When I got to Studio B in Chicago I was a little nervous. I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I went in I looked around for a little bit before I rang the bell for assistance. A young lady came to the receptionist desk. She politely asked me who I was here to see and if they were expecting me. I told her I was there to see Mike Orvis the general manager and I thought he knew I was coming. She asked me if I would like something to drink and asked me if I could wait a few moments while she went back and got Mike. While I waited I looked around the waiting area a little more. So I decided I could snap some pictures. So I got some.
After a short wait, Mike came out and introduced himself. He escorted me up the stairs and into a fitting room. The room had an indoor putting green everywhere instead of carpet or tile. It was pretty cool looking. There was a leather chair and couch. And all around the room was different Bettinardi putters. They were lined up against a wooden rail that ran all along the room. And behind the rail was a bunch of glass cases with more putters. I don’t mean regular putters, but like just heads and older ones, like a display around the room. At the end of the room was a glass wall and door. On the other side was the fitting area where they have a little putting green with lasers and a chart back stop (I’ll explain that more in a bit). Sorry I didn’t get pictures of this, I was pretty WOW’d when I got up there…
Mike asked me about how I like golf and that I was lucky to have been chosen for the MC. It is a chance of a lifetime. I quickly agreed. Then he asked me about my putting tendencies. Said that he didn’t want to change the way I stand but wanted to know what my usual miss was. I told him that I normally miss left. He had me grab a putter right there off the wall outside the fitting room. He placed a simulated cup out about 15 feet away, which to me sort of looked like a big mushroom with a skinny base that a golf ball could fit under the mushroom top. He had me putt a few balls at it as he stood down by it and rolled them back to me. As I was putting balls to him he asked what my normal stroke was. I asked what he meant. He explained that it either goes back straight or has an arc to it. I told him I like to think it goes straight back. I putted a few more. He grabbed my current putter and explained that it was a slight open toed putter. He explained it by balancing the putter in his hand horizontally by the shaft and pointed to the way the toe was pointing more towards the ground. He said that may be the reason that I miss my putts to the left. If I had an “arc” swing, then my putter would be correct but since I don’t think I do. That may be one of my issues. Then he says, let’s go find out. He grabbed about 5 or 6 different putters. I hope you guys understand what I mean by heel or toe hang. I know the ones that know tons about putters do, but I don’t. So I hope I explain this right. A couple mid shafted with toe hang and heel hang. Then he grabbed a few heel shafted putters with open toe and closed toe. Plus a couple that were straight. Then we went into the fitting room.
In the fitting room, there was like I said before, a raised putting green with camera’s and lasers on it with a mark to place a ball at one end and a cup at the other end. Directly behind the cup was a chart. Next to the ball spot, there was a place to stand, obviously. Mike had me grab one of the putters with the toe open similar to mine. Since I was putting in the other room, I had my putter stroke in my head. Mike placed a mirror on the face/toe of the putter. When I lined up to the ball the laser would hit the mirror and a red spot would hit the chart on the board. The chart was like a big white board with lines in columns and rows. Each column and row had a number assigned to it. He explained that at set up with the laser pointing into the mirror on the putter, the laser’s reflection should hit a certain area on the chart. I don’t remember what the numbers were, sorry. As I putted the ball, the camera recorded my stroke from the front, rear, and side. Mike was able to slow down my stroke while looking at the chart and see where my laser reflection was throughout my swing. That’s when we figured out that I do have just a slight arc to my swing. But not enough to warrant an open or closed toe putter. He told me that I line up to the ball nicely. I’m a little hunched over but my forearms are in line with the putter handle and my eyes are directly over the ball. That brought us down to 3 putters. He then brought me back out to the putter room and had me putt some long putts to see if I like the harder or softer face. He then had me putt a few more one the machine to check if my head lie was straight. The toe was up a little so he adjusted it down a little. I putted a few more, he checked it again and adjusted it down a hair again. Putted a few more and it was perfect. After we figured that out he measured me for putter height. I think he cut down to a 33” for me since the way I stand. Asked me what putter handle I preferred. Then he put my putter together right there on the spot. I let him know what I wanted stamped on it and what else I thought. I gave him a little idea of what I thought would make mine look sweet. And he said if you don’t mind not leaving with it today, I can do that. I said heck, I wasn’t under the impression I was leaving with my putter today anyways. I chose to have “FROG” stamped on it in LIME GREEN. I’m not going to mention the other thing. We will see if you guys can notice it. Anyways, Mike went down to start stamping my putter.
As Mike was adjusting the lie on my putter another guy came in, Keith Webster. He is the V.P. of Golf Operations. From what I understand, Keith gets Robert Bettinardi’s design from Mr. B himself! Then Keith is the one that make it comes to life! He sat me down and showed me a little about how the process works from Mr. B giving him the idea. Keith putting it into an advanced 3D design program. The program figures where the center of gravity is in the new design. Once that process is all done the program sends the specs to the machines that cut the putters. After going thru all that with me he gave me a tour of the shop.
Keith explained that each putter head starts from a 3lb piece of metal. It takes 5 operations for each putter head not including painting the head and custom stamping such as my “FROG”. Each operation is when someone turns the machine off, moves the piece then puts it back into the machine. Each operation is anywhere from 27 to 58 minutes long. The machines are sort of like wet routers. They can engrave any image or writing by programming! If someone wanted to order 100 putters and buckles with a personal logo on them, they could. Which I thought was cool. They also make metal modules there that have to withstand a certain amount of pressure, but that’s not important in this setting. They are leading the industry in customization of putters and buckles. Bettinardi has been doing it this way for 10 years. The shop was a machine shop so I couldn’t take pictures back there. I did manage to take one that I thought would you guys would like to see.
Keith brought me back to the custom painting area where Mike was doing the painting on my putter. He had already had it done it was just drying. I got to sort of see what it looked like. I have to say “I can’t wait till it’s here.” Keith said that they would ship it tomorrow and I would probably receive it on Monday if not sooner depending because of the holiday. We walked back to the front. I thanked him and Mike for all that they had done for me. And that I was overwhelmed by the treatment that I received. Bettinardi is a class act!
I hope I didn’t bore you guys/gals with how long this was. Again, I am sorry I didn’t get more pictures or any videos. I really can’t express how I want to say “THANK YOU” to JB, GG, the judges, Bridgestone, Bettinardi, Antigua, and Ecco for letting me be a part of this experience. I have already been amazed and this has just started!!!
I tried to type all of this from memory. So, if I remember some more I will update as needed. Thanks for reading this long post guys/gals. It was truely an awesome experience.
* It takes about 6 hours to make each putter not including stamping and painting. On average they make about 20 putter heads per 9 hour shift. So it takes them a little over 3 weeks to make 1000 of them. Sorry I forgot to mention that.
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler
Mike asked me about how I like golf and that I was lucky to have been chosen for the MC. It is a chance of a lifetime. I quickly agreed. Then he asked me about my putting tendencies. Said that he didn’t want to change the way I stand but wanted to know what my usual miss was. I told him that I normally miss left. He had me grab a putter right there off the wall outside the fitting room. He placed a simulated cup out about 15 feet away, which to me sort of looked like a big mushroom with a skinny base that a golf ball could fit under the mushroom top. He had me putt a few balls at it as he stood down by it and rolled them back to me. As I was putting balls to him he asked what my normal stroke was. I asked what he meant. He explained that it either goes back straight or has an arc to it. I told him I like to think it goes straight back. I putted a few more. He grabbed my current putter and explained that it was a slight open toed putter. He explained it by balancing the putter in his hand horizontally by the shaft and pointed to the way the toe was pointing more towards the ground. He said that may be the reason that I miss my putts to the left. If I had an “arc” swing, then my putter would be correct but since I don’t think I do. That may be one of my issues. Then he says, let’s go find out. He grabbed about 5 or 6 different putters. I hope you guys understand what I mean by heel or toe hang. I know the ones that know tons about putters do, but I don’t. So I hope I explain this right. A couple mid shafted with toe hang and heel hang. Then he grabbed a few heel shafted putters with open toe and closed toe. Plus a couple that were straight. Then we went into the fitting room.
In the fitting room, there was like I said before, a raised putting green with camera’s and lasers on it with a mark to place a ball at one end and a cup at the other end. Directly behind the cup was a chart. Next to the ball spot, there was a place to stand, obviously. Mike had me grab one of the putters with the toe open similar to mine. Since I was putting in the other room, I had my putter stroke in my head. Mike placed a mirror on the face/toe of the putter. When I lined up to the ball the laser would hit the mirror and a red spot would hit the chart on the board. The chart was like a big white board with lines in columns and rows. Each column and row had a number assigned to it. He explained that at set up with the laser pointing into the mirror on the putter, the laser’s reflection should hit a certain area on the chart. I don’t remember what the numbers were, sorry. As I putted the ball, the camera recorded my stroke from the front, rear, and side. Mike was able to slow down my stroke while looking at the chart and see where my laser reflection was throughout my swing. That’s when we figured out that I do have just a slight arc to my swing. But not enough to warrant an open or closed toe putter. He told me that I line up to the ball nicely. I’m a little hunched over but my forearms are in line with the putter handle and my eyes are directly over the ball. That brought us down to 3 putters. He then brought me back out to the putter room and had me putt some long putts to see if I like the harder or softer face. He then had me putt a few more one the machine to check if my head lie was straight. The toe was up a little so he adjusted it down a little. I putted a few more, he checked it again and adjusted it down a hair again. Putted a few more and it was perfect. After we figured that out he measured me for putter height. I think he cut down to a 33” for me since the way I stand. Asked me what putter handle I preferred. Then he put my putter together right there on the spot. I let him know what I wanted stamped on it and what else I thought. I gave him a little idea of what I thought would make mine look sweet. And he said if you don’t mind not leaving with it today, I can do that. I said heck, I wasn’t under the impression I was leaving with my putter today anyways. I chose to have “FROG” stamped on it in LIME GREEN. I’m not going to mention the other thing. We will see if you guys can notice it. Anyways, Mike went down to start stamping my putter.
As Mike was adjusting the lie on my putter another guy came in, Keith Webster. He is the V.P. of Golf Operations. From what I understand, Keith gets Robert Bettinardi’s design from Mr. B himself! Then Keith is the one that make it comes to life! He sat me down and showed me a little about how the process works from Mr. B giving him the idea. Keith putting it into an advanced 3D design program. The program figures where the center of gravity is in the new design. Once that process is all done the program sends the specs to the machines that cut the putters. After going thru all that with me he gave me a tour of the shop.
Keith explained that each putter head starts from a 3lb piece of metal. It takes 5 operations for each putter head not including painting the head and custom stamping such as my “FROG”. Each operation is when someone turns the machine off, moves the piece then puts it back into the machine. Each operation is anywhere from 27 to 58 minutes long. The machines are sort of like wet routers. They can engrave any image or writing by programming! If someone wanted to order 100 putters and buckles with a personal logo on them, they could. Which I thought was cool. They also make metal modules there that have to withstand a certain amount of pressure, but that’s not important in this setting. They are leading the industry in customization of putters and buckles. Bettinardi has been doing it this way for 10 years. The shop was a machine shop so I couldn’t take pictures back there. I did manage to take one that I thought would you guys would like to see.
Spoiler
Keith brought me back to the custom painting area where Mike was doing the painting on my putter. He had already had it done it was just drying. I got to sort of see what it looked like. I have to say “I can’t wait till it’s here.” Keith said that they would ship it tomorrow and I would probably receive it on Monday if not sooner depending because of the holiday. We walked back to the front. I thanked him and Mike for all that they had done for me. And that I was overwhelmed by the treatment that I received. Bettinardi is a class act!
I hope I didn’t bore you guys/gals with how long this was. Again, I am sorry I didn’t get more pictures or any videos. I really can’t express how I want to say “THANK YOU” to JB, GG, the judges, Bridgestone, Bettinardi, Antigua, and Ecco for letting me be a part of this experience. I have already been amazed and this has just started!!!
I tried to type all of this from memory. So, if I remember some more I will update as needed. Thanks for reading this long post guys/gals. It was truely an awesome experience.
* It takes about 6 hours to make each putter not including stamping and painting. On average they make about 20 putter heads per 9 hour shift. So it takes them a little over 3 weeks to make 1000 of them. Sorry I forgot to mention that.
Last edited:
