Oil Can Classics Newport 2

The Oil Can Classics Newport 2 dates to 1998, an early run within the Newport 2 line that predates the Select-era specs the maker's page now lists for the standard model. Where the current Select Newport 2 ships at 3.5 degrees of loft and 70 degrees of lie in lengths of 33, 34, and 35 inches, the record on this 1998 release has it built at 4 degrees loft, 71 degrees lie, and a single length of 35 inches. The gap between those numbers is not a discrepancy to sort out, it is simply the distance between a 1998 production run and the specs the modern catalog now carries for the model.

The "Oil Can" name points to a finish rather than a shape change, a treatment applied to a Newport 2 head that would otherwise share its low-slung, boxy profile with the rest of the line, a profile the maker's page still describes as having "quietly become the most renowned of all putter shapes." What's on record here is limited to the build itself: loft, lie, and length for this specific 1998 head. Where it sits against later Newport 2 variants, the Notchback, the 2.5, the Dual Balance, each with their own loft and lie figures on the maker's page, is left for the reader to weigh against what's held here.