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Ahead of Their Time: Your List

SuperStroke
I think Carbite Putters were the first I saw to really focus on perimeter weighting and MOI in a putter. Loved mine back in the day!
 
Taylor Made JA Corvi Raylor putter from the 1980s. EA246B3C-8E5D-48AB-B356-EC7425184B52.png
 
ddec said:
people often mock Nike but they sure did do some fun things that design wise still work.

Speed Channel is an absolute. Plus that driver had a freaking amazing shape to it(thinking of VR Pro II I think).
STR8 fit adapter was the best in the game. Now it took them a while to get there and they had like 3-4 adapters before that including one that looked like it was a spike dog collar.
I don't know where they stand in the line of this one, but the original Method putters from a design standpoint and focusing on roll was a good one.
Nike Flex driver that had the "battery looking weight" that allowed weight change from front to back. Think about it, that was 2014 announcement.
I'm going to throw the VRS Forged irons out there as well. Them and the Z-Star were the first of that forged friendly distance that eventually saw Apex come in to the fold.
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Nike still has the best adapter to date. I'm shocked that patent hasn't been scooped up yet by a company.
 
Jman said:
Oh ****, that’s wild.
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@Canadan referred to it as “nutty”. And I have one in my basement. I paid $5 for it when a golf store was going out of business back around 1985 or so.
 
NVGOLFER80 said:
That is still my fav driver off all time. I am not sure anything has matched the ball speeds I get with that since. Soooooooooooo good.
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To this day I’ve hit it places on my course I’ve only reached with maybe one or two other heads.
 
I didn't really get into golf gear until I joined THP, so I don't really have much to add personally. It's fun to see what everyone else is saying though, because a lot of what comes out of this I might not have known that is what sparked newer ideas.
 
Definitely the Ping Eye2 irons and Anser putter, both classics that inspired a ton of knockoffs. Also Adams Tight Lies fairway woods - they were the first ones I can remember that were that style of FW.

The Cleveland VAS792s were way ahead of their time, but not in a good way.
 
Snowman said:
Definitely the Ping Eye2 irons and Anser putter, both classics that inspired a ton of knockoffs. Also Adams Tight Lies fairway woods - they were the first ones I can remember that were that style of FW.

The Cleveland VAS792s were way ahead of their time, but not in a good way.
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VAS fit into the, almost being so ugly they rip a hole in time, category haha
 
Canadan said:
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Additional thoughts on these;

- Long heel to toe made them sooooo much easier to hit as a subtle cavity player 'looking' iron.
- significant amount of the leading edge was cleared so they were not as aggressive through the turf. This wasn't as crazy as what we saw with the v-sole style heads, but man, it made a huge difference vs a full blade iron that would completely carve through the ground.
- Sound was easily as good as anything out there at the time.
 
Was the Ping anser really ahead of it's time though? It's a popular shape that ended up working out, but didn't companies start emulating it pretty quickly? I feel like ahead of its time has to more so be a product that came out, and everyone else had to catch on and catch up years later. Maybe I'm wrong there though, maybe it was the only putter of its kind for a while.
 
Snowman said:
Definitely the Ping Eye2 irons and Anser putter, both classics that inspired a ton of knockoffs. Also Adams Tight Lies fairway woods - they were the first ones I can remember that were that style of FW.

The Cleveland VAS792s were way ahead of their time, but not in a good way.
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Yes, yes, yes, and... :sick::poop:
 
R7 driver for sure. Started the adjustable craze.
VRS forged irons were the first to bridge forged players and GI...IIRC.

I think that the J40 irons are more "timeless" than they are "ahead of it's time".
 
I am going with The Original Big Bertha. I remember when I got it catching crap from playing partners who said it was like swinging a shovel. They thought the name was ridiculous and it sounded terrible hitting the ball and couldn't believe I was playing a stainless steel driver. When I got it, two of my playing partners from work were still using persimmon. That is what I upgraded from and I didn't buy the Big Bertha used until 1996 or so. That means it was out for years before I accepted it. I think I got the Odyssey DF 990 right before or right after the Big Bertha.
 
A few nickent hybrids should be included here.
 
RAM Zebra Putter. Changeable weights (essentially washers), aggressive alignment aid
 
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