This week: The story of Karsten Solheim, a loud little putter, and the golf empire that changed Phoenix forever.

WellVision Plus By WellPutt

Sharpen your putting precision like never before with Wellvision Plus, the ultimate dual-mirror training system trusted by Tour players worldwide to refine their setup and stroke. Engineered with an ultra-thin, black stainless steel design (just 0.03 inches—the thinnest on the market!), It delivers a precision training experience that fits seamlessly on any surface.

• The primary mirror provides visual feedback to confirm proper eye position.

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• The adjustable start line gate allows you to check your ability to send the ball along your intended start line.

• The adjustable putter head gate helps you train for solid ball contact.

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Karsten Manufacturing Corporation

Before Scottsdale was swarming with Tour vans and Troon polos, before the Valley became a snowbird golf mecca, one man was in a Phoenix garage trying to fix his putting stroke.

Karsten Solheim wasn’t a golf lifer.

He wasn’t raised in country clubs or coached by short-game gurus. He was a late-blooming engineer who found golf frustrating enough to reinvent it. Armed with a workbench, some steel, and too much brainpower, he started tinkering with putters in his garage in California.

One of his early prototypes made a distinct ping sound at impact, which stuck as a name and a calling card for a brand that would grow into one of the most iconic in golf.

1959: The First “PING” in the System

Solheim’s first creation, the PING 1A putter, didn’t look like much. It was flat, boxy, and… let’s be real, weird. But it worked. The genius lay in how it redistributed weight—heel-toe weighting, which made off-center hits more forgiving. Revolutionary at the time. Still standard today.