He Shoots, He Scores: Former Hockey Players Devise New Way to Putt

By using a hockey stick-like shaft, Caliber Golf offers a different way to putt that may be an elixir to those with the yips.

You’re going to look at the Caliber Golf putter and think it’s a gimmick.

Well, not if you’re Happy Gilmore. The Caliber Golf model features a traditional putter head at the end of a hockey-stick shaft—sort of like Happy’s model in the movie that he used to tap-tap-tap-a-roonie.

However, the Caliber Golf hockey-stick putter is no gimmick. It may be a better way to putt for some. This putter also has a possible superpower: It could/should cure the dreaded putting ailment grown men are afraid so say out loud—the yips. (Hey, you weren’t supposed to say that out loud!)

Caliber Golf is a small company based in Kenosha, Wis., founded by the Wright Brothers. Not Orville and Wilbur—the new Wright Brothers, Tim and Chip, former amateur hockey players. This unusual putter was born out of necessity.

Just in case you have any questions about where Caliber Golf is based / Courtesy Caliber Golf

“When I was playing a lot of hockey,” says Tim Wright, “I could rip a slapshot over the goalie’s shoulder from the blue line but I couldn’t make a four-foot putt in golf. So I began a Quixotic quest to figure out how to make those putts.”

He had a $450 Scotty Cameron Newport putter that wasn’t working. Turn away if you are faint of heart—he sawed off the lower seven inches of the Newport (“nooooo!”) and attached it to the bottom of a broken-blade wooden hockey stick.

Wright immediately felt more comfortable putting. Placing his right palm on the flat rectangular side of the hockey shaft enabled him to square up to the target line better and use his big muscles to putt instead of his hands. Then, he slid his right hand halfway down the shaft, the way a hockey player holds a stick to pass the puck, and he sensed a new feeling of control. “Before, my eyes were tricking me,” he said. “Once I dropped my hand, the putter face immediately squared up at contact and balls were rolling on target.”

Experimenting further, Wright went full Bobby Hull—rest in peace—and lowered his right hand to just above the putter head as if he was about to fire a slapshot. That gave him even more control and those previously troublesome four-footers became surprisingly, shockingly easy.

Tim used the homemade putter to win his flight in a Kenosha Country Club tournament. Meanwhile, Tim had made a putter for his father, Chris, a member of the 1973 NCAA Champion University of Wisconsin hockey team. Chris struggled with his putting, too, until Tim gave him a similar hockey-style putter.

“Both Tim and my dad were raving about this thing,” Chip Wright said. “I was skeptical until I came to a family party and tried it. Once I got it in my hands, I said, ‘Holy cow, this is amazing!’ That’s when I thought Tim was on to something.”

They were chagrined to learn from the USGA, however, that the club wasn’t conforming. But they got positive feedback from those officials about what things needed to change to make the club legal.

“The USGA was pleasant to work with,” Tim said. “They weren’t going to give us the answer and maybe didn’t necessarily know the answer, but they gave us some ideas.”

The process to make the Caliber Golf putter conform to the rules took a couple of years, a few sleepless nights and a number of variations. Here’s the short version: The Wrights got around the club’s non-conforming issue—the hockey stick-shaped shaft—by attaching the putter head to a traditional golf shaft and then cementing a carbon fiber hockey shaft around the golf shaft. That meant the hockey-stick shaft was officially considered a grip, not a shaft, and was ruled legal. A patent followed a little more than a year after USGA approval.

As a golf traditionalist, you’re probably still skeptical. I tried out the Caliber Golf putter at the recent PGA Merchandise Show. It was a “holy cow” moment.

The flat-sided shaft felt odd at first using my normal grip—the claw. But when I slid my right hand down near the putter head, as Tim Wright suggested, it was a game-changer. Short putts were easy even though I was trying this method for the first time. This style of putting, which I’ll call "Slapstroke" because it combines a slapshot setup with a putting stroke, seems like a solution for those flinching golfers who stagger among us on the greens. It’s not much different than how golf legend Sam Snead putted once he went to a side-saddle to cure his putting affliction and stood bent over, gripping the shaft just a few inches above the putterhead.

The shaft and grip are one and the same / Caliber Golf

The Caliber Golf putter can be used in a variety of ways. Tim putts hockey-player style with his right hand slid halfway down the shaft on longer putts and his right hand near the head for short putts. Chip uses a traditional grip and setup. Chris wields it arm-lock style. I tried it all three ways and side-saddle, too. I like Tim’s approach the best and will use the Slapstroke method on future short putts, pending further study outdoors this spring. Feeling is believing.

The shaft alone is $199, available from CaliberGolf.com. You can put your own putter head on a Caliber shaft or get a complete putter for prices ranging from $314 (with generic classic head shapes) to $365 (for an Odyssey White Hot Two-Ball head) to more for high-end Bettinardi putter heads.

The PGA Merchandise Show was Caliber Golf’s official launch. The Wrights know they’re going to get dismissive looks from purists. Their challenge is to get skeptics to try it.

“It’s a great day for golf” is the Caliber Golf’s trademarked slogan. That’s a nod to their dad’s legendary college hockey coach at Wisconsin, Bob (Badger Bob) Johnson, whose favorite phrase was, “It’s a great day for hockey!” Johnson coached the U.S. Olympic team to a bronze medal and later led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup shortly before tragically passing away.

The brothers weren’t born yet when Dad suited up for Badger Bob but they got an inkling what his college career meant to him when their high school team played in the state tournament at the Dane County Coliseum, the Badgers’ home rink in the old days.

“My dad actually cried when we got there,” said Chip. “Wisconsin’s coach was there watching and I thought, ‘This is my shot.’ Well, I’m here now selling a golf putter so that’s how that went.”

The Caliber Golf putter with "WRIGHTOne" has bright red letters on the grip’s underside. “It was always my dream to have my name on a hockey stick,” Chip said, “and this was the only way that was going to happen.”

This putter is unconventional but if it takes off, like the other Wright Brothers’ unconventional idea, it’ll be a great day for golf and hockey.