When it came time for Sandler to make “Happy Gilmore 2,” the golf-club manufacturer took the mission to create a putter that could pass for a hockey stick as a deadly serious assignment. What Callaway produced for the movie ... is a club that looks like it can sink a putt or deliver a slap shot. Never mind that it isn’t technically legal in either sport.
“It was a case of ‘If we’re gonna do this, we want to create something that we’re truly proud of,’” says Nick McInally, Callaway’s vice president of global marketing. “‘We’re gonna make sure that nobody can create a better-performing hockey stick putter.’”
Whereas the putter for the original “Happy Gilmore” was just a prop, Callaway decided to level up the club for this summer’s sequel. This time around, the putter went through the same research and development process that Callaway uses to design bespoke putters for world-class golfers....
The collaboration began last July when Tim Wiles, the prop master for “Happy Gilmore 2,” reached out to Callaway. The putter from the first movie had been made by the brand Odyssey Golf, which is now owned by Callaway.
To achieve better control over his putts, Sandler, who plays the namesake character in both movies, wanted the blade to be about 60% the size of the original.... For people who spend all day working on variations of the same basic club, signing up to adapt a hockey stick wasn’t a hard sell....
Thomas Vu, the industrial designer, spent a week tinkering with different concepts before Callaway printed a three-dimensional wax prototype and sent it off to Sandler for his signoff....
The difference this time is that the prop would not only work—it would also stand up to the toughest focus group in the world: the top pros with cameos in the movie. Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Bryson DeChambeau all took the iconic putter for a spin.
“Everybody had their hands on it,” Wiles says. “They all grew up with ‘Happy Gilmore.’”
on July 27, 2025, 1:09:55
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