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Ping Golf Born Out Of Putting Frustration
By Angus MacLeod

Based on the sound the golf ball made when it was hit by his newly designed putter, Karsten Solheim named his custom-made invention Ping. The engineer from General Electric had been frustrated with his putting game, blaming it on the putters available in the late 1950's so he designed his own, giving birth to Ping Golf equipment.

Working in his garage in 1959, the Redwood City, California resident designed the Ping 1A putter with a heel-toe weight, setting the golf equipment world on its ear. Sports Illustrated fell in love with the sound the putter made when used, and Ping Golf was moved to Phoenix, Arizona where it is headquartered today. After resigning from GE in 1967, Solheim continued for the first few years making his putters individually by hand.

His first set of Ping Golf irons continued with his innovation of heel-toe weighting and he named them “69,” which he considered a good score for a round of golf. John Barnum earned a PGA Tour event in 1962 using a Ping Golf club, and sales of his work continued to climb. Sales escalated even higher following the 1965 Golf World Cup in Japan after many of the professionals used Ping putters during the televised event.

Additional Clubs Added To The Equipment Mix

With a new idea for a putter in his mind, Solheim could not find a piece of paper to draw his idea, so using a dust cover of a 78-RPM record, he sketched his new putter. When trying to come up with a name, his wife suggested that since it was the answer to his putting problems, he should call it the answer. However, since the name was too long to fit on the club, it was shortened to Anser.

In 1966 the United States Golf Association's rules committee banned all Ping Golf putters, except the Answer, claiming the slight bend in the shaft below the grip gave golfers too much of an advantage. Considered a conventional putter, the Answer is the winningest putter in professional golf history.

Following his resignation from GE in 1967, a new factory was built and houses Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, which today makes all Ping Golf equipment in its plant in Phoenix, including putters, irons, woods and hybrid clubs. Ping Golf has grown to be one of the most widely known and respected brands of golf equipment manufacturers in the world.

Author Details:
Angus MacLeod, copywriter for various websites including, Golf in Scotland and The A to Z of with his main interests being golf and fishing, especially when in Scotland.

Article Source: Golf Articles

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