When Solheim started the tradition, the "vault" was housed in a converted closet in his office. However, the gold-plated putter tradition became so popular over the years that Solheim eventually had to transfer the collection and build a larger vault. That vault has since been retired with the collection moving to another location at PING headquarters.

Of course, the size of the vault isn't the only thing that's changed over the last 40-plus years. John Solheim, Karsten’s son, modified the program when he became president in 1995, giving every major winner a solid gold replica for their achievement. Only one solid gold version is made for the winner; a gold-plated version is then placed in the vault in honor of their win.

Bubba Watson received a solid gold PING Anser 1 Milled for winning the 2014 Masters. The putter had a head weight of 24.7 ounces and was valued at roughly $30,000 based on the current price of gold.

"As a young kid, I heard about the gold putter vault and the gold putters," Watson said. "I knew it was something cool that you wanted to see. The history of Karsten (Solheim) and him making the putter, you think about all that and the wins — it's something you want to see and be a part of. You want to have at least one putter or a wedge in here, so it's pretty neat to be associated with it now."

The leader in the clubhouse with the most gold putters is Lee Westwood, who boasts an impressive 57 from wins, career milestones and Ryder Cup appearances. The late Seve Ballesteros, a five-time major winner, is second on the list with 46 gold-plated Anser models.

As you'd expect with nearly 50 years' worth of gold putters — the oldest belongs to John Barnum, who won the 1962 Cajun Classic with a model 69 — golf royalty is well represented inside the vault.

In fact, over the years, PING has awarded 58 gold putters -- 28 of which are solid gold -- and two gold-plated wedges to winners of various major championships.

Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Tom Watson, Payne Stewart and Lee Trevino are just a few of the high-profile names that used a PING putter to win at least one major championship. Tiger Woods also has two PING Anser2 putters celebrating his 1994 and 1995 U.S. Amateur victories.

Although the vault is comprised mostly of putters, there are a handful of gold-plated clubs in the collection. The 52-degree PING Tour-W wedge Bubba Watson used on the second hole of a playoff to pull off a gargantuan, 40-yard hook from the pine straw to win the 2012 Masters is one of the big draws.

So, too, is the PING Eye2 sand wedge Bob Tway relied on to win the 1986 PGA Championship with an improbable hole-out from the greenside bunker on the 18th hole.

Louis Oosthuizen's PING S56 4-iron also sticks out in a sea full of gold putters. While the South African finished second to Bubba Watson at the 2012 Masters, he received a gold-plated 4-iron for recording one of the most memorable hole-outs in Masters history, when his ball found the bottom of the cup from 253 yards for the first albatross on No. 2 at Augusta National.