On the afternoon of April 3, 2016, World No. 1 Lydia Ko found herself at a crossroads on the par-5 18th hole of the ANA Inspiration. Ko, who had trailed by two shots with two holes left to play, took advantage of tournament leader Ariya Jutanugarn faltering down the stretch. In position either to win her second career Major Championship with a birdie or potentially find herself in a three-way playoff, Ko faced the choice of going for the green in two or taking a more conservative approach and laying up with her second shot. She wisely laid up, allowing herself an approach shot of just under 90 yards.
Lydia Ko hits her wedge to just inches to set up a winning birdie on the final hole of the 2016 ANA Inspiration
On the practice green just behind the 18th hole, Callaway Golf’s Pro Tour club builder Anthony Taranto watched the spectacle play out before him. One of his highest-profile clients stood poised to make one of the most important shots of her career using a wedge that Taranto himself had only recently designed.
“It was all really mind-blowing to me,” Taranto said.
Taranto is rapidly making a name for himself as one of the most creative and artistic designers in all of golf. His client list at Callaway includes Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Michelle Wie, Sandra Gal, and Morgan Pressel. His style is so unique and imaginative that it is impossible to mistake when someone is playing with a Taranto-designed wedge – a design that started innocently enough four years ago while working on a wedge for LPGA star Anna Nordqvist.
“Anna was playing with our wedges at the time,” Taranto recalls. “I’d use stamps of stars on her wedges and paint them light blue and yellow for Sweden. One night, I had the idea if I put some tape on it and sandblast it, I could create the Swedish cross. I did it and it worked, so it was truly an “aha” moment that meant I could put anything on there and do the same thing. It was a turning point where I said, ‘This could be really cool.’”
Word spread among Callaway-sponsored players and soon Taranto’s creativity took over. Nobody really knew what was available, he says, so he had free reign with designs. In the case of Gal, who starred for the Gators at the University of Florida, Taranto created an orange and blue “Chomp Chomp” design for her wedges. Gal now hopes for something “outer-spacey” with stars and galaxies on her next set of Taranto-designed wedges.
“I will give him an idea that is really broad, and he’ll come up with something super creative and surprise me,” Gal said. “A few years ago, he was quite conservative with what he did. Now every year it’s getting cooler and cooler because all the girls out here love it. He’s just getting more and more creative.”
Some of his more recent creations for Michelle Wie were inspired by her love for “Game of Thrones,” “The Lord of the Rings,” and the Harry Potter series of books and films.
“Those were all her ideas,” Taranto said. “We can laser etch pretty much any image onto the wedges. On her current set of wedges, I came up with a way to sandblast an image onto the wedges using stickers and decals.”
Due in large part to the promotion and sharing of images of his wedges on social media, Taranto’s clientele has grown beyond the world of professional golf. He has designed custom wedges for celebrities such as actor Luke Wilson, as well as former presidents and avid golfers George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
“President Bush sent me an autographed picture thanking me for the wedges, which was very cool,” Taranto said. “As far as the players go, it’s exciting for me to create something that I know they’re going to look at, be happy, and smile.”
The wedge shot by Ko on the 18th at the ANA Inspiration – one of the great clutch shots in recent golf history – certainly put a smile on Taranto’s face. His designs for Ko’s wedges used at the ANA Inspiration honored both her first Major Championship victory at the Evian Championship in 2015 (54-degree wedge) and the Silver Fern logo of the national New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks (60-degree wedge).
Fittingly, on the shot Ko made to help seal her second Major Championship, she used the wedge which paid tribute to her first.
With the win, 18-year-old Ko earned her 12th career victory and became the youngest two-time Major Champion in LPGA history, a piece of which will forever be linked to Taranto.
“I just saw her stick that wedge to 10 inches, or something ridiculous, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s my wedge!’”
Where are those wedges now? They are a part of the permanent collection at the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum in St. Augustine, Florida.
Travis Puterbaugh is the Curator of the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. He graduated from Loyola University of New Orleans with a B.A. in Communications, the University of South Florida with an M.A. in History, and has worked in the museum industry for 14 years. Travis considers getting to walk inside the ropes during Day One of the 2016 International Crown as the highlight of his time working for the Hall of Fame. Follow Travis on Twitter at @WGHOFCurator.
Editor’s Note: This article is one of an excellent series of articles by Travis Puterbaugh and the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum describing the stories and background of women’s golf artifacts and displays from the Museum’s collection. See the complete series here.
Feature Image: RANCHO MIRAGE, CA – APRIL 02: Lydia Ko of New Zealand plays her third shot at the par 5, 18th hole during the third round of the 2016 ANA Inspiration at the Mission Hills Country Club on April 2, 2016, in Rancho Mirage, California. Here she is seen holding the 54-degree wedge she would use the next day to help clinch the championship. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
