Palmetto Championship at Congaree trophy one of a kind

RIDGELAND, S.C. – Every trophy is a work of art, or at least it’s conceived of in those terms, but the trophy for the Palmetto Championship at Congaree takes it to the next level.

A 40-pound brass replica of the old schoolhouse on site, it is the creation of Tyson Lamb, whose highly regarded Dallas design-fabrication house specializes in custom putters. Working on a deadline, given the tournament’s status as a relatively late fill-in for the RBC Canadian Open, Lamb spent roughly 220 hours on the trophy.

“It has 62 different pieces,” he said by phone from Dallas, where he returned last week after flying to South Carolina to hand-deliver his creation. “It’s definitely the most complex thing I’ve ever done. It took a long time to get it to work, and I basically had 13 or 14 days.

“I don’t know if I’ve gotten home before 1 or 2 in the morning the last two weeks,” he added.

Lamb has built everything from cart parts to aerospace parts to sculptures and beyond. His attention to detail is such that each individual shingle on the roof of this week’s trophy was made with its own blemishes and inconsistencies so as to look like the actual schoolhouse’s shingles.

“You can’t just draw a bunch of squares and then repeat it because it doesn’t look real,” he said.

Ian Poulter, a friend through their shared interest in design, and with whom Lamb will be working on a few golf-related products like ball marks and divot-repair tools, visited the shop during the recent Charles Schwab Challenge while the trophy was in the early stages.

“I respect what he does,” Poulter said after shooting a third-round 69 at Congaree to reach 4 under for the tournament. “He’s made an amazing trophy. It’s awesome. My dad used to work in CNC machining back in the day, machine-milled aerospace industry stuff, fine precision stuff, so when anyone is making that type of stuff, it’s fun to see it in action.

“I saw pretty much the front fascia of the schoolhouse,” Poulter continued. “So, the front panel was done. He was testing the color finish. It wasn’t pieced together. I saw the cardboard cutout of exactly how it would look, and it’s come out amazing.”

A golf enthusiast whose five employees include his sister and mother – his 75-year-old grandmother has also worked for him when she’s in town – Lamb is entirely self-taught and began working out of a garage. Today he works out of a vastly upgraded 10,000-square-foot shop. His putters, especially, sell out quickly among his loyal following of enthusiasts.

As for the trophy, he said, it comes with just one caveat.

“I don’t know if the winner will be able to pick it up,” he said with a laugh. “It’s not light.”