Equipment
The WILD story behind Tom Hoge’s 1-of-1 putter he used to win at Pebble Beach
Tom Hoge – at 32 years old – rolled in a 20-footer on the 71st hole of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Pro-Am to all but seal his first PGA Tour victory ever. At the moment, the putt gave him a two-stroke lead over Jordan Spieth and allowed Hoge to cruise home to victory with a par on the 72nd hole.
When that 20-foot putt dropped, you could feel the relief from Hoge. Something he worked for his whole life was finally coming true. It’s one of those moments in sports that gives you chills just thinking about it.
The backstory to how Hoge ended up with the putter he used to make the putt, though, is arguably even more intriguing.
Here’s how the story goes.
Ahead of the 2022 American Express in Palm Desert, Hoge was searching for a putter that would help him with his alignment. He was tending to aim left, and he needed something to help square him up.
His caddie, Henry Diana Jr., approached Odyssey Tour rep Joe Toulon on the side to request a custom 2-ball for Hoge to try.
“Henry thought a 2-ball with a long line on it might be something easier for him to line up,” Toulon told GolfWRX. “He didn’t tell Tom about that conversation… I said, ‘You know what, I’ll have one made up and ready to go in case that time comes.’”
This was no stock order, though. Hoge is very particular with his putter preferences. According to Toulon, Hoge has always used a plumber’s neck hosel with slight toe hang. The problem is, the Odyssey White Hot OG 2-ball doesn’t come stock with that hosel offering.
Therefore, the custom 2-ball putter that Toulon ordered for Hoge had to be specially made with a plumber’s neck.
The custom job took about a week, and the putter was delivered to Pebble Beach on a practice day prior to the event. Due to the heavier hosel construction, Toulon had to remove the back weight from the sole as you can see below.
With all of the proper weight adjustments made, Toulon then caught up with Diana Jr. at Pebble Beach to show him the putter, to which Diana Jr. responded, “Yeah, I think he’s going to like it…let me show it to him.”
So, ahead of the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Hoge was presented with a 1-of-1 custom Odyssey White Hot OG 2-ball putter with a custom plumber’s neck built to his liking.
According to Toulon, Hoge liked the putter immediately, but he was still deciding between a few different putter options as of Wednesday night before the event started. Ultimately, though, he decided to give the new custom 2-ball a try for the tournament.
“He switched last week, but he probably didn’t make a final decision until probably Wednesday I don’t think,” Toulon explained. “He had a couple putters in the bag until then. It was kind of a game-time decision.
“We took weight out of it, just because with that neck that we put on it adds some weight compared to the usual spud that’s on it. So we had to take shave some weight and ended up going with that. It was still heavier than what he using, but he said, “I kinda like it, so let’s leave it.” So we left it… it’s a 1-of-1 with that hosel for sure.”
So, just to summarize: Hoge was looking for a putter, his caddie had Toulon build up a custom 2-ball with Hoge’s preferred hosel on it, and then Hoge went on win with it the same week he saw the putter for the first time.
Pretty incredible, right?
Just wait. The story gets even better.
Didn’t it seem odd that Diana Jr. would recommend a 2-ball putter specifically, especially when it needed such a custom build?
Well, not really, as it turns out.
Diana Jr. was a professional golfer back in the day, and his father, Diana Sr., was a tool-and-die maker who also built golf clubs on the side.
In his playing days, Diana Jr. had the same problem with his putting that Hoge was having; Diana Jr. tended to aim his putter too far to the left.
He was using a 1986 Dave Pelz Three-Ball putter at the time, which was years before the Odyssey 2-ball was invented or available on the market.
Since Diana Jr. was struggling with his aim using the Pelz 3-ball putter, his father, who was a tinkerer and club maker, suggested that he build up Hoge a 2-ball putter for him to try.
“My dad used to be a tool and die maker but he made putters,” Diana Jr. told GolfWRX. “When I was playing professionally I was having a hard time with alignment, so in the mid-90s he made a 2-ball putter. I was using the Pelz putter, but I was aiming too far left. I didn’t like the Pelz putter. He’s like, ‘Well, hell, I’ll make you a putter. I think three is too many, I’ll make you a putter with two…that was 5 years before the Odyssey 2-ball came out.”
As Diana Jr. explains, the custom 2-ball his father made worked wonders for his aiming and squared him up.
Seeing Hoge struggle with the same problem, Diana Jr. figured a 2-ball could help Hoge the same way it helped him nearly 30 years prior.
“My dad was a tinkerer and he was always forward thinking in a lot of ways and he had great ideas,” Diana Jr. said. “Pelz was obviously the pioneer of it, and then [my father] tweaked it, then Odyssey obviously came out with it. But it really worked.”
Obviously, it worked on Sunday for Hoge, too.
“It’s just unbelievable how full circle it went,” Diana Jr. said. “I told my dad [when they came out with the 2-ball years after he developed it]: ‘You missed the boat again. You tweaked the 3-ball down to a 2-ball, then they made a zillion of them.’ But we certainly got paid back last week with what happened. I chuckled to see [Hoge] putt the way he did. It was a magical week. It really was.”
The funniest part? Hoge has no idea about this whole backstory. When I asked Diana Jr. if he told Hoge the full story about how the putter came about it, he answered, “Eh, not really.”
The 20-footer that Hoge made on the 17th green on Sunday at Pebble Beach was an absolutely huge putt for Hoge and his career, but that putt — and all Hoge’s putts last week — had special significance for his caddie, and it all goes back to his father’s handiwork some 30 years prior.
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Whats in the Bag
Steve Stricker WITB 2024 (April)
- Steve Stricker WITB accurate as of the Zurich Classic. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees, C4 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 7.2 X
3-wood: Titleist 915F (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist 816 H1 (17 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (3, 4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (46-10F @55), Titleist Vokey SM10 (54-10S @53), Titleist Vokey SM4 (60 @59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 w/Sensicore
Putter: Odyssey White Hot No. 2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Grip Rite
Check out more in-hand photos of Steve Stricker’s clubs here.
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Whats in the Bag
Alex Fitzpatrick WITB 2024 (April)
- Alex Fitzpatrick what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 7 X
Hybrid: Ping G430 (19 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 10 TX
Irons: Ping iCrossover (2), Titleist T100 (4-PW)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 9 TX (2), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-12F, 56-12D, 60-08M)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 120 X
Putter: Bettinardi SS16 Dass
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Alex Fitzpatrick’s clubs here.
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Equipment
What’s the perfect mini-driver/shaft combo? – GolfWRXers discuss
In our forums, our members have been discussing Mini-Drivers and accompanying shafts. WRXer ‘JamesFisher1990’ is about to purchase a BRNR Mini and is torn on what shaft weight to use, and our members have been sharing their thoughts and set ups in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- PARETO: “New BRNR at 13.5. Took it over to TXG (Club Champ but TXG will always rule) in Calgary for a fit. Took the head down to 12, stuck in a Graphite Design AD at 3 wood length and 60g. Presto- numbers that rivaled my G430Max but with waaaaay tighter dispersion. Win.”
- driveandputtmachine: “Still playing a MIni 300. The head was only 208, so I ordered a heavier weight and play it at 3 wood length. I am playing a Ventus Red 70. I play 70 grams in my fairways. I use it mainly to hit draws off the tee. When I combine me, a driver, and trying to hit a draw it does not work out well most of the time. So the MIni is for that. As an aside, I have not hit the newest BRNR, but the previous model wasn’t great off the deck. The 300 Mini is very good off the deck.”
- JAM01: “Ok, just put the BRNR in the bag along side a QI10 max and a QI10 3 wood. A load of top end redundancy. But, I have several holes at my two home courses where the flight and accuracy of the mini driver helps immensely. Mine is stock Proforce 65 at 13.5, I could see a heavier shaft, but to normal flex, as a nice alternative.”
Entire Thread: “What’s the perfect Mini-Driver/Shaft combo? – GolfWRXers discuss”
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Thomas A
Sep 6, 2022 at 10:28 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Pelz sell Odyssey the 2-ball design for $250,000?
gunmetal
Mar 15, 2022 at 11:02 am
Wicked cool story! If Hoge-No bogey keeps winning, I’m pretty sure there will be a plumbers neck variant offered in the near future!
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bevan
Feb 9, 2022 at 8:34 pm
Really great article, thank you
Bladehunter
Feb 9, 2022 at 6:51 am
How that man a raise. When you have a guy on the bag who’s that active behind the scenes. He’s worth a lot.
L
Feb 9, 2022 at 1:52 am
Hilarious how all these companies are pushing for MOI with weights at the back of everything and yet here we are LOL
L is bad a flog...
Feb 9, 2022 at 9:50 am
Is your stroke as pure as that of the guys on Tour… I thought not… Enjoy the MOI moron…
GaGolfer
Feb 9, 2022 at 10:49 am
A little harsh, aren’t you, son? No more caf for you for a while.
True L
Feb 9, 2022 at 12:07 pm
L is correct, they didn’t have any problems putting with little blades back in the day.
L Train
Feb 9, 2022 at 12:29 pm
“…is correct” … “back in the day”….. hey little bud, I think you meant to say “was correct”
Ben
Feb 8, 2022 at 11:51 pm
If I could go ahead and get one made up in lefty that would be great.
birdiedancer
Feb 8, 2022 at 8:15 pm
That’s how Karma is supposed to work. Hoge is a grinders’, grinder..
I hope he keeps running the tables with his magic stick.
Benny
Feb 9, 2022 at 6:24 pm
Well said. Great read as always Golfwrx. We know golf doesn’t bring forth amazing stories everyday. Yet time and time again viewers on here get all mad about the articles.
Thanks again Golfwrx.