Lakewood Ranch man follows his faith to create heaven-sent putter

Lakewood Ranch resident Peter Schrum’s instructions were not immediately clear. He stumbled upon them occasionally, like he was following a steady trail of bread crumbs left on his life’s path.

Left by whom? The Holy Spirit, he said.

It began three years ago when a man approached Schrum, who holds 31 years of custom golf club experience, at church to get his thoughts on a crystal putter he was creating. 

Schrum liked the putter, but thought it lacked versatility. The shaft was directly into the crystal. It couldn’t be moved. 

Schrum saw potential, though. The two entered into a brief partnership before the man left without a word of warning. The vanishing act left Schrum to work on the putter by himself.

Once solo, Schrum started feeling something reaching out to him from above, he said. One day, while chatting about water jet cutters with a Bradenton store owner — which, of all random things, has to be among the most random — the owner’s brother handed Schrum three pieces of Kevlar.

“I’m like, ‘OK, what am I going to do with these? Why did he give me these?’” Schrum said. “I get out to the car and the Holy Spirit said, ‘Put it on the faceplate.’ I was like, ‘Wow, I never thought of that.’”

The Kevlar absorbs the impact of the golf ball and gives the putter its own feel, Schrum said. Little occurrences of divine intervention like that have happened throughout the three-year trial-and-error process, with Schrum describing the interactions as God saying, “Do this, now do this.” In return, Schrum decided to name his company Heavenly Putters, a good-faith gesture.

The idea behind Heavenly Putters is full customization. There are other putters on the market that claim the same thing, Schrum said, but do not offer half as many options as his does. 

Schrum’s faceplates are interchangeable. They come in both aluminum and brass, and there’s also a crystal version. His grips, produced by SwitchGrips, vary from standard black rubber to alligator skin, and are weight-adjustable, so players can play with a heavy or light club. The putter can be adjusted for both right- and left-handed players, and the shaft can be moved within the head if players want more weight on a certain area of the head. His patent on the design is pending.

All putters also come with custom head covers made by Schrum’s wife, Eva Schrum.

“I call them holsters, like for a gun,” Schrum said, “because these (putters) are deadly.”

He did have to make some adjustments to the putters at the request of the U.S.  Golf Association, which does not want players adjusting their clubs during a round. Schrum added more screws and notches to the head. This keeps the club customizable while cutting down the possibility of a player changing his or her putter while walking down a fairway.

Schrum learned to make custom clubs 31 years ago while working for Ford. The company offered a class on the craft to its employees. The first two clubs he made were for his son, Peter Schrum IV, who he said learned to play golf in the womb. The elder Schrum taught Eva Schrum to play golf while she was pregnant. Schrum has been doing custom golf jobs on the side ever since, but Heavenly Putters is a different beast entirely.

He made his first sale April 20 to a man in Illinois, who bought one for his son. That isn’t Schrum’s target audience, though, because the products are not cheap, ranging in price from $350 to $750. 

He believes his putters will be a big hit with golf and country club members with a little cash to burn and a lot of pride in their game.

The putters themselves can be purchased at heavenlyputters.com, with different faceplates costing different amounts. The idea can work with any style or golfer preference. I don’t play golf much myself, so maybe I’m naive when it comes to important aspects of a putter, but I don’t see anything to dislike about Heavenly Putters.

In other words, you can count me as a believer.