"Crafting a 'revolutionary' putter for a British Open champion..." Timothy Winey has won the Golf Magazine Innovator Award 2007 for "The Inventor".

From The Golf Magazine: "This month, Golf Magazine honors some of the forward thinkers who are (or soon will be) impacting the culture of golf, in ways great and small. These 12 innovators represent a cross section of the many exceptional minds who are working in creative ways to make Teachers in America, and millions of Golf Magazine readers and Golf.com users. It wasn’t easy, but our editorial panel whittled hundreds of worthy candidates down to 50 finalists and then— after much discussion and debate—settled on these dozen names. It is our pleasure to honor them. The 12 remarkable people on the following pages range from a major winner to a Mayo Clinic Ph.D. to an F-16 pilot. They have one thing in common: Their surprising, inspiring ideas are elevating the game, making it better for all who play it. These are the innovators of golf, in their own words."

“I don’t work for a big club company. I’m just a guy in his basement who found a better way to make a putter. I’ve studied how to make violins, instruments that give you the kind of instant feedback through sound and vibration not possible with traditional putters. Your putter should be your instrument, not just a stick with a weight on the end. I consulted with top neurophysiologists, then placed a brass fixture halfway up the shaft. Simply put, that tells your hands where they are in relation to the putterhead, and by doing so tricks your neuromuscular system into thinking the putter is a foot long, and more controllable. I call it the Torpedo, since you ‘sink’ more putts. It opens the lines of communication between your hands and the putterhead. Testers report an almost clairvoyant ability to ‘feel’ the difference between, say, a 40- and 41-footer. It’s like hearing in stereo instead of through a cup-and-string. Padraig Harrington used my shaft at the [2007] Wachovia when he had just 24 putts in the first round. Then he used it to win the Irish Open and called it ‘revolutionary.’ He switched shafts at the British, but I like to think that with the Torpedo, he wouldn’t have even needed the playoff to win.”
Timothy Winey

Read the complete Golf Magazine Innovator Awards 2007:
Printable PDF
On Golf.com

Read the Golf Innovator Update from Timothy Winey on Golf.com