Today Toulon Golf is releasing their newest Small Batch putter; the Small Batch Columbus. The SB Columbus is a celebration of what many in the golf world view as the greatest Masters victory in the history of the tournament: Jack Nicklaus in 1986.
As Jack’s last “I’m still here” moment, the 1986 Masters is still talked about every single year, and is remembered by an iconic photograph where he raises his putter to the sky in a now infamous outfit. But that putter? There was a much bigger story to it. That’s the story of the new Toulon Golf Small Batch Columbus.
In 1986 Jack Nicklaus took home the trophy using a MacGregor Response MI 615 ZT. A putter that you can buy for about $40 on eBay. ZT standing for Zero Twist, which yes, was an early contender for the current Zero Torque trend that we see widely adopted in the modern game.
The idea behind Zero Twist was that if you could build the putter large enough with the hosel in the right spot, the putter would be more stable through the putting stroke and provide a better chance of rolling in putts. Again, yes, the same story we’re given today with super low-torque toe-up style putters. The irony though, is Jack was playing terribly heading into the Masters.
As part of this Small Batch project, the Toulon family enlisted the help of Clay Long. Clay is an iconic, Hall-of-Fame level club designer, junkie, nerd, and one of the greatest personalities behind the scenes in the game of golf. He’s actually the one who designed the putter that won in 1986.
In a video on the Toulon Golf website, he tells Preston Toulon that they had no idea the putter was going to go in play. Jack’s first introduction to the putter was an accident. As an owner of MacGregor at the time, Jack didn’t regularly attend sales meetings. But in 1985, he decided to join. As part of that sales meeting Jack was going to go into the shop to see their new high tech woods-sanding robot. Yes you read that right. On the way to check it out, Clay stopped him and showed him the new Response lineup, including the 615. Jack’s first impression: “Is this a joke?”
Fast forward through a phone call from Jack showing interest in the putter after testing at home, making him some finishes in black rather than silver, and the putter going in play for a couple lackluster tournaments before the Masters including some several missed cuts, Jack shows up to Augusta with the putter. MacGregor was already thrilled with what their sales numbers were with the putter having had success at the PGA Show earlier in the year, and Jack having played the putter on tour. They were actually expecting Jack to swap the putter back out for an old George Lowe model. Instead, he wins.
His victory in 1986 is still considered one of if not the best Masters moment in the history of the tournament. He wasn’t playing well. He wasn’t leading on Sunday, in fact he started 6 strokes back of the leader. Nothing about that day was supposed to end with him winning the Masters. Just like nothing about the MacGregor Response series was supposed to set sales records for a company with a dying putter lineup. But odds be damned, they did it. And the Small Batch Columbus celebrates that triumph.
The Small Batch Columbus is a nod to the original design, with tweaks for the modern game. Although the original 615 ZT was more than 35% larger than a traditional blade shape, the SB Columbus is about 30% smaller than the putter Jack used to win. That being said, it still dwarfs a normal sized blade like the Toulon Golf Boston you see pictured here with it.
In order to maintain a “normal” size and feel, they needed to figure out how to keep the putter at about 360 grams of weight. The original putter was made out of aluminum, but it was very fragile. As Sean Toulon states to Clay in their story video, “It wouldn’t have passed the BGLT or ‘Big Guy Lean Test’”. To combat that, and to stay true to the Toulon Golf Small Batch process, they constructed the face and hosel out of 904L Stainless Steel. 904L is a wonderful material that finishes beautifully, but it takes a long time to mill which makes it more expensive, so it’s reserved for Small Batch type projects.
The back of the putter is then done in 6061 anodized aluminum to save weight. Toulon isn’t new to the world of multi-material construction, but they did have to be very careful about how the two pieces matched up to each other in a couple of ways. The first one being that they physically needed to match up well. There’s nothing worse than a beautiful project turning into a nightmare with a terrible seam or a visible difference in the lines of the pieces. Not here. The SB Columbus has beautiful lines between the materials that match perfectly with the same curves, lines, and flow as one another. The other big thing is matching the color. Since they are different metals, they react to finishing differently. It’s not super easy to match the exact color between two metals, especially when you’re talking about a black finish. It’s pretty easy to see when one black didn’t get quite as dark or tinted as another black. But again, they absolutely nailed the details here.
The sole of the putter features some Azaleas, a common nod to Augusta National. Some are paint-filled in their typical pink color and others are sort of shadowed in the background to give the design some nice depth without getting busy. The SB Columbus logo stands proud in the very center, with the ‘86 markings making their way into the lettering as the ‘b’ in Columbus.
As you rotate the putter to the topline, you’ll see the a nod to the same alignment features on Jack’s original winning putter as well as a Toulon variant of the cavity markings from Jack’s old putter including the (86) marking where the old (ZT) marking used to be. The face is then finished off in their triple cut fly mill in a silver finish. It looks beautiful behind the ball. You can see the loft on the face, and the alignment cross in the back of the flange doesn’t distract at all.
The one thing you’re probably asking is “Well how does it roll?” I have to say, it’s lovely. It’s a nice firm feeling putter off the face. It’s got a great click to it, and a very commanding sound and feel into the hands. For such a large putter, you’d be worried that the player would lose feel, but not in this case. It’s a wonderful feeling and actually rolls quite well too. I would say probably 70% of Small Batch putters never make it out of the case, but there’s a few collectors out there who believe in the idea of tools not jewels, and this could certainly make a very fun tool.
The Toulon Golf Small Batch Columbus is available now on their website at toulongolf.com. In the Small Batch package the player will also receive a signed certificate of authenticity with a matching shaft band.
