Golf isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon.
Just because you bogey the first hole doesn’t mean you can’t make up for it on the next. Or the next. That three-putt on the front nine is all but forgotten when you nail a birdie putt on 18.
Because it doesn’t matter how you start. Like a 26.2-mile race, it only matters how (or where) you finish.
But what if we take the analogy one step further?
Golf, like running, requires proper equipment. Playing a round with an ill-fitted putter or crappy golf ball is equivalent to running 26.2 miles in flip-flops. It just doesn’t work.
Your equipment matters. That’s why PING has put so much effort into their new line of Scottsdale putters. Because a good putter can be the difference between a personal best or heading home with your tail tucked between your legs.
Just like a running shoe can be the difference between breaking a world record or becoming just another data-point among a sea of other failed athletes.
That was the idea behind NIKE’s Alphafly marathon shoes. In fact, the fastest marathon in the world (Kelvin Kiptum) was run wearing the NIKE Alphafly 3.
But what does that have to do with PING putters? The answer, friends, is Pebax.
Sometimes referred to as PEBA (Polyether Block Amide), it is a thermoplastic elastomer that many of the world’s fastest shoes rely on for cushion, energy return and weight savings, including the fastest marathon shoe in the world, the NIKE Alphafly 3.
“NIKE was the first to use it in foam form. There are now non-racing shoes that use it, too,” said Drew Whitcomb, Co-founder of WearTesters.
If you read Dave Wolfe’s masterful piece on the PING Scottsdale putters, you’ll remember that Pebax also happens to be the material PING used for the face insert on its new putters.
Now you’re starting to understand.
While Pebax has many applications outside of athletics, the idea that the same compound used to create the world’s fastest marathon shoes is also the same tech that a golf company is using to help get the ball to the hole in less strokes is more than novel … it’s flat-out exciting.
And, honestly, the application just makes sense, for a few reasons.
Firstly, Pebax is “bouncy.” If the ultimate goal of a putter is to get the ball out of its resting place and rolling towards the hole, this material definitely accomplishes that. In other words, it provides energy return (and reduces energy loss).
“Pebax provides a combination of bounciness, rebound, resiliency and a lightweight midsole (in running shoes),” said Whitcomb. “Lighter and bouncier is exactly what high-performing runners want.”
For fun, I asked Whitcomb what he thought a Pebax application in golf would look like. “I’d expect a layer of Pebax on a club to add a pop as the golf ball leaves the club face,” he said.
In my time with the Scottsdale face insert, the ball absolutely pops off the face despite the really soft, muted feel.
Speaking of feel, that’s the second reason this Pebax insert is so unique. It creates one of, if not the softest-feeling, putters out there. It’s most definitely the “softest-feeling” putter I’ve ever rolled. You’ll especially notice it on short putts. If you’re looking for a clicky, livelier feel, this isn’t the putter for you.
The last reason a Pebax insert is so cool is because it saves a ton of weight. As compared to a TPU insert (think something like the Odyssey White Hot), the Pebax is 20-percent lighter. That allowed PING to increase the MOI. In layman’s terms, that should help with ball speed consistency on mishits and reduce face twisting.
So there you have it.
PING’s new Scottsdale Putters rely on the same tech that the world’s fastest runners do to cross the finish line in record time. Now, if only PING could guarantee 26.2 putts or less per round with a Scottsdale putter … then we’d be onto something.
You can shop the Scottsdale line now.
Ryan
1 year ago
Ping has been using Pebax in putters off and on for years now (sigma 2). Nothing new.