The Response ZT 615 by MacGregor Golf was a putter which was used by Jack Nicklaus to win the 1986 Masters Tournament. Although the company had planned to sell only 6,000 for the year, the day after Nicklaus' victory they were deluged with 5,000 orders. They sold 300,000 that year.
The putter was odd-looking, with an oversized aluminum head. When designer Clay Long first showed it to Nicklaus in July 1985, he asked, "Is this a joke?"[1] Nicklaus almost abandoned the club after missing the cut for the Honda Classic that year, due to the large but lightweight club's sensitivity to wind gusts which caused him to miss a six-inch putt. However, he had the head weighted with lead for a heavier "feel" and went on to perform spectacularly with it in the Masters.
"Once I got used to the lightness of the putter, I could make the ball roll over better with it," he said. "Why I'm not still using it, I don't have any idea. I should probably go back to it."[2]
"Oddly enough, it's the only golf club I won a major with that I don't have," according to Nicklaus. "One of my boys must have given it away. Someday, somebody will look in their garage and find my old putter."[3]
Nicklaus Golf Equipment manufactured a limited number of about 1,000 replicas in 2006 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the event; the new version sold for $199, compared to the original's price of $89.
References
edit- ^ "Putter magic". Golf Digest. April 2006. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
- ^ "Putter safe in history, not in garage". Morris News Service. www.augusta.com. April 8, 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
- ^ "Unison Engineering". 26 August 2016.
Further reading
edit- Hanley, Reid (May 26, 1986). "New Putter Revives Sales At Macgregor". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- "Jack Is Back, Thanks to His New Big Blade". People Magazine. July 14, 1986. pp. Vol. 26, No. 2. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- Johnson, Michael E. (April 11, 2011). "Designer Long Had The Last Laugh When Jack Won With 'Joke' Putter". Golf Digest. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- (Golfweek Staff) (April 1, 2006). "Golfweek writers recall Nicklaus at '86 Masters". Golf Week Magazine. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- Reilly, Rick (April 6, 2011). "Come on, Jackson!". ESPN. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- "2006: Masters Golden Day". Golf Week Magazine. June 28, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
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