PING Golf started out back in the mid 1950s in the U.S.A. The founder of PING, Karsten Solheim used his engineering skills gained at General Electric to create a new putter in his garage, he named this PING due to the sound of the metal of his putter as it struck the golf balls.

By 1961, Solheim had relocated from California to Arizona with his family, where he set up a more permanent business (still in his garage). It was here where Solheim started working on his PING golf clubs and PING golf sets more seriously and to cater for a wider golfing audience.

Soon after moving to Arizona, Solheim invented a set of PING irons known as the and within two years of his move to the state a PGA Tour victory was won with the help of a PING golf club at the Cajun Classic Open Invitational by John Barnum.

This early victory was a great promotional tool for PING Golf Clubs and sales increased, so much so that by the time of The Golf World Cup in 1965, many of the top players used Ping Putters, what’s more.. the event (in Japan) was televised! Impressive when you think these putters were still being made in Solheim’s garage.

1966 brought more success when Karsten Solheim designed a new putter which was initially sketched on the dust cover of a 78 RPM record. The new putter was named by Solheim’s wife and the Answer putter went on to become one of the most influential putters in golf.

PING Wins at The Masters

The company took a major knock back in 1966 when USGA golf’s governing body for rules and golf equipment outlawed all PING putters other than the Answer (or Anser) for tournament and handicap play. This was due to PING putters have a small bend in the golf club shaft just below the grip and this was thought to provide golfers with an advantage in the putting stroke.

By the late 60s a major championship was won using a PING putter at the infamous Masters. This period in the company’s history also saw the introduction of the K1 stainless cast steel iron set.

In later years PING experimented successfully with factory fitting of various club-heads and in the 1980s PING were using checklists to compliment a fitting program based on golfers physical attributes.

Today, PING still pride themselves on some great quality golf clubs and Karsten Solheim’s legacy lives on.

For information on Ping products please visit our Ping Golf Equpment section today!