In 1961, shortly after Karsten had moved to Arizona from California,
Karsten came out with Ping 69 FTL (flat, thin, long) putter. This fine
example has its original 35 1/2" shaft and grip. The
inside of the back cavity is marked with Ping's Scottsdale address.
When Karsten moved to Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix in 1960, he
set up a Post Office box in Scottsdale in order to differentiate 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.