The Story

Many years ago, I worked for a trust company in St. Louis, Missouri. One of our board members was a retired Army Colonel who was in charge of the tank assembly lines at General Motors during WWII. He was an Arkansas gentleman. Kindness could have been his middle name. Sometime after he passed away, his widow had an estate sale. At the sale, I noticed his golf clubs in the corner of the garage. Since he was such a kind man, I bought his golf clubs to have a memory of him. 

About 10 or 12 years ago, I decided it was time to try out the putter. It was a Beckley Ralston vintage from around 1926. It had a quarter inch iron shaft with a square wooden grip wrapped in leather. In the basement, putting on the carpet, I realized that there was something special about the way it felt. I started to take the club out for trials on real greens. It worked nicely, but the square grip was uncomfortable compared to modem grips. I had a cabinet maker hand tool a wooden grip which was made to the likeness of a modern rubber grip. The grip was much better, but the sound effects weren’t good. Not satisfied with the wooden grip, I found a machinist who designed a fitting to accommodate a sleeve which would allow a modern grip to be attached. I used that club for a couple of years and found it quite dependable. The feel and weight were extremely good, and I was making a lot of putts. Feeling the need to develop the putter further, I found a club maker, Jeff Sheets of Jeff Sheets Golf, in Austin, Texas, who helped me make the present-day design, combining the old technology with the new. 

We decided on the name W.D. Crossbow. The crossbow is known for precision and accuracy. Since the putter gave me more confidence, I made more putts. If this putter works for me, it will work for others. My goal is to share my success with other golfers. 

- William R. Diepenbrock