Pimp My Putter

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.