Birth of a Legend (Part 3)
The Making of the Elmer M2 Putter
The first sample production models of our M2 arrived on the 19th October. We mothballed the first one for our competition winner through SA Golf Trader magazine!
We were extremely pleased with the end product that emanated at the culmination of this development process. All the tolerances were well within specification and the nickel plated finish is just ‘too good’.
Particularly impressive was the way the face balance showed virtually no bias, regardless of where the face was rotated. This really helps to ensure a smooth pendulum action throughout the arc of the putter swing.
The head cover design also worked well with a small pocket built in to take the adjustment tool.
In an earlier post we have stressed the critical importance of ensuring the lie angle of your putter is correct. The rotating hosel on the M2 allows for more than enough lie angle adjustment for both left and right handed golfers.
Going back to the first post in this Birth of a Legend series, our goals were to achieve the following design criteria:
- Balance - must be exactly in the centre to achieve perfect face balance.
- Head Weight – 340 to 350 grams including the adjustable hosel.
- The specific gravity required to achieve the above weight at our design dimensions determines we must use stainless steel as the production material.
- Loft 3°
- Shaft perpendicular to the body (ignoring the face loft) and set to 1 degree more than R&A and USGA rule appendix II 1.d
- Vertical moment of inertia to achieve maximum top spin roll.
- CNC Milled Polymer face insert to R&A and USGA compression specifications.
- Hosel must connect exactly in the centre of the face so the shaft is directly in line with the impact point.
- One model for both Left and Right hand golfers
We are really delighted with the excellent job the team at our product development and production partners did to create such a fine product.
Hopefully, these 3 articles produced over the last few months will give you a much better insight into what goes into the design, tooling and production of today’s up-market golf equipment. You might even think twice before kicking the salesman for a discount!