Jerry Korte, who passed away last May, was a close friend of mine for most of the last 30 years and exuded a passion for golf and especially for putting. His passion as a serial inventor of sport related items including golf, fishing and hunting accessories must have had something to do with winter ending in June and beginning again in August in the Wisconsin tundra.
Jerry’s putters grew out of a relationship with fellow inventor Ross Paquette of Massachusetts who had invented a unique fork flange putter with a patented stabilizer bar that created a ball-width sweet spot. Jerry took over the sales and marketing of Ross’ putter and being the master of “unique,” he enhanced the design. He made changes that he felt made his putter better than every other major manufacturers’ putter.
For most of the eight years he sold them, Jerry hawked his putters out of his minivan and at local golf shows. He relied heavily on word of mouth in getting them in the hands of Wisconsin golfers. Along the way, his putter and the putting lesson that he gave to amateur and professionals alike, helped many Wisconsin golfers to enjoy local tour victories earning Jerry a good deal of notoriety.
Quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time Jerry said, “I work weekends and evenings, and I’m having a ball with it. The response has been so great among the good golfers around here that I think I’ve got something.”
As a result of that story, Jerry became good friends with that golf writer, Gary D’Amato and they later went on to write and publish a putting instruction book entitled, The Proof is In the Putting. (This book will be available from Natural Golf later this spring)
What makes Jerry’s putter unique is that the shaft is not directly attached to the putter head but instead is attached at two points, like a fork. The shaft is connected to a two-inch “stabilizer bar,” which then is attached to the back of the putter with two prongs.
“Most putters are pushed and pulled from one spot (where the shaft attaches to the head),” Korte said. “The head wants to torque if the ball is struck slightly off the heel or toe. In this putter, the stabilizer bar wants to keep the putter head moving straight back and forth.”
Both Ross’ original flange design and Jerry’s mallet style update are face-balanced, center-shafted putters. This reduces the amount of torque on miss-hit putts. The stabilizer bar expands the sweet spot. The putter is patented and approved by the United States Golf Association.
When Jerry first started to market the putter, Ross told Jerry that he had PGA Tour players using the club before paid endorsements took over the industry. “He told me the putter won $3.5 million on tour,” Korte said. “I have no way of verifying that figure, but it is tour tested. He said he got out of it when all these companies started paying big bucks for the pros to use their putters. He couldn’t do that.”
Ross’s Fork Flange and Jerry’s Fork Mallet are tour tested, patented and conform to the USGA Rules of Golf.
