Best putter craftsman

[hypergolf]

Which putter craftsman do you think is/was the best within the last 50 years of golfing history? Why and which putter would be considered their masterpiece?

1. Scotty Cameron
2. Karsten Solheim
3. Bob Bettinardi
4. Others

[indacup]

Best designer would be Karsten...his amount of patents and copy cats (ala Cameron) back that up.

Best Craftsman? Has to be Tom Slighter.

Tom is the only one I know who can literally take a concept, an image from someones mind and replicate it to exact specs.

[Genericity]

Best designer would be Karsten...his amount of patents and copy cats (ala Cameron) back that up.

Best Craftsman? Has to be Tom Slighter.

Tom is the only one I know who can literally take a concept, an image from someones mind and replicate it to exact specs.

I agree with you - thus I voted "Other." I just recieved a Tacoma FPR from Tom Slighter and I have to say it rolls and feels better than my Circa 62 (Not by much as both are REAL nice pieces of equipment though).

[Waku]

Voted Others for Tom Slighter.
I owned both a Scotty Cameron Studio Stainless Newport II and ordered a Tom Slighter Tacoma custom handmade.
You can see it here :
http://www.slightergolf.com/custom/c_details.asp?cat=J&offset=30&id=569
No doubt Tom Slighter wins hands down. I thought I was keeping the SC as a backup, but I sold the Scotty one day later.
Tom made an incredible work fitting exactly my personal specs : length, weight, cosmetics... Scotty may do this with pros, but not for the rest of us. :-)

[sboardz006]

Slighter's putters are amazing. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for yours.

[shortgame85]

The Tom Slighter putters look amazing on the website, although he doesn't appear to offer many mallet putters. I would love to try one of his designs, however. But, because I've never seen his putters in person, and his designs are not that different than anyone else's, and I am familiar with the other designers in the poll, I would have to cast my vote for Karsten Solheim because he was such an innovator. Perhaps he never crafted a putter as lovely as a Scotty Cameron Newport Beach or a Bettinardi mallet, but his 40 to 50 year old designs are copied today by almost every relevant putter maker. Now, if you were to ask who is the best active/living craftsman/innovator, then my answer would, of course, be different. If your question was, " Which putter maker, today, has the best marketing?" I would have to vote for Scotty Cameron. Great putters, but prototypes selling for 4 and 5 figures? OMG! Putter covers selling for hundreds of dollars? Give the man a Cuban Cohiba Esplandido for having the best marketing team in the business! If you were to ask, instead, " Which fellow makes the most beautiful putters?" Those pretty, sometimes jewel like putters would be crafted, in my opinion, by Bettinardi. Who's the best overall, at making putters, today? That's easy. It's the fellow that designed the one you swing that gets your ball in the hole more often than not and with which you have no 3 putts. I don't mean to sound like a wisenheimer, but I would respectfully suggest that your question may be too broad to be accurately answered.

[mybloodinvt]

i voted for scotty cameron, but i may be biased.

[indacup]

Best Designer - Karsten
Best Craftsman - Tom Slighter
Best Marketer- Scott Cameron

[Genericity]

Slighter's putters are amazing. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for yours.

I don't know if this is taboo or something because I haven't really been able to find info on this anywhere else either.

Are you sitting down? You might want to be so you don't faint.

Tom's base Tacoma runs in the mid-high $300's. Customization runs even more but shouldn't be over $100 (max) for a really "tricked out" putter.

Now that being said, I just bought one of his limited production run FPR Tacomas for $250 + shipping. I thought it was a deal so I went for it. I am VERY pleased with it - I just feels so damn good. Worth every penny in my opinion. You can check it out by going to Slighter Golf (http://slightergolf.com).

Now that I have the FPR I am going to purchase another Tacoma simply because I truly believe they are worth it. I know I will get flamed for being nuts and all but I don't care. Putters are my vice, my weakness, and my joy. So there!

[Waku]

Slighter's putters are amazing. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for yours.

Hi,

Mine was $350, as I can remember. You can get one from $200 but I added some expensive specs, as a "floating face slot" ($60), international shipping and others.
If you´re very interested, I can search my email inbox to find the original quote, but I suggest you to ask one directly to Tom, he´ll be glad to answer you.

Regards

Joaquín

[jowlar]

TP Mills of Tuscaloosa, Al. http://www.tpmills.com/

[SuaSponteMn]

Honestly, you missed most of the good ones. Bettinardi is the best on that list but there are better ones:

Tom Slighter
C&L
TP Mills
Byron

There's a few that are all better than what's on the list IMO