Ping Golf Introduces 2020 Heppler Putters

Ping Golf is a premium golf manufacturer and their newest Heppler putters introduced recently mark a first-time for the company, i.e. the Heppler putters boast an innovative high-pressure aluminum casting technology. Until now, Ping never employed this manufacturing process into its putter-line, i.e. this should be very interesting for the brand aficionados. The new Heppler family consists of nine models, including eye-catching blades, as well as composite material mallets and mid mallets. Each of the three versions feature a different solid face technology, as well as an ultra-high moment of inertia properties. Here's Ping Golf President John K. Solheim on the new Heppler putters:

“With the Heppler series, we’re providing golfers a firmer-feeling putter in highly forgiving models to ensure a choice that fits their stroke and eye.We’ve chosen a very precise manufacturing process that’s significantly advanced our ability to create high-MOI mid-mallets and mallets by combining aerospace-grade aluminum with steel. The contrasting copper and black finish provides alignment cues and a visually appealing, premium look that’s attracting a lot of interest on tour. Fitting continues to be an important part of our putter technology as well. We’ve made improvements to the feel of our adjustable-length shaft technology, and the new putters are available to fit every stroke type so golfers can find a putter to match their stance and stroke.”

The solid face technology implemented in the Heppler family provides that lovely firm sound and feel we all know and love in Ping putters, and that's due to the putters' machined to perfection/flat face. The face material consists of either steel or aluminum, depending on the model, and the placement of materials is cleverly positioned to optimize the CoG aka center of gravity and to boost forgiveness. According to various in-house testing by Ping’s engineers, the flat metal face plays a big role in regard to boosting confidence due to its unique impact experience, which makes no compromise in terms of performance. Here’s John K. Solheim again:

“We saw a high percentage of testers improve their ‘Strokes Gained’ results with a Heppler model, indicating that many golfers prefer the firmer sound and feel of a solid-face design. We see the new putters as an appealing alternative to our Sigma 2 series, which offers a softer feel and sound through its dual-durometer insert and TR face technology. Our primary goal is to provide golfers a custom-fit putter with their desired feel and sound while delivering the performance and consistency they need to hole more putts.”

The composite material design also known as multi-material in the new Heppler putters works together with the pressure cast aluminum technology to produce an extremely high moment of inertia. Ping's Research and Development team created an interesting melange of steel with lightweight aluminum via weight placement and strategic shaping, as the pressure cast aluminum delivers state of the art quality and precise detail in the mallets and mid-mallets. For example, the new Tomcat 14 mallet boasts the highest moment of inertia in the Heppler line-up and comes with a unique 14 dot alignment aid, which is very similar to the lights on an airport runway. Solheim added:

“The advantage of pressure casting is we can achieve highly precise design details while allowing our engineers much greater freedom to position weight where it benefits the putter’s performance the most. As a result, we improved the performance of existing models and developed two entirely new designs. Golfers will also find a variety of alignment features to help ensure accuracy and match their preferred look.”

The new putters also feature Ping’s proprietary adjustable-length shaft technology, now at its second generation, after it first saw action in the company’s previous Sigma 2 family. The new shaft technology delivers less flexing and produces a firmer feel. The Heppler putters arrive in a stunning black chrome finish, while the adjustable-length shaft technology allows for full customization while keeping it as lightweight as possible. Here’s Mr. Solheim again on the adjustable length shaft technology employed in the company’s newest line of putters:

“We’ve taken a very complex technical challenge and simplified it for the benefit of golfers. It allows you to experiment with various lengths and ultimately fit yourself. You simply adjust it until you’re comfortable, ideally with your eyes directly over the ball or slightly inside the line. The performance improvements with a putter fit to the proper length are significant. We strongly encourage golfers to take advantage of this innovative feature.”

To complement the new Heppler putters, Ping adds into the mix new Pistol Grip options in new grip designs, which are aimed at helping golfers find their perfect fit and feel. The standard grip is the PP59, which is basically an upgraded version of the popular PP58. Then, you have the PP60, a midsize lightweight Pistol Grip, with flats on the sides and top to fit perfectly the contour of one’s hands, then there’s the slightly heavier PP61, which boasts an exaggerated pistol-grip shape. Finally, there’s the PP62, with a rounder yet larger shape, also lightweight, designed to promote quieter hands.

If you’re wondering about the etymology of the Heppler line, you must learn that Ping’s latest putter line-up pays homage to Rick Heppler, a longtime employee of Ping, who started his career with Ping Golf as a teenager back in 1966. Rick was the son of a GE co-worker of Karsten Solheim, Ping’s co-founder, and he was hired by the latter to help John Solheim with building putters in his family garage. Before passing away in a motorcycle accident in 2013, Rick Heppler held various management positions at Karsten Manufacturing Corporation. Here’s John A. Solheim on Rick’s legacy at Ping Golf:

“Rick was part of the PING family for almost 50 years. He was a dear friend who contributed greatly to our success in all that he did. Naming this putter series after him is a tribute to his dedication to our company and its employees.”

Here are the Heppler models and specs:

First, there’s the Heppler Anser 2, which is pretty similar to the hugely popular (vanilla) Anser 2. The Heppler version comes with the same angled heel ballast and heel-toe weighting but features color blocking that helps with alignment assistance.

Putter Type: Blade
Material: Steel
Adjustable-Length Black Chrome Shaft: 32? to 36? range
Head Weight: 350g
Stroke Type: Slight Arc
Lie Angle: 20° ±4°
Loft: 3° ±3°
U.S. MSRP: $245

The Heppler ZB3 putter is a tad larger than the old ZB2, and that allows it to achieve a high moment of inertia for an arc-blade.

Putter Type: Blade
Material: Steel
Adjustable-Length Black Chrome Shaft: 32? to 36? range
Head Weight: 355g
Stroke Type: Strong Arc
Lie Angle: 20° ±4°
Loft: 3° ±3°
U.S. MSRP: $245

Th Heppler Piper C is built to give a performance edge to golfers who enjoy center shafted putters, and has a lower center of gravity and a high moment of inertia, due to its toe weights integrated into the putter’s aluminum body and its steel heel.

Putter Type: Mid-mallet
Material: Aluminum/Steel face
Adjustable-Length Black Chrome Shaft: 32? to 36? range
Head Weight: 365g
Stroke Type: Straight
Lie Angle: 20° ±4°
Loft: 3° ±1°
U.S. MSRP: $245

The Heppler Tyne 3 has an almost perfect 50/50 aluminum to steel ratio at address, yet steel makes for 2 thirds of the weight. The Tyne 3 has a thick back flange and a deeper/lower center of gravity, and, as usual, a higher moment of inertia.

Putter Type: Mallet
Material: Aluminum face/Steel
Adjustable-Length Black Chrome Shaft: 32? to 36? range
Head Weight: 360g
Stroke Type: Slight Arc
Lie Angle: 20° ±4°
Loft: 3° ±3°
U.S. MSRP: $270

The Heppler Fetch has an elevated moment of inertia over the Sigma 2 version and more forgiveness, due to its steel in the heel-toe ballasting. The color contrasting technology works great as an alignment aid.

Putter Type: Mallet
Material: Aluminum/Steel face
Adjustable-Length Black Chrome Shaft: 32? to 36? range
Head Weight: 365g
Stroke Type: Straight
Lie Angle: 20° ±2°
Loft: 3° ±3°
U.S. MSRP: $270

The Heppler Ketch putter has a steel sole, which wraps around the perimeter, and it’s also half steel half aluminum, making for the only putter in the 2020 line-up to feature 3 alignment lines.

Putter Type: Mallet
Material: Aluminum face/Steel
Adjustable-Length Black Chrome Shaft: 32? to 36? range
Head Weight: 370g
Stroke Type: Slight Arc or Straight
Lie Angle: 20° ±2°
Loft: 3° ±3°
U.S. MSRP: $270

The improbably named Heppler Floky boasts a strong-arc mallet design and has the second-highest moment of inertia in the 2020 line-up, due to its one-third aluminum/two-thirds steel construction. The Heppler Floky has a lot of steel around the perimeter, which prevents twisting, and it’s designed to inspire confidence at address via its copper color contrasted against the black aluminum.

Putter Type: Mallet
Material: Aluminum face/Steel
Adjustable-Length Black Chrome Shaft: 32? to 36? range
Head Weight: 365g
Stroke Type: Strong Arc
Lie Angle: 20° ±4°
Loft: 3° ±3°
U.S. MSRP: $270

The Heppler Tomcat 14 putter comes with the aforementioned alignment dots inspired by the aeronautics industry and it's the highest moment of inertia putter in the family, having half steel/half aluminum construction.

Finally, there’s the Heppler Piper Armlock putter, a mid-mallet design respectively, boasting the now-familiar heel-toe weighted Piper C head, a low center of gravity and a high moment of inertia.

Putter Type: Mid-Mallet
Material: Aluminum/Steel face
Standard length: 41.5” (Non-adjustable. Custom lengths available)
Head Weight: 355g
Stroke Type: Slight Arc or Straight
Lie Angle: 20° ±2°
Standard Loft: 6° (custom lofts available)
U.S. MSRP: $270