When did Ping make the Anser?

Ping’s history dates the design to 1966 and credits Louise Solheim with the spelling that fit on the toe. That is the start of the model, not the birthday of every putter with the name. Reissues, including the 2016 anniversary Ping described, and later production are different objects. Read the club in your hand.

Is an Anser 2 the same putter?

No. It is a different model. Ping talks about them as distinct. The number on the head is the search. Do not average sold prices across the numbers because the cavity looks similar in a thumbnail. Show the stamp.

The shape matches but it does not say Ping. What is it?

A different putter that uses a famous shape. Describe the shape if you want, and do not use the Ping name. The price follows the maker you can prove. Most of those copies are ordinary used putters. Some are fine to play. None of them become an Anser in the listing.

How much is a Ping Anser putter worth?

The Anser is the Ping putter Karsten Solheim designed in 1966. The name is on the toe. Anser and Anser 2 are different models. A copy is not Ping.

By WorthLast updated October 26, 2026Collectibles Thrifting Journal

Short answerA Ping Anser is the putter Ping dates to Karsten Solheim in 1966, and the name has to be on the toe. Anser and Anser 2 are different models. A cavity-back copy without the mark is not Ping. Face wear and a reissue change the sale. Compare sold listings of that stamp. A win chart is not a price.

Ping’s own history says Karsten Solheim designed the Anser in 1966 as an answer to other putters, and that his wife Louise told him to drop the W so the name would fit on the toe. The company’s account of the shape is an offset hosel, a cavity back, and lines to help the player square the face. Early skeptics, in Ping’s telling, called it a plumber’s nightmare. The identification is simpler than the legend. The putter has to say PING and Anser. A cavity-back blade with an offset hosel and no name is a copy of a shape Ping itself says the rest of the market copied. Pay a Ping price only for a Ping putter. The model number matters: an Anser and an Anser 2 are different models. Later numbers exist. Read the one cast or stamped on the club. Do not collapse them into “an Anser” because the head looks familiar.

Ping has reissued the putter, including a 2016 50th-anniversary version the company described as made from the original molds, with John Solheim finishing soles and with a note that a second mold, associated with his brother Allan, is the one people call the slope-side mold. A reissue is a reissue. A garage-era putter and a milled collector version and a recent Anser you can buy from Ping now are three searches. This page will not repeat tour-win counts. Ping’s own pages have used different totals in different years, and a win count is not the price of a used putter with a slick grip. Face wear, a bent shaft, a replacement grip, and rust in the cavity are the condition. The used-club article is the inspection for any club you mean to swing. This page is the name on the toe.

What should you look for?

The name: PING and Anser, Anser 2, or the later number actually on the head, on the toe or in the cavity. Photograph it. A no-name cavity putter is not this search. If the stamping is weak, say it is weak. Do not trace it with a marker and call the mark original. A later model’s full name includes words this putter may not have. Read all of them.
Hosel and cavity: An offset hosel, a cavity, and the alignment line if your example has one. The plumber-neck look is the silhouette. A center-shafted or a mallet putter with a Ping name is a different Ping. Say the shape you see. A lead-tape job and a plugged weight port are modifications. Disclose them. They change the feel and they change the comp.
Face, shaft, grip: Skymarks and grooves or milling on the face, a shaft that is straight, and a grip that is either a Ping grip or a replacement. A bent shaft is damage. A grip that is slick is a cost if you will play it. Say “replacement grip” when the grip is not the one that putter left with. Do not call a new Golf Pride a period Ping grip.
Old, reissue, or current: A worn cavity, a stamp style, and a grip that has aged are clues of use, not a serial decoder. This guide will not invent Ping’s date-code system. If a code is in the cavity, photograph it and compare it with a source you can check twice, or leave the year out. Ping’s 2016 anniversary putter is identified by being that edition, not by a vague claim of “original molds” you cannot support. A putter in current Ping packaging is current.

What moves the price?

The model on the head: Comp Anser against Anser and Anser 2 against Anser 2, in a similar state of wear. A milled limited edition comps against that edition. A common used Anser that someone played for a decade is a used putter, and it can be a very good one. It is not the anniversary edition because both say Anser. Read the extra words.
Condition you can swing: A face that is intact, a shaft that is straight, and a grip you are willing to play or to replace. Rust in the cavity and a rattle are notes. The used-golf-club article is the rest of the check: hand, length, lie you cannot see in a photo. A pretty stamp on a bent shaft is a bent shaft. Price it that way.
Copies: If the name is missing, you are in a different market, usually a much smaller one. Do not pay the Ping number and plan to “confirm later.” Confirm at the toe, in your hand or in a photo that shows the stamp. Sellers of copies sometimes describe the shape and omit the maker. The omission is the information.
Not a win chart: Ping calls the design influential and has published win totals that do not even match each other across pages. Ignore the total. It will not tell you what this grip and this face sold for last month. Sold listings will. A single tour photo of a different Anser is not your putter.

Where can you sell it?

eBay: Ping, the model name as stamped, length if you measured it, left or right, grip condition, and any bend or rust. Photos of the toe stamp, the cavity, and the face. A common scuffed Anser may be a modest sale. Read the fee and the shipping on a club, which is an awkward length. A tube beats a story about how you packed it.
A shop or local: A golf shop will offer a trade-in number, which is wholesale. Know the model before you accept one figure for a bag of putters. Local pickup avoids the shipping problem. The used-club article covers meeting a buyer. Say if the lie was never checked. Unmeasured is acceptable. “Fitted” is a claim you have to have earned.
Play it: A sound Anser that fits your stroke is a putter, which was the point. You do not have to flip it because the origin story is good. A copy that you putt well is also a putter. Just do not resell the copy as a Ping. The stamp is the whole ethics problem, and it is not a hard one.

What can a photo settle?

The toe with the name in focus, the cavity, the face, the full shaft, and the grip. Worth can read Ping and Anser from a sharp stamp. It cannot tell an Anser from an Anser 2 if the number is cropped, see a bend in a shaft you photographed from the grip end only, or certify a date code this guide refused to decode.

What else do people ask?

When did Ping make the Anser?: Ping’s history dates the design to 1966 and credits Louise Solheim with the spelling that fit on the toe. That is the start of the model, not the birthday of every putter with the name. Reissues, including the 2016 anniversary Ping described, and later production are different objects. Read the club in your hand.
Is an Anser 2 the same putter?: No. It is a different model. Ping talks about them as distinct. The number on the head is the search. Do not average sold prices across the numbers because the cavity looks similar in a thumbnail. Show the stamp.
The shape matches but it does not say Ping. What is it?: A different putter that uses a famous shape. Describe the shape if you want, and do not use the Ping name. The price follows the maker you can prove. Most of those copies are ordinary used putters. Some are fine to play. None of them become an Anser in the listing.