FORE! Jared Doerfler and Hanna Golf
Some putters don't go out of style. They're designed and crafted for a lifetime—the ones you know you'd never sell, even after a putting slump, or serving a stint in the garage or leaning near the basement putting green. They become part of you, playing a starring role in your golf stories. When you find a great flat stick, it sticks with you for life. It feels good in the hands, and gets handed down from generation to generation. There's an enduring quality, a timeless magic milled into existence. Finely crafted putters inspire confidence, making the hole feel a little wider, and striking something in your heart upon contact…
That's precisely the type of putter Jared Doerfler sets out to make at Hanna Golf.
Back in college, playing golf at the University of Northern Iowa, Jared's coach handed him a putter that had come straight off a tour truck—a prototype designed by Kia Ma, who was a sort-of-Scotty Cameron over at TaylorMade at the time. Something about that putter was perfect. He even admits sleeping with it at night. When he graduated, he had to give it back, and he spent the next decade searching for something that could replace it. He never found it. So eventually, he decided to build it himself.
That decision turned into Hanna Golf. Perhaps sleeping with a putter aligned his dreams in some way.
Jared started the company with two young kids at home—he now has three—and no experience in machining whatsoever. He taught himself CNC machining largely through what he calls "YouTube University," leaned on a few uncles with machining backgrounds, and literally grinding away day in and day out, failing and perfecting a process along the way. Eventually he was able to bring on experienced tool-and-die professionals to keep raising the bar on quality. So far, he's self-funded the whole thing, investing in his own CNC machines and bootstrapping every meter of growth.
"It's a little scary," Jared told me, "but you've got to take some risks in life and do what feels right. We only get to live once."
As for a muse shaping the masterpieces of Hanna Golf… some new putter ideas start as napkin sketches, scribbled during quiet moments with his wife. The real creation happens later, in CAD, where he works out the specs until it's right.
Creating an exceptional putter is all about giving players a feeling…. I mentioned to him that I have an original Scotty Cameron Futura from around 2003, and how the tone it makes at dead center still gets me—it's like striking a finely tuned instrument. Jared lit up immediately. "Sound is everything." He then explained how tone can vary based on the metal used and be affected by subtle dead spots within the material itself. For Hanna Golf, he prefers his putters to carry a deeper tone, steering away from anything high-pitched, chasing a strike that feels pure and true every time.
That pursuit of purity extends to the materials themselves. Every Hanna Golf putter is milled from 303 stainless steel—no shortcuts, no compromises. Jared is well aware of the manufacturing trends sweeping through the putter industry, the shortcuts other companies take to move faster and cheaper. Hanna Golf aims clear in the other direction: putters built to last a lifetime, built to give golfers real confidence over the putts that matter most. Honing in on that vision, is a passion that honors his family legacy.
Each Hanna Golf putter carries the name of a city where his grandfather, Harry Doerfler, once lived. Harry grew up poor in Depression-era Oklahoma and Texas, fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, and came home to build a life for his family through nothing but grit and hard work. He's also the reason Jared picked up golf in the first place—showing up to Jared's college tournaments and caring about exactly one thing: whether the putter was rolling right.
Jared says he inherited his grandfather's work ethic more than his golf talent. Every model in the Hanna Golf lineup is a small tribute to that—a name pulled from a place Harry once called home.
Jared's written the full story of his grandfather on the Hanna Golf site—worth reading in his own words (after you're done here, of course…)
That same drive shows up in how Jared talks about his dad, too—another hardworking man who shaped what Jared expects of himself every day in the shop.
Even the company name is personal. "Hanna" comes from a combination of his daughters' names—Johanna and Harriet.
Jared is growing Hanna Golf intentionally. As a self-funded operation, he's not interested in sacrificing quality for speed or scale. He's staying true to the vision he has for the brand and the legacy he wants to build.
One more thing that has surprised Jared about building Hanna Golf… there are apparently a lot more people with the last name Hanna out there than he'd imagine, many of them seeking out a putter with their name already on it. He mentioned they're always fun to work with but unfortunately, there's no discount for sharing a name with the brand—just the pride of owning something finely milled in Iowa by Jared and his crew.
Get your hands on and find Hanna Golf putters online here.
Jared Doerfler in the workshop where he and his crew craft Hanna Golf Putters.
FORE! is a weekly series from From The Fringe highlighting the people and organizations shaping golf. From The Fringe also creates premium video content for golf courses, resorts, and brands. Interested in a feature or working together? Connect at johnny@fromthefringe.golf
