In the summer of 1961 Karsten Solheim met with Ted Wooley, the owner of Golfcraft, in Escondido, Californiia, and acquired enough forged clubheads to make 100 sets of irons that would be the first Ping irons every made.  Once back in Arizona, Karsten broke with convention and milled two cavities out of the back of each iron head and shafted them himself .

These first irons—the "Ping 69" model—proved to be a gigantic watershed moment in golf history. In making these first irons, Karsten ignored all the various existing muscle back, flat back, two-level back, step back, angled back, etc. iron designs. He did not create a variation on any of those themes.  Instead, Karsten introduced a cavity back, perimeter-weighted iron that was nowhere to be found in the market. As he continued to develop his novel design, it would soon race to the front and revolutionize the world of golf equipment.

With 100 sets made, he returned to Wooley and acquired enough clubheads to make 100 additional sets. These sets, when compared to his first 100 sets, used the same perimeter-weighted design but had cosmetic differences. The soles of the second group were stamped "Ping Ballnamic 69," the cavities were mostly paint-filled with only a few sets using a decal in the upper cavity like on the first sets, the faces had two vertical side scoring lines on each side, and the chrome was brighter and richer in appearance. In short, the second 100 sets looked much better cosmetically.

Offered here is a Ping Ballnamic 69 1- iron from the second 100 sets.  Not all the customers who order a set of Balnamic 69 irons included a 1-iron or SW in the order, hence not as many are in circulation.  Also not that this particular 1-iron has a third cavity on the back—a hole drilled out low near the toe. This was not normal.

 In my communication with PING’s historian Rob Griffin about this club, he recounted a conversation he had with Allan Solheim, who milled out most all of these iron heads.  Allan did not recall ever drilling a third cavity, nor does he think he or his father would have.  However, the white paint in these cavities appears to be original, but we also know that sometimes hosels were trimmed to bring a clubhead to weight.   Long story short, we may never know the genesis of the third cavity, but even so, this is a great club in beautiful condition.

This 1-iron comes with a 40” shaft, sans a double bend, and green victory grip. 

For more on the amazing story of Karsten and his production of the earliest forged perimeter-weighted cavity-back irons and bent shafts, see chapter three in And The Putter Went Ping.