1890's Willie Park Jr. Patent Putting Cleek with Offset Blade

         In 1892, Willie Park, Jr. produced and marketed what has generally been acknowledged as the first offset blade putter. A radical idea when introduced, the offset blade garnered its share of believers and eventually became one of the most popular developments in the evolution of the putter. (The Clubmakers Art, by Jeffrey Ellis, p. 196).

        This historic putter - referred to as the "wry-neck" putter at the time - became even more popular when Harry Vardon used it to win the 1898 Open Championship. Who did Vardon defeat? None other than the club's maker, Willie Park, Jr., who finished 2nd. In fact, the top 3 finishers of the 1898 Open Championship used Park's wry-neck putter.

        Amazingly, the putter presented here pre-dates Harry Vardon's victory by a few years. Based on a review of the same putter in the both editions of The Clubmaker's Art, by Jeffrey Ellis (1st Edition, pp 170-171 and 2nd Edition, pp. 196-197), this putter appears to be the rare "W. Park's Special Patent" putter, which contains the "earliest mark Park used on the back of his wry-neck putters." (See above, The Clubmakers Art).