History

PING Golf Clubs – A Brief History of PING Golf Clubs

How did PING Golf Clubs get started? Karsten Solheim, was a mechanical engineer with General Electric working mostly in aerospace and computer industries. He was not satisfied with his putting skills. He decided to design his own putter in his garage. Today, PING manufactures some of the highest quality, state-of-the-art, golf clubs and game improvement products in the world. It remains a family owned company. Their products are sold in more than 70 countries. The golf clubs are used by tournament professional golfers as well as budding amateurs.

The name PING comes from the pinging sound that can be heard as the golf ball is hit by the metal golf club. The PING putters revolutionized the golf putter market with the heel-to-toe weighting design. Many people are amazed by the ping. Sports Illustrated magazine referred to the PING 1A as the musical putter for the sweet sound that it emitted.

Not content with putters, in 1961, Solheim invented his first set of irons. He named the irons 69. He considered a score of 69 to be a good round of golf. He continued to fine tune the heel-toe weightings in his irons. He added a cavity in the steel back of the irons for added forgiveness.

In 1966, the United States Golf Association deemed nearly every PING putter as unacceptable for tournament play. The only PING putter that was deemed acceptable for tournament play was the recently design Anser putter.

The Anser would become the most influential putter in golf. With its cavity back and low center of gravity, this putter provided superior feel for golfers of all abilities. It set the standard for what is now considered the conventional putter. With more than 500 professional tournament wins, the PING Anser has become the putter with the most wins in history.