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PGA Show Week—2008

In January every year everyone in the golf industry who can afford a plane ticket ends up in Orlando. The annual rite is the PGA Show—the traditional start of the new product year. The show dates are an anachronism—a relic of days gone by when club professionals at the prestigious East Coast private clubs sold enough golf equipment to matter. They ordered in January for delivery in March to sell through the summer. Today most of the major manufacturer (OEM) orders have been written so Big Business is done for 2008. The Big Box stores have stocked up and the Internet is buzzing.

But there’s still business to be done. Smaller, specialty lines rely on the PGA Show to meet new customers and write orders for the upcoming season. If you sell shirts and hats, it’s Christmas. And most important, report cards are coming out on what makes sense for 2008. This is a buyer’s last chance to pick the winners and the losers before the final spin of the wheel.

Another growing trend is for companies and associations to use the days leading up to the show to hold their own meetings—outside the walls of the Convention Center. My main reason to come to the PGA Show is not the products—but the people. When the industry gets together you can be sure that “anybody who is anybody” will be in town at least sometime during the week. The best insight comes from the private meetings in the back alleys and bars.

I got on the plane early on Saturday morning the 12th of January headed for Orlando. The travel day is always a nice respite. I like the chance to catch up on my reading and think about what will happen in the week to come. This year, there was an additional incentive. Golf Today agreed to hold the presses so the PGA Show Week could be covered in the February issue. There is no other publication that provides in-depth coverage so close to the actual event. I knew that I was in for a big and exciting week. Golf Equipment Chronicles readers would have a chance for a vicarious, insider’s look at the “Biggest Golf Show on Earth.” New product samples will be arriving in the next few weeks for testing so the March will include product coverage with hands-on testing. I love this job.

Sunday, January 13th—the Professional Clubmakers’ Society Expo

Before I opened the Golf Lab, I joined the Professional Clubmakers’ Society (PCS). The PCS was founded in the early 1990’s—an idea hatched by an Indianapolis clubmaker, Bob Ubelor and brought to fruition by Elmore Just. The fundamental idea was that the PCS would be an independent, non-profit organization with a mission to help new club makers gain competence through training and certification. Over the years, the PCS has had its ups and downs, more or less mirroring the trajectory of the golf industry.

In recent years, the trend has been down. The PCS became an intensely political organization even as the treasury was depleted and a trusted employee dipped her hand into the cookie jar. As a result, the PCS doesn’t have much to show for the last couple of years—other than staying alive. This year I looked forward to the Expo because there was a significant turnover in the Board of Directors which promised a new direction for the organization. I wanted to see how successful that would be.

To complicate matters, the PCS changed the location and dates of the Expo—moving it from March to January to permit members to attend both the Expo and the PGA Show in one trip. The big question was about attendance and vendor commitment. Would the change of venue be supported? A couple of hundred members—out of a total membership of 700—trekked down to Tarpon Springs—a location I now know is well beyond the end of the road. Vendor support was muted, but polite. The final count was less than 2007 but the disappointment was redefined as a “good restart.” Most members were happy to know that the PCS had finally escaped from Louisville.

Overall, the outcome was positive. The Board unveiled a new strategy to revamp training and raise certification standards—including a threat to “re-certify” all members to bring the PCS up to date with current “best practices.” Long time professional club makers, defined as PCS members who derive full-time income from their club fitting and club making activities received the message favorably. Potential consumers stood to benefit. The referral process through the website promised to provide much more relevant information to allow an informed choice.

It’s not all perfect. The PCS is still broke. There’s just enough dues income to sustain a skeleton staff and feed the wolves so all of the extra work will have to be done by volunteers. With the monumental effort required to fulfill the plans, there is plenty of reason to wonder if the newly designated committees will have the energy to complete the job. In the meantime, the PCS will try to conduct business as usual, recruit new members and conduct current training programs.

There were some high points. Despite the impression that the PCS is made up primarily of part-timers and not-too-recently retired corporate executives who “don’t need the money,” Mark Timms—the founder of Hot Stix Technologies and more recently Cool Clubs in Scottsdale—arguably the most successful of all club makers—showed up to support the Expo on Sunday. He was accompanied by his master clubmaker at Cool Clubs, the former technical director of the PCS, Jerry Hoeffling, Jr. The trio was filled out by Kim Braley, the designer of the new “KB” line of shafts that is hitting the market with great reviews. We had a nice afternoon on the course.

Tom Wishon and Matt Mohi represented Wishon Golf Technology. Britt Hume was there from Golf Works. I had plenty of time to talk to luminaries and friends. That made it a worthwhile trip. I encourage any readers with even a modest interest in clubmaking to join the PCS. Introductory dues are $100 per year and your membership will help you get to the next level in the craft.

Monday, January 14th—The International Professional Association of Clubfitters (IPAC)

A year ago, Jennifer King, President of KZG announced the formation of the IPAC. Ms. King has always acted the courage of her convictions. The IPAC was positioned as an alternative to the PCS—the difference being that membership was limited to full-time club fitters with a commercial location.

The IPAC was conceived as an “independent” industry association—despite the fact that the original bankroll came from KZG and KZG employees were tasked with all of the work. Most of the founding members of IPAC were KZG dealers but Ms. King holds out hope that the organization will become much more diverse in the future.

The IPAC meeting was lightly attended. Fewer than twenty companies were represented. The program, however, was interesting. The content focused on improving mental and physical health of the membership—a theme that I tried not to take too personally. Speakers were Dr. Jerry Teplitz and Dr. Christian Reichardt. Dr. Mike Thompson presented on “Marketing in the Internet Age.”

As usual, the main benefit was having a chance to sit down for some quiet conversations with the speakers and IPAC members and sponsors. I reconnected with Lloyd Hackman—the inventor of one of the classic golf gizmos—the Fit Chip. The Fit Chip is a little plastic box of electronics that clips on to any shaft. It records the tempo and acceleration of a player’s swing and makes a recommendation for flex. The last time I tested the system, Lloyd fitted me into a shaft that was softer than a noodle. It was a few years ago, before sophisticated launch monitor testing was available so I never tested the setup scientifically. I didn’t think it was correct but it could easily have been an ego problem. I resolved to give the Fit Chip system another try—if for no other reason to solidify my “Golf Geek” reputation. Watch for a follow up.

Other Sponsors of significance in attendance were Henri Johnson and his entire South African team from EDH Flightscope. John Cranston from Balance-Certified introduced their new weight system complete with a calculation of “more MOI.”

Tuesday, January 15,—ACCRA Dealer Day

The ACCRA dealer day is now in its third year. It started with just fifty ACCRA dealers getting together for a day of product briefings and golf. Today, it has morphed into the best of the pre-PGA Show events—with over 130 of the highest volume custom club fitters from around the world in attendance. It was an all-day program. The only real challenge was wending your way from downtown Orlando to the Windermere Country Club. My advice is that if you’re coming to Orlando, rent a car with a GPS system or you’ll spend more time than you can imagine driving in circles.

Gawain Robertson, president of PGMC—and sole distributor of the ACCRA product line—previewed the ACCRA product strategy. When PGMC took over distribution of ACCRA from UST, they limited their distribution to custom club fitters. There is pressure to open up distribution. With a lot of highly regarded club fitters recommending ACCRA shafts with good results, the OEM Custom Departments are chomping at the bit to get the product for their programs. Good for ACCRA, they’re turning down the fast buck to stick with their dealer distribution channel. Gawain announced a radical distribution strategy. Where most premium shafts are sold as “installed only” ACCRA is opening up the option to their qualified dealers to sell “shafts only” to club makers in their area who they know personally and they can mentor to make sure that fitting practices are correct. In essence, each ACCRA dealer is now a distributor. No other shaft company has made that move. If you live in the Bay Area, and build your own clubs, you can now get your ACCRA shafts at the Golf Lab. SST PUREd, of course.

The attendee list at the ACCRA Dealer Day was literally a “who’s who” from around the world. Key vendor sponsors included Miura—represented by Bill Holowaty and Ted Cotter from Canada. Ari Techner represented Scratch Golf. Also, the entire E-21 team was there, headed up by Sean Schuyler.

The high point of the event for the Golf Lab was that we were named a “Top 50 Shaft Technologist” by ACCRA—recognizing fitting expertise as well as sales volume.

Tuesday, January 15, KZG Awards Banquet

Each year, KZG names their “Top 100 Clubfitters in the World.” The cynical view is that the award is based on sales volume. It would be a mistake to say that selling KZG products doesn’t matter, but the company likes to name dealers who exhibit extraordinary skill in fitting KZG clubs. Last year, the Golf Lab was named a “Top 100 Clubfitter.” We repeated this year. I left the ACCRA event early to make it back for the awards ceremony. Sacrifices are required to get another classy plaque for the wall.

Also, Fujikura announced that the Golf Lab was number 21 Nationally on Fujikura’s list of Charter Dealers. That’s a nice tribute for “Fuji Bob” and his expertise fitting Fujikura Shafts.

The BIG STORY—Club Adjustability

The major story of the PGA Show was definitely “club adjustability.” By show time, Callaway, Taylor Made, and Nickent had all announced that they planned to release drivers with shafts that could be exchanged and played. (For readers who missed my article that previewed this subject last month, it can be viewed at www.calgolftech.com.)

If you missed the news, the USGA announced that it was now permissible to use a golf club with a shaft that is “removable and exchangeable” in tournament play—as long as the club is not altered in a specified round.

The reaction from every company that doesn’t have an “exchangeable shaft” driver ready to go is that this will surely be a “flash in the pan.” I don’t think so. Last year, when the big story was moment of inertia (MOI), the same opinion was offered by every company that didn’t have a “high MOI” driver. This year, the whole world has followed the “square MOI” or “triangular MOI” trend. I don’t think that there will be very many “low MOI” drivers sold this year. New, high MOI shapes are in. I predict that exchangeable shafts will become a very important product. As usual, promises were overblown. Nickent offered a “Tour Van in a Box.” In the end, acquiring a “driver system” that fits is going to be just as hard as finding the true Magic Driver.

There are two kinds of “exchangeable shafts”—those that are intended only for fitting and those that can be purchased and played immediately under the new USGA ruling. Last year Callaway introduced “OptiFit”—a cart with a dozen heads and a couple of dozen shafts that were meant to be screwed together and whacked at the range. After a little self-service “fitting” the player made his choice. The golf shop then ordered the combination from the factory for delivery in two to three weeks. Taylor Made had a similar fitting cart and similar business model.

There are two principal methods for attaching the shaft to the head. For both systems, a “proprietary” fitting of unique design is epoxied to the end of the shaft and then inserted into a socket in the head. One method utilizes a bolt that goes through the bottom of the club and screws into the fitting at the bottom of the shaft. The other method utilizes a threaded collar that secures the shaft to the top of the head. To complicate matters, there is a web of patents and copyrights protecting all of the systems. That is sure to make it more difficult for other manufacturers to get into the business. Intellectual property lawyers are licking their chops.

At the PGA Show a few naïve equipment buffs called for the USGA to establish a single standard so that any interchangeable shaft would fit any head. There is zero chance that any major manufacturer would let that happen.

The Disconnect Between Fitting and Manufacturing

The problem is that “custom fitting” doesn’t mean that you will actually receive a golf club that is exactly like the one you tested. Your custom fitting doesn’t matter to the factory. You’re going to get a standard product from their inventory—a standard head, standard shaft, and standard flex. Normal manufacturing tolerances are plus or minus a degree or two on head loft, plus or minus three grams on head weight and plus or minus five cycles per minute (CPM) on shaft flex. No company guarantees that the club you receive after your custom fitting will match the club you tested. That’s the reason we’ve adopted the mantra: “always buy the demo” if you find a driver that really works, buy that one. Don’t take “NO” for an answer.

Maybe that’s what Callaway and Taylor Made learned from their custom fitting experience last year. Buyers might have been disappointed with the club that they received after their “custom fitting.” Or, buyers may have bought something else when they found that it would take two or three weeks to receive the club that they ordered. Americans crave “instant satisfaction.”

Callaway, Taylor Made and Nickent introduced “screw and play” driver systems at the Show. In 2008, you’re going to be able to walk into your favorite retailer and pick a shaft and a head, screw the two together, test the combination on the range and take the “finished” driver home. If you pump your own gas, why not test and build your own driver? At the PGA Show, Taylor Made announced a driver and shaft “combo deal” that lets a player buy a head and three shafts in a box and take them home, Callaway released a point of purchase display that was based on “pick a head, pick a shaft.” When those products hit the shelves in March, a golfer will not only be his own fitter, he will also be his own clubmaker.

Nike—the Mother of all Fitting Systems

At the same time that Callaway and Taylor Made seem to have abandoned the idea that fitting carts work—in favor of selling their drivers and fairway woods as components—Nike has come out with the “Mother of all Fitting Systems.”

The Nike fitting cart is unbelievable. It includes all of their heads, comfortably protected in high tech protective cases. It includes dozens of shafts—each one ready to screw into a head for testing.

With the Nike fitting system, you can assemble any combination of shaft and head that Nike sells—test it on the range—and then send in the order. Alas, I’m afraid that Nike is a step behind the market. My view is that such fitting systems do not offer enough help to find the best club for a player.

Retailers and golf professionals love self service fitting service fitting systems. Why not? The customer does all the work and makes the choice. In the process, the buyer also takes responsibility for his own satisfaction.

Business Issues

Do the major OEM’s want to put custom club makers out of business? The answer is “yes.” For years, the major OEM’s have been embarrassed by guys working out of their garages who could take a Brand Name driver, conduct a fitting, swap the shaft, sprinkle a little pixie dust and produce better performance.

In the “old days” major OEM’s liked to put a “proprietary” shaft in their drivers to keep their profits high. But it was cheap, low quality shafts that created the demand for custom upgrades—the “aftermarket.” Callaway and Taylor Made are jealous of the business they lose to custom club makers. They’re trying to get the custom shaft business for themselves.

All manufacturers are searching for ways to grow their business so it shouldn’t be a surprise that expanding their custom departments is a priority. I think that Callaway’s long term business model is to become the “Dell of the Golf Industry.” They are putting more emphasis on their direct sales programs through the Internet. The major manufacturers moving aggressively into the custom end of the business will surely have an impact on some custom club makers. But it is hard to imagine that they will displace the true custom shop where an expert fitter works directly with a player and then builds the clubs to precise specifications in his own shop.

Tough Questions

The companies marketing exchangeable shaft driver systems make it sound easy. The “benefits” mentioned in all of the sales presentations mention choosing a higher launch shaft for wet conditions and low launch shaft to make the ball run. They talk about a long driver to “bomb it” on a wide open course and a short driver for control on tight courses.

What they ignore in the sales presentations is that changing the shaft length, weight and flex alters the performance of the golf club. Swingweight will increase twelve points going from a 45” shaft to a 47” shaft. If you’re going to change the length or weight of the shaft significantly, you’re going to have to find a way to balance the club by changing head weights. Taylor Made, with its moveable weight system and Nakashima, with different weight bolts to secure the heads address this problem. Callaway and Nickent make no provision for changing head weight.

I don’t think that most players will see much difference in launch angle from changing shafts alone. Altering trajectory will take a head with a higher or lower loft. If “driver system” buyers are true experimenters, they will probably want a least a couple of different loft heads. Taking Callaway as the example: why wouldn’t you say the FT-5 for long courses to bomb it and the FT-i for courses where accuracy is important.

It remains to be seen what happens to “feel”. When I surveyed the manufacturers that did not offer an interchangeable system, they all said that the feel and performance of the golf club would be altered for the worse. There were only a few users with hands-on experience and they were mixed in their reviews—some reporting that feel was improved.

Finally, there’s the “proprietary system” problem. We know that the manufacturers want the shaft business so they are refusing to sell the shaft fittings—for now. All of the shafts come from the factory cut to length and gripped. Since the tip fitting is already epoxied to the shaft, there is no ability to change the shaft flex with tip trimming. The same goes for shaft orientation.

Callaway and Taylor Made are taking a hard stand against some of their best customers. Hot Stix and Cool Clubs will not handle either the Taylor Made or Callaway system unless they are supplied with the tip fittings so they can set the flex of each shaft precisely and deliver their custom clubs in the SST PURE shaft orientation. I predict that both Callaway and Taylor Made will blink on this one. True custom clubs require precise shaft fitting. Nickent has said that they will offer their fittings to qualified club makers who are also Nickent customers.

The systems will not be cheap. Callaway and Taylor Made are trying to find the top of the market. The Callaway FT-5 and FT-i heads will retail for almost $400. Add a couple of shafts at another $150 to $400 and your price will be north of $1000.

Taylor Made announced a “kit” of one head and three shafts for $1000. The shafts that they offer are the Fujikura Rombax, the Mitsubishi White Board and the Matrix X Con. Each of those shafts retail for around $300 so the package offers good value. At the Golf Lab, we fit all of those premium shafts. But our method is quite different. We test for performance. We rarely find a player who performs well with the Rombax performs equally well with the other shafts. It will surely be interesting for a player to see which of these expensive shafts works the best for him—but he is likely to find that one of the three is much better than the others. It is much more economical to test first and then buy.

Compared to the big boys, Nickent looks like a veritable bargain for $479—their “Tour Van in a Box” comes with two UST V2 shafts—one regular and one high launch.

True Benefits of Shaft Exchangeability

I’m excited about the fitting benefits of exchangeable shafts in our own fitting process. For the first time, it will be possible for a player to test and compare shaft performance precisely. Swapping different shafts into an identical head—with a launch monitor looking over your shoulder—will reveal performance and feel differences from shaft to shaft. Once the best shaft has been found, dialing in launch angle and spin with measured driver lofts will be easy.

Without exchangeable shafts, comparing shaft performance is normally done with similar, but not precisely the same, heads. That’s changing two variables.

The key question is “which head?” Callaway offers two models, Taylor Made one model. Nickent has one model. On the “component” side, Nakashima and Alpha each have one model. That’s not very many. Other than the Callaway FT-i, there is no “high MOI” offering. Over the next month or so, I’ll have a chance to get some hands-on experience and will have a recommendation. Since all of the fitting systems are proprietary, it is impractical to imagine supporting every manufacturer. Imagine the cost of fifty or sixty test shafts—times five.

Once the weather clears, I think it will be a lot of fun for players to attend Golf Lab “Shootouts” at Poppy Ridge and other courses around the Bay Area. The fitting experience will become much more interesting, certain and precise. Couple that experience with the chance to take the best performing combination home—there will be no possibility of a disconnect between the fitting and delivery.

Nickent announced that they had their famous hybrids and new fairway metals ready to go with exchangeable shaft systems. One of the most difficult challenges in fitting is finding the right shaft for a hybrid. It would be very cool to be able to try every option. Delivery was not announced but Jon Claffey, the Nickent director of product marketing hinted at April or May.

The “Universal System”

There’s another possibility. For several years, there’s been another system in the market aimed at swapping shafts for fitting purposes. It was invented by Eric Burch and marketed by his company, Club Connex. Eric’s original adapter was based on a threaded connection. Some club fitters found it very useful but the system is strictly for fitting. We thought that it was too fragile and never adopted it.

Eric has a new design, similar to his original but the parts are fluted, not threaded, and the tip fixture secures to the head with a threaded collar, much like the Callaway system. Assuming that he gets through USGA approval and the morass of patents and copyrights, the new Club Connex could provide the “Universal Solution.”

If Eric’s attachment proves to work, it could be the answer for any head from any manufacturer with a standard hosel bore. That could be a boon for all of the manufacturers who don’t want to bother to create their own exchangeable system.

It could also be a great advantage for golfers who might want to use a new, high MOI head, or even recycle a favorite old model from the garage. And finally, it would solve the cost problem. Eric’s fitting will sell for about $30.

My Picks—Reviews Coming in March and April

One of the really great things about a week at the PGA Show is that I’m shopping for myself. With dozens of companies all offering new products—and new companies with new products—this is truly the most exciting time of the year. I’m not overly interested in the “Hot List” products that get into the National magazines. I much prefer the small, innovative companies with products that you’re not likely to hear about. Look for in-depth, hands-on coverage of some of my favorite picks in coming months.

Bobby Jones Golf—Jesse Ortiz designed his first new driver in four years. It’s a beauty. He also teamed up with Dave Pelz for a co-branded wedge line featuring an ultra-durable face insert with extreme grooves and machining.

Nike Golf—Probably the most anticipated driver of 2008 is the new, SUMO Squared. It’s been trimmed up and quieted down. It has a smooth crown. Most important, it has already been a winner in three late-season tournaments. Nike has also released three new models of “game improvement” irons. Will they perform?

Adams Golf—Adams mopped up “Hot List” awards in several categories—from utilities to game improvement irons. They’ve gone all out to sign Adam Baddeley and Rory Sabbatini to gain a Tour presence. They also signed up to sponsor the Long Drivers’ Association (LDA) and have promised that in 2008 their driver line will be “all about distance.”

New shaft companies—OBAN—a new line of premium graphite shafts brought to market by a former Graphite design executive. Loomis is back—Gary Loomis and his nephew Bob are reviving a brand. And not to be forgotten is Kim Braley of Royal Precision fame, now working for FST—and bringing out a premium steel line: “KB Shafts.”

Will Fujikura finally provide some competition to Aerotech with their new Rombax iron shaft line?

Full Release Golf Shoes—There’s a lot of attention on fitness and “wellness.” I was introduced to a radical shoe with a swivel sole that takes a lot of stress off of a player’s body. It looks bizarre but the fitness guys love it.

Putter fitting systems—A plethora of systems entered the market to promote better putter fitting and especially better aiming. Just as I was getting deep in the weeds I met up with Jeff Mangum—a putting guru with a unique approach and a new book. He’s anti-gizmo. I’ll spend a few days sorting out what makes sense to me. Over the years, I’ve neglected the putter. As I get older, I’m thinking that I’ll need improved putting to stay competitive.

Training Aids—I had a chance to try out the “Gyro” driver at the show. If a player has a problem with an over the top move, the Gyro will certainly teach him what swing plane is all about. We’ll review the best training aids for Golf Lab customers.

Scratch Golf—one of my favorite little companies that carved out its niche with wedges—focusing on sole grinds—Scratch is coming out with a line of wedges intended to be custom ground. Their irons are very good as well. Overall, top Japanese quality from the Ishihara foundry.

Miura Golf—Mr. Miura’s sons visited the PGA Show—their first trip to the United States. Miura is producing a new line of wedges and another run of the Limited Edition “Baby Blades” will be available in March. I’m going to build out a couple of sets for myself—thinking that the new 102 model—a little larger for forgiveness—is going to be the most popular model in 2008.

And finally, the craziest ideas from the Show—just for fun.

Leith Anderson is a Partner in the Golf Lab, Palo Alto, CA.
He will answer any and all questions about club fitting and club making. Contact: Leith@calgolftech.com. Or by phone (650) 493-1770