Long Drive Guys Get the Shaft

Several years ago I was doing some photography work for a young PGA professional at Glen Erin in Janesville; a course which, incidentally, deserves to be played. Like most first year pros, this young man wasn't making much money and depended on cart rentals and whatever he could sell from his pro shop to make a living. He carried a major brand which I happened to like and I asked to audition a demo #3 metal during my round.

I had a good experience with the demo and hit it very well off the fairway and from the tee box. When I had finished, I stopped to see if I could work something out with him by way of trading out my photography for the golf club. We settled that and I asked how long it would take for the club to arrive. He said, "You would be better off taking the club you played with today. If you order a new one, it's very unlikely that you'll get the same shaft as there is little uniformity in shaft production. They're all different."

That club is still in my bag and that was my introduction to a practical application of variability in manufacturing. It also informed the way I would continue to be a consumer of golf equipment.

If you attend a demo day and find something that works for you, think twice before you order on the spot. You won't be getting a duplicate and you may get something so significantly different that there may be some buyer's remorse involved.

In a recent conversation with local clubmaker Bob Blazich, he accentuated the point and added:"Most golfers are not very savvy about purchasing their equipment. In fact, most of them leave the store with exactly the club that they expected to buy in spite of what the data from a launch monitor might tell them". He also added that most of us overestimate our swing speeds, buy clubs with shafts which are too stiff and think that a 45.5 inch shaft will give us an extra 10-15 yards. A perfect storm of poor decision-making.

Al Rohleder and Tim Chopp are OZ County residents who have been in the clubmaking world for a number of years and they are friends of Bob Blazich. These guys can finish each others' sentences. Sitting in Blazich's shop with them was a seminar in the evolution of shafts and clubmaking over the past 10 years. The downturn in the golf industry has not cooled their passion for their craft and the war stories were trotted out in abundance as they described the paths which brought them together.

Chopp became a hobbyist while working with a friend at a course in Florida. A solid player, Tim found himself entering long drive competitions in several states..... with impressive results. Long drivers are alchemists on an eternal quest for extra yards. But there is more than a dollop of science in what they do. Employing guesswork when you're looking for results is a recipe for frustration.
The club component business was growing but Chopp had outgrown the production line mentality of assembling clubs. As his client list grew, so did his list of contacts on the Tour. Fred Funk hit a driver that Tim had designed and begged him for a copy. Tim Chopp was on the verge of a breakthrough and he was designing his own driver heads and working with companies which were producing some of the most sophisticated shafts in the world.