Bettinardi headcover identification help

MaineMariner · October 11, 2020

I'm wondering if anyone would be able to ID the putter that this headcover. I recently bought it from the 2nd Swing's eBay store because it looked nice and was cheap. In Googling around it appeared to go with the 2015 Studio Stock range. So, it looked like a nice alternate headcover to my 2017 Studio Stock #8.

When the headcover arrived, I put it on my putter to find out that, well, my putter barely fit in the headcover. Like I have to REALLY jam it in there to get the putter seated fully in the headcover. If I just placed the putter in like I normally would, the back of the putter head would basically be exposed. The SS#8 is a very normal blade design, so this was odd, to say the least.

In looking at the shape of the headcover, it just seems... off. Like it's too upturned for a normal blade headcover. It slopes upward more than any other Bettinardi headcover I have, and the blade length part is shorter. It's just a noticeably smaller headcover. I find it very strange that a very normal, small-ish blade would barely fit in a blade headcover.

What's odd is that I can't figure out which putter this originally came with. After Googling some more, I see that the headcover that came with the Studio Stock in 2015 has an ELASTIC closure, not a velcro closure like this one has. I did find two places with this same velcro headcover: (1) old listing for an auction of that Studio Stock release that came with a velcro headcover. Here's that listing: https://sidelineswap.com/gear/golf/clubs/putters/258136-titleist-almost-new-bettinardi-studio-stock-no-2-35-inch-putter-with-headcover . (2) and also found this listing that says "Limited edition cover made for the LPGA Tour Race to the CME Globe" I have no reason to believe that listing, but maybe it's correct: http://for-sale.yowcow.com/listing/139255811/

So basically... what is this thing? Did Bettinardi start shipping the 2015 SS with a velcro headcover instead of the elastic one? And why does the putter barely fit? I suppose maybe the leather needs to be worked in some, but that's weird to me. The alternative, I suppose, is that it's fake, but why would somebody fake a standard Bettinardi headcover? It does have a "made in China" tag thing inside, which my other Bettinardi headcovers don't have. My working theory is that they started shipping out a cheaper version of the headcover at some point, which is probably why the sizing of mine does not seem right.