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SI Article about the putting industry in 1995

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oumagic

oumagic

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I was browsing the net and found a cool article from the Sports Illustrated Vault. I have mentioned that I got my first “real” putter in May 1995 for college graduation and it was an Odyssey Dual Force 990. I don’t have the original one because it was stolen, but my wife (then fiancée) bought me a replacement as a wedding gift in 1998 and I still have that one and play it for long stretches.

It is amazing how far the putting industry has come and the article talks about Odyssey failing at the January 1994 PGA Merchandise show but then had a number of victories on the Senior Tour and the rest is history. It also talks quite a bit about Scotty Cameron and the Titleist merger of 1994. I find the golf industry history fascinating. Of course I have also said that I found Johnny Miller entertaining, so YMMV. https://www.si.com/vault/1995/01/30...at-stick-industry-into-a-182-million-business
 
I loved that Dual Force Putter.
 
That is a fascinating little slice of history. I had no idea how young Scotty was, or how relatively quickly he’d been purchased by Titleist.

I started working at a golf course within a couple years of this article, and I remember drooling over the Odyssey putters then, something about that Insert has always spoken to me.

Thanks for sharing.
 
That was a really fun read. I had no idea Bobby Grace and T.P. Mills have been around that long. That was about the time I really started getting in to golf and always lusted after a Ping putter. It's kind of amazing how little Tour presence Ping has compared to Scotty and Odyssey anymore when you consider how much of a juggernaut they were.
 
According to the National Golf Foundation, $182 million worth of putters were sold in 1993. At an average of $75 a pop,
Click to expand...

:bulgy-eyes:

Apparently I missed the good ol' days.
 
Paladin said:
:bulgy-eyes:

Apparently I missed the good ol' days.
Click to expand...
I don’t remember how much the DF 990 was in 1995, but I am guessing about $100 and I know it was a very big deal to get for graduation that May. I then started my job in August of 1995 at roughly $9/hour as a production foreman trainee, so $100 was kind of a big deal. I have been with the company and had the putter since :)
 
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