1A

The Ping 1A dates to 1959, designed by Karsten Solheim. It sits at the very start of the Ping line, before the Anser, before the Redwood City workshop became a household name in putter design.

Edgagolf.com calls it probably the first putter ever designed by a professional engineer, and the design details reported bear that framing out: a floating face attached only at heel and toe, a hollowed out centre with two slots cut into the bottom of the head, and perimeter weighting that was, per edgagolf.com, made from a material never used before in clubmaking. Best-putter.com adds that the head was heel and toe weighted with a larger sweetspot, and that it twists less on off-center strikes than putters of its day.

The name itself is part of the record's texture rather than a settled fact. Best-putter.com attributes the Ping company's name to the pinging sound the ball made off the face, while edgagolf.com describes the putter as named for the sound it made when hitting the ball, and best-putter.com separately describes that sound as loud and resounding, like a xylophone key. Both sources point at the same idea from different angles, and the Record holds both rather than picking one.

Opinion on the 1A splits along expected lines. It's praised as an innovative, engineer-first design and, per best-putter.com, one of the most collectible putters around, with mint versions reported to carry real value on the collectors market. But the same body of opinion notes it wasn't seen as elegant as competing putters of its era, and that some sat unsold in pro shops. Best-putter.com also notes the model is still being produced, mainly as a demonstration of the company's heritage, a detail that places the 1A less as a working tool today and more as the marker of where Ping's whole putter line began.