The Excavator Club
Golf-club maker Ping has teamed up with earthmoving-equipment manufacturer John Deere to put together a 148kg version of its latest Anser putter.
Unveiled and put through its paces at the TPC Deere Run course, close to the John Deere headquarters in the town of Moline in Illinois, the club measures 1.56 metres, heel to toe.
Ping thought it would be fun to collaborate on a hybrid excavator-putter for the annual John Deere Classic tournament held at the course. John Deere engineers flew to Ping headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, to begin the process of enlarging the popular Anser putter with Tony Serrano, a senior club design engineer.
The Anser head was molded from aluminum and has all the touches found on the standard version, and an insert on the face resembling a tractor’s grill is a nod to John Deere’s heritage.
But just creating a giant putter and showing it off wasn’t enough for Ping and John Deere.
Ping staffers Andrew Landry and Trey Mullinax tried their hand at putting with the big rig using scaled-up golf balls and a giant hole.
Big balls and a giant hole?
Those wacky engineers! What’ll they think of next?
