Equipment
Northern milling: SGC Putters is Canada’s own putter boutique
It seems like everywhere you look nowadays there is a new putter boutique popping up across the USA. With all of these new options who needs to go down to their local big box store and grab the latest mass-produced OEM offering.
We all want something personal and something no one else has.
For many years customers in the USA have been able to access custom boutique putters such as Mann Krafted, Piretti, Tyson Lamb, Artisan, Scratch, Xenon, APC, and the list goes on from there. These brands are all phenomenal in their own rights but come at a high cost to us North of the border once you add exchange and duties.
I am sure that many a Canadian has wondered what if we could get something milled in our own country that we could take pride in like our neighbours to the South. We did have this option at one time through Daito Putters till they went out of business.
There is a new option, and I am fairly certain that if you are not from Truro, Nova Scotia, or the surrounding area you have most likely never heard of SGC Putters.
Staurt Cox, the founder and inspiration behind SGC Putters, never intended to get into putter manufacturing business. In speaking with Stuart, he actually got his start in the putter business was through refinishing. During his University days, he would buy refinish and resell all types of putters. It was this process that peaked his interest for milled putters. Like any true club lover, his time was slowly taken over by researching the stories and processes of many different milled putter makers. Stuart remembers that “Piretti was just getting started when I was in university and I actually contacted them (and other makers about info). I bought a few Early Piretti putters just out of curiosity.”
After doing his research and dedicating himself to school studies as well as the putter industry Stuart decided to download some cheap CAD software and teach himself how to use this technology. He made a few designs at first and just let them sit for a few years.
Stuart decided to take the plunge after university was done. In late 2012, he had a few heads milled. Following this, he went all in in 2013. Stuart remembers, “I started SGC Putters….one head style…limited options…. eventually as I sold some I added another head, etc. I taught myself everything as I went from design, stamping, shaping, finishing, making my own headcovers, website, etc.”
The growth of his business was slow but he did still have the refinishing aspect to fall back on as well. As the years went by he decided to invest more in his hobby and started having both grips and headcovers made professionally to go along with his growing number of head styles.
I asked Stuart about his design inspirations and he told me “I like clean, classic designs. I’m not out to reinvent the wheel but eventually, I likely will grow to offer more complex head styles.” I also inquired about why milled putters when there are so many other types of clubs. “What intrigued me about milled putters were the fine lines and sharp edges so my earlier putters had sharp lines and edges… eventually I’ve come to appreciate softer finishes on edges, but will leave them if a customer wants them less softened.“
Stuart does still consider this a business a “hobby” but at the same time realizes how important customer input and interaction is to his success. He can at times feel limited in comparison to other putter makers as he doesn’t have the time, money and resources available to them. He went on to tell me that “I only invest what I have available into heads, covers, grips, shafts, etc. I have small batches of head milled so if I have a logo on the head, I have to work with that on a customers design… the same with my face mills, I just offer the pattern on the face and don’t get into offering different patterns. This allows me to keep my costs down and my prices lower than some other makers.”
Stuart won’t let being a small maker get in his way when it comes to a special request from a customer. He is very forthcoming with his customers and says “I will push myself on some special requests from time to time – it’s all a learning process. I have always been good with my hands and making things so sometimes taking a risk or chance on a design becomes less scary once you have the experience and understanding to know that you can fix the problem if you screw up. Customers are always great and very understanding when I explain what I can and can’t do currently.”
When asked about the future Stuart says he “hopes to continue to slowly grow the brand. I have realized that if I want to grow things I couldn’t do it making every putter individually. So I’ve started to come out with a line of putters more focused on retail, but still customizable.”
Although not his day job, it seems as though Stuart is creating a niche for himself within our large industry. In addition to his putter crafting, he is an Operations Manager as a PGA of Canada Club professional in Nova Scotia. More importantly, he is a husband with an exceedingly patient wife and a father of two small children.
It is always an exciting thing to a gear junkie to be able to find something that is playable, exceptional quality, and that none of your buddies have. Stuart provides this through SGC Putters. I know that my all-blacked out model is ready to hit the course this spring!
See Stuart’s site and creations on the SGC Putter website
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
Titleist’s new 2-wood prototype first popped up on the TOUR at the 2024 PLAYERS Championship, in the bag of Cameron Young, who had been working with Titleist on the design since 2023.
Here’s what Titleist Tour fitter J.J. Van Wezenbeeck had to say about the design back at THE PLAYERS Championship:
“(Young) was looking for a certain ball speed and yardage gap from his driver,” Van Wezenbeeck said. “One of the things for him with the 3-wood is he wanted something with a little more volume that he felt more confident off the tee with, so he was looking for a little bigger footprint and something that was a little bit more penetrating than some of the 3-woods he’s played in the past. This will be a club he’ll hit 90 percent off the tee, versus the ground, so for the golf courses that set up for that, that’s what he’s looking for … this may or may not ever come to retail. It’s a chance for us to learn and put it in future products that may not be exactly this.”
Since the initial unveiling of the product at THE PLAYERS Championship, fellow PGA TOUR players such as Homa, Webb Simpson and Justin Thomas have also taken notice…
“[The new 2-wood) helps me draw it a little bit better,” Homa told GolfWRX.com on Monday at the 2024 PGA Championship. “I don’t draw the ball well, so left-to-right winds it’s quite helpful.”
Now, according to Van Wezenbeeck, Homa has two different options off the tee: A flat-trajectory cut shot with his TSR3 driver, and a “spinny draw” with his new TSR 2-wood, which flies farther than his former 3-wood.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Equipment
Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (5/15/24): Bettinardi x Unimatic 1/50 watch
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Bettinardi x Unimatic 1/50 watch.
From the seller: (@Puma74): “BETTINARDI Golf x UNIMATIC [ 1/50 Limited Edition ] Italian watch collection Modello Uno U1-BF automatic. Comes with complete package! Mint condition. Only 50 made and will be highly collectable! Only $850 plus $19 insured UPS or USPS shipping to the lower 48 U.S………. FIRM FIRM FIRM !“
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Bettinardi x Unimatic 1/50 watch
This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
On Monday at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, Block had a full set of TaylorMade “Proto” irons in the bag.
Block is the first player of many on the PGA TOUR to bag a set of the mysterious “Proto” irons. Rory McIlroy first switched into a “Proto” 4-iron at the Valero Texas Open, and Collin Morikawa followed suit at the 2024 RBC Heritage. Block isn’t using just the 4-iron, though, he’s using a full set to go along with a TaylorMade Stealth UDI driving iron.
Speaking with GolfWRX.com on Monday at the PGA Championship, Block revealed the full backstory.
“I hit a couple super “Proto” irons when I was at the Kingdom (TaylorMade’s fitting facility in Southern California) a couple months ago, and it was a 9-iron that didn’t have any badges or anything on it,” Block said. “I had no idea what it was … It was very similar to what I was using back then, you know, my old MCs, and very similar from the top. I hit it and absolutely loved it. For me to even think about switching irons from the last 11-12 years is crazy.
“I got this set about two weeks ago, and I’m working my way into them. I hit them more solid; it comes off the face more solid. Much higher. I think they’re still slightly too upright for me, so they’re being bent a degree flatter, because they’re going a little too high for me and drawing a little too much. When that starts to happen, I start to drop the club under and compensate too much, so I’m getting them flattened slightly, and I’m going to test them on the range again, and hopefully have them in play on Thursday…
“They go further, and they go higher … that combination is kind of a no-brainer. If I can take a 5-iron from 204 rather than a 4-iron, it’s good on me. It’s going to help me out for sure, especially at a major with the pin locations. Having that height coming in, that descent angle is going to be huge.”
With such new irons in the bag, after using the same irons for over a decade, surely you’d think there will be a bit of a learning curve. Block, however, is finding immediate comfort with the new “Proto” irons.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Andrew Warrington
May 2, 2019 at 8:26 am
Stuart is awesome to work with, and the putters are fantastic. My SGC has been my gamer since 2016.
CJB
May 2, 2019 at 3:04 am
Good Luck Stuart, I hope it works out for you.
H
May 2, 2019 at 12:56 am
They look ‘orrible
Ben
May 1, 2019 at 9:46 pm
Great Ping copies
Tommy Roberts
May 1, 2019 at 5:20 pm
What happened to John Byron Putters? As everything except for modern mallets, copy/deviations, just very well made. Have a bunch of their prototypes, but never hear much.
Adam Dickinson
May 1, 2019 at 4:22 pm
Massive shout out to Stuart for his involvement in this article. A great person to deal with and a super high quality product. Will go that extra mile. #makebirdiesnotpar
Jeff Burns
May 1, 2019 at 3:18 pm
Great write-up. I recently purchased a putter from SGC and I can’t say enough good things about Stuart and the process we went through. It was completely painless and in the end he crafted EXACTLY what I had envisioned. It’s truly a playable work of art… I couldn’t ask for anything more!