Penneagle Palisade TPD.3V Putter

If you're not yet familiar with Penneagle putters, just wait a while. You probably soon will be. Penneagle Golf is one of those small companies built around an idea. Some such companies break through to the larger golf conciousness and continue growing; others forever remain a niche company known only to a few gearheads. Based on the reaction we got from golfers trying one of its putters, Penneagle is much more likely to fall into the first category than the second.

The company was founded in 2002 by golf club engineer and designer Timothy Durnin, whose idea was pretty simple: easy alignment and maximum forgiveness, not in some alien-appearing behemoth, but in a traditionally shaped mallet.

"The original design concept centered on building a putter that was easy to align with maximum forgiveness," Durnin said. "I knew that there was room for improvement based on the laws of physics and better optics."

At the time of this writing, Durnin's company manufacturers four lines of putters: the Palisade, Stinson, Atherton and Highland. The Palisade, Stinson and Atherton introduce Penneagle's approach to weighting and optics while maintaining a traditional mallet's look and feel. The Highland is a blade that, because of the "I-ball" alignment aid extending back from topline, does not appear traditional at all.

Durnin provided About.com Golf with Penneagle's Palisade TPD.3V model. We spent a few weeks putting with it ourselves, and passing it around to golfers of varying skill levels.

The Penneagle Palisade met with universal acclaim for its traditional mallet shape and size, its strong sightlines that make it a breeze to correctly align, its solid distance control and its great feel. We also discovered that the Palisade's weighting properties make it one of the easiest putters we've found to stroke back and through the putting line.

The Palisade is CNC milled 304 Stainless Steel with a soft, milled aluminum face insert. It comes in 34- or 35-inch models and carries an MSRP of $169. The TPD.3V model we tested features a triple bend shaft and is face balanced; a center-shafted model, the TPD.4, is also available.

Something that all of Penneagle's putters have in common are the weighting system and optics that Durnin referred to earlier.

What Penneagle calls the Oppositional Weighting System (OWS) is comprised of high-density tungsten plugs that are placed on the heel and toe of the clubface, and the rear-center of the flange. There's also the lightweight Polyurethane midsole insert and the aluminum face insert.

Add it all up, and 72-percent of the Palisade's weight is moved to its perimeter.

"The Oppositional Weighting System was inspired by the concept to create a traditional mallet with a high moment of inertia," Durnin said. "I created the Oppositional Weighting System to combine both heel-toe and lateral balance. ... The lateral balance lowers the putter's center of gravity (and) that creates a higher moment of inertia for increased forgiveness."

The optical component of the Penneagle approach is found in the "I-ball" and "V-site" alightment aids.

The I-ball is a flat disk in the size and shape of a golf ball on the top of the flange; a straight, white sightline is drawn through its middle. The patented V-site is another white line that traverses a cutaway in the back of the clubface that is, of course, in the shape of a "V." The idea is to provide a depth of perception in addition to creating a straight line to assist in framing the ball at address.

Penneagle still has a low profile of this writing, but that is likely to change as the company moves toward a more aggressive marketing strategy.

"Our focus is on sales and marketing and to establish our reputation on tour," Durnin said. "We have validated our designs at the PGA show by golf professionals and golf enthusiasts. We are currently targeting select professionals to test and play with our putters. We are also working with the professionals to get feedback for our next line of putters."

Durnin said Penneagle expects to have a new series of putters out in 2005. "You have to keep innovating in his industry, and we feel very strongly about allocating budget for research and development."

Golfers interested in Penneagle Golf can visit the company's Web site and click on the "Dealer Locator" link on the homepage. The Web site also features an online store for direct ordering.