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From the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show…

I went to the Demo Day today and experienced golf-in-the-round; the range that is used for this day is circular and includes virtually every golf club manufacturer that will pony up the $5,000+ to get a bay. I hit several new clubs and here is what I think:

NIKE - The new SUMO is better than the old, mainly because it doesn’t sound as bad as the previous version. All metal drivers sound intrusive to us; it is a noise that populates the courses today and certainly isn’t as pleasing as our Persimmon - but what is? One thing that I was really surprised of here was that there was a Nike driver I picked up to hit that said Stiff and it was obviously not a stiff. Now I am known at the plant here for being able to waggle and guess a flex pretty close by feel, but even a novice could tell that there wasn’t an error in this flex, it was WAY too whippy for a stiff flex, and that is a problem with a lot of these OEM, mass-produced clubs.

MIZUNO - Still probably the best forged irons out there; the MP32 are pretty sweet, but they didn’t have a set with RIFLE shafts in them, so I missed out as I think those are the best irons shafts for forged. The one I hit one could tell it was a cut above other irons, mostly due to the weight and feel on center hits, which out of 6 I had about half - it’s still cold in Kentucky.

PING - One golf writer commented on the color of the new PING G10 series, which lends to my theory that golf is more about fashion than technology these days, put having an interest in the company I checked out the irons and new driver, which were pretty good; the new series has a good shape if you like that sort of thing.

NICKLAUS - They have an awesome set of limited edition forgings out that are classicly shaped and a little larger than the VIPs which Mr. Nicklaus hit - they were a joy to hit. Cheers to them for that offering.

LAMKIN - These I think are my favorite grips.

MISC - There are a bunch of new putters which look like they came from Dr. Frankenstein’s filthy workshop of putter creations rather than something that will allow you to putt better, but then I have a simple theory = find a putter that looks and feels good to you then PRACTICE. You can’t buy your way to being a better putter. Ask Ben Crenshaw, Brad Faxon and Tiger Woods - each uses a pretty classic design.

Louisville Golf - We are not exhibiting at the show since we sell direct, but as we are pretty well known. It is good to see old friends in the business. I think most of the golf companies envy us and our position in the industry - a profitable niche company with a product unique that no one else is selling. We are not a me-too company trying to out dual each other on the runway that today was a demo range.

Josh Fischer
Marketing Director

e: josh@louisvillegolf.com

OPEN E-MAIL: Ryan Noll (GOLF TIPS Equipment Editor): The THUMPER Max is 285cc but sits on about a 325cc chassis, is made of solid Persimmon, and is the largest Persimmon driver ever made. It has the largest hitting area of any Persimmon driver, and thusly a larger sweet spot depending on what you mean by sweet spot. As you know, every company seems to define things as it is advantage to their spin. It has 11 degrees of loft, which launches like a 9.5 degree metal driver, and comes right handed with either steel or graphite shaft. SRP is $349 in steel and $399 in graphite. We cut the club to custom lengths based on the conversation we have with customer; we tell them the longer you have us make the driver, the farther you will hit it, but the harder it is to control. This driver has more gear effect than a metal and you will not lose distance, if all things are equal, unless you have a swing speed over 110 mph, and at that point only if you hit it on the very center of the clubface - even then it is just 3% distance difference. In our discussions with the USGA we learned C.O.R. can only decompress the ball less, not spring it, so in order for the ball to lose less energy it must be hit at a high rate of speed so that the face-give will be less intrusive on the ball’s aerodynamics. I am not an engineer, but it makes sense to me. As you know there are a lot of misconceptions out there and what we will find out this week at the PGA Show is that golf is more about fashion than technology, and that technology is just a fashionable buzz word. But I digress.

The THUMPER Max is available direct from the manufacturer by calling us toll free (1-800-456-1631) or visiting our website www.louisvillegolf.com

Thanks Ryan, let me know if you have any questions or need any more data.

Josh Fischer, Marketing Director
The Louisville Golf Club Company
The Spirit of the Game

As the marketing director for Louisville Golf I am always on the lookout for any mention of PERSIMMON in the many golf magazines that I get and go through - it is referenced more than you might think. I am also a fiend for all things Tiger Woods; like many who think that he is the coolest man on earth, I am fascinated by the world’s most phenomenal athlete. Anything that joins Tiger Woods and Persimmon woods together then is a matter of hyper-importance.

The most recent issue of Golf World (Dec. 28, 2007) got pretty close. Nick Seitz, in an excellent article titled The Shape of Shotmaking, writes: If balata balls and persimmon heads were still in play, (Tiger) Woods might well win even more.

*For the full Seitz article click here.

Seitz quotes Woods as saying; “Any time a player understands how to shape a golf ball and can consistently hit the ball flush, you’re going to want the ball to move more and the equipment to be less forgiving. It puts a premium on quality.” This why Woods hits forged irons (and why he should be hitting the Persimmon driver we made for him - click here for a glimpse at that special driver).

There are many critical points I would love to make which can be derived from these two sound bites, apart from my fanboy adoration, but in the interest of economy (and the fact that I am getting ready for the PGA Show next week) I just want to emphasize one: Where is the technology in Tiger Woods’ game if technology, or anything there called, is so good for the game? (I’ll talk more about this when I get back from the PGA Show.)

The Seitz article talks of Tiger’s stinger 2-iron he hit last year off the tee several times at the PGA Championship. The 2-iron Woods uses is a traditional forged head, with a Dynamic Gold shaft - each have been around the game before golfers changed clubs every six months, at least 50 years. No doubt, as the article correctly alludes, the Nike ball can account for the fact that Woods hits his 2-iron 283 yards with a low trajectory. The ball, and the fact that he is Achilles in a red shirt with a great caddy.

But now to the title of this bLog entry: If Tiger Woods Ruled Golf. Truth is he does, and, the title alludes to the “rules” of golf and if Tiger wrote those for the USGA. I would vote for one of his suggestions; in a recent article in Golf Digest by Jaime Diaz titled The year of living dangerously, Woods is quoted: If I ruled golf? We’d be playing persimmon and balata.

Man Tiger is so cool.

Click Here to read the entire article on Tiger Woods on ESPN.com

Josh Fischer
Marketing Director
josh@louisvillegolf.com

Airing currently on the Science Channel, The Louisville Golf Club Company is featured - along with Ice Cream Treats, Aircraft Wings and Car Battery Recycling - on the hit cable show “How It’s Made.” CLICK HERE for a link to the Science Channel’s schedule to see when the episode will be airing throughout the month. The episode number is 17.

“The crew that came into our plant in the summer of 2007 took a whole day to shoot some of the highlights of the production process. They filmed us making a NIBLICK Persimmon fairway wood and did an extremely good job; the footage in the episode is exciting for us to see. Since we are the last company in the world still doing this, for years to come this will be a time capsule archiving the special craftsman who still make our special product.” - Josh Fischer, Marketing Director