Karsten Solheim (September 15, 1911 – February 16, 2000) was a Norwegiangolf club designer and businessman. He founded Karsten Manufacturing, agolf club maker better known by the name ofPING, and theSolheim Cup, the premier international team competition in women's golf.^[3]

Born inBergen, Norway, to Herman A. and Ragna Koppen Solheim,^[1] the family emigrated to the United States in 1913, and settled inSeattle, Washington, in itsBallard neighborhood. Herman was ashoemaker, and Karsten graduated fromBallard High School in 1931 and enrolled two years later at theUniversity of Washington, with aims at becoming amechanical engineer.^[4] Due to family financial hardship during theGreat Depression, he withdrew from UW after his freshman year and then worked in the family shoe shop.^[1][5]

Upon the outbreak ofWorld War II, he resumed his engineering studies viaUniversity of California extension courses and joined the defense industry, working atRyan Aeronautical inSan Diego. After the war he initially worked as a salesman, but then returned to engineering with positions atConvair andGeneral Electric.

While living in upstateNew York in 1954, Solheim took up golf at the age of 42 when his colleagues atG.E. invited him to make up a foursome. He quickly took to the game and found that his main problem was putting, so he designed himself a revolutionaryputter. Usingsugar cubes and popsicle sticks he came up with a design he would innovate and test.^[6] Instead of attaching the shaft at the heel of the blade, he attached it in the center. He applied scientific principles to golf club design, which had previously been based largely on trial and error, transferring much of the weight of the club head to the perimeter.

Solheim took to manufacturing golf clubs in his garage and after a move toPhoenix he touted them to skeptical professionals at tournaments. Acceptance came whenJulius Boros won thePGA Tour'sPhoenix Open, using Solheim's "Anser" putter in early 1967.^[7] Later that year, Solheim resigned from G.E. to establish Karsten Manufacturing, makers of the PING brand of clubs. In 1969, he introduced irons based on the same principle of perimeter weighting, and these were quickly successful. The other golf equipment manufacturers soon followed his innovations, which became industry standards.

With the success of PING, Solheim became a benefactor of golf. He donated millions of dollars to the Karsten Golf Course atArizona State University andKarsten Creek Golf Course atOklahoma State University, and sponsoredLPGA tournaments inOregon,Arizona, andMassachusetts. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Solheim Cup, the biennial tournament between teams of women professionals from Europe and the United States, which was modeled on the men'sRyder Cup, and was first played in 1990.

Solheim developedParkinson's disease and in 1995 he handed over his company to his youngest son John.^[8] He died in Phoenix in February 2000 at the age of 88.^[9]

Solheim's contribution of perimeter weighting and usage ofinvestment casting are recognized as two of the key innovations in the history of golf.^[10]

For increasing trade with foreign companies through Ping, Solheim received an "E" award from President Reagan^[11] in 1988.^[12][13]

Solheim was inducted in 1991 into theScandinavian-American Hall of Fame.

Two collegiate golf courses bear his name:ASUKarsten Golf Course inTempe, Arizona, opened in 1989, andKarsten Creek Golf Course inStillwater, Oklahoma, opened in 1994.

Solheim was a ME Hall of Fame recipient from the University of Washington's mechanical engineering department. After his passing Solheim's wife Louise established an undergraduate scholarship fund and the Solheim Manufacturing Labs within the ME Department in memory of her late husband.^[14]

Solheim was inducted into theWorld Golf Hall of Fame in 2001^[15] in the category of Lifetime Achievement.^[16]

• Karsten Solheim at theWorld Golf Hall of Fame
• University of Washington – Mech. Engr. Hall of Fame – Karsten Solheim
• Karsten Solheim atFind a Grave

• 20th-century American businesspeople
• 20th-century American inventors
• Ballard High School (Seattle, Washington) alumni
• World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
• Businesspeople from Seattle
• Businesspeople from Phoenix, Arizona
• Norwegian emigrants to the United States
• Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Arizona
• 1911 births
• 2000 deaths
• 20th-century American philanthropists
• Inventors from Arizona

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2019
• Articles with hCards