The history of Pendulum Golf is a short but interesting one revolving around the single

The history of Pendulum Golf is a short but interesting one revolving around the single-minded pursuit of its founder, Bruce Kennedy.So what sort of background does a person have who is not afraid to call into question the "illogical" ancient methods of putting developed over hundreds of years and then does something about it by using better logic and commen sense solutions.

Bruce was born in Quirindi, in outback NSW, Australia. He excelled as a young sportsman before taking on a carpentry apprenticeship. He worked in the building industry for a number of years, before taking on the following projects:

Designing and developing an International Award winning holiday resort on the east coast of Australia (1986-1987)
Negotiating and presenting a Tourism promotion package for Fiji with Army Commander General Rabuka (1989)
Managing and training two Australian professional boxers in five world title fights in the USA and Europe which included shaping up to Don King in San Diego and Las Vegas (1991-1994)
Worked with good mate and now in-law Rodney Rude, on entertainment projects (Videos, CD's, Merchandise) (1995)

Developed a solution for the Olympic Village dilemma in Sydney (former toxic waste dump) which formed the basis of the formation of a formal consortium bid . The concept provided for 2200 6 bedroom/3 bathroom innovative two storey engineered housing solutions that would be redeployed for defence housing, Indigenous housing and public housing at the conclusion of the Games, leaving the land holding in the hands of the New South Wales Tax payer. (1996) (Ref. Spectrum Sydney Morning Herald October 26 1996)

After this Bruce looked for a sport he could take up and play for the rest of his days and found……golf. His first trip to the putting green sparked off a series of events that have ended up with the making of the Pendulum Putters. Bruce, thought there had to be a better way to get the ball in the hole than what he was witnessing. For instance, if you had to get a ball into the hole without a stick, you would simply bowl the ball underarm while looking at the hole.When Bruce got home that day he immediately went to that shrine of inventors – the back shed!

He made himself a stick he could "bowl" the ball with and his first upright sidesaddle putter was born. The immediate success of this model led to several prototypes, a lot of holed putts, media interest and ultimately a collision course with professional golf. On the way he got a little tired of the many jibes that his new putter was "not traditional" and therefore should not be used.

He decided to research the history of golf to see just what was "traditional" and what was not. He was amazed to learn that his grandmother (Marjorie Bruce) was a direct descendant of the (Royal) Bruce family of Scotland (hence his name Robert Bruce Kennedy) and that the then King of Scotland – Robert the Bruce decreed an act of parliament at St Andrews in 1328 proclaiming that commoners could only play golf four times a year!! The fact that only "Royals" could play when they liked is the likely origin of the term Royal and Ancient Game of Scotland.
The Bruce Tartan of ScotlandThe accepted view is that golf began in the Scottish Highlands when Shepherds, no doubt bored out of their brains, began knocking leather balls into rabbit holes with their upturned shepherds crooks. HOLD ON! A shepherds crook is about the same length as a broomstick or sidesaddle putter! Talk about tradition.When someone talks to Bruce about tradition these days, he asks politely, "which century are we talking about mate?"The very first traditional Pendulum Putter (a welded up prototype) was just a week old when it was first used by Australian Professional Terry Price in a final stage qualifying tournament for the Japanese Tour in September 1998.

Finishing position? - 1^st outright.The second outing for the putter was two weeks later in a further qualifying tournament for the Japanese Tour.Finishing position? – 1^st outright.The third outing was a couple of weeks later at the Australian PGA Championship in Sydney.Finishing position? – 2^nd outright.Hmmmm. What you might call a promising start! Maybe we're on the right track!At the conclusion of the Australian PGA Tour (April 1999) Bruce decided to take the leap into the unknown and commercially produce a range of Pendulum Putters for the golfing public.The first putters (handcrafted in Australia) were ready for use in July 1999.

Reprinted from The Daily Telegraph Friday November 10, 1998 P122

The next page in the history of Pendulum should make fascinating reading!