A black limba putter starts as a plank most people would recognize from a different world entirely: the guitar shop. Black limba — sold to luthiers as korina — is the wood behind some of the most valuable electric guitars ever built, prized for its resonance and its smoky, streaked grain. When a board of it comes into our shop, it doesn't become a guitar body. It becomes a putter head, machined on CNC to tolerances tighter than a green in July, then hand-finished until those charcoal streaks look like smoke frozen in golden wood.
Signature Design · The SmokeHouse
SmokeHouse Woodrich Regal — Black Limba Zero Torque
$299 — smoke-streaked Black Limba with Wenge in a center-shaft head
CNC-machined to exact tolerances, hand-finished in the shop — and ready for your custom engraving on the top and sole (+$40 at checkout).
Design Yours → Add to CartWhat Black Limba Actually Is
Black limba (Terminalia superba) grows in West Africa. The heartwood is a light golden brown, and certain trees develop grey-to-nearly-black veins running through it — that figured wood is what earns the "black" in black limba (Source: The Wood Database). No two boards streak the same way. On a putter head, that means the top line you look down at over a six-footer is a one-of-one, even on a signature model we've built a dozen times.
The grain is straight to slightly interlocked with a uniformly coarse texture and a moderate natural luster. Under a hand-rubbed finish, the luster reads as warmth rather than gloss — no glare bouncing back at you at address.
The Korina Connection: A Wood Chosen for How It Sounds
Here's the part we love telling golfers. Korina and black limba are the same wood, and guitar makers chose it for a reason that matters on the green too: its acoustic character. Limba has a balanced tonal profile with good resonance and sustain, often compared to mahogany. Feel in a putter is mostly sound — the click you hear at impact is a huge part of what your hands report back. A black limba putter face gives a softer, warmer impact note than milled steel, without going mushy. The same damping that makes a korina guitar sing takes the harsh edge off a firm stroke.
How We Build With It
Black limba is lighter and easier to machine than the dense oily exotics like rosewood or wenge, and it glues and finishes beautifully. That workability is not a shortcut — it's a design tool. Because the wood itself is lighter, we have more freedom in where the weight goes. Every head starts in CAD, and with black limba we can push the internal weighting far to the perimeter for high MOI without the total head weight creeping past spec. Lighter wood, heavier engineering.
Basic care is the same as any of our putters: wipe it down, keep the headcover on, don't leave it baking in a trunk.
Where Black Limba Shines: Zero Torque Builds
The newest black limba build in our shop is the SmokeHouse, a zero torque center shaft head — and the pairing is deliberate. Zero torque designs live or die on precise mass placement around the shaft axis, and limba's machinability lets us hit those numbers exactly while the streaked grain gives the head its character. If a face that stays square with almost no effort from your hands sounds like your kind of putting, the whole lineup is in our Zero Torque Center Shaft Putters collection.
How It Compares to the Other Woods on Our Bench
Against rosewood, black limba is brighter in color and lighter in hand — smoke and gold instead of deep reds. Against leopardwood, it trades the spotted lace figure for flowing streaks. Against walnut, the workhorse of our laminated builds, limba is the showpiece: walnut anchors a build, limba headlines one. If you want a putter that draws a "what is that wood?" on the first green, this is the one.
Black Limba Putter FAQ
Is black limba the same as korina?
Yes. Black limba and korina are two names for the same African hardwood, Terminalia superba. "Korina" is the trade name guitar makers use; "black limba" refers to boards with the dark streaked figure (Source: Exotic Wood Zone).
How does a black limba putter feel at impact?
Warm and slightly soft, with a muted click rather than a steel ping. The same resonance that made korina a legendary guitar wood softens the impact sound, which your hands read as a softer feel.
Does every black limba putter look the same?
No. The dark streaking varies board to board, so every head has its own figure — even two putters of the same model will smoke differently.
Is a wooden putter legal for tournament play?
Yes. The Rules of Golf govern a putter's dimensions and features, not its material. A conforming wood-headed putter is as legal as a milled steel one.
From the Shop
Pick Your Putter — Every One Can Be Engraved
Add custom engraving to any putter for $40 — just select the option on the product page.
Choosing Your Black Limba Putter
If you're deciding, it comes down to stroke first, wood second. Want maximum face stability with minimal hand manipulation? Go zero torque center shaft. Prefer a traditional look and a touch more feedback? A side shaft mid-mallet in limba delivers the same warm impact with a classic profile. Either way you're getting a head designed in CAD, CNC-machined to exact tolerances, and hand-finished in our shop — a small operation, but an obsessively precise one. Look through the current black limba builds on the site, and if you want the streaks to run a particular way, ask. We're the ones picking the board.
Make Your Mark on the Green
Black limba or any wood on the bench, every TimberTouch putter is designed in CAD, CNC-machined to exact tolerances, and hand-finished. Pick yours and we'll engrave your story into it.
Shop All Putters →First Look at New One-of-a-Kind Builds
Many of our putters are one of a kind — when they're gone, they're gone. Join the list and see new builds and engraving ideas before anyone else.
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