PING finishes special gold putter for Bubba Watson

PHOENIX — Valley-based PING Golf recently finished up work on a very special putter, in time for this year’s Masters Tournament.

That putter won’t ever sink a putt though. It’s a bit too special.

“This is 18-karat gold,” Chance Cozby, PING’s vice president of sports development, said about the club. “It’s very heavy.”

The solid gold putter will soon be presented to Bubba Watson to commemorate his win at the Masters Tournament last year.

The club is the exact model and specification Watson used to win the tournament and engraved on its face are the words, “Bubba Watson, the Masters Champion 2014.”

Each player that wins a tournament using PING clubs receives a gold club in their honor, according to Cozby. Most of them are gold plated though, as the solid gold clubs are reserved for those who win one of golf’s most coveted championships.

“Any player that wins a major championship, gets a solid gold putter,” Cozby said.

PING also creates a duplicate of the club that will stay at the company’s headquarters in Phoenix, inside a vault similar to those in banks.

Cozby said the vault now has more than 2,700 gold clubs, with names such as Lee Westwood and Seve Ballesteros engraved on them.

The price of each club varies on how much gold is used and Cozby said the gold putters for major victories can be quite pricey.

“We’re looking at $20,000 to $30,000 worth of gold,” he said.

However, having a player win on a world stage using PING clubs is well worth it, Cozby said.

“They’re pretty pricey, everybody probably follows the price of gold (and) it’s gone up quite a bit,” he said.

“But in the whole scheme of things, it’s a great accomplishment with our product.”

Cozby said the company is hoping to present Watson with the putter at the start of this year’s Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga. on April 9; however, depending on Watson’s travel schedule, Cozby said they may have to reschedule.