Equipment

This French company is selling an $1,100 putter

Published

10 years ago

Apr 14, 2016

Move over Scotty Cameron and your $379 retail offerings… French luxury putter manufacturer, ValGrine, is introducing the $1,100 Caesar mallet.

What’s so special about this flatstick? In passing along key product details, ValGrine emphasized the putter’s alignment lines, which allow a golfer to position the ball centrally with his or her eyes positioned directly over the two lines, claiming such a setup “generates stability” and “manages the kinetics of the swing.”

The company also emphasized the Caesar’s insert, which is backed by a hollow cavity for a precisely honed sound at impact and feel. ValGrine indicates the insert cavity creates a “subwoofer” effect, amplifying the sound at impact so a player knows exactly how a putt was struck.

Yet none of this would seem to justify a price point in excess of $1,000.

Moving onto the Caesar’s specs

71-degree lie
Grip: Neoprene, silver cotton stitching
Putter head: Aluminum 2024
Micro-pearled finish
Polished finish on bottom, sides
270 grams
3.5 degrees of loft
Aluminum 2017 insert, cross-engraved
Red/black/pink

And what of this $1,000-putter producing ValGrine golf? As best we can determine from the company website, the ValGrine line, which includes at least five other similarly priced putters, seems to be the brainchild of a Gregory Morea, a “mechanical engineer” with “a passion for golf” and “beautiful objects.”

Apparently dissatisfied with market offerings, Moreau sought to “mix the utilitarian with the pleasant, and marry elegance with performance.” And the resultant putters are the “answer for golfers looking for refinement, comfort and novelty.”

With inspiration and technology from the aeronautics and marine industries, Formula 1 racing and watchmaking, the company’s putters are presented as “hand-made in France … chiseled like real aerodynamic sculptures.”

“It takes 1,000 operations and 18 to 22 trades to make a single putter, which takes two to three months of work. Each manipulation is thoughtful, precise and controlled, to provide putters of indisputable quality,” the ValGrine website states.

If you’re wondering why the ultra-premium price point, then, it seems the answer has mostly to do with labor costs (“two to three months of work”).

So, what do you think? Compelled to drop more than a grand on the Caesar?

Related Topics:putters

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Ben Alberstadt

Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

26 Comments

Gaby

Apr 27, 2016 at 8:59 am

Come on. Try the club first.
I came from France, I love golf and I’ve got a ValGrine blade model since february. Maybe you hate french people but seriously these putters are worth it !!! I’m a big putting fan, I’ve almost 10 putters at home and yet I’ve never seen that before. It significantly improve performance, technologies are smart, the sweetspot is huge and feeling is amazing. I’m pretty impressed by what french people have done in this company, so I couldn’t allow you to say this without reply. Believe me they’re not putters’ specialists for nothing… Anyway, to each his own!

Reply Report comment
chris

Apr 20, 2016 at 11:12 am

i’ve seen this before……

Reply Report comment
8thehardway

Apr 16, 2016 at 6:08 am

Well Supersize my Freedom Fries and call me exceptional, but they’d have been better off moving to central Africa and creating a line of Cameroon putters.
Let’s be franc, it takes two months to build a Rolls Royce Phantom but they need 3 months to stick a hunk of metal on the end of a shaft? That’s some fishy vichyssoise right there. I hear next year’s line of ANGST putters is demo’ing well with focus groups; that figures ’cause these guys are just out to focus.

Who puts the GRIN in ValGrine putters? Whoever buys one.

Reply Report comment
Large chris

Apr 15, 2016 at 8:23 am

1000 operations… Hahaha
I tried that sort of line with a customer once and it didn’t fly.

Reply Report comment
:-p

Apr 15, 2016 at 3:09 am

The French are so weird. Why do they want to play golf anyway? It doesn’t suit their personality

Reply Report comment
- Ezra
  
  Apr 16, 2016 at 7:12 am
  
  Yeah Yeah strangers in general are so weird… Why we Americans should even care of what’s happening outside the US? Our country is obviously the Alpha and Omega of everything 😉
  
  Reply Report comment
  - :-ppp
    
    Apr 17, 2016 at 3:50 am
    
    No, truly, the French are weird and should not be playing golf.
    
    Reply Report comment
D Louis

Apr 14, 2016 at 2:03 pm

If you search, they actually have putters between 13,350 and 30,350 euros…crazy stuff

Reply Report comment
Scooter McGavin

Apr 14, 2016 at 1:24 pm

All of the 65 year-old, pudgy, Asian businessmen will be thrilled. And they’ll try to haggle and buy it for $600 and pay with an envelope of twenties.

Reply Report comment
- Jamie
  
  Apr 17, 2016 at 5:19 pm
  
  Racist stereotypical comments are not needed.
  
  Reply Report comment
Mark

Apr 14, 2016 at 12:56 pm

Looks like it should be on sale in Walmart. The standard of workmanship looks awful.

Reply Report comment
eva

Apr 14, 2016 at 12:48 pm

If I’m going to spend over $1000 for a putter I rather have one of those gold Majesty putters. $1000+ putters are nothing new, lots of them in Korea and Japan.

Reply Report comment
Philip

Apr 14, 2016 at 12:21 pm

What? No jewels, gold or platinum? Maybe I can get the company to invest in my idea to build a golf course on Venus – after the planet is terraformed, of course.

Reply Report comment
Nolanski

Apr 14, 2016 at 12:18 pm

Just bought one and I got the shaft pured…

Just kidding. Smiley face.

Reply Report comment
B Hock

Apr 14, 2016 at 12:12 pm

The title is misleading….because I doubt they have actually sold any! 😛

Reply Report comment
Fug

Apr 14, 2016 at 11:35 am

Please make it uglier. Thank you.

Reply Report comment
steve

Apr 14, 2016 at 10:55 am

For his sake I hope they are made to order. Other wise he will be stuck with a lot of inventory. This has zero chance of succeeding.

Reply Report comment
Richard

Apr 14, 2016 at 10:54 am

I wouldn’t pay $10 for that out of a bargain bin.

Reply Report comment
AllBOdoesisgolf

Apr 14, 2016 at 10:53 am

Could be $5 and I wouldn’t buy it or anything French for that matter.

Reply Report comment
- Ezra
  
  Apr 14, 2016 at 12:05 pm
  
  May we know why?
  
  Reply Report comment
  - slider
    
    Apr 14, 2016 at 12:57 pm
    
    soft
    
    Reply Report comment
- Tim
  
  Apr 16, 2016 at 10:36 pm
  
  French fries?
  
  Reply Report comment
ca1879

Apr 14, 2016 at 9:20 am

Someone will but them – we golfers have proven that we’ll fall for just about any half-baked idea.

Reply Report comment
George

Apr 14, 2016 at 8:59 am

http://www.kramski-putter.de/en/putter.html

Reply Report comment
bill

Apr 14, 2016 at 8:51 am

Ridiculous sub-par paint fill from the top view. Have French people fall so far back behind to do this? So lazy but want to make money by calling ridiculous prices.

Reply Report comment
Weekend Duffer

Apr 14, 2016 at 8:43 am

Trash

$1.1K for a no-name putter that’s not even milled. I’ll stick with my $30 odyssey 2 ball.

Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Then and now: Comparing Rory McIlroy’s current setup to his record-breaking 2019 Canadian Open victory

Published

1 hour ago

Jun 11, 2026

Alistair Cameron

In Rory McIlroy’s first appearance at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open, he crushed the record books to earn his 16th PGA Tour title in dominating fashion, winning by seven shots over Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson.

McIlroy’s score of 22-under-par 258 is the lowest 72-hole score to date at the Canadian Open, and his closing 61 is also the best final-round score in the history of one of golf’s oldest tournaments. Finally, with his win in 2019, McIlroy became only the sixth player to win the career Triple Crown, adding to his victories at the U.S. Open in 2011 and The Open Championship in 2014, joining Tommy Armour, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods in a coveted list.

So, with that, why not compare his current setup to the clubs he used to break all the records?

Driver

2019: TaylorMade M5 (9 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees @8), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7X (45 5/8 inches)

McIroy led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in 2019; he’s doing the same in 2026. Between now and then, McIlroy has switched from the Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70 TX (a shaft with slightly more feeling in the tip) to the original Fujikura Ventus Black 7X, having just made the change to the heavier version from playing the 60X.

What’s interesting about McIlroy’s 2019 setup is that the weighting on his driver is actually set in the high-draw setting, using the T-Track weighting system, whereas in the Qi4D, he’s currently using a heavily rear-weighted setup. (Two 13-gram weights in the rear and only two 4-gram front weights.)

The TaylorMade M5 driver he played in during his Canadian Open win was the company’s first head that they claimed to design to initially exceed the USGA’s COR limit, and then injected with tuning resin to bring it back in bounds.

Fairway woods

2019: TaylorMade M6 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 80 TX; TaylorMade M5 5-wood (19 degrees), Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 90 TX
2026: TaylorMade Qi4D 3-wood (15 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8X; TaylorMade Qi4D 5-wood (18 degrees), Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9X

The TaylorMade M6 fairway wood that McIlroy was using during the 2019 season is still in the bag of some of the best golfers on Tour in 2026. Just check out Justin Rose’s winning setup from the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. This year, though, McIlroy has still been searching for his top-end-of-the-bag setup, having played both the new Qi4D and the Qi10, which he won the Masters with.

The same shaft swap can be seen in the fairway woods as the driver, along with slightly less loft on the 5-wood.

Irons

2019: TaylorMade P750 (4) Buy here, TaylorMade P730 (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0
2026: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9), Shafts: Project X 7.0

The biggest difference between McIlroy’s custom set and the stock P730s is the groove design. While the P730s were constructed with 14 MX-9 grooves on their milled faces, McIlroy’s proto heads instead use the higher-spinning, 16-groove layout of the TW2 grooves. Other big differences between the sets are that McIlroy’s 7- and 8-irons have thinner toplines, are 1 degree stronger in loft, and are 1/4 inch longer than the original P730 builds.

With McIlroy’s 4-iron, the switch from P750 to P760 sees a transition to a two-piece construction with Speed Foam in it, which allows McIlroy to launch the ball slightly higher, with more workability.

Wedges

2019: TaylorMade Milled Grind (48-09SB), TaylorMade MG Hi-Toe (52-09SB, 56-09SB, 60-LB09), Shafts: Project X Rifle 6.5
2026: TaylorMade MG5 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB, 60-08LB @61), Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)

Between 2019 and 2026, McIlroy’s focus on his short game has been much more apparent. It was the reason why he switched back to the TP5 golf ball, to help with launch, spin and control with his wedges leading up to his career Grand Slam victory in 2025. The most apparent changes to McIlroy’s wedge setup are his lofts and bounce. He’s slowly delofted his pitching to a sand wedge, but has increased the loft on the lob wedge, bending his current 60-degree to 61. With that, adding more loft to his lob wedge also slightly increases the bounce and leading-edge sit point, so, as a result, he plays a lower-bounce lob wedge compared to 2019. The MG5 wedges are also softer than the first Milled Grind option from 2019. McIlroy also no longer plays the full-face grooves found on the Hi-Toe.

Putter

2019: TaylorMade Spider X
2026: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

Notice anything similar. Yes, the copper finish on Rory McIlroy’s Spider X putter in 2019 is a slightly more reflective finish than the recently released torched PVD finish. McIlroy was using the True Path alignment system, but now uses only a single white sightline.

Ball

2019: 2019 TaylorMade TP5 (#22)
2026: 2025 TaylorMade TP5 (RORS)

As mentioned above, McIlroy had transitioned from the TP5 to TP5x golf ball since his victory in Canada in 2019, but now is black with the same style of golf ball as his victory at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.

Grips

2019: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
2026: Golf Pride MCC

Interesting, McIlroy actually used Golf Pride’s Tour Velvet Cord grips during his victory in 2019 (it was during a 2+ year switch to the corded TV) as opposed to his usual MCC grips, which he has played for most of his career.

Equipment

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: Titleist Vokey Proto Wedges 54M, 60T

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @Putt4Dough is selling some prototype wedges from Vokey Wedgeworks. These include a 54 degree wedge with the M grind and a 60 degree wedge with a T grind.

From the listing:

(1) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 54M with a Tour Issue DGS400 shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet (logo down). Standard length, lie, and loft. BB&F ferrule. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.

(2) Titleist Vokey Proto Wedge 60T with a KBS Tour 130X shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet. Standard length, lie, and loft. Raw wedge in good condition. No initials. Price is $200 shipped. Buy both wedges for $380 shipped.

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules.