This is the very red dot putter pictured on page 69 of And The Putter
Went...Ping. Ping 69 putters were introduced in 1961 to no
fanfare. After all, Karsten and John were making putters in the garage of their Arizona home.
As noted in the book, Karsten tried both a red dot and a white alignment dot
bordered with two alignment lines on his 69 putter before quickly settling on
no dots and the single alignment line found on the vast majority of PING 69
putters. John Barnham used a Ping 69 white dot alignment-lined putter to win
the 1962 Cajun Classic. Barnham's win marked the first time a Ping putter was
ever used to win a PGA tour event.
The 35 1/4" shaft in this putter fits perfectly, but it appears to be a
reshaft completed by PING. There is a small bit of bronze in the sole.
Sometimes, to remove an old shaft, a small hole was made in the sole to access
and drill out the ball bearing in the tip of the shaft (to help hold the shaft in place). The grip,
however, appears to be an old and somewhat used Golf Pride Pro Only grip such
as those used by Ping back in the day.
This is a truly rare PING putter found in very few Ping collections.