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Old v New Ping Anser Putters | Retro Review
Oct 27, 2025
In the third episode of Retro Review, Joe Ferguson is throwing it way back to when one of the original Ping Anser putters was created - it went on to become one of the most iconic and successful golf club designs in history, but can it still compete with its modern day equivalent? We took an original Ping Anser and tested it against Ping's latest PLD Anser to find out...
View Video Transcript
0:00
Welcome back to another retro review from Golf Monthly
0:03
And this time we've gone back. We've gone way back. And I've got an absolute titan of the putting game
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I have got the Ping Answer. Now this thing has won over 500 tour events
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So I'm really looking forward to seeing if it's still got the magic on the greens
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Now we've teamed up with Golf Clubs for Cash, one of the leading retailers of pre-loved equipment
0:27
And they provided us with some absolute gems to test. So please go and check them out in the description below
0:32
Now this is one of the most iconic golf clubs of all time and we've picked it up for the bargain price of 67.99
0:40
Now with some putters touching the 400 pound mark and beyond that don't have the major heritage that this thing does
0:45
we could have a bargain on our hands. Now the Anser was designed by Ping founder Karstam Solheim in 1966
0:52
and just about every putter that's been designed since features some elements that come from the Ping Anser
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it was the first of its kind it had an offset hosel which give you a really clean clear view
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look of the face that hadn't been seen before and its cavity back design produced a lot of
1:09
forgiveness again hadn't been seen before in putters now this thing went on to win multiple
1:14
multiple tour events over 500 tour events 19 major victories recorded and even the great
1:20
Tiger Woods has won all 15 of his majors with an answer style putter albeit wrapped up in a
1:25
Scotty Cameron bow. So in terms of the looks of this putter it's actually really hard for me to
1:30
create a discussion around it because it's just so familiar. It's like an old friend. It really is
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the blueprint that all of the other modern putters have been designed around whether it's the Scotty
1:40
Cameron Newport line whether it's the Odyssey numbers one and two they all come back to this
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putter. So in terms of testing and seeing if it still stands up over time I brought its modern
1:51
day equivalent, the answer PLD, and now we're going to hit a few putts and find out if it still has
1:56
the magic Right so I really do want to see how this performance stacks up against its modern day equivalent It actually really difficult to find a fair test for putting so I going to do a couple of things I found out here at the beautiful Pagliaro golf course in Madeira here on the 17th green and I found a really difficult 80 putt
2:14
really long, narrow green here, up and over a tier. What I'm going to do is I'm going to hit
2:18
six putts with each to find out how they perform from long range, see if there's any more forgiveness
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or stability in the newer model, for example. Then I'm going to add each putt up to get a total
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distance away from the hole for those six putts and we'll compare afterwards. So let's get going
2:32
I'm going to start with the PLD first. Felt really solid, nice and soft actually. It's on a great line. That's a promising start
2:48
It is milling on the face of this PLD whereas the original answer doesn't have that milling
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so that actually felt really soft so it'll be interesting to see how that compares. That's bobbled a bit and a little bit under hit I think
3:03
It's doing okay. Probably about six feet that which isn't horrendous. That's a little bit more like it, again on a decent line
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It's jumping around a little bit. But that's pretty tight. I'm happy about that
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I'm going to get those and go again. Okay, well that was a decent first effort with the PLD. My first three totaled 13 feet
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and my second bunch was 11 feet, so I got a bit better. So the overall total to beat for
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the answer is 24 feet. Let's see if I can do it. So looking down behind the board, it's a really, really almost identical profile
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It's just the color that's different. Noticeably different feel. So the soft milling of the face is a bit harsher off the face of this There a little slot in the bottom as well makes it a little bit tingier which is actually quite nice That was really well on line that was
4:15
Another decent putt there if it rolls out a bit. Okay, happy with those
4:26
That's got every chance if it misses that ball. Miss it! just shy I'll see how far those are and I'll come back and hit three more
4:35
well that was very interesting so that was actually a dead tie so it's 24 feet on the
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first one and then on my first go with the original answer I was 11 and a half feet was
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my total distance and my second effort there was 12 and a half feet so that comes to precisely 24
5:03
feet so it's a dead tie from long range so we're gonna have to split these somehow so let's go and
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hit some short putts. Right sorry to interrupt but if you're enjoying this retro review please hit
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the like button and go and subscribe to the channel if you haven't so you can see all of our upcoming
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videos. Also comment down below if you ever played the ping answer putter or there's anything else
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you want us to review, that'd be great. So we've come here to eight feet away
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and that is the PGA Tour average point where it becomes 50-50
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Pros on the PGA Tour hold 50% of the eight foot putts
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So anything above that with this would be really, really successful. So I'm gonna hit 10 with this, 10 with that
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and we're gonna see the difference. Let's go. It's just outside the right
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And just like that. Right, we're gonna speed it up and I'm gonna hit all ten. Let's see what we get
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So that was nine out of ten from that 50 range I have to say I
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very very pleased with that. Let's see what the PLD can do. So that is for the PLD, seven out of 10
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So on the short range putts, the original answer can still very, very much cut the mustard
7:18
Right, well, I really enjoyed that. Like all of these retro reviews, that was actually a really nice trip down memory lane
7:24
and actually quite nostalgic. I felt like Seve at points there hitting those putts
7:28
which was really, really cool. But the point of this video was actually to see
7:32
whether this could stack up against a modern day equivalent. And the answer, forgive the pun
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is a resounding yes. On the longer putts that I hit, and I know it was kind of a crude test
7:44
but it's kind of the best you can do with a putter. On the longer putts, it was identical
7:49
They were both 24 feet in total. The feel was very different. This was a little harsher
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a little tingier, but I actually quite liked that feel to be perfectly honest
7:57
Then as you saw from the shorter putts, I was an absolute machine with this. Nine out of 10 from
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eight foot, I was chuffed to bits with. The PRD performed well as well, but unbelievably
8:07
the original answer took it. So for £67.99 you can get a piece of history and a piece of history
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that still really performs
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