The
head on this 1966 Ping Scottsdale Anser is clean. There is little bag
wear and all lettering is clear. The shaft is original and the rubber
grip is a replacement, but a good one. It is the famed Ping grip with the angled core as used for many years by Tiger Woods and other top pros. The top line is clean, with no sight lines
cut in or repaired. This putter sits up to the ball beautifully, and it
still provides the unmistakeable feel and high performance that proved
revolutionary over 50 years ago when it was introduced.
Designed by Karsten Solheim and made in his Paradise Valley, Arizona
garage in 1966, the "Scottsdale" Anser changed the golf world forever.
It gained popularity with lightening speed. After the Anser design
patent expired, golf manfucaturers let loose with a flood of knock-offs
and copies to capitalize on the gigantic demand. Even today, 54 years
later, ever major clubmaker continues to put new variations on Karsten's
theme on the market.
When Karsten moved to Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix in 1960, he
set up a Post Office box in Scottsdale in order to differential his
business address from another putter maker operating in Phoenix—John
Reuter, Jr., the maker of the Bulls-Eye line. Karsten marked all of his
clubs with the Scottsdale address so anybody who saw another golfer
using a PING putter would know where to write to place an order. in late
1966, Karsten moved from his garage to a small commercial building in
Phoenix. He then changed the address on the back of the Anser to his new
Phoenix address.
Today, the Anser stands as the most copied putter in the history of golf. Nevertheless ... ain't nothing like the real thing.