Their use in professional tournaments is hotly contested; Jim Furyk and others on the pro tours including Langer and Vijay Singh have used belly putters at some point with a marked improvement of their short game, while players like Tiger Woods and officials like former USGA technical director Frank Thomas have condemned it as conferring an unfair advantage on users.
Athletes including Kelli White, British sprinter Dwain Chambers, shot putter Kevin Toth, middle distance runner Regina Jacobs, and hammer throwers John McEwen and Melissa Price were subsequently incriminated in the investigation.
Carmen Ionesco (birth name Ionescu; born 1951), Canadian discus thrower and shot putter of Romanian descent
After his retirement from being a professional shot putter, he became the athletic director for Hueneme High School in the Oxnard Union High School District.
Randy Barnes (Eric Randolph Barnes, born 1966), American olympic shot putter
Gisela Beyer is the sister of Olympic gold medalist shot putter Udo Beyer and Olympic gold medalist in handball Hans-Georg Beyer.
Saulius Kleiza (born 1964), Lithuanian shot putter and discus thrower
Petra Lammert (born 1984), German shot putter and current bobsledder
Lewis Capes is the son of the former British shot putter and two-time World's Strongest Man winner Geoff Capes.
Four women share the honor of most Millrose wins at eight apiece: 400-meter runner Diane Dixon, whose eight victories include five straight from 1988–1992; middle-distance runner Jearl Miles-Clark; shot putter Connie Price-Smith; and high jumper Tisha Waller.
In 2010, a putter discarded by Szep and sold at a discount golf store was bought for $39 by Jim Furyk, who won the $11 million FedEx Cup tournament with it.
The Response ZT 615 by MacGregor Golf, was a putter which was used by Jack Nicklaus to win the 1986 Masters Tournament.
Eha Rünne, female shot putter and discus thrower from Estonia
The Schenectady Putter was invented by Arthur F. Knight, a General Electric engineer, who created a model reflecting his ideas in the summer of 1902 at his home course, Mohawk Golf Club in Schenectady, NY.