Serge deSchamps is the real deal .

[Spoon]

pics of my deschamps blade

Guys i have been looking for a custom putter for quite some time, i have tried several from different manufacturers and boutique makers and although they have been awesome they never really lasted in my bag, meanwhile rewinding from a year agio i have already spoken to serge about many many things from mettalurgy, machining characteristics and tellurium copper and have exchanged many pms and emails from another golf forum that he seemed the most logical person to help me come up with the putter i imagined myself to be having

so we exchange emails, mind you this was months before i asked him to make me a putter, so after many emails of sorting out my specs and discussing the engineering processes involved, i took the plunge. Serge was very very accomodating in answering all my insessant emails on a daily basis. at times i would get updates everyday from start to finish. as the work progressed i was extremely delighted and speechless at the amount of work and dedication poured into every putter. Handmade from scratch, a one man show, im quite impressed.

for this level of work i would expect to be charged over 1k from other makers, serge has been very generous and the price paid is a bargain. i highly suggest him to someone looking for a putter totally off the beaten track and altough some may not be keen on his designs, i for one lve the clean crisp minimalist lines. everything up to my specs from the toehang of 4:30 to the customized engraving of "41208" everything is more than i could have asked for. Even the milling of the sitelines was done at a shallow level to accomodate my preference for clean, colorless lines. no paintfill. Kudos!

by the way 41208 is my wedding anniversary, thats the only way i could have gotten this putter without my wife giving me the eye:)

below is an actual update cut and pasted from our emails.

Specs:
Headweight 378g
loft: 2*
lie:69*
Length 32"
sw: D5
Toe hang: 4:30ish

Sept12

I started it tonight. Your putter starts as a 1" by 1" piece of brass stock than I cut from 4 foot lengths with my bandsaw (raw stock). The 4 long sides have been machined to size on the manual mill, .990" by .900" (milled blank). The ends will get machined on the CNC before the CNC cycles. There will be more photo updates following in the next few days.

Raw stock Fig.1



Milled Blank Fig.2




Sept15

The two back radii and the top flange of your putter have been milled




September 16


I milled the sightlines yesterday. This was done on my CNC mill with manual jogging using a single point 60* carbide tool. Depth is .025" (I usually go .030") which translates into .029" width. Nice and clean and not too wide.



Flat spotting



The shaft hole has been drilled. I did this in three steps to ensure a clean, non tapered, straight hole.

The putter was squarely atttached to a tilting table set to the proper angle with ground angle blocks. Then shaft entry was calculated, edgefound and inputted into the CNC control.

All the following operations were all done with manual jogging on the CNC control.

First, the point to be drilled was flat spotted with a 5/16ths two flute end mill. This ensures the drill bit is plunging onto a flat surface to prevent sideways deflection. This can be seen in the "flat spot" pic. It looks weird because of the angle the pic was taken from.



Drill 1

Next, the hole is drilled undersize (5/16) to full depth. See this in "drill1".





Drill II

Finally the hole is drilled to size with a T (.358") drill. Drilling in two steps ensures excellent surface finish and cylindricity. See "drill2"




MIDWAY

Now we see your putter with half the machining done. See "midway"




September 20

The two bottom rads of your putter have been milled on the CNC. Attached is an in process pic. I also skimmed .001" off the back and will leave it clamped in for engraving. Pic attached. That way the surface that is getting engraved is perfectly flat relative to the machine.





September 22, 2008

The engraving is done and the face has been milled. Sorry the engraving pics aren't the greatest, I guess the camera didn't focus properly. The only milling left is the bottom flat. After that it's finishing, logo stamping and assembly.



CAD RENDITION OF ENGRAVING



ENGRAVING DURING





Engraving




SEPTEMBER 24,

Your putter is 100% milled. I rounded the leading edges as seen in the pic starting with a belt sander, then going to a medium file, medium sandpaper and finally a fine sanding sponge. This will look cleaner and blend better after final finish. After the leading edges were done the bottom flat was milled on the manual mill with the putter clamped in a vise on a tilting angle table. The angle was set at 30* with a ground angle block.

Blend




Sole flat milled




OCT 5

Putter v2.0 is all milled and stamped. I've done a little preliminary finishing as well. The balance ended up being 4:15-4:20. It will play virtually the same as a 4:30 hang. For future putters I will tweak the entry point .010"-.015" or so.




Oct 9

The putter is done

[kiwidave]

Mother of god that is an awesome looking putter. Picture that in Dark Oil and I'd be a very very happy man.

 

Spoon your a lucky and Serge that head is gorgeous

[birdieputt]

Great pics, putter ain't to bad either :tongue:

[reebus]

Serge definitely includes you in the process if you want to be. The level of attention

he gives you is hard to believe. That's a real pretty piece, and it's nice to know

that you got EXACTLY what you asked for.....

[Spoon]

That's a real pretty piece, and it's nice to know

that you got EXACTLY what you asked for.....

 

thank you reebus. in fact serge had to redo my head from scratch, whole shebang coz he couldnt get to my requested toe hang but he came quite close, he did the math, re calibrated the machines and dint quit til he got it right. i wouldnt have been able to tel the difference but i appreciate his honesty.

 

yes the level of attention is impressive, note that he is a one man show, cant wait for him to come up with new designs. il be keeping an eye on serge.

[sergizmo]

Mother of god that is an awesome looking putter. Picture that in Dark Oil and I'd be a very very happy man.

 

Spoon your a lucky and Serge that head is gorgeous

 

Thanks Dave.

 

I don't have any oil type finishes, but offer antique as the dark finish option.

 

Example:

 

 

[sergizmo]

Great pics, putter ain't to bad either :tongue:

 

Thanks. I took all the pics as well. Gettin' pretty good with the point and shoot.

 

Serge definitely includes you in the process if you want to be. The level of attention

he gives you is hard to believe. That's a real pretty piece, and it's nice to know

that you got EXACTLY what you asked for.....

 

Thanks Mike! If it's going to be custom, may as well go all the way with it.

[sergizmo]

I just want to thank Carlo (Spoon) for being so patient. I did make a mistake and had to redo the entire head. The end result turned out well.

 

Hopefully the putter gets to him safe and sound, it's going to the other side of the world.

 

Enjoy the putter Carlo! I look forward to any feedback you may have. Drop me a message any time.

[5UnderPar]

Excellent looking putter....Wow. This is a great post and really shows the art from start to finish. Great work Serge and thanks for posting Carlo.

[sweeet]

Great pictures.. and that's a good looking putter as well. Great work from SD.. enjoy it :)

[scottyallanb]

Excellent post!! Nice to see the steps that are taken to make such a nice flat stick.

 

Scotty B

[sergizmo]

Thanks guys. I try to provide as much info to customers as possible to really make them part of the process.

[TM golf guy]

Awesome putter. I really like the Deschamps putters design. I would love to try one one day. Hope she makes lots of putts for you.

[Big A HG]

It's not my style of putter, but the process and detail that goes into it is unbelievable. I appreciate the rundown of Serge's work! I can't fathom the time/money spent making one putter.

[Tupperwolf]

The finished product looks simple until you look at how carefully it was made. Then you go back and realize it is made to very exacting tolerances and specifications and your respect for the product goes up exponentially. That really is awesome and gosh, it's beautiful too!

[sergizmo]

I really appreciate all the positive comments.

 

The company name is Deschamps putters. Can the thread title be edited?

[kitsoasis]

i love the process and detail, Serge are there plans to expand your line of putters?

[Spoon]

sorry about that serge il get it fixed now

[sergizmo]

Yes, the next model is being drawn up in CAD. I'm on the second version and will continue to revise until I'm happy with the result (With the help of a little market research as well). It is a heel-toe weighted design that looks vaguely Anser-ish from address but retains the design principles of low loft coupled with higher than normal centre of gravity. It will be more forgiving on off-centre putts than the current Blade due to higher MOI while retaining excellent feel due to the face still being 1/2" thick.

 

Right now I'm in the process of building a new CNC mill that will replace my current manual and CNC mills. After that is complete I can mill a prototype of the new design and get things rolling. The CAD and CNC programming of the new design can be done before the new machine is built but I really want to get that machine done before launching a new putter. I can't give you guys a concrete timeline on this, sorry. I'm hoping to have the machine and enclosure 100% built within 3 months and should have a prototype done within a week of that. But surely there will be a lot of little "surprises" during the build that will crop up.

 

Rest assured that the GolfWRX community will be well informed as to the "goings-on" of Deschamps Putters. There will be lots and lots of pics documenting the milling of the first prototype.

 

edit: Carlo; no problem, thank you!

[Spoon]

great serge! looking forward to your next release. i am defintely going to keep an eager eye open for this one. cant wait for this one to materialize. good luck man

[sergizmo]

As a customer you will be among first to see the final CAD's and anything else to do with this design. Thank you for the well wishes. :friends:

[kiwidave]

Mother of god that is an awesome looking putter. Picture that in Dark Oil and I'd be a very very happy man.

 

Spoon your a lucky and Serge that head is gorgeous

 

Thanks Dave.

 

I don't have any oil type finishes, but offer antique as the dark finish option.

 

Example:

 

 

 

 

Serge posting that is just mean. Wish I had the cash, I really really do

[bgolfing]

CAn you compare the feel and sound to anything? Also what is the theory behind the low loft? Is it good for very fast greens?

[adam10]

that antique finish is incredible. really takes the look of the putter to a new level.

[sergizmo]

CAn you compare the feel and sound to anything? Also what is the theory behind the low loft? Is it good for very fast greens?

 

Brass is a very dense and soft material. Softer than all steels, yet slightly harder than copper. So there is a soft, solid feel. The face is a full 1/2" thick enhancing this further.

 

The sound is a deep "pong" type sound. Not clicky or high pitched at all.

 

The lower loft combined with higher than usual COG ensures that the energy from the stroke is propelling the ball forward, not up. It works extremely well on fast and medium greens (verified with tester and customer feedback) providing excellent distance control and a tight roll. For slower greens, the ball can be moved up an inch or so in the stance so that it is contacted on a slight upswing. This increases dynamic loft at impact and ensures a good roll on these shaggy greens.

 

that antique finish is incredible. really takes the look of the putter to a new level.

 

It's my favourite of the finishes (that I offer) as well. It was a happy experiment/mistake in discovering how it was done.

[pirettigolf]

Great work Serge! That antique finish is beautiful!

Mike

[sergizmo]

Thank you very much Mike.

[bgolfing]

Is the feel a little like the original brass bullseyes? Maybe deeper?

[sergizmo]

It feels similar. They are both brass. There is more mass behind the sweetspot so the sound/feel is a bit deeper. You can order the Blade in 335, 340, 345, 350, 355, 360, 365, 370 or 375 gram weights to get the feel in your hands the way you want.

[choeppner]

What finish did you do on mine Serge?