch list now to give you an idea what I'm talking about:
tp mills TIG weld putter from tour event - eBay (item 150274690796 end time Jul-30-08 11:20:35 PDT)
Milled by R.J. Bettinardi BB 1 M.S. Honeycomb Putter - eBay (item 270255544353 end time Jul-26-08 17:00:00 PDT)
Slighter Portland Putter Seattle Mud *BEAUTIFUL* - eBay (item 150275261603 end time Jul-29-08 19:49:35 PDT)