Dallas' Parr not just putting around
Area man develops putter to help cure yips

Having played golf for 50 years, Don Parr knows the importance of putting. He also knows that zirconium has a density between titanium and stainless steel and is not susceptible to rust.

He has a strong background in physics and math. He used to race and rebuild sports cars and work on motorcycles.

Furthermore, he has a six-foot workbench on the balcony of his Dallas apartment with a drill press, a vise, a miter saw and a machine that measures the loft and lie of putters.

"I've always loved to tinker," he says.

So when Parr, 65, wondered if an upright heavy putter would improve his technique, he headed to his balcony and tinkered.

He researched club design. He carved wooden models of putters. He read the book How Golf Clubs Really Work and How to Optimize Their Design by Richard Greig and Frank Werner.

He talked to materials experts and scientists. He sent crude prototypes to the U.S. Golf Association for feedback. Friends experimented with different versions.

When the dust settled two years later, in 2003, Parr was founder/president of Iolar Golf, producing a technically sophisticated wand, the Iolar Putter.

"I tell my friends this is a hobby run amok," he says.

Parr's concept is gaining steam because of the popular theory that heavy putters eliminate the yips by constricting involuntary muscle movement.

The Iolar No. 4, made of stainless steel, weighs 400 grams. It was designed to promote a pendulum-like stroke with its relatively upright lie and heavy head.

Basically, it's a conventional-sized putter with the benefits of belly putters and long putters: a stroke involving the shoulders and arms that reduces wrist movement. The Iolar has a rounded edge to help keep the blade from scuffing, and there are alignment marks to place the head directly over the ball and an oversized grip to discourage wrist flex.

Standard lie for an Iolar Putter is 13 degrees. Conventional putters are 19 to 20 degrees. The upright lie requires players to stand more upright and about five inches closer to the ball than with a conventional putter. A simple set of instructions explains the proper stance, which is much like on a short-iron shot.

The Iolar Putters aren't mass-produced. Each is hand-finished, numbered and topped with a leather head cover from custom saddle maker Phil Dunn of Irving. Cost is about $350.

"I've always had this theory that putters should be more upright," Parr says. "The first one I made was a big trapezoid of solid titanium. It was ridiculous. It was big and ugly and nonconforming."

Dealing with the USGA was a headache because so many club manufacturers send items for inspection. But Parr says he got lots of help from USGA officials. If he had a question about something, he got advice over the phone.

He is awaiting word from the USGA on the Iolar Z, which will be machined out of commercially pure zirconium. It will have a larger head but the same weight as the No. 4.

Parr still has his day job, working for the financial firm UBS. But his putter hobby keeps him running amok – and, he hopes, ordering slabs of zirconium.