Scotty Cameron Putters - Can a Putter Really Make That Much Difference?

I've seen the fancy ads, I've read the golf magazines, I've even gone into the sporting goods store and played around on the little putting green with all of the shiny new putters. For some reason though, I still wasn't buying into the idea that a putter could make that much difference in my golf game. I, like most golfers, would go to the driving range and practice my drive for hours per week, thinking that if I could drive as far as Tiger Woods, then my handicap would lower for sure. Little did I know that Tiger Woods had a secret weapon hiding in his golf bag.

Scotty Cameron had made clubs in his mother-in-law's garage for years when he opened Cameron Golf International to little fanfare. There was a lot of competition in the industry, and golf companies like Titleist, Nike, and Callaway were the big names in town (and still are today). Scotty Cameron took a different approach to making golf clubs. Because of his limited resources, he did a large part of the crafting of his clubs by hand, which gave his putters a finish rivaling those of his big-name competitors.

Then, in 1993, lightning struck for Scotty Cameron. One of his putters was used to win The Masters. Things moved quickly for Scotty after that, the putters were flying out of the door as fast as he could create them. But things really picked up a year later, in 1994, when Scotty Cameron was approached by Peter Kostis and told that Titleist was interested in his company to design putters for them.

Fast forward to 2008, and Scotty Cameron putters have been used to win more than 500 worldwide tournaments. A sterling track record, to say the least, but I was still not convinced. Surely it had to be the players and their personal touch with those putters that turned them into gold on the green. After hearing so much, I decided to try out a Scotty Cameron putter for myself.

I decided to try out a Scotty Cameron Newport, the same putter that Tiger Woods plays. A few buddies and I headed out to the country club on a sunny Saturday afternoon in October, and I did not tell anyone that I was trying out a new putter. The first two holes went as can be expected, I got a bogey on the first hole and a double bogey on the second hole. Nothing too impressive. But then, on the third hole, I took it to the green in 3 strokes, and had to sink a forty foot putt for par. I pulled the Scotty Cameron Newport putter out of my bag, took a deep breath, and swung away. I could scarcely believe my eyes as the ball rolled up the green in a straight line, then circled around to the left and into the cup.

Since that first October day that I tested out the Scotty Cameron putter, I have purchased three of them for my collection. They aren't a magic bullet, they won't turn you into Tiger Woods overnight. But my friends still swear that I've never been as good of a golfer as I am when I'm playing a putter made by Scotty Cameron.