The making of the 22 Caliber
December 11, 2011
The 22 Caliber was inspired 22 years ago when Mr Bettinardi's first child Sam was born. As a father he is very proud of him and he wants to dedicate this putter to his son. Mr Bettinardi made the 38 Special, 44 Magnum, and 50 Caliber putters all to commemorate his own birthdays but it was really important to dedicate one to his oldest child and his only son.
What makes the 22 Caliber putters so special besides for what it stands for is all in the process. As was stated above, Bob designed the three gun series putters in the past 15 years and this is the 4th to be added to that series. This is the first time that he took on the challenge to precision machine any sort of plug pattern into the sole. This new design was trickier than I expected and through many trials and quite a few errors the studio was able to create a process to mill the excess hand placed plugs along the radius surface of the sole just right. Even with the decades of not only my Mr Bettinardi's engineering know how, but that of all his staff there were still countless putters that had plugs that were ripped clean out and others that the plugs chipped or the sole was not perfect. In the past the 38 Special had plugs on many of the flat surfaces of the putter, the 44 magnum and 50 Caliber also had the majority of their plugs in the face. But this time around Bob really wanted to try something different..not to mention he had other ideas for the face.
As many of you will notice right away from the pictures the 22 Caliber features a Fit Face which has become an extremely popular offering over the past few years . Mr Bettinardi really wanted this putter, like all of his putters to be 100% usable regardless of the of their engravings, milling, or design. The combined feel of this new Fit Face with the 100% Milled DASS (Double Aged Stainless Steel) head provides a feel that is second to none. Don't forget that every single Bettinardi putter is milled right here in the USA, just outside of Chicago, just 15 feet from the owners desk.... and that desk belongs to Bob Bettinardi. Enjoy the pictures, and now you can see first hand what goes into the making of a 22 Caliber!
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