Pimp My Putter

Evan Rothman

Scotty Cameron is the longtime Stradivarius of putters, esteemed maker of flatsticks for oodles of golf's top pros, including Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Adam Scott.

His meticulously milled work, especially of handcrafted prototype models, has produced a buzz online at message boards and forums devoted to his creations, as well as an avid collectors' market: panting Cameronistas will pay almost any price for a rare make.

His latest endeavor, Scotty's Custom Shop, is beginning to generate similar excitement.

As it happens, among my dozens of putters is a 10-year-old Cameron, a left-handed carbon steel Newport model reminiscent of Ping's famous Anser.

(Cameron used to be criticized in some circles for a lack of formal innovation -- which always struck me as beside the point of superior craftsmanship -- but in recent years, his designs have taken a more adventuresome tack.)

I was a young staffer at a small golf magazine in New York City when my boss, then engaged to be married, ordered a Cameron for each of his groomsmen and threw in one in for me.

He was, needless to say, the nicest boss I've ever had.

The putter arrived in a gorgeous wooden box, autographed with elan by Cameron himself.

My initials were engraved in the putter face: Roy Hobbs' "Savoy Special" paled in comparison. I seem to recall a booklet on care instructions included, as well as a headcover, but if so, these were soon lost to history.

Golfers already know the rest of the story: I holed everything with "E.J.R." for a few rounds, used it religiously for about six months, stopped holing anything, switched to another putter -- admittedly, one without my initials engraved in the (no-longer-glossy) face -- and put the Cameron in my basement, seen about as frequently as Ross Perot's crazy aunt in the attic.

And it pains me to write this, but the Cameron didn't even get put back in its special wooden box.

Former Glory

I leaped at my chance for redemption when I learned about Scotty's Custom Shop.

This opened last April as part of Cameron's renowned Scotty's Putter Studio, the multimillion-dollar Carlsbad, Calif., facility where among other putting-related work, he builds the clubs for his loyal cadre of PGA Tour pros.

The Custom Shop offers three services. In ascending order of sexiness, they are authentication, restoration and customization.

The first is a sad commentary on the counterfeiting that plagues the golf business: for $30, the shop verifies that the putter in question (or even Cameron accessories such as staff bags and headcovers) is the genuine article and puts a grade on its condition, useful in the case of a future transaction.

Restoration gets the club as close as possible back to its original condition.

Customization is where the putter shop becomes a hot-rod shop. Here, clients can let their imagination run wild -- at least by golf standards, and with an admittedly rather small canvas.

Guilty as I was (and, in the interest of full disclosure, owing to the generosity of friends at Titleist, Cameron's parent company), my Newport got the full treatment.

The restoration included a new, orange "Custom Shop" logo grip ($37; other options start at $15), matching headcover ($72; others start at $25) and shaftband (included; old-school types may opt for New Old Stock, which are freshly minted items that look and perform like the original equipment).

It also covered a free check that the putter's loft and lie angles were in their original specifications (customers can also request adjustments to particular angles and/or change the length of their putter -- within reason, as Cameron won't alter the design or performance if it transgresses upon the club's original concept and principles); and a remilled, buffed and polished head that looked brand-spankin' new ($110).

Cameron does the remilling himself, taking away a mere 1-2 grams of weight and thus not altering the club's balance or functioning. It's sort of an antiplastic surgery. I could have had added virtually rustproof, low-maintenance Pro Platinum plating ($30), but decided against that anachronism.

This time, I'll use the headcover and cleaning cloth provided, promise.

Bring on the Bling

Had the restoration been the extent of the services, it would have been plenty. But I had not yet begun to pimp.

Again, I already had my initials stamped on the face, but as tattoo fans tell me, it's hard to stop at just one.

So I added a Cameron Money logo ($30) too, instead of the Custom Shop or yin-and-yang stamps also available. The idea, of course, is that I will be money on the greens; drive for show, putt for dough, as the adage goes.

In a more useful but no less cool vein, I requested a single dot ($30) to be added on the head's top line to help me aim. In a rare show of restraint, I decided against additional sight lines for $10 each, and kept my original shaft rather than opt for the $45 re-shafting option; with certain mallet-style models, customers can add an extra 10 or 20 grams of weight, presumably not in the form of diamonds, for $35.

For those doing the math at home, my putter pimping already ran $279, or more than the original sticker price.

Cameron and his team executed both additions. What I wasn't expecting -- for I had failed to note that a sufficiently substantial order gets customers a choice of two paintfill colors, whose application location Cameron himself selects -- and what thrilled and delighted me, was the artistry of the paint job.

	A Putter to Remember

The once-white "E.J.R." was redone in, appropriately enough, gold, to match the dollar sign. All the other lettering on the putter, including the "Scotty Cameron" on the face and the "Cameron" on the neck (like Bob Dole used to say about Bob Dole, the man knows how to get his name out), was done in orange, to match the grip, shaftband and headcover.

Although I fully expect to start making putts with it again, it's so damn good-looking that I don't mind just gazing at it.

Scotty's Custom Shop has revitalized more than 10,000 Cameron putters since opening, including rusted-out ones fished from the bottom of lakes, even though tossing a Cameron into a lake may be golf's ultimate sacrilege.

Almost no Scotty is beyond repair to like-new or better, to the point that some mouth-agape customers purportedly call to check that the putter they're holding is indeed the one they sent in and not a replacement. Rest assured, there's no need to send it back in for reauthentication.

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