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. It is possible that his passion for inventing sport-related items, including fishing accessories and golf equipment may have something to do the fact that winter ends in June in Wisconsin and begins again in August on the Wisconsin tundra.
Jerry developed his putters from a friendship with Ross Paquette, a Massachusetts inventor who invented an innovative fork-flange putter that had a stabilizer bar. This created a sweet spot with a wide ball width. Jerry took over the sales and marketing of Ross’ putter and being the master of “unique,” he enhanced the design. He implemented changes to make his putter superior to all other manufacturers.
Jerry sold his putters from his minivan, and at local tournaments for most of the eight-year period. To get the putters into Wisconsin’s hands, he heavily relied upon word of mouth. He was well-known for his putting lessons and putter, which he taught to both amateur and professional golfers. This helped many Wisconsin players to win the local tour, and earned him a lot of fame.
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 stated. “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.”
Face-balanced and center-shafted putters are the design of both Ross’ original Flange Design and Jerry’s Mallet Style Update. This decreases torque for miss-hit putsts. This increases the sweet spot. The United States Golf Association has approved the patent for the putter.
Ross informed Jerry about the PGA Tour’s use of the putter before paid endorsements became the norm. “He told me the putter won $3.5 million on tour,” Korte agreed. “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, Jerry’s Fork Mallet and Jerry’s Fork Flange have been tour-tested and patented. They conform to USGA Rules of Golf.