Yet Another Milled Putter Company

I suspect a number of you reading this find yourselves asking:

Long-time MyGolfSpy readers and industry insiders will, no doubt, recognize the name. Toulon Designs’ Founder, Owner, and resident Head Cheese (or perhaps, Cheese Head) is Sean Toulon, former Executive VP with TaylorMade-adidas Golf.

After 16 years with the company, Sean left TaylorMade during its most-chaotic summer. At the time there was talk of retirement, but clearly Toulon hasn’t quite got the golf bug out of his system.

He’s started his own putter company…again.

Toulon has always had a certain affinity for putter design. He previously founded the Zevo putter company in the early 90s, and was the head of product creation at TaylorMade when its Rossa line and iconic Spider designs were created.

Your takeaway should be that Toulon isn’t just some random guy, one-too-many deep in a glass of Pinot, who thinks if Scotty can, he can too.

Toulon already has legitimate industry cred, and now, we’re told, he has genuine aspirations of taking on the big boys in an already crowded putter market.

We Go Way Back

I got to know Sean Toulon a bit during his time at TaylorMade. Over the years, Toulon and MyGolfSpy crossed paths several times. Often pleasantly, sometimes less so, but Sean is a guy I came to trust to shoot me straight…even if it was often off-the-record.

There’s no better example of the generally friendly, but sometimes complex nature of the relationship than the time Toulon introduced me and the editor of another media outlet to Gary McCord.

Toulon introduced my colleague by name and raved about the great work his team did in helping get the TaylorMade message out. He then turned to me and said, “And this guy is an asshole“.

I suspect he was half-kidding. A fair assessment regardless.

In his position, I’d probably have done the same.

Needless to say, I like Sean quite a bit, and certainly wish him well with his putter business.

About Toulon Design Putters

Here’s how the Toulon Design Twitter Profile describes the upcoming putters.

While details are relatively scarce at this time, Toulon has released the names of four models:

• Madison – Toulon’s hometown
• Rochester – Home to Oak Hill CC and Walter Hagen
• San Diego – Home to Torrey Pines, and a good portion of the golf equipment industry
• San Francisco – Home to The Olympic Club, San Francisco Club, Lake Merced, and Harding Park

General descriptions of a couple of the models have been posted on the Toulon Design Facebook page.

Given Toulon’s roots deep inside the TaylorMade Empire, my assumption is that Toulon Designs will release a new model every 6-8 weeks and may occasionally re-release existing models with distinctive, science-driven, finishes (AKA white paint).

I kid…at least I hope I’m kidding.

We’re planning to check in with Sean soon to get a better understanding of exactly how he plans to distinguish his company among the bevy of boutique putter brands already earning a living off variations of the classic Anser.

Is there room for another?

As always, let us know what you think, and stay tuned.

For More Information check out Toulon Design on Twitter & Facebook, or keep an eye on the Toulon Design website.