Ernie Els’ Putter: Odyssey White Hot XG #1

Enie Els’ victory at the British Open adds another chapter to the long, strange and wildly successful “odyssey” of the White Hot putter family by Odyssey Golf.

Keegan Bradley (major victory), Ernie Els (major victory), Graeme McDowell (major victory),  Luke Donald, Stuart Appleby, Steve Stricker and Harrison Frazar are among those who have won with an Odyssey White Hot or White Hot XG model putter over the past few years. Phil Mickelson’s custom putter also features a White Hot XG insert. Ernie Els’ putter is an Odyssey White Hot XG#1 belly model measuring 44.5 inches in length.

The White Hot line debuted in 2000 and the White Hot XG line followed in 2006. Most models have since been discontinued as production models except for the White Hot XG Sabertooth and White Hot XG 2-Ball belly putters.

And yet here we are in 2012, and White Hot and White Hot XG putters still regularly crawling all over the PGA Tour leaderboard. We love stories like this, stories of putters that transcend the marketplace. The FGP blade by the SeeMore Putter Company is another example of a putter that still gets it done on tour more than a decade after its debut.

Call it the putter meritocracy. New putter lines and models come and go ever year, many of them subsidized by powerful advertising campaigns. But long after the hype has died down, very few are left standing by the time five or ten years have rolled around. In fact, you could say that on the professional circuits, Odyssey’s more recent concepts such as the BackStryke, D.A.R.T and White Ice putters have been eclipsed by the golden oldies of the White Hot and White Hot XG lines.

One of the remarkable things about Odyssey, however, is that the company has not only introduced several enduring putter lines, but also several iconic model shapes that continue to span the different lines, such as the 2-Ball, Rossie and #7 (for more on that topic, you will want to read PutterZone.com’s exclusive insider’s tour of Odyssey Golf with principal putter designer Austie Rollinson).

So hats off to Ernie Els and Odyssey Golf for forging a victory that truly felt like old times.