Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Old & New Part II



Rating: 7 ponts
Pros: Blank-Face Scottsman Prototype, Orange Squareback Prototype
Cons: They Weren't Free

I reserve 7 point reviews for truly special pieces and these certainly fit the bill. I acquired both of these putters separately on eBay over the past month... and following a post I made about a year ago regarding Old & New items, I figured a sequel was in order. The first putter is a very early made for Tour Prototpe Scottsman 941 (or Mizuno Model I, you choose) with no face or sole stampings. The second is a Newport Squareback Tour Prototype that I sent in to Scotty's Custom Shop for translucent orange paint, Solar Squeeze CS Select headcover and Orange Baby-T grip.


The former was much discussed in multiple threads on TCC and the consensus on the model type is the same as mine... the lines seem a little too clean to be a handmade and the style is reminiscent of early 1990's Camerons. I'm not counting out the possibility of it being a handmade, as honestly I have never studied one in person before, but all indications are that it is not (although there are at least a few known handmades with no face stamping). There are also whisperings of this putter being made for PGA Tour (and now Champions Tour) player Andy Bean. All these details (which I consider minor) will be sorted out during authentication.


The latter is a putter that I've wanted since it first showed up several years ago as a one-off prototype on Tour with little information available, then more recently (by early 2008) had more proliferation on the PGA Tour, especially by Titleist staffer Nick Watney. The Prototype Squareback above is one of the few specifically made for Tour (this is a fine line and a touchy subject among some collectors)... mine is 330g with a plumbers neck and no removable weights. I was told by a distributor very early on that these would be hard to find, and although I have seen a few recently, they do tend to be elusive and less prevelant than the double bend and removable weight Tour versions (many of which may not have seen Tour players hands).

This model has been very popular and an Off The Rack version may be in the cards before too long, but I think the thing putts perfectly and the value will hold over time... and perhaps even improve if an OTR version makes it to market and demand for a Tour version rises. One of the other reasons I like this putter so much is the name... borrowing from the naming convention of a 1962 estate body Volkswagen, the Squareback is a cool looking car and bridges the gap between my father's affinity for post-war vehicles and mine for Scotty Cameron putters.

As I look at these two putters I see how far Scotty has come in design and production in the last 16 or so years... and imagine how far he will go in the next decade. It's fun to wonder about those things sometimes...

Thursday, June 4, 2009

M&G Fairway Wood Cover





Rating: 6 points
Pros: Blazing deal, dancing dogs.
Cons: Not a patchwork.

Once in a while you catch a good deal... with this cover I caught two. The FS advertised a Black CS grip for a good price and once I completed the deal with the seller, he offered several other items to me as well (talk about impulse shopping). This caught my eye and saved the seller from having to list it and deal with offers, so I tacked it on to my purchase.

The cover looks great and fills the gap in Cameron covers in my bag nicely (see the patchwork driver and hybrid cover post a few weeks ago). The Scotty Cameron Museum & Gallary manages to put out some of the most amazing Cameron accessories I've ever seen. There are more items coming... and I'm not even a member.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Marine Camo Harmon




Rating: 4 points
Pros: Cool looking cover in it's own right.
Cons: Shipping issues from Canada. Don't I have this cover already?

It took me quite a while to find someone with this cover. My first attempt unexpectedly landed me with the very similar Digital Camo Harmon headcover from a friend who heard I was looking for a Camo Cover. The friend (assuring me it was the newest Camo Harmon cover) was gracious enough to sell it to me lower than his cost (but still higher than the going rate). Since I already had the Digital Camo cover and was looking forward to the Marine Camo version above, I was dissapointed to find the Digital Camo cover, but I'm not one to make a fuss. I am also one to hang on to duplicates, which did wind up serving me well....

A few weeks ago someone posted a Wanted to Buy/Trade ad on TCC and I was quick to reply... the deal was to be my duplicate Digital Camo cover for the '09 Lucky Dog and '09 Bandito Bull Dog covers, plus $100. A pretty good deal considering the going rate for those two covers. Once that deal was completed, I found another For Sale ad, this time for the Marine Camo. I watched it for a few days then replied to the seller once he dropped it to the $300 level. PayPal was sent and a few days later the seller let me know they shipped the cover. Here comes the fun part....

A few days later I received a notice from UPS that I missed their delivery (not too unusual)... but in addition there was a $44.44 COD charge. Perplexed, I messaged the seller to make sure this was not the cover I was expecting... anot not hearing back right away, I called UPS. That is when I discovered the package was from the seller... and he had shipped it from Canada (without notifing me, declareing it a Canadian product, and declaring the value over the duty threshold). Speaking with curteous representatives, I was able to negotiate the fees down to $25 due to the US origin of the product. However, after two more unsuccessfull delivery attempts I opted to pick up the package from the UPS distribution center... the associate handed me the package without having to pay. Good for me... but I wouldn't be surprised if I get a bill in the mail from UPS.

Long story short, I have my cover without having to pay anything extra for it and I'm not too upset with the seller. Obtaining this cover turned out to be quite an excursion in Cameron Collecting.