How do putters become popular?

[wings02]

If you are reading this headline in the putter section, chances are you have owned many putters. How are you hearing about these "can't miss" Holy Grails? Sure, you go to your local golf shop and try one of the many on display but for the most part you focus in on a particlar brand or style. 

What is the driving force that leads you to a particular model? If you think about it, it's not via a television commercial. I really don't recall ever seeing a commercial advertising a putter. My guess is that putter sales are driven by the PGA tour pros. I certainly didn't know about BIG MO until Jack used it to win the 1986 Masters. Tiger probably put the Scotty Newport on the map. I know for certain Keenan and Ricky brought the Versa Jailbird back to life to the hysterical point of Odyssey/Callaway starting to produce them again and having extended wait times to get one. I am friendly with a popular golfer on the senior tour and have dropped his name to a couple of newbie putter companies trying to get recognized. One company said, "we would love to get our putter in his hands". I'm using a couple of the LAB golf putters presently. I actually just stumbled upon that brand by trying one at the PGA Superstore. Amazing feel but that's not the point. I didn't buy it the first time I tried it but after seeing Lucas Glover and Adam Scott using them, guess what?  All of these manufactures would love to see the pros suceed using their equipment but the driving force behind there efforts is you and me seeing their equipment used by the pros.  Just to have a little fun with this, Tell us what gave you the nudge to buy your current putter. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by wings02

[getitdaily]

Which question are we to answer? The title or the body?

[liamw]

Seeing what tour pros are playing first, then seeing if there’s a trend on tour (I.e. more tour pros putting that putter into play), then doing my research on that putter and trying it out (if possible) in store before buying.

[MattM97]

Tour use and success. 

 

If Tiger never played a Scotty would they be the same company today? 

 

The Jailbird if it didn't have the spotlight success from this year it would still be a $100 putter. 

 

LAB is getting the attention from Adam Scott guys are asking "give me what Adam has" on tour and us mortals are getting fit to try them too. 

 

It's all exposure and success on tour, even on tour that drives interest. 

[pak]

The Dandy putter website blew up after Vijay won the Masters, so PGA Tour wins, especially majors, influence putter sales.

 

It’s the one part of the game that even the worst of golfers believe they can do as well as the pros if they can get in on the “secret sauce” action.

[btyh]

8 hours ago, MattM97 said:

Tour use and success. 

 

If Tiger never played a Scotty would they be the same company today? 

 

The Jailbird if it didn't have the spotlight success from this year it would still be a $100 putter. 

 

LAB is getting the attention from Adam Scott guys are asking "give me what Adam has" on tour and us mortals are getting fit to try them too. 

 

It's all exposure and success on tour, even on tour that drives interest. 

Exactly, its all influence. I found out about golf from watching my uncle tee off while I was there for the club pool. It was around 1996. He was a big ping guy, and not knowing anything about golf I automatically thought ping was the brand to play. Ping i3s, Scottsdale anser. Still good looking clubs to this day. Fast forward a few years my dad watching the come up with tiger, I finally payed attention to the TV to see him win. Out of the blue my dad asked if I wanted to play golf. And here we are now. "If you want to be the best then you have to play the best". That was and still is the mentality. I just couldn't get down with nike when tiger made the switch.

[MattM97]

9 minutes ago, btyh said:

Exactly, its all influence. I found out about golf from watching my uncle tee off while I was there for the club pool. It was around 1996. He was a big ping guy, and not knowing anything about golf I automatically thought ping was the brand to play. Ping i3s, Scottsdale anser. Still good looking clubs to this day. Fast forward a few years my dad watching the come up with tiger, I finally payed attention to the TV to see him win. Out of the blue my dad asked if I wanted to play golf. And here we are now. "If you want to be the best then you have to play the best". That was and still is the mentality. I just couldn't get down with nike when tiger made the switch.

 

And companies know that. 

 

You see 3 red dots on a putter "Oh that's a Scotty" A solid red putter "Hey a TaylorMade Spider" and a red driver face with the Stealth.

 

There's a reason Ping and Titleist sponsor so many young golfers. 

[semarlor]

2 hours ago, MattM97 said:

 

And companies know that. 

 

You see 3 red dots on a putter "Oh that's a Scotty" A solid red putter "Hey a TaylorMade Spider" and a red driver face with the Stealth.

 

There's a reason Ping and Titleist sponsor so many young golfers. 

I got the chance to talk to the guys from Odyssey earlier this year and someone asked why they made the new Stroke Lab shafts red...and the answer was because it pops on TV. Remember when Taylormade first had drivers with a white crown and they had some marketing about the contrast with the grass or increased focus or whatever....it was absolutely because it was recognizable from 400y away, lol. 

[philly2kuk]

Because us golfers are a fickle bunch, so if we see someone being successful with a club we want to try it believing it may have magic pixie dust.

 

Mine came from the fact I shouldn’t have sold it in 2012 and I missed it.

[WillyL]

Tiger with his Scotty started my obsession😁

[Ghostwedge]

 I  walked into a golf store years ago looking to change up my putter. Had been playing a Anser Two for awhile and the Scotty Newport 2 was a slightly heavier better looking better feeling version of my Anser, rolled great so I bought it. 

Don't think I've ever bought a club because a certain pro plays it including Tiger and his Scotty Cameron putter.

[Maine Golfer]

How do new baby's coming into the world?

[kthomas]

I have to say that it's pretty amusing watching the Jailbird become all of a sudden popular again. 

 

People love to follow trends. Malcolm Gladwell has an entire book on this topic, it's an interesting read.

[F1nest11]

It definitely a mix of watching how putters perform in Tour use as well as speculative buying and flipping. 

[Soloman1]

Guy tries a putter on 10’ putts.

Make 3/10 with his Scotty.

Makes 8/10 with non-Scotty.

 

Which does he like better?

You guessed it, his Scotty.

[unpluggedk]

I guess im the victim of watching tour players and thinking 'that putter must be golden'..

bit odyssey Jon Rahm putter, and i can't do it. 😂

[IcemanYVR]

This is how... people talking about them 😉

 

My Unread - BST when I logged in a few minutes ago.

[third-times-a-charm]

Putters are stupid. Least important club in the bag that does anything meaningful tbh. All hype and marketing - you can putt with a branch if you want to and it works well enough.

[nitram]

10 hours ago, third-times-a-charm said:

Putters are stupid. Least important club in the bag that does anything meaningful tbh. All hype and marketing - you can putt with a branch if you want to and it works well enough.

Channeling your inner Hogan these days, LOL??

 

Does anyone remember this thing? I do, and it was so hideous that no one would even touch it . . ., until a few on the Senior Tour started winning with it. Shortly thereafter was the infommercial, and In the span of a month Rife and every vendor was out of stock. People were begging for this thing and paying 3 times the price. It was temporary insanity.

 

[GolfGuitarsCars]

There was a saying in the early days of NASCAR.  “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday”.  Same thing applies to putters.