- PING’s fourth PING Slam PLD limited-edition putter is available July 18 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
- The fully milled PING Anser commemorates Seve Ballesteros’ 1988 Open Championship victory.
- Fittingly, 88 putters will be available with a MSRP of $990
Closing out the PING Slam
Just like that, the final limited-edition “PING Slam” putter has been unveiled. What’s a PING Slam? In 1988, all four men’s major champions used PING putters.
So far, those 1988 champions secured victories with a Pal, a Pal 2 and a Zing 2. For the fourth major of 1988, PING is honoring Seve Ballesteros’ Open Championship win with his Anser.
OK, so chronologically the Open Championship was the third major of 1988. PING knows that but they wanted to save Seve’s limited edition for last. I get that. Seve was arguably the best PING pro ever.
When I visited the PING Gold Putter Vault, I was amazed at the number of gold putters that came from Seve’s wins. Where other golfers had one or two, Seve had rows of them. In total, there were 47 gold Ansers in the vault. Five of them were solid gold as Seve won four other majors with his Anser in addition to the Open Championship in 1988.
So many wins, so much gold!
Seve Who?
Though some of you “elderly folk” just fell over when I asked that, many of our non-AARP readers were not around to watch Seve play. It was a while ago after all. Seve won his first major in 1979.
As I mentioned, that Open Championship win in 1979 was his first of five major championship victories. If you’ve never really dove into the career of Seve Ballesteros, you are in for a treat. Feel free to spend the next several hours on YouTube searching for videos. There are some amazing stories about Seve there. One of my favorites is below.
The Fruitcake Incident…
Seve’s Anser
So our last PING Slam putter represents an icon gaming an iconic putter. Seve’s Anser was a little different in that he liked a sound slot to be cut through the putter. Also called a “floating face”, this modification changes the sound, elevating the pitch and making it a bit crisper.
This new version of Seve’s Anser putter is 100-percent milled from aluminum/bronze alloy. To make this new incarnation look more like Seve’s putter, PING covered the putter with tarnished manganese bronze-looking finish.
Will there ever be another [insert company name here] Slam?
With Seve’s Anser, we complete the PING Slam limited-edition putter series. It still boggles my mind that PING is the only putter company to have their putters used by all four men’s major champions in a year.
(Tiger’s “Tiger Slam” major victories were consecutive but not all in the same calendar year.)
Anyway, it seems appropriate to close out the PING Slam line with the winningest putter on Tour commemorating a win by one of golf’s winningest players. Seve was a special player. The PING Anser is a special putter.
Should you miss out on this or any of the other PING Slam releases, you will be able to buy all four as a set in December. Start that Santa Saver account now, though. The set will run you $4,990.
Find out more and try your luck at grabbing Seve’s commemorative Anser at PINGPLD.com
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