Golf collector and historian/journalist John Fischer III writes:
“GCS co-founder Bob Kuntz frequently said there’s nothing new in golf, and would demonstrate his point with clubs, balls, shafts and other items that reappeared in more recent times as ‘new.’ A little while ago I discovered a putter that has heel and toe weighting suspiciously similar to a Ping putter. The head has no markings, but the hickory shaft bears the stamp ‘B SAYERS’ near the grip, and looks like the famous Sayers ‘Benny’ putter down to the serrated sole, called a ‘Gruvsol,’ to alleviate drag on lesser manicured greens. There is no scoring on the face. The ‘robin’ cleekmark used by Sayers is also missing on the head. I don’t think this putter inspired Karsten Solheim when he was developing the Ping putter in his garage based on principles of physics and engineering, but Sayers produced a similar club head years before, maybe just on ‘feel.’ Was this Sayers’ earlier answer to the Ping Anser putter? I’d welcome any thoughts from our club collecting friends.
