Flanigan Bilt Putters

[Moecat]

Has anyone here ever heard of them or tried their product?

 

Here's an Ebay auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/Prototype-Designed-Flanigan-heavier-Than-8802-Napa

 

Here's their website: http://www.flaniganbiltputters.com

 

 

I decided to call this Ken Flanigan person and see what he's about.

 

1. He claims to have both one of Palmer's personal putters and his Wilson "Designed By" model. Of course, he still could've been lying through his teeth ... but then he continued answering my questions, the answers to which may be seen below and make me think he's pretty genuine.

 

2. His "Designed by" putters are made of 304 stainless steel and are investment cast.

 

3. When he gets the putter heads back, he still has to do some hand grinding and buffing in order to smooth out any rough edges, keep the weight as close to 335g as possible, etc.

 

4. He does plan on releasing a milled carbon steel version (exactly when is unknown).

 

Hope that helps clear things a little.

 

 

One of their models is a heavier (335 gram) 8802-style with a shorter neck, but with the sweet spot in the middle of the face.

[RookieBlue7]

I seriously doubt they have Arnie's personal putter, actually I'm calling BS on them. I'd love to see them produce the club and have it accredited by Arnie saying that it is his personal putter. Maybe one of the designed bys, but not his actual putter. Why would a man who's professed to have some 10,000 clubs give away or sell one of his most treasured clubs? And their refinish prices are INSANE. You can get much better(and more well known/proven) work for less than that

[GolfSpy Dave]

Looks a lot like SSB/LaMont's Lola model with the wider flange.

[Moecat]

Well, sometimes you just learn more about a guy when you actually TALK with him, as opposed to just paying attention to printed word.

 

If anyone noticed, he does post his phone number in his Ebay ad, and I decided to call this Ken Flanigan person and see what he's about.

 

1. He claims to have both one of Palmer's personal putters and his Wilson "Designed By" model. Of course, he still could've been lying through his teeth ... but then he continued answering my questions, the answers to which may be seen below and make me think he's pretty genuine.

 

2. His "Designed by" putters are made of 304 stainless steel and are investment cast.

 

3. When he gets the putter heads back, he still has to do some hand grinding and buffing in order to smooth out any rough edges, keep the weight as close to 335g as possible, etc.

 

4. He does plan on releasing a milled carbon steel version (exactly when is unknown).

 

Hope that helps clear things a little.

[AK108]

Nice anser2 style putter. I actually would like to know more about these putters.

 

Modified 8802 design makes sense. My Lajosi also has a shorter neck at 335g, I believe the sweet spot is closer to the center than my Wilson 8802.

[Moecat]

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-equipment/blogs/newstuff/2011/07/classic-putter-designs-and-a-w.html

 

Classic putter designs and a worthy cause

THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2011

 

Ken Flanigan, 45, is a former firefighter who was making putters as a hobby. Now he has begun making them as an occupation and has a new limited edition series that pays homage to his old profession and commemorates the 10th anniversiy of 9/11.

 

His company is called FlaniganBilt and his limited edition series is called the FireFighter 343, the number commemorating the 343 firefighters lost on 9/11. Only 343 putters will be available and for each putter sold $100 will be donated to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

 

 

"I was a firefighter in a small town here [Newbury, Ohio] for the last 10 years," he said. "I miss it. I miss the guys. Every time I hear the truck go by, I want to be there with them. I wanted to honor them and help the families, too."

 

Flanigan hand mills his putters from 1030 carbon steel. "I'm a huge carbon fan," he said. "Nothing has the feel of carbon."

 

When he began making putters as a hobby a few decades ago, he was grinding them by feel. "I didn't know what I was doing," he said. "I came to learn that you've really got to pay attention to center of gravity. Get that right and you can really improve people's putting. You look at some of the footage of Lee Trevino putting with that old [Wilson] 8813 you could see him lining it up a half-inch off the sight line, because he knew exactly where the center of gravity was. If I burn or etch a sight line into my putters it's going to be exactly on the center of gravity."

 

Flanigan's other offerings, still in the prototype stage, are classic designs on which he has attempted to improve the feel. The FB1 is a Ping Anser-type putter. The FB2 was patterned after "Arnold Palmer's personal 1963 Wilson Design by putter, Jerry Heard's personal 1964 Wilson 8802 and Lee Trevino's personal 1965 Wilson 8813 putter," Flanigan's website states.

 

-- John Strege

[Moecat]

He's now working on forged-then-milled prototypes of his 8802.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AK108]

Any idea how much they charge for those forged-milled version?

[Moecat]

Any idea how much they charge for those forged-milled version?

 

I didn't ask him, but he may be reached at [email protected] if you want to find out.

[Moecat]

FLANIGAN PUTTERS INTERVIEW

 

WEBSITE

 

I had a chance to do a quick Q&A with Ken and get some more pics of a forged-milled carbon steel prototype he's working on.

 

Some more info on the man himself: he's a vintage golf club collector and has amassed more than 24,000 pieces over 20+ years.

 

He already knew how to work with steel - and about the steel business overall - from his father, Hugh, a professional welder, and father-in-law, Lee, who was a manager at various steel forging companies. Ken also built up his knowledge base by picking the brains of such greats as Gene Sarazen and Robert Mendralla on various topics related to golf club design and materials used in golf clubs, talking with numerous physics professors to get a better understanding about golf ball movement – especially when it comes to skidding after impact from the putter head – and even going to True Temper for technical training in the area of golf shafts.

 

Q: Please give us an idea of the extent and type of research that went into your FB-2.

A: It took me about 2 years of design and research before I was ready to go into production. Nothing fancy at first … I just made basic sketches using pencil and paper. You see, the key for me was getting the center of gravity where I wanted it. This meant getting the neck design right, and then raising the toe. I also wanted to make a sole that would take “fiddling” out of the equation during address, and I think I've succeeded with the FB-2 in that it sits square without the golfer needing to make additional forward press.

 

As I got more into the testing process, I invested in high speed cameras - 2,000 frames per second - to study how the ball rolls (they're also great for fitting customers to their proper lie angles, by the way) and a TOMI so that I could study the putter's face angle at setup and impact, the shaft angle, head rotation during the stroke, and impact location on the face.

 

I used a group of a dozen golfers – skill levels ranging from scratch to 15 handicap – to test out prototypes, so I really needed all of this equipment to help me get things done right.

 

When I finally felt that my design was ready for production, I hired people to make blueprints, do CAD programming, and 3-D modeling.

 

Q: What about the production process itself … could you shed some more light on that?

A: Well, I'm currently in the middle of changing the way I get the FB-2 produced. This also involves some research and testing on my end, so I'd rather not get into details at this point.

 

Q: Why 304 stainless steel for the FB-2 and not 303 or soft carbon steel?

A: During initial testing, we felt 304 felt the best. And of course it doesn't have the maintenance issues that carbon steel has. Honestly, though, all 3 each feel different. And right now we're doing further tests on 303 and carbon – in conjunction with our tests during production changes – to see what's possible for the future.

 

Q: How much hand work do you have to do yourself after you get the heads back from production?

A: I used to weld the necks on the prototypes, but now they're being produced as one-piece heads. I do have to use 6 to 8 different finishng wheels for buffing, frosting, polishing and other types of finishing. And I do personalized hand-stamping and put in sight lines when requested.

 

Q: How about the FB-2 itself … what are you willing to change as custom options, and what will remain the same?

A: I don't plan to change the design to move the sweet spot because I find that a lot of people who use this style of putter like having the sweet spot a little closer to the heel … an eight of an inch towards the heel in this case. For this reason, I think the offset is at its optimal location, so I plan on keeping it there. The COG is actually quite a bit closer to the center of the face when you compare mine against a bunch of other similar designs that have been done. I also won't put a sightline or dot that will misrepresent the sweet spot's location.

 

For head weight, I can go as light as 325 g, but want to keep it in the 335-340 range. Any heavier, and I've found that it just deadens the feel of the putter.

 

I will be making a left-handed version available starting November 2011, and I'm also looking into other grip options.

 

Q: What do you think the future holds for Flanigan Bilt Putters?

A: I'd like to expand the styles that I offer. Maybe make a heel-shafted mallet similar to the TPA XVIII. I'd definitely like to make more custom neck options available in my FB-1 (Anser style). And as I said before, we're in the middle of testing out prototypes based on different materials and production methods in order to keep costs down but still maintain a high quality product.

 

I'm definitely not changing my vision. I started out by wanting to give the pro treatment to the average golfer, and I've think I've done that at a reasonable price. I plan to keep doing that.

 

 

 

 

 

WEBSITE

[JBones]

He was on the Golf in America that aired a couple weeks ago. Delila made the 9/11 commemorative putter covers for him.

[Moecat]

For you lefties:

 

 

 

 

[Moecat]

According to Ken:

We are doing a limited edition putter for our fallen police officers in America due to my brother Hughie Flanigan being a police officer. We will be doing 1 of 250 two different head styles for this cause. We have not yet determined where we will donate to but we will have all that info before these go on sale.

 

A preview of this special release below:

 

 

 

 

[Moecat]

He was on the Golf in America that aired a couple weeks ago. Delila made the 9/11 commemorative putter covers for him.

 

Here's a link to the Golf in America segment for those who may have missed the initial airing: http://silo.mediasilo.com/weblink/84768859DE13A9798A0AE2905ECD38DC/[email protected]/

[Moecat]

Congrats to Ken Flanigan for making the 2013 GD Hot List! http://www.golfdigeststix.com/golfdigeststix/20130123?sub_id=kqcG925TEIa8#pg15