Offered here is a one-of-a kind Redwood City Ping 1A.  Marked “The Singing Blade” on the left-hand blade, this putter was possibly made for Bing Crosby. The slender golfer that he was, he could also be referred to as “the singing blade.”  This club comes with a letter from a later owner of the club who asked Rob Griffin, the Ping historian, about it. Mr. Griffin acknowledged that Bing was a customer of Karsten’s, but he did not have a paper order for the club (few paper orders remained when this putter surfaced).

The letter reads:

Some time ago I called the Ping office in Phoenix and spoke to Rob Griffen a long time employee who at that time gave me some information about the 1959 Karsten Redwood City 1 A #2 stamped "THE SINGING BLADE" that I have owned for many years... I bought it from a golf picker out of Santa Rosa, Ca. Rob said that Karsten engraved very few putters in the early years, he didn't have the paper order for this putter, but said Bing Crosby was a customer of Karsten. Rob also told me the story about Karsten picking up a blown out piece of tire off the road and cutting small pieces off and wedging between the putters face to deaden the ping sound... like the one I have. One of Bings stage names was "The Singing Blade".  So with this information one could say this Putter was used by Bing Crosby. Paul Biocini, member of the P.G.A. since 1960 and G.C.S. since 1978.

No matter if it was made for Crosby or not, the putter itself certainly warrants its stamped title. Of all the clubs ever made up to its creation, the Redwood City 1A is clearly “The Singing Blade.” 

This Redwood City 1A is in outstanding original condition, with its original dark patina, typical of early PING manganese bronze putters. There are no dings or nicks on the head and the patina is untouched. The green Golf Pride Informer grip is original, including the original trim at the base of the grip, but has worn through exposing just a bit of the shaft at the end of the grip (as shown in a grip image.) The sole is stamped "11" which was Karsten's own head-weight indicator.  The 35 1/2" shaft is original and has Karsten's hand-made double bend.  

This double bend is exceedingly meaningful. According to John Solheim, only Karsten crafted the shaft bend on every single Redwood City putter that has one. That was a job that not only had to be done with great skill, so the club would set up to the ball exactly as Karsten specified, but also required a balancing act of heating the shaft enough to bend it but not too much to scar or ruin it. Of course, Karsten worked on the vast majority of the PING Redwood City putters, as the only clubmaking help Karsten had in Redwood City was from his son John, who was in 8th and 9th grade, and his son Allan, who helped primarily by making and installing the leather-wrapped grips and only until mid-1959 when he graduated from high school and left for Marine Reserve boot camp.

Also of interest are the small piece of rubber installed between each blade and the hosel. This rubber piece was installed by Karsten at the request of those individuals who wanted their putter to “sing” a little softer. The story of how Karsten came up with this idea and picked up a piece of a blown out tire off the road, is told in detail in And the Putter Went Ping on page 43 under “variations on a Ping.

For more information on this and the other Redwood City putters, the entire second chapter in And the Putter Went Ping, pages 26 through 53, tells the amazing story. This chapter highlights the creative genius behind the 1A, how it came to be, and the monumental roll it played in bringing heel/toe weighting into the world of golf.