What about Bob?

Lost in all the numbers and hoopla regarding Callaway Golf Company's (NYSE: ELY) acquisition of Top-Flite Golf Company has been the fate of putter designer Bob Bettinardi, who this past January signed a much-publicized multi-year contract to manufacture four different putters exclusively for Top-Flite's Ben Hogan Golf division.

While Callaway Golf Chairman Ron Drapeau has said that the Hogan division will continue as part of Top-Flite Golf Co. -- now a wholly owned subsidiary of Callaway Golf -- Bettinardi's future with the Hogan division is less clear. In an exclusive interview with PGA.com, Bettinardi said there is no longer a contract between him and Ben Hogan Golf, but talks are going on now between him and Callaway.

"Where that leads could be we do something for Callaway/Hogan/Top-Flite or it could lead to nothing and we do our own thing again," Bettinardi said.

Callaway Golf spokesman Larry Dorman said his company does not comment on ongoing negotiations, but Bettinardi told PGA.com Oct. 6 he expects to know "within the next two weeks" about which direction his future with Callaway and Top-Flite will take.

"Right now we're still making product (for Hogan) and we're still on the tour for them," Bettinardi said. "It's all working out fine."

Bettinardi's putters are best known for their patented One-Piece Technology and Honeycomb Finish, the latter of which is applied vertically by a jeweler's tool to the face of the putter to assure, according to Bettinardi, the flattest possible surface. Unlike most putters on the market that are manufactured in the Far East, Bettinardi's putters (and wedges) are made at Bettinardi Golf headquarters in Tinley Park, Ill. Jim Furyk used a prototype of a Big Ben Series Ben Hogan by Bettinardi putter to win this year's U.S. Open.