Interview – James Ingles Putters

Truly Unique Designs!

It’s not everyday you run across a putter designer with a truly unique look.  And when I say unique I am not referring to all the gadgetry type designs you see being pumped out from large and small companies simply trying to grab your eye when you walk into a proshop.  I’m talking about one with a true sense of craftsmanship and attention to the small intricate details.  So when I ran across some of the first James Ingles Putters some time ago I made sure I kept him on my radar as one to watch.  And over that time I have been impressed with more then a few of his designs.

For The Putter Enthusiasts

When you talk about putters they can be broken down into more categories then you could imagine.  But first an foremost they are broken down by large scale production runs meant for the masses (nothing wrong with these models) and then the putters meant for the collectors out there.  You know the guy I am talking about…you might even be one of them.  Now this does not mean that these guys don’t actually play with these putters but more then likely this guy has over 25 flatsticks in his collection…some collections would blow your mind.  He’s the guy looking for something unique…something with artistic value.  Similar to an art collector, putter collectors express their love of a boutique brand through the putters they own and collect.  Putters are an entirely different breed from other clubs in the bag. Putter enthusiasts enjoy having something original.

The Old-Fashioned Way

One of the more unique features James Ingles Putters incorporates in to his designs is the gunmaker style themes.  If any of you are gun collectors you know the intricate hand engravings some makers are famous for.  Many of which can take months to complete and can cost you over $50,000 for a single gun.  Over the past few years I have spoken to many popular putter designers that have spoken of interest regarding blending this artistic feature into some of their new future putter designs.  Problem is…this skill can take a true craftsmen a lifetime to perfect.  Well that is where James Ingles association with his fathers company Charles Hellis and Sons an old London rifle and shotgun maker comes into the picture.  They have been making them the old fashioned way…by hand for years and you can see from the gallery of putters below their pretty good at what they do.

James Ingles – (PUTTER GALLERY)

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10 Questions: James Ingles Interview

Q. Tell us about how you got started in the golf industry and more specifically how you got started in the putter business?
1. I effectively got started in the golf and putter business at the same time. I have always been a self confessed golf equipment geek ever since I started playing the game, I was fascinated by the various claims made by various companies about hitting longer straighter shots.  I would spend hours in golf shops, but in the UK growing up there were very few things you could just try out, this was apart from the putters on the putting greens, so then I started basically trying every putter I could get my hands on and picked up an interest specifically in putters.

Ever since 1994 I have been around my fathers company Charles Hellis and Sons, an old London rifle and shotgun maker, making them the old fashioned way by hand, so for 17 years now I have been around craftsmen making things using files, chisels, hand operated milling machines etc. The idea for the putter company came about effectively by me challenging the head gun maker at Hellis to make me a putter, he did, I was very impressed with the end result and the idea was born. Having completed an MA in Business at the University of St Andrews I always knew I wanted to work in the golf business, with both my interest in business and putters increasing by the afternoons spent on the Old Course rather than lectures, though it was until years after graduating that the ‘putter challenge’ came about and the idea was born. So that was the beginning and I am now 18 months into James Ingles putters and very excited about the future.

Q. Many of your putters have a gunmaker theme with all the custom inlay and hand engravings…What influenced you to mash the idea of putters and gunmaking together in your designs?
2. The idea to mesh the gun themes into the putters was something that came very naturally. Having grown up around guns and golf, there is actually a huge amount of crossover. For example large bore rifle actions have to be made from a forging to ensure they can take the pressure of large bullets, it isn’t the same reason forged irons are so sought after, but the forged aspect of both mark them out as special. The use of hand milling, or CNC is another cross over, as is the ‘what constitutes a handmade gun/putter’. So really the two industries aren’t as far apart as it would initially seem.

There are a lot of decorative features on the putters that come from the gun world which are there to celebrate the history of the companies roots, but also things like hand engraving celebrate the enormous amount of skill still around in the gun industry. These parts of the designs differentiate the putters from the norm, celebrate the London gun industry and help to link the putters from where they have come. The features that are hidden to an extent, functional rather than decorative like using forgings came about because having grown up around guns I have been fortunate enough to meet the guys who run the forging houses that make the actions for the gun trade. This allowed me to use one of the 100 year old forging houses to produce fantastic quality forgings as a starting point for the putters.

Q. Where do you see James Ingles putters 5 years from now?
3. Five years from now I hope to see the company expanding, I would like to have a larger product range so that everyone, no matter what the budget has access to a high quality putter, as they would want it and to have the putters played around the world. It would be great to have some in the hands of some top touring professionals however if in 5 years we simply have x amount of people around the world putting the putter back in the bag on 18 and saying ‘i can’t wait to get that back out on the 1st next week’ then I’ll be happy.

Q. How did you go about learning the art of putter designing?
4. Learning about putters was and is very much in my eyes about trial and error. I think that by taking a putter, using it, working out what you like and don’t like about it, modifying it and then repeating the previous steps you will get to a final putter that you are much happier with, this is what I consider to be an appropriate design process. I love the old story about Arnold Palmer taking a grinder to some of his old putters to make them how he wanted, after all if it is good enough for Arnold Palmer it is more than good enough for me. Having used, tried, picked up a huge variety of putters over the years I have learnt about the different designs, what specific designs can help/hinder, but more importantly I have an open mind and will experiment moving weight around, trying different necks etc to see if something works, or not as the case can be a lot of the time. Traditional putter designers are in a very fortunate position to have had Karsten Solheim work out and design all the really difficult ideas, I would say 99% of the ‘designs’ we produce are some kind of incarnation of Solheims original ideas.

Q. What is the most shocking thing you have learned about the golf equipment industry since you started your putter business?
5. Rather fortunately I haven’t come across anything too shocking about the golf industry during my short stint within it. The one thing I have noticed slightly to the detriment of the industry is the complete lack of interest in any small fledgling companies, it seems that the smaller bespoke guys within the golf industry are solely concentrated on independent internet forums. While it is fantastic to have such a great platform as the Internet, outside of the Internet with magazines and other traditional media you can’t, as a fledgling company, help but feel a bit like the caddy invited into the Members bar, every right to be there but not very welcome all the same.

Q. I know all of your putters are entirely hand made from either raw forgings or steel billets…but do you ever see yourself incorporating CNC into some more complex designs?
6. Absolutely, I am not adverse to CNC as long as the starting point is a high quality piece of metal. £200 putters aren’t for everyone and if in the future we can settle on a few good designs to have a CNC range then I would be all for it. Having a CNC range would allow more people to try our putters while still allowing us to make the Bespoke putters for those that want something completely unique.

Q. What is the price range for your putter line-up?
7. Price range is £225 for a basic 28g model, £275 for a 12g model and the Bespoke putters run from £500 all the way up to £000’s. For £275 on the 12g for example the customer gets to choose main body shape, the neck is made from a solid and can be anything. It also includes 99% of the finishes we do, so the 12g itself is not far from being a bespoke putter, in fact if you like a heel toe weighted putter you can pretty much make it exactly how you want from the 12g forgings.

Q. How long can it take to do some of your more intricate engraved design work?
8. The engraving can take days. The bespoke putter on the website with small scroll engraving took something along the lines of 40 hours to engrave. The engraving is really customer choice again, if someone wants £50 worth of engraving then we can work with the engraver to get a design to meet the budget.

Q. What is in store in the future for James Ingles putters?
9. I hope in the future to have a mallet style forging mould set up for the hand made putters, have a line of more affordable CNC putters and also have a studio set up where customers can come and try putters, get fitted, or just talk golf.

Q. Do you have a favorite or most exciting moment in your career as a putter maker?
10. My career in putter making has only just begun but has been full of many points of massive excitement for me personally, the first was getting the first forging back from the factory and getting it shafted up. It was an extremely exciting moment to be standing on the 1st about the hit the first putt with the first James Ingles Putter. The second moment was earlier this year at our first public exhibition, without retail premises I don’t get to really see people testing the putters so having a green full of people using the putters and all enjoying using them was an extremely enjoyable and exciting experience.

James Ingles 28g Model – Made For MyGolfSpy

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