DRIVER: Ping i20 (8.5°) with a Grafalloy Tour X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Cleveland HiBore XLS (13°) with an Aldila NV 95 X shaft
HYBRID: Ping i15 (17°, 20°) with Graphite Design YS 85X shafts
IRONS: Ping i20 (4-PW) with True Temper CS Lite shafts
WEDGES: Ping Tour (52°, 60°) with True Temper CS Lite shafts
PUTTER: Ping Karsten Anser
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping and Cleveland clubs and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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(Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

DRIVER: Titleist 909D3 (10.5°) with a UST AxivCore 69 shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist 910F (13.5°, 17°) with a UST VTS 8X shaft
HYBRID: Titleist 910H (21°) with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 105 shaft
IRONS: Titleist 680MB (4-P) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
WEDGES: Vokey Design TVD (54°, 58°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts
PUTTER: Ping Craz-E (long)
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Titleist and Ping clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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(Photo by Anthony Nesmith/Cal Sport Media)

DRIVER: Titleist 909D3 (10.5°) with a UST AxivCore 69 shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist 909F3 (13.5°) with a UST AxivCore 79 shaft; 910F (17°) with a UST AxivCore 89 shaft
HYBRID: Titleist 910H (21°) with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 105 shaft
IRONS: Titleist 680MB (4-P) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
WEDGES: Vokey Design TVD (54°, 58°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts
PUTTER: Ping Craz-E (long)
BALL:  Titleist Pro V1x

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Titleist and Ping clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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(Photo by Chuck Burton/AP Photos)

DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (9.0°) with a UST Mamiya ATTAS S6 X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade 200 Tour (13°, 17°) with Aldila Tour Gold X shafts
IRONS: TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold with Sensicore X-100 shafts
WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (56°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold with Sensicore X-100 shafts 
PUTTER: Ping Anser
BALL: Titleist Pro V1

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist gear and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

(Photo by Darren Carroll/SI)

DRIVER: Ping G20 (9.5°) with an Aldila Voodoo XNV6 shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: Ping G5 (15.5°, 18.5°) with a Aldila XVS7 and NV75X shafts
IRONS: Ping S56 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
WEDGES: Ping Tour-S (52°) Tour W-TS (58°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
PUTTER: Ping Scottsdale Wolverine
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about  Ping  gear and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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(Photo by Owen Humphries/Landov Images)

DRIVER: Ping G20 (9.5°) with an Aldila RIP shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: Ping G20 (15.5°, 18.5°) with Aldila RIP shafts
IRONS: Ping S56 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
WEDGES: Ping Anser Forged (52°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
PUTTER: Ping Scottsdale Pickemup
BALL: Srixon Z-Star

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping gear and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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(Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

Today’s putters come in a myriad of shapes, sizes and colors, with inserts, faces with grooves or sophisticated alignment aids.

Ping's newest line of putters, the Anser series, strips away nearly all of those elements and takes things back to basics.

The putters—which are all machine milled from 303 stainless steel—don't have names. They are identified by numbers running from one to five. The sixth putter, originally to be called the Anser 0 (above), is basically a modern remake of the original Anser putter made by Karsten Solheim in 1966, complete with a narrow cut running along the sole that improves the sound of impact. Brad Schweigert, Ping Golf's director of engineering, said that this sixth club will simply be labeled Anser when it arrives in pro shops in August.

You won't find a mallet or High MOI (moment of inertia) putter in the Anser series; each of the six blades is a familiar, heel-toe weighted design. The Answer putters produce different balances through their different neck and hosel configurations.

During a Ping event at the U.S. Open, Schweigert said, "We are going to start classifying all the putters we sell into three stroke categories—Straight, Slight Arc and Strong Arc." Ping's new iPING app for iPhone and iPod will help you determine which of these groups matches your putting stoke in just five putts.

The Anser putters will be the first from Ping to feature color-coded shaft bands that indicate which type of putting stroke the club is designed to enhance (below).

Putters with a blue band are face-balanced and well suited for straight-stroke players. Red-banded putters should work well for golfers with a strong arc, and putters with a green shaft band are ideal for golfers who make a slight arc.

The final retail price of the Anser putters has not been finalized.

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping gear and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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DRIVER: Ping G10 (9.0°) with a Aldila PGA Tour Only Prototype XNV6 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping i15 (14°) with a UST Mamaya V2 76X shaft, Rapture V2 (19°) with Aldila NV75 X shaft
IRONS: Ping i10 (3-PW) with Ping JZ stiff shafts
WEDGES: Ping Tour-W (54°, 58°) with Ping JZ stiff shafts
PUTTER: Ping Anser 0
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

President Barack Obama met earlier this week with United States Ryder Cup captain Davis Love, Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson. In addition to inviting the commander in chief to attend the Ryder Cup next year at Medinah, Love gave the President a uniquely stamped Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 2 putter.

Mickelson gave President Obama, who is a fellow left-hander, three Callaway X Forged wedges and a 9.5° Callaway Diablo Octane driver. Each of the wedges (a 56°, 60° and 64°) was made by Roger Cleveland personally and was stamped PREZ "44" on the back. Cleveland jokingly said, "I weighted them so they wouldn't go any further left."

Watson presented President Obama with an exact replica of his driver, a Ping G15 (7.5°) with a Grafalloy Bi-Matrix shaft. Maybe Obama will use the clubs when he plays Saturday with Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Callaway, Ping and Titleist/Scotty Cameron clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC.

More US Open coverage: Leaderboard | Photos | Video | Download Front9 app

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BETHESDA, Md. — It can be easier to find a needle in a haystack than the perfect putter at a pro shop, but Ping’s new app for the Apple iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod is working to change that.

The iPING App, which will be available to download free on iTunes starting June 20, utilizes the accelerometers and gyroscopes found in Apple's devices to measure your putting stroke's path, your tempo and the face angle of your putter at impact.

The app works in conjunction with a specially designed PING cradle ($30, sold through golf retailer’s websites) that clips an iPhone or iPod onto your putter shaft. Once your device is attached, iPING measures how much your putter rotates during the forward portion of your stroke, and then categorizes your swing into one of three types: Straight, Slight Arc or Strong Arc.

Ping's research shows that players who create little or no rotation of the putter swinging forward (Straight) benefit most from face-balanced putters, while toe-down putters are most effective for players who rotate the face a lot (Strong Arc). Golfers classified as having a Slight Arc get the most benefit from putters that are balanced in between. Later this summer, Ping putters will feature shaft labels of Straight, Slight Arc and Strong Arc to help you match your putter to your stroke type.

So instead of spending hours trying all the different putters in the shop, the iPING app will help you hone in on the putters that will enhance your stroke.

Once you find the putter of your dreams, iPING can be set to one of three modes—Measure, Practice or Compare—to help you improve.

In Measure mode, the software captures your putter-head rotation, face angle at impact, and tempo, then stores it and gives you a Putting Handicap based on the consistency of your stroke. With time and practice, your Putting Handicap should go down.

In Practice mode, only one of the three stats is measured so you can concentrate on improving that part of your putting.

Compare mode lets you see how your stats match up against your friends or Ping staff players like Lee Westwood, Hunter Mahan and Bubba Watson. You can also share your results on Facebook and Twitter.

At the end of the day, the iPING app and cradle are not going to tell you exactly which putter to buy, but they certainly can help you narrow your choices. It's also an affordable, easy-to-use training aid that should appeal to anyone looking to roll the rock just a little more consistently.

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping gear and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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DRIVER: TaylorMade R11 (9.0°) with a Matrix OZIK XCON F6M2 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping i15 (15.5°) with an ACCRA S3 Dymatch 85 shaft
HYBRID: TaylorMade Rescue TP (19°) with a Graphite Design Tour Ad UT 85 shaft
IRONS: Miura CB 501 (3-PW) with KBS Tour shafts     
WEDGES:  Miura Wedge Series (54°), Titleist Vokey Design Spin Milled (59°) with KBS Tour shafts 
PUTTER: Odyssey White Hot #2
BALL: Titleist Pro V1

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Odyssey, Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist gear and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC or Golfsmith.

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(Photo by David Dusek)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Last year Ping released its first forged iron, the Anser. The new Anser wedges look like an extension of those irons, and they have some features that should make them appealing to mid- and low-handicap players.

"It's a forged wedge and the hosel got a little bit longer," says Matt Rollins, one of Ping's PGA Tour representatives. "Therefore, we decided to add a tungsten piece out on the toe to elongate the sweet spot."

In the photo on the right, the tungsten is the slightly-darker metal surrounding the 60.

Rollins also says that the ball flight of the Anser wedges, which are made from a soft 8620 stainless steel, is slightly flatter and lower than some of Ping's other wedges. "I'm not saying that's wrong, or better, or worse… it's just different," Rollins said.

The biggest difference between the Anser wedges and the other wedges in Ping's lineup (Tour-S, Tour-S Rustique, Tour-W TS) is that there is no back weight, according to Rollins. Ping has traditionally used that back weight to help adjust the club's swing weight. With the Anser, club builders can insert small weights inside the hosel to adjust for a player's desired shaft weight or shaft length.

While the Anser lacks the weight badge, it does feature a stabilization bar that runs diagonally across the cavity in the toe section. "We had a couple of people in our testing who said it was a little off when they hit it intentionally out on the toe," Rollins says. By adding just a little more mass in that area, Ping hopes to enhance feel on flop shots and delicate pitches.

When the Anser wedges are released later this summer, look for 50°, 52°, 54°, 56°, 58° and 60° options. Thanks to a notch that Ping designs into the hosels of all its wedges and irons, fitters can easily bend the clubs into the exact loft you want. In fact, Hunter Mahan, who put the Anser wedges into play last week at Quail Hollow, had his 56° bent to 53°.

"You just have to remember that for every degree that you bend the club, you take a degree of bounce either on or off," Rollins says. "There's a one-to-one ratio."

Ping does not have a suggested retail price for the clubs yet.

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC and Golfsmith. 

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Note: The photo shown below was taken shortly before Bubba Watson removed his 60° Ping Tour-W wedge and added a 64° Ping Tour-S Rustique wedge in its place.

DRIVER: Ping G15 (7.5°) with a Grafalloy Bi-Matrix shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping G15 (17°) with a Project X 8A1 shaft
IRONS: Ping S59 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
WEDGES: Ping Tour-W (52°, 56°) Ping Tour-S Rustique (64°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts
PUTTER: Ping Redwood Anser
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping clubs, and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC and Golfsmith. 

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(Photo by David Walberg/SI)

"My favorite club is the driver—I'm the most accurate with it—so if I had to pick just one, that would be it."—Heath Slocum

DRIVER: Ping G15 (9°) with an Aldila RIP 70X shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Adams 9032Ti (14.5°) with an Aldila VS Proto 70X shaft
HYBRID: Adams Idea Pro Gold (18°) with an Aldila VS Proto 95X shaft
IRONS: Ping i15 (3-PW) with Ping Z-Z65 shafts
WEDGES: Ping Tour-S (52°), Fourteen MT28V5 (58°)
PUTTER: Ping Redwood Anser 
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping and Adams clubs and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC and Golfsmith.

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(Photo by Kohjiro Kinno/SI)

DRIVER: Ping G15 (10.5°) with a Fujikura Motore VC61 shaft
FAIRWAY WOOD: Ping i15 (15.5°) with Grahite Design DJ 8X shaft
HYBRID: Ping i15 (17°) with UST Mamiya ATTAS 85 Hybrid shaft
IRONS: Ping S56 (3-PW) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
WEDGES: Callaway X Forged (54°, 60°) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts
PUTTER: Ping IWI D66
BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

See-Try-Buy: Learn more about Ping clubs and schedule your fitting with GolfTEC and Golfsmith.

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