Sunset Beach Putters – The History

The name Sunset Beach Putters seems to be fairly well known in the online golf forum communities, but outside on the golf courses, people did not know a whole lot about them during our last review. Naturally, during Putter Week, and the five brands we think our readers should know more about, this company fits in perfectly. SSB Golf Company is more than just a putter company, but for the focus of this piece, we will speak primarily of their putters. Some of our readers got the chance to learn a little bit about the customization work that they do when we reviewed a couple of their clubs about six months ago.
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We had the opportunity to speak with Chris Jordan, owner of Sunset Beach Golf, and discuss their beginning and where they are headed.
THP – Where did Sunset Beach Come from and why did you start it?
SSB – Sunset Beach was a collaboration between myself and Lamont to produce custom putters for people in a way that could be affordable for all. We were looking around and noticing the prices that companies were charging for custom putters and felt that we could do just as much or more customization and charge a fraction of the cost.
THP – Tell the readers of THP about the people involved with Sunset Beach Golf.
SSB – I am the owner and chief designer of the products and we also have Lamont that is in charge of the fabrication and finishing of the putters. Someone else handles some of the milling.
THP – Tell us about the start of the line?
SSB – We wanted to be able to do complete custom offerings from day one. Not just Anser style putters, but something a little more unique and the first launch featured the designs Yaupon and Surfside. Those two designs really got the ball rolling and when you add the custom element in hosels, finishing, and stamping, we were off and running.
THP – How custom can you get?
SSB – We can get pretty out there in terms of stamping, finishing, hosels, etc..But our service is a little different than just picking items from pictures and putting them together. We offer a consultation to each customer to determine what he/she wants and what will fit their eye and their game the best.
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THP – Where are your putters made?
SSB – They are made in the US.
THP – What is on the schedule for the rest of 2009?
SSB – We have added wedges to our arsenal of products as it was the natural progression with our company. We expect to have our putters played on some of the tours this year. We also have three to four more designs possibly coming out before the end of the year.
THP – What is in store for Sunset Beach Golf in the future?
SSB – We definitely have a lot more designs coming up over the course of 2010. We have six designs in the works right now. While expansion is key for our success, we will always remain a custom putter company. We have wedges out now and will have irons possibly coming up soon. We want to offer our customers the ability to truly customize their putter any way they want to.

Talking with Chris you can tell the passion that he has for this business and that he believes that you do not need to spend $1000 to have the perfect putter.
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Here is a timeline on the history of Sunset Beach Golf. In just a short amount of time this company has been very active and we are glad they are a part of our forum.
July/August 2008
Chris Jordan and LaMont Mann begin discussions about Sunset Beach Golf/Custom Putter Company. Beginning processes involve going through testing of finish options, available weights, custom hosel options, and metal choices. The choice is made that with our polymer finish we can create a putter with the feel of carbon with the maintenance of stainless.
September 2008
Initial test run of the Surfside, Yaupon, and Ocean Isle are produced. Introducing them to numerous online golf forums they are gone in a flash. Customers are taken aback at getting a carbon steel putter with the maintenance of stainless and the availability hand-made hosels for one hundred dollars less than the competition.
October / November 2008
Yaupon and Surfside enter full fledge production runs. Using only online golf forums for sales Sunset Beach quickly reaches benchmarks for sales and has customers asking for more designs and options.
February 2009
Ocean Isle model is refined and released into production. Southport model released as a limited edition model.
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March 2009
Huntington and Pawley (High MOI Mallet), models are released as a limited edition/prototype models. Sunset Beach has its first PGA winner playing their putters. All of his golf Academy’s (The Hugh Royer III Champions Golf Academy) students will be receiving a custom putter upon enrollment in the fall. Two more major golf academies are either providing putters for their students or we will be working directly with their students to provide a custom fit putter.
April 2009
Yaupon Sand is released (Copper Billet) to rave reviews as a limited edition model. Sunset Beach does a small run of wedges as a test bed.
May 2009
Sunset Beach has all four original models into production (Yaupon, Surfside, Ocean Isle, and Southport).
Lockwood (Stainless Steel) and Calabash (Stainless Steel) models hit as limited prototype models.
New Oil-Rubbed Bronze plating debuts and quickly becomes our most popular finish.
June 2009
Ocean Isle Shore and Southport Shore available as production models.
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July 2009
The Carolina, Hatteras, and Kitty Hawk models in the designed by LaMont series become full fledge production runs for Sunset Beach. LaMont joins the company as a part owner.
We now have ten models in full production in less than a year as a company, and six prototype models.
Sunset Beach partners with Vega Golf to provide our customers with wedges and irons. In the future Vega will be forging all of Sunset Beach’s iron and wedge designs.
August 2009
Sunset Beach has begun research and work into four new models. Looking at an 8802 style, Zing 2 Style, Possibly another mallet and reworking the Lockwood.
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During our Putter Week articles we asked these companies to send over some putters to test out that are truly unique and we think Sunset Beach delivered 100%. Both of these putters have a look different than what we have seen from them in the past. The two putters shown are the Carolina and the Southport, both are from their 2009 designs. Please make sure you click on the images to get a much larger picture so that you can truly appreciate the work that go into this equipment.

We want to thank Chris Jordan from Sunset Beach Golf for taking the time to give our readers a little history lesson on his company and some predictions on the future as well. You can read a lot more on this company as well as see hundreds of pictures of their work at their website www.ssbeachgolf.com. You can also join us in the THP forum anytime to ask the owner questions in their own sub-forum they have on The Hackers Paradise. With creativity, passion, and fabulous looking putters, it is no wonder that Sunset Beach Golf is a company that everybody needed to know more about. Tune in tomorrow for our last installment in the THP Putter Week.

Till Next Time

Josh B.

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Josh is the Publisher of The Hackers Paradise and co-founder of THP Media with his wife Morgan Babbitt. Together they share a passion for golf, and they travel the country in the THP Tour Van bringing their love and knowledge of the game to golfers everywhere.