Equipment
This French company is selling an $1,100 putter
Move over Scotty Cameron and your $379 retail offerings… French luxury putter manufacturer, ValGrine, is introducing the $1,100 Caesar mallet.
What’s so special about this flatstick? In passing along key product details, ValGrine emphasized the putter’s alignment lines, which allow a golfer to position the ball centrally with his or her eyes positioned directly over the two lines, claiming such a setup “generates stability” and “manages the kinetics of the swing.”
The company also emphasized the Caesar’s insert, which is backed by a hollow cavity for a precisely honed sound at impact and feel. ValGrine indicates the insert cavity creates a “subwoofer” effect, amplifying the sound at impact so a player knows exactly how a putt was struck.
Yet none of this would seem to justify a price point in excess of $1,000.
Moving onto the Caesar’s specs
- 71-degree lie
- Grip: Neoprene, silver cotton stitching
- Putter head: Aluminum 2024
- Micro-pearled finish
- Polished finish on bottom, sides
- 270 grams
- 3.5 degrees of loft
- Aluminum 2017 insert, cross-engraved
- Red/black/pink
And what of this $1,000-putter producing ValGrine golf? As best we can determine from the company website, the ValGrine line, which includes at least five other similarly priced putters, seems to be the brainchild of a Gregory Morea, a “mechanical engineer” with “a passion for golf” and “beautiful objects.”
Apparently dissatisfied with market offerings, Moreau sought to “mix the utilitarian with the pleasant, and marry elegance with performance.” And the resultant putters are the “answer for golfers looking for refinement, comfort and novelty.”
With inspiration and technology from the aeronautics and marine industries, Formula 1 racing and watchmaking, the company’s putters are presented as “hand-made in France … chiseled like real aerodynamic sculptures.”
“It takes 1,000 operations and 18 to 22 trades to make a single putter, which takes two to three months of work. Each manipulation is thoughtful, precise and controlled, to provide putters of indisputable quality,” the ValGrine website states.
If you’re wondering why the ultra-premium price point, then, it seems the answer has mostly to do with labor costs (“two to three months of work”).
So, what do you think? Compelled to drop more than a grand on the Caesar?
Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
| Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
| Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
| Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
| Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
| Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
| Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
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Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...
Gaby
Apr 27, 2016 at 8:59 am
Come on. Try the club first.
I came from France, I love golf and I’ve got a ValGrine blade model since february. Maybe you hate french people but seriously these putters are worth it !!! I’m a big putting fan, I’ve almost 10 putters at home and yet I’ve never seen that before. It significantly improve performance, technologies are smart, the sweetspot is huge and feeling is amazing. I’m pretty impressed by what french people have done in this company, so I couldn’t allow you to say this without reply. Believe me they’re not putters’ specialists for nothing… Anyway, to each his own!
chris
Apr 20, 2016 at 11:12 am
i’ve seen this before……
8thehardway
Apr 16, 2016 at 6:08 am
Well Supersize my Freedom Fries and call me exceptional, but they’d have been better off moving to central Africa and creating a line of Cameroon putters.
Let’s be franc, it takes two months to build a Rolls Royce Phantom but they need 3 months to stick a hunk of metal on the end of a shaft? That’s some fishy vichyssoise right there. I hear next year’s line of ANGST putters is demo’ing well with focus groups; that figures ’cause these guys are just out to focus.
Who puts the GRIN in ValGrine putters? Whoever buys one.
Large chris
Apr 15, 2016 at 8:23 am
1000 operations… Hahaha
I tried that sort of line with a customer once and it didn’t fly.
:-p
Apr 15, 2016 at 3:09 am
The French are so weird. Why do they want to play golf anyway? It doesn’t suit their personality
Ezra
Apr 16, 2016 at 7:12 am
Yeah Yeah strangers in general are so weird… Why we Americans should even care of what’s happening outside the US? Our country is obviously the Alpha and Omega of everything 😉
:-ppp
Apr 17, 2016 at 3:50 am
No, truly, the French are weird and should not be playing golf.
D Louis
Apr 14, 2016 at 2:03 pm
If you search, they actually have putters between 13,350 and 30,350 euros…crazy stuff
Scooter McGavin
Apr 14, 2016 at 1:24 pm
All of the 65 year-old, pudgy, Asian businessmen will be thrilled. And they’ll try to haggle and buy it for $600 and pay with an envelope of twenties.
Jamie
Apr 17, 2016 at 5:19 pm
Racist stereotypical comments are not needed.
Mark
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:56 pm
Looks like it should be on sale in Walmart. The standard of workmanship looks awful.
eva
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:48 pm
If I’m going to spend over $1000 for a putter I rather have one of those gold Majesty putters. $1000+ putters are nothing new, lots of them in Korea and Japan.
Philip
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:21 pm
What? No jewels, gold or platinum? Maybe I can get the company to invest in my idea to build a golf course on Venus – after the planet is terraformed, of course.
Nolanski
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:18 pm
Just bought one and I got the shaft pured…
Just kidding. Smiley face.
B Hock
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:12 pm
The title is misleading….because I doubt they have actually sold any! 😛
Fug
Apr 14, 2016 at 11:35 am
Please make it uglier. Thank you.
steve
Apr 14, 2016 at 10:55 am
For his sake I hope they are made to order. Other wise he will be stuck with a lot of inventory. This has zero chance of succeeding.
Richard
Apr 14, 2016 at 10:54 am
I wouldn’t pay $10 for that out of a bargain bin.
AllBOdoesisgolf
Apr 14, 2016 at 10:53 am
Could be $5 and I wouldn’t buy it or anything French for that matter.
Ezra
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:05 pm
May we know why?
slider
Apr 14, 2016 at 12:57 pm
soft
Tim
Apr 16, 2016 at 10:36 pm
French fries?
ca1879
Apr 14, 2016 at 9:20 am
Someone will but them – we golfers have proven that we’ll fall for just about any half-baked idea.
George
Apr 14, 2016 at 8:59 am
http://www.kramski-putter.de/en/putter.html
bill
Apr 14, 2016 at 8:51 am
Ridiculous sub-par paint fill from the top view. Have French people fall so far back behind to do this? So lazy but want to make money by calling ridiculous prices.
Weekend Duffer
Apr 14, 2016 at 8:43 am
Trash
$1.1K for a no-name putter that’s not even milled. I’ll stick with my $30 odyssey 2 ball.