Evnroll is on a Roll with its New Putters

New models for 2018 will see Guerin Rife’s Evnroll putter company continue to win praise. By Tony Dear

The story is well known now…sort of.

Guerin Rife forms his first putter company in the mid-1990s. It eventually becomes Rife Putters in 2004; with a one-player (Dow Finsterwald) endorsement , the soon-to-be-famous 2Bar model soon becomes a favorite among Champions Tour players, and the company becomes a multimillion-dollar entity with almost 5% of the putter market…

But poor management among its 16 owners sees Rife Putters become virtually worthless within a few years; Rife Putters is sold to Seattle’s Innovex in 2011..

Rife quietly begins making new putters stamped with his first name, but stops after he discovers how to make putts hit on the heel and toe travel almost exactly the same distance as center hits. He believes this new “find” deserves a new name, so he and former golf accessory distributor Stephen Riley create a new brand called Evnroll which launches at the 2015 PGA Merchandise Show.

Phew!

Evnroll’s first line featured seven models each featuring Rife’s “Sweet Face Technology.”  By milling tapered grooves onto the putter face (narrower at each end of the face), and therefore increasing “face-time”  with the ball, off-center hits gained a little extra energy and traveled as far as well-struck putts. Videos on the Evnroll web site (which we faithfully accept as undoctored, unedited, and entirely genuine) show poorly-struck putts come to a halt on almost the exact same spot as putts hit out of the center of the clubface.

That’s right, bad putts not only travel the same distance, but also in the same direction as good putts – thus zero dispersion!

It was a significant discovery that earned Evnroll almost immediate acclaim, and the new company followed up its successful first year with another batch of four new models featuring new shapes – three mallets and the WingBlade—and one with an anodized black finish.

[easyazon_link identifier=”B06XXQ5K2Q” locale=”US” tag=”coloradoavidg-20″]Buy the Evnroll ER-1 Here![/easyazon_link]

This year promises to be another fruitful time as the company recently unveiled five new models ahead of the upcoming PGA Merchandise Show (January 24-26 in Orlando). (Well four, as the lid remains tightly sealed on the ER9 for a few more days yet. )
The ER1.2 Tour Blade has a small, thin heel section plus a channel in front of the hosel arm to balance the mass on either side of the center sight line which, says Rife, keeps the sweet spot directly in the center. “The typical elbow below the hosel collar, which creates a down-left visual angle, has been replaced by a straight cut at the base of the collar that matches the square side of the hosel arm,” he explains. “This forms a clean perpendicular line to the face’s leading edge.”

The benefit, Rife claims, is better alignment.

The ER2cs is center-shafted, and was created by thickening the cavity wall behind the hitting area to allow for sufficient width to receive a reverse thread hosel pin. Again, you don’t really need to know what that means—if you prefer center-shafted putters, then this could be your answer to better scores in 2018.

The ER3 WingBlade functions much like its predecessor, but looks more like the ER2 with more weight concentrated toward the rearward heel and toe which is designed to increase the putter’s stability. The rear edge has a section that has been removed (creating a forward-pointing ‘V’) which further enhances heel/toe weighting and the putters Moment of Inertia (MoI).

The ER7cs, like the ER2cs is center-shafted and has been designed to feel similar to the original ER7 Mallet.

And then there’s the ER9 (full name: ER9 – 10K Extreme) which Rife will reveal at next week’s PGA Show but which we already know possesses dual adjustable heel-toe weights, and an enormous MoI of 10,000g/cm². That exceeds the USGA’s limit (5,900g/cm²) by some distance, so it’s not entirely clear at this point what Rife’s thinking might be. We suspect it was designed solely for recreational use to give new/casual golfers a better chance of holing putts, and thus falling in love with the game—similar to what Callaway’s ERC II driver did nearly 20 years ago.

With a trampoline effect in breach of USGA limits, the ERC II was not cleared for use in official competition, but it did allow recreational golfers to hit the ball further.

The new models will be available in the Spring, and bring Evnroll’s 2018 lineup to 11. Each will come in 33″, 34″, and 35″ versions.

$330 – ER2cs, ER3
$360 – ER1.2, ER7cs, ER9
evnroll.com

Related Putters and Products:

• [easyazon_link identifier=”B00OK77N2M” locale=”US” tag=”coloradoavidg-20″]Scotty Cameron Futura X5[/easyazon_link]
• [easyazon_link identifier=”B078H6BX63″ locale=”US” tag=”coloradoavidg-20″]Odyssey O-Works V-Line Fang[/easyazon_link]
• [easyazon_link identifier=”B01N5DALRA” locale=”US” tag=”coloradoavidg-20″]Bettinardi BB1 Putter[/easyazon_link]