PING will be releasing a special-edition PLD Ally Blue Onset putter at the end of the month. Pre-sale for this limited-run putter starts today, with the putter arriving in select PING retailers on Aug. 28. MSRP is $485.
You may recognize this as the mallet putter that PGA pro Corey Conners and LPGA pro Jennifer Kupcho have had in their bags this season. Kupcho made some big putts when she won the ShopRite Classic in June.
The key story of this putter is its onset construction. Normally with putters, we talk about shaft offset, how far the shaft sits in front of the putter face.
This time, the shaft enters the body well behind the face. Hence “onset.” This onset scheme creates more space at the front of the putter, creating a different look at address when compared to the stock PLD Ally Blue.
The new shaft position influences the torque of the putter, but not in the way you may be thinking.
The Ally Blue Onset putter is not a zero-torque putter
This milled stainless steel-and-aluminum beauty probably made some of you jump to conclusions about torque when you saw the photos.
These days, as soon as you see a shaft going into the center of a putter, you’ll justifiably assume that it is a zero-torque putter. Most of the time you will be right, but not this time.
The shaft does go directly into the body of the putter, but not at the center of gravity like it does when you are eliminating torque. The shaft of the PLD Ally Blue Onset enters at an off-center position, creating about 15 degrees of toe hang.
This toe hang translates to rotational torque when you swing the putter.
Don’t ask about loft and lie adjustments
The PING PLD Ally Blue Onset is only offered with three degrees of loft and a 70-degree lie angle. This is one time when your Mitchell machine will not be bending it to your specs. Unlike other putters with bendable external hosels, the loft and lie on this putter are established when the hole is drilled into the head.
PING’s engineers can do amazing things, but I don’t think that they can bend a hole. Bending the composite shaft seems like a problematic solution as well.
This does limit the playability of the PLD Ally Blue Onset model to a subset of golfers who match the putter’s specs. I believe this may be the only time I’ve encountered a PING putter that can’t be adjusted.
Now everyone who is not a 70-degree lie person can have some empathy for the lefties out there.
Can a special edition become a stock model?
Putter companies sometimes release special-edition models as a way to feel out the market. If the consumer balks at the special edition, then there is no reason to make it a production model. If golfers are wild about it, then you may see them proliferate the following season.
Will that be the case with the PLD Ally Blue Onset? I have no idea.
Hopefully, we will see retail versions of the putter. The big stumbling block to mass production may be the fixed loft and lie angles. Retail versions would likely require custom fitting and direct ordering from PING.
That can be accomplished in a local shop, and maybe PING can build an online ordering interface like they did with the PLD Plus line.
The PLD Ally Blue Onset piques my curiosity. I love how the Ally Blue 4 looks and feels and I would like to see how this one compares. Here is the plan to get them to retail. I need all of you who fit the 70-degree lie angle to snatch these up quickly so that PING will make more of these with other specs.
Find out more about the new PING PLD Ally Blue Onset special-edition putter at PING.com
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