Any love for the Bulls Eye?

[Moecat]

I always thought the Bulls Eye was useful to practice with, and occasionally I'll bring it to the course.

 

How about the rest of you?

 

Here's my HB (heavy blade) model

[GolfSpy Dave]

I have about 6 different ones that I have collected over the years. Great training tool for me when my stroke wanders. Almost picked up the Cameron flange one on the bay, but I found the old brass model with flange in a junk store. Will post some photos of the treasures when I get home.

[GolfSpy Dave]

Here are the photos of my bullseyes.

One is pre-Achshnet

[jamo]

Here are the photos of my bullseyes.

One is pre-Achshnet

 

Wow, you even have some with offset. Do you ever use them lefty do they have negative offset?

[GolfSpy Dave]

Wow, you even have some with offset. Do you ever use them lefty do they have negative offset?

I have messed around putting lefty with the non-flange ones. The offset one going lefty was funny.

We had a bullseye only round last summer and our resident lefty putted quite well that day with the bullseye.

[jamo]

I have messed around putting lefty with the non-flange ones. The offset one going lefty was funny.

We had a bullseye only round last summer and our resident lefty putted quite well that day with the bullseye.

 

I imagine they were tough to hit out of the sand.

[GolfSpy Dave]

I imagine they were tough to hit out of the sand.

Normal other clubs, only putter replaced with bullseye

[jamo]

Normal other clubs, only putter replaced with bullseye

 

Too bad, the ones with a little bit of a flange would be interesting to chip with.

[GolfSpy Dave]

Back to the topic a bit. Thanks for posting the picture of yours moe. I have one with the cut notches and I always assumed it was done aftermarket.

[Moecat]

Back to the topic a bit. Thanks for posting the picture of yours moe. I have one with the cut notches and I always assumed it was done aftermarket.

Sac, I really like your collection, and you seem to have kept them in nice shape! How old do you think is your pre-Acushnet model?

[GolfSpy Dave]

Sac, I really like your collection, and you seem to have kept them in nice shape! How old do you think is your pre-Acushnet model?

60's ish I think, later when I have put the kids to bed, I have a cool bullseye cameron story that I will share.

[GolfSpy Dave]

So here is the cool bullseye story. I sent the following letter and an old putter to Scotty Cameron Spring 2008...

 

Dear Mr. Cameron

 

As you can tell, I have enclosed an well-worn pre-Acushnet John Reuter Bull's-eye putter. Please let me explain why I have sent it to you.

 

I am a new golfer. I played once a year from 12 until this year when at 39 I decided it was time to learn the game. So for the past six months, I have played once a week and have actually improved a bit. Along the way I have become enamored with the equipment side of golf, especially putters. Currently I am using a Circa #1. I like the putter so much that I make sure to take lots of extra puts per round with it…

 

Back to the bull's-eye. During the last few months I have played around with refinishing putters in the garage. I found a buffing wheel at a garage sale and a few TP Mills Spaldings have gone under the torch and oil can. It is great fun to search the Sacramento thrift stores for putter gems. Anyway, the bull's-eye was one of the thrift store finds. It was sad and bent, but I had to take it home.

 

While surfing the net for info on the putter I came across your bull's-eye description. I didn't even know that you had made bull's-eyes in the past. In the description of your bull's-eye it mentioned that you had a section in the studio dedicated to John Reuter. This section of the studio seemed like the likely home for this old putter.

 

Please accept this putter as a gift to the John Reuter section. After finding the putter and seeing your web site, sending it to you seemed like the right thing to do. Its condition may warrant disposal rather than display, but I hope you gain some enjoyment from looking at it.

 

Sincerely,

 

To this day, I am not sure why I felt compelled to send it to him. Just a thought that jumped into my head so I sent it.

 

A few weeks later I received a letter from Scotty that said.

"Thank you very much for the letter and John Reuter Bulls Eye putter. It will make a nice, historical addition to the Putter Studio. I encourage your new passion for golf and wish you success with your game. Thanks again for the putter. All the best, Scotty Cameron."

Signed with a little crown and 3 dots on the S in Scotty.

 

I came across this letter a few weeks ago when we purged our home filing system. A couple of years have passed and I know a lot more about the golf equipment side of the game. I know way more about Scotty Cameron, his putters, the loyal followers of his work (TCC), presence on tour, crap he takes in boards sometimes, and so on. What I have truly come to realize that me sending this letter and getting a response would be like sending a letter to the president and getting a hand signed personal response. Scotty, regardless of who likes his putters or doesn't, is the big deal in the putter making game.

 

I was a new hacker schlub who found an old, somewhat abused putter in a thrift store and felt compelled to send it to him for his Reuter shrine. Maybe this was just weird enough to make it on his radar and compel him to send me the personal note. Regardless, a person in his position and with his busy agenda could have easily dismissed the whole thing as "whatever".

 

Although I love my Byron Morgan putter and the work that the people do in that shop is second to none, I still look at the Scotty offerings, and occasionally buy one. Scotty is alright in my book. My Tel3 2 Longneck is my shrine to him, I guess...

[Addicted2Golf]

Great story Sactown. Thanks for sharing it with us. I wouldn't have letter on file - I'd have it framed.

[GolfSpy Dave]

Great story Sactown. Thanks for sharing it with us. I wouldn't have letter on file - I'd have it framed.

It was cool to find it after forgetting about it. Kind of lame that people sometimes pile on him when he seems like an OK guy to me.

[Addicted2Golf]

It was cool to find it after forgetting about it. Kind of lame that people sometimes pile on him when he seems like an OK guy to me.

 

I'm speculating but I think Scotty gives off an elitist vibe mainly due to the fact that he has positioned his company as a premium brand and works so much with tour players. His association with Titleist, which blatantly caters to the "better golfer" just reinforces that. Folks that can't afford his products resent him for it and I think that is where a lot of the negativity comes from.

[Matt Saternus]

Sactown-

 

That's a cool story about Scotty. Personally, I'm pretty neutral on him in general, and it's nice to hear something really positive like that.

 

Also, great collection of Bulls-eyes. The only problem is that they're sitting on the floor, you need a rack for those!

 

 

I got a Bulls Eye as my first "real" putter when I was young. I still have it and like to carpet putt with it from time to time, but it doesn't see any green grass.

[Addicted2Golf]

BTW, putters have definitely come a long way. I doubt I could hit the broad side of a barn with any of those.

 

Couple these putters with the butter knives and small headed persimmon drivers the pros used to play and you develop a deep sense of appreciation for the ball striking skills of the guys who played before all this technology made golf easier.

[GolfSpy Dave]

BTW, putters have definitely come a long way. I doubt I could hit the broad side of a barn with any of those.

 

Couple these putters with the butter knives and small headed persimmon drivers the pros used to play and you develop a deep sense of appreciation for the ball striking skills of the guys who played before all this technology made golf easier.

No kidding. The bullseye is more of a training tool than a gamer for me. I did learn that when the starter pairs you up with an older guy bagging one, watch out. Do not, I repeat, do not make bets on the course with him that day.

[Andrew Bush]

i was going to make a smart comment about is there a lefty version but ppl touched on it already oh so no fun now with it

 

but i agree the seemore is like this somwhat and a great training aid indeed i would slap a huge grip on it though to take wrists out i would want to prick and pop it like arnie and jack

[NGage]

My Dad is a pack-rat and a collector by nature. I think he's probably bought over 25 Bull'sEye putters from garage sales and such. He's probably never paid more that $5 for any of them, and most likely paid a lot less -- he's also been known to be cheap....uh...frugal. LOL

[golfluvzme]

You're gonna force me to snap some pics of my lame little Bullseye herd, ain't ya?

I ran across one that I believe to be either a prototype or something that never made the production. It is zero stamps, 370 gram headweight, and all bullseye.

Dad putted with an Offset Bullseye for about 35 years. Never saw one identical to it, in all my travels. The day I brought home my first run of MannKrafted heads, Dad was there with his order and full purchase price. It ain't always easy to have your biggest hero for a father, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.

I'll see what I can do about those pics.

Thanks,

LaMont in AZ

[GolfSpy Dave]

Nice LaMont. How large is a 370g bullseye?

For that fact, what is the standard head weight?

[jamo]

That was an awesome story Sactown. I wish he had taken a picture of your putter with the other Bulls-Eyes. That would have been interesting. But you got his autograph, that's pretty neat.

[Moecat]

I just picked up a Wide Blade model. Hopefully it gets here sometime next week, and I'll snap some pics then.

 

I'm curious if it'll be heavy like the HB model.

[GolfSpy Dave]

I never realized that there were so many variations on the bullseye until I found the offset flange in the store. How common were these in the bags of pros in the 70's?

[NGage]

I never realized that there were so many variations on the bullseye until I found the offset flange in the store. How common were these in the bags of pros in the 70's?

 

 

I didn't either...until my dad went crazy for them and started buying them left and right. There must be close to 100 different versions.

[jamo]

I never realized that there were so many variations on the bullseye until I found the offset flange in the store. How common were these in the bags of pros in the 70's?

 

Pretty common, but I imagine the style of putter was even more common before then, before the Anser. Titleist has a little page about the Bulls Eyehere.

[GolfSpy Dave]

The design was acquired by Acushnet though.

Check here for some of the pre history.

http://www.golflink.com/about_2143_history-bulls-eye-putters.html

[jamo]

The design was acquired by Acushnet though.

Check here for some of the pre history.

http://www.golflink.com/about_2143_history-bulls-eye-putters.html

 

Great link, thanks Sactown!

[Moecat]

My Wide Blade just came in.

 

Note how the shaft is angled for the right-handed golfer so that the hands can be readily placed ahead of the ball.