Two years ago at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, a week before the world changed and the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States, I snapped a photograph of Viktor Hovland’s putter. In fact, I photographed all his clubs while he worked with one of Ping’s PGA Tour reps on the range, but that putter is unique because, unlike nearly all Ping clubs, it was covered in rust.
Over time and with exposure to air and water, Hovland’s DS 72 putter slowly developed a patina of brown pocked with orange, and gearheads on social media loved it.
I reposted that image after Hovland won last fall, and once again equipment lovers responded. But the emails and comments overwhelmingly mentioned the same request: “Hey Ping, make this available to the rest of us!”
Ping just released the four-model PLD Milled series of putters, and one of the clubs now available is Hovland’s DS 72 mallet. Still, suppose you want to go the full Hovie. In that case, the company’s new Ping PLD Custom program will let you recreate the putter of your dreams, whether that’s Hovland’s DS 72, a customized Anser or one of several other models available with a level of personalization that Ping has never before offered the public.
It’s a new ultra-premium service, and it comes with likewise ultra-premium price of $1,290. But paying that price means you won’t hear this, “Sorry, we can’t do that.”
At the heart of the PLD Custom program is custom fitting, done either in-person with a Ping master fitter or virtually using Ping’s proprietary iPing app.
Pros such as Hovland, Cameron Champ and Bubba Watson use the iPing app – which involves attaching an iPod using a plastic cradle to your putter, then hitting three series of five putts – when they have their putting stroke analyzed at the Ping Putt Lab inside the company’s headquarters in Phoenix.
In your virtual fitting, studying your stroke on 15 10-foot putts, the iPing app calculates things such as consistency of face closure, your tempo, the amount of shaft lean you average at impact, the average lie angle and your average impact angle. That data, to a master fitter, is like gold and allows your fitter to make a recommendation about the type of putter that could benefit you most in a pre-arranged videoconference. For example, if you tend to strike the ball with the shaft leaning forward, the fitter will recommend more loft than standard. If your tempo is slow and you putt on fast greens, he or she might recommend a heavy head.
After you and the fitter decide the type of putter you need, the sky is the limit. You get to pick the head shape from blades such as the Anser, Anser 2 and Kushin to mallets such as the Prime Tyne, DS 72 and Oslo. You get to chose the material from which your putter head will be made, either stainless steel or carbon steel, as well as the amount of face milling, the finish, the alignment features, the grip, custom stamping and paintfill colors. You even get to decide the shaft. In other words, you get as much customization as tour pros enjoy.
All of the putters sold in the Ping PLD Custom program will be milled, built and assembled by Ping’s Wrx team in Phoenix, the same people who build putters for tour players. Ping exects to be able to deliver PLD Custom putters about three weeks after customers place their orders.
As you might expect, this level of fitting, service and customization carries a premium price tag. To book a PLD Custom fitting with a master fitter or a virtual fitting, golfers are required to pay a $200 non-refundable charge. That amount is applied toward the purchase of the putter, which will carry a price tag of $1,290. It’s a big number, to be sure, but Ping aims to make this a tour-level, top-of-the-line experience. Nothing is off the table.
The four new Ping PLD Milled putters that are arriving in stores will make a lot of golfers happy, but for those who can afford it and who have always dreamed of having a customized, tour-level putter in their bag, the PLD Custom program now makes it possible.
Ping PLD Milled Anser: $449.99 at PGA Tour Superstore / $447 at GlobalGolf
Ping PLD Milled Anser II: $449.99 at PGA Tour Superstore / $447 at GlobalGolf
Ping PLD Milled DS72: $449.99 at PGA Tour Superstore / $447 at GlobalGolf
Ping PLD Milled Tyne Prime 4: $449.99 at PGA Tour Superstore / $447 at GlobalGolf
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