How Bettinardi built a U.S. Open-winning putter in 1 night

It’s fair to assume the pro who will hoist the U.S. Open trophy on Sunday at Oakmont will make the winning putt with a flatstick they’ve been using for at least a few weeks, if not more.

Although in 2003 at Olympia Fields outside of Chicago, Jim Furyk’s winning putter had been in the bag for a total of 90 hours.

Yes, Furyk put the putter in the bag on Wednesday night/Thursday morning of tournament week at 1 a.m., just a few hours before his morning tee time.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, Bob and Sam Bettinardi of Bettinardi Golf retold the story of when Bob helped Furyk find the putter that won him his only major title.

As Bob Bettinardi tells the story, Furyk had his putter deemed “illegal” on Wednesday afternoon, and as is typical, most of the equipment trucks had already left Olympia Fields for the week, on their way to the next tournament.

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That’s when Furyk spotted Bettinardi.

“He’s like, ‘Where am I going to get a putter?’” Bettinardi recalled. “He sees me and he goes, ‘Don’t you have a shop here?’

“It’s only 30 minutes away. I go, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘I need to get a putter. I can go to the pro shop here, but nothing looks good to me in there. Let’s go to your shop.’”

So that duo, along with Bettinardi’s Tour rep at the time, plus Furyk’s father, Mike, drove to Bettinardi’s headquarters in Tinley Park, Ill., around 6 p.m. and got to work.

It wasn’t like Furyk needed a new putter milled straight from a fresh block of steal. Bettinardi said they had plenty of shapes already made for him. But what they could do at the shop that they couldn’t at the Olympic Fields pro shop was dial in Furyk’s specs.

“What was the key was he could get his loft and his lie and his grip and his length,” Bettinardi said. “He wanted all those things incorporated into that putter.”

The foursome didn’t stop working until 1 a.m., when Furyk was comfortable with the new wand, a Bettinardi Baby Ben mallet.

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“And I remember his dad, it was right here, it was upstairs and his dad fell asleep on the couch at around 10 o’clock at night,” Bettinardi said, pointing to the room where the company’s old fitting studio was, which has since moved to their new Studio B facility 30 mins away in Oak Brook.

Four days later, Furyk won the first and only major title with a putter he received only days before.

And the Bettinardi team was right there with him celebrating on Sunday night.

“My father was there actually on Sunday and we’re outside, Jim wins,” Bettinardi said. “Maybe two hours later, Fluff, Jim Furyk’s caddie, right? Who caddied for Tiger Woods, of course. But yeah, he looks at us and we go, he goes, ‘What are you waiting for?’ We go, ‘We’re waiting for Jim to come out and sign our flags.’

“And he goes, ‘You’re coming in. Come on.’

“So, we had dinner with Jim Furyk, Fluff and the president and all the board members of Olympia Fields with steak and lobster till about midnight that night.”

For more from the Bettinardis and co-hosts Kris McCormack and Wadeh Maroun, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here or watch it below.

Want to find the best putter for your game? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.