If you ask any of the great players that have played golf with Bob Murphy, they will tell you that he is one of the best putters that ever lived. His tempo and putting stroke are like the movement of a fine Swiss timepiece, and were the fuel for his win at the 1965 U.S. Amateur, his 1966 NCAA Championship individual title, and his five wins on the PGA Tour.

Because great putting is important at every level, Murphy continued to win tournaments as a member of the Champions Tour. On the Champions Tour, he notched 11 tour victories, and missed only nine cuts in the 366 events he played in.

Arthritis has slowed his playing career, but not his passion for putting. He and his team have created a putter insert that they believe to be the next big thing in putting. Enjoy this story from Bob Murphy about the new insert that is being kept under type wraps … for now.

High Friction Insert Technology

By Bob Murphy with Craig Dolch

“‘Old Murph’ could make a putt or two”– that statement was spoken by Johnny Miller on many television broadcasts we were doing fro NBC. I did make “a few” and learned a lot by watching and listening to fellow PGA Tour professionals, including Miller, Nicklaus, Stockton, Watson, Floyd, Trevino and Colbert. We were obsessed with improving our putting.

Most of our work was on the putting stroke. But there was always concern regarding the putter, too. Did it look good? Did the lie have the sole flat when placed behind the ball? Was the loft correct?  Was there a nice “sound” or “click” when struck?  Did it “feel good” giving feedback to the hands and brain?

Today, we have a new consideration — the ball itself and the large dimples. Try taking a new Titleist or Callaway and roll it easily and softly by pushing it with your finger and it will veer directions, rock and then come to a halt quickly — all on a flat surface. The new golf ball is simply not perfectly round. The dimples are arranged in various patterns and the ridges of the dimples do protrude. A ball struck on a ridge point can easily impart spin and misdirection. This distortion varies greatly, of course. But the fact is it does happen.

My group is working to develop an insert with high friction to absorb the strike of the ball. The result is that the ball is on the face for a slightly longer time. It may seem infinitesimal, but the ball begins to true roll faster and leaves incredibly straight off this insert. My showing this to PGA Tour and Champions Tour pros Nick Price, Robert Allenby, Ken Duke, Olin Browne and Jay Sigel brings a similar response from each of them. They can see the ball rolls with no bounce and no spin. With this true roll, they notice how straight it takes off, especially on putts of 2 to 5 ft. How many of those have we seen missed on TV in the last three years — by the best in the business?

In trying these putters with the insert installed, these pros realize they can play less break on short putts. That becomes an advantage to them to trust that the ball is leaving so straight and rolling so purely.

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I am not the “mad’ scientist” who concocted this insert material. I am the voice of experience from golf assisting our group in filing the patent pending and obtaining the approval stamp of the USGA. We have that approval — it is legal.

This high-friction insert is ready to play. You will be watching television soon and Johnny Miller will say, “Old Murph has come up with something special here!”

More to come,

Bob Murphy