The guys from paying They've kind of showed me how much the equipment matters.
I just love that I can hit any shot.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fifteen and things of that nature.
Here, you're going to see Scott our new Scottsdale family have a color tie, a brand tie, that.
Psychological tie to our G four forty yep.
Right, So Tony talked a little bit about just the name Scottsdale, like what is it?
What does it mean to the company.
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 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 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, 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.
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.
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. 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 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 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.
Allows us to do that.
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.
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?
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 have those options to go back and forth with that.
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.
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 out with a blade, a midmulet of mallet, and then then different stroke types of those putters that help the different players.
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 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.
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.
Know, what do you do?
So where do you start?
Where do you start?
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 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 like strong arc that will deliver the face more open.
So you go through this very.
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.
And Tony, I know crazy is back, which is exciting I know for a lot of people kind of within the company.
Yeah, I think that was brought back by just demand we here. I've heard for years just where's the crazy?
Where's it crazy?
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.
People have been.
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.
It's very it's for us.
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.
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.
Yeah, the crazy.
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, 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.
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 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, 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 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 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.
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.
I do.
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 are really going to be this is going to really be good for them.
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.
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 a traditional grip. It has some pistol to it.
It's kind of like.
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 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 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.
Tony putting is is tough, you know, and sometimes golfers.
Get a little vulnerable. They get they get they want.
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.
I think the industry is kind of call it mid.
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.
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 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. We're doing more and more work with the long putters too.
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.
Besides the crazy coming back, what's your personal favorite model of the of all the models here in Scottsdale.
I think the.
Man there's so.
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.
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.
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 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 sixty with a different towdown angle and with that type of a look.
So that's strong arc.
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.
To do that.
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?
Then?
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.
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, 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.
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.
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 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 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.
He's used our feedbacks answer a lot. He's a big fan from a sound and field standpoint.
He's been in our putter for a couple of years now with the same type of materials, the same type of.
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.
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.
You have to have a time putter.
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 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.
Interesting.
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.
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.
You know.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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