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We have been working diligently on new products for 2010. We have had several meetings on the subject and the orders we wrote from those meetings are now in production. Prototypes are being generated and we will test those and tweak the look and playability of each model. Here is a list of the products we are working on and some notes about each product. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please e-mail josh@louisvillegolf.com

PERSIMMON WOODS

SMART Max driver: This new addition to the SMART line of drivers has a new shape we have never offered in a driver, with a low profile, but a larger hitting area. It will have a unique scoring pattern, while staying true to the overall SMART cosmetics.

SMART Accu-Max driver: This SMART driver will incorporate all we can throw at a driver to make it accurate.

NIBLICK 10-wood: We will add this Tenacious 10-wood to the popular even-numbered NIBLICK options, with some new cosmetics which we will also incorporate into the NIBLICK Super 6-wood and the Magic 8-wood.

HL3 Persimmon Hybrids: We have been working on this project for nearly two years, hesitant to release something until we dreamed of a design that would be an improvement on the HL2 and competitive with a metal hybrid. What we have in the works is a model that will give you superior feel and playability.

Classic 50’s 7-wood: We will be adding a 7-wood to the popular Classic 50’s line making that set complete with six woods, with numbers 1,2,3,4,5,7.

Classic 50’s SELECT driver: This traditional, pear-shaped Persimmon driver will have a blonde finish and perfect grain; only select blocks of Persimmon will be chosen to make what will be one of the most striking drivers we have ever made.

HARDWOOD PUTTERS

EWH-1: Earthwoods putter, fitted with an authentic Hickory shaft.

EWH-2: Earthwoods putter, fitted with an authentic Purple Heart shaft.

STIMP A-She-O: Stimp AC putter made of She Oak, 400 grams, low profile shape, offset shaft.

STIMP A-She-C: Stimp AC putter made She Oak, 400 grams, low profile shape, center shaft, the shaft of this putter will also be make of She Oak.

King Louie: This Persimmon putter will incorporate two brass bars to help stabilize your putting stroke, while giving you a feel only Persimmon can provide.

HICKORY GOLF

Cleek: A new design and shape in this Hickory-shafted wood.

Fancy Face putter: This Hickory-shafted putter will match the Fancy Face driver with its cosmetics.

Brown Vardon putter: A unique shape, metal head, Hickory-shaft.

Calamity Jane for logo: We will offer a select group of this popular Hickory-shafted putter with a blank back so that we can put a corporate or team logo on.

GIFTS

Evolution of a Golf Club wall art.
Coat Rack
Book Ends
Desk Clock
Card Holder

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please e-mail josh@louisvillegolf.com

Louisville Golf customer ROGER ANDREWS won the 2009 U.S. Hickory Open held at Mimosa Hills in North Carolina using a bevy of Louisville Golf Hickory-shafted equipment. Hailing from Oklahoma, Andrews finished with a 2-day total of 150 to eclipse Scott McAllister (of VT) and David Brown (of TX) who both shot 154 to finish tied for second. (David “DOG” Ellis (of OH) stroked it 156 times for fourth place. Tad Moore (of AL) won the Senior Championship with a 155 total.

Roger (pictured above on the driving range in Selma, Al earlier this year) had this to say: “First round I hit 16 of 18 greens and putted pretty well considering the ridiculous pin positions. Second round I had just simply lost the feel of everything and came in with a 78, but the best round of the second day was just a 77. I had had a 4-shot lead after day one and ended up winning by 4. I used your HB putter, along with the “experimental” hybrid that Mike had sold me down in Selma which I have been able to use from as short as 158 all the way up to about 180 yards. Given how short that I hit the driver, usually intentionally so I am in position for the approach shots, the hybrid is basically the first club that I thought of on basically one-half of the holes; short being relative of course….I did reach the green on the 468 yd. par 5 in two and just lipped out the eagle putt in the first round.”

Great job Roger and here’s to many more titles!

If you have any questions about Hickory Golf please e-mail Mike Just (pictured above with Roger Andrews and Josh Fischer), Louisville Golf president and Hickory Golf guru, and he will be pleased to help you in any way he can. e = mjust@louisvillegolf.com

Monday I had the pleasure of playing what is now my new favorite golf course = Olde Stone in Bowling Green, KY.  We donated some logo putters to the Shivas Irons event held there, which gave me the opportunity to hit the course in a scramble format. I’m itching to go back and play it again, this time with my own ball, as it is a true thinking-man’s track. Arthur Hills designed the course - you might know him as the designer of our home course Persimmon Ridge - and it is a master stroke in my humble opinion. I usually don’t gush on a golf course, but this one was really fun to play, to think your way around, and it was in great condition in preperation for the upcoming Kentucky Open. The greens ran very true and fast, and everything in play was green.

In the spirit of David Letterman, here are the TOP TEN reasons Why Persimmon Woods are Better than Metal “Woods”

10 - You are less likely to be struck by lightning playing with a Persimmon driver.

9 - A click always sounds better than a clang.

8 - A tree was once alive, metal was always dead.

7 - If you are playing golf and somehow get deserted, you can burn the Persimmon wood for light and heat.

6 - You can sneak a Persimmon driver through a metal detector.

5 - Persimmon wood just feels better.

4 - Persimmon woods are made by hand, metals “woods” are made by a machine.

3 - Persimmon woods look sexy or handsome, metal “woods” look sterile.

2 - The best player in the world isn’t named “Tiger Metals”

1 - Because Persimmon pudding tastes better than titanium pudding.

“I turned my face more exclusively than ever to the woods.”
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Why play with Persimmon golf clubs? It is a question we get several times a week. And it’s a good one. We like answering it. Why would a golf company tout Persimmon in today’s game? Have we been trampled by race horses, slugged by a baseball bat, punched by Muhammad Ali, or nipped too much Kentucky bourbon? All these are possible in Louisville, now the 16th largest city in the United States, and renowned the world over as a center of sporting excellence. (Go CARDS!) But despite what some might think, there are multiple answers to the Persimmon question. The fact that you have enough curiosity to read this essay, and that we still are producing a product line, points to something. Here are some of the finer points in answering the question. We invite you to send us your own, and we’ll put it on our Persimmon bLog.

PERSIMMON IS PERSISTENT

Louisville Golf has persisted despite a mass exodus to “wood” clubheads made of metal. The nostalgia for our niche might have carried us a few years, but that would have only taken us so far. The reason why we have weathered the metal storm is because our clubs still perform. Our loyal customers would not send us the testimonials they do, cheering us on like we were the underdog, unless our clubs gave them something tangible. Persimmon’s assets are numerous; among them accuracy, versatility, beauty, and a feel and playability that metals can only dream of. There is something at work in a finely tuned Persimmon golf club that is absent in metal. It might be as simple as comparing the sounds; metals give a tinny, intrusive ping, while a Persimmon wood gives a pleasing click that is one of the best sounds in sports. One of the game’s greatest called it “the symphony of golf.”

PERSIMMON PERFORMS

But our clubs are more than beautiful music. Performance is what truly gives clubs longevity, and Persimmon provides the golfer with advantages. Our drivers have more Gear Effect, which is self-correcting spin imparted on the ball hit on the toe or heel. Most of our driver testimonials have to do with this feature. Golfers are stunned when they see a ball heading off line and spin back into the fairway, as if they don’t believe us when we tell them about the Gear Effect. It’s as if they don’t trust golf companies and what they say about their clubs. Sadly this is the golf business today - an overabundance of “tricknology” and a deficit of clubs that deliver the true essence of the game. Our Persimmon woods deliver feel and playability while allowing the golfer to experience the joy at the heart of golf.

PERSIMMON HAS SOUL

Persimmon has soul baby, not just because it comes from nature, but because nature deemed it as its gift to the greatest game ever invented. We invite you to enjoy all our clubs, from the THUMPER Max Persimmon driver, the largest Persimmon driver ever made, to the NIBLICK Persimmon fairway woods, to even our Hickory-shafted Persimmon woods that truly put you in touch with the spirit of the game. Over 100 hand operations go into the making of our Persimmon woods here in Louisville, Kentucky. Every Louisville Golf club is made with the care of over three decades of experience - you’ll experience that firsthand when you hit that perfect shot. What three decades of experience in the golf business still tells us about Persimmon is that it still deserves to be a choice for golfers. That’s what we are all about, and as the last company still manufacturing Persimmon woods, we see it as our charge to make sure it remains in the game. We enjoy carrying the Persimmon flag.

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

Perhaps something is missing from golf. The trend of players leaving the game points to something - something deeper than tough times or a slow economy. The grandiose “technological” experience golf equipment companies promote, but seldom deliver, sucks the spirit from the game, and eliminates the simple joy of just getting the ball in the hole. Golf is a hard game, and the golfing Holy Grail is not located in Carlsbad. No company can make Excalibur. There is no magic cup or sword that suddenly makes us a great golfer. Your equipment should be chosen by what sticks give you the most enjoyment. What we manufacture are clubs that give the golfer the best chance at experiencing golf the way it was meant to be experienced; a relaxing journey through nature with the pressures of the outside world (including golf marketing) in its proper place. It is “play” after all, and it is a grand game. We have told the golfer this: “Maybe you aren’t playing as you would like. Or could it be that you just don’t enjoy the game like you used to? Maybe if you enjoyed it more, you would play better?”

The answer to the question “Why Persimmon?” is relevant and personal. It just might be something you have to try and answer for yourself. Come join the fun, and share with us your Persimmon anecdotes and testimonials. Send to josh@louisvillegolf.com Below are a few of our favorites:

Mike Just, Louisville Golf president and one of the country’s Hickory Golf experts, recently responded in an e-mail (below) concerning the use of our Hickory-shafted clubs in the current resurgence of the Hickory game:

Ralph,
 
I came across a blog with some comments that you made about replica golf clubs. I have copied and pasted the comments at the bottom of this email for a reference.
 
I just want you to realize that while your comments about replica clubs being “repro/fakes” might apply to some reproduction golf clubs, they do not apply to the replica clubs made by Louisville Golf. I have taken great pains to make the only difference between the hickory clubs we make and the original that I replicate is the period of time in which they were made. I searched for two years before I found heads that I thought were good enough to reproduce.

When I reproduced our Par XL mashie, I had examined 5 of the same model mashies to find one that had the right weight, loft, and bounce angle on the sole before sending it to the manufacture to be duplicated. You will notice that in the irons I offer, they do not reinforce the set mentality that you mention. The niblick and the mashie are copies of a Par XL and have the dot/dash scoring on the face. The mashie niblick and the spade mashie are Stewarts and have the fine-line scoring that was on the originals that I used. I put the same scoring on my “repros” as was on the originals. The mid-iron is a MacGregor OA which also had the dot/dash scoring.
 
When I replicate a wood model, I send the original club to a mold maker who makes an epoxy casting of the original. It costs me about $350 for each mold. Then I put the epoxy casting in our turning lathe and make an EXACT duplicate of the casting. What I end up with is an exact copy of the original club. The only thing I think is fair game to change is the same specs on the head as might have been changed in the hickory era and they are things like adding weight to the wood heads or changing the loft. These things can be done to originals.
 
I know that other makers of “repros” have taken liberties. One clubmaker took a four-piece set of MacGregor OA’s and came up with a set of 8 or 9 irons. Louisville Golf would not do that. The guy at Sweet Wood isn’t even on the same planet. He has asked me several times to make wood heads for him and I have refused, because he doesn’t understand the spirit of what this is all about.
 
I got upset when I read your blog entry because you are a well-respected person in the arena of Hickory Golf. You actually started this renewal. And I don’t want you to have the wrong impression of what we do here at Louisville Golf. I got interested in Hickory Golf when I first went to Oakhurst with Elmore Just (Louisville Golf founder and my older brother). We started making replica equipment because Hickory players ASKED us to make long nose clubs to play at Oakhurst. When I found out about the 1920, or rubber ball era of Hickory Golf, I started to put together a play set. There were certain clubs that people who were collecting for a while had that I couldn’t find. One was a niblick with a flange that could be used to hit out of traps. I realized there were quite a few Hickory players looking for this type of club, because every time one came up on Ebay, the bidding was fierce and the price was high. So when I finally found my H&B Par XL I liked it so much that I sent it off to be duplicated so other new Hickory players could enjoy that club, and grow the game.
 
I wish there were enough good quality original heads available where there would be no need for replica clubs. But that isn’t the case. And as more people get into playing Hickory Golf the need for clubs becomes greater. My goal at Louisville Golf is to provide them with a club that is as close to an original club as possible. And I think that is good for Hickory Golf, and in keeping with the spirit of the game.
 
I could go on for too long, which I may have already done. But, I would like to relay one more incident to you to show that Louisville is trying to keep the Spirit of Hickory Golf in mind when me make clubs. A Hickory Golfer sent me a MacGregor wooden cleek that he said was very popular with the guys in North Carolina because of the shape. He asked me if I would replicate it. It was a very fancy head with a brass back and a multi-color dowel face. You could tell that the club was originally shafted with steel and had been converted to hickory. It was assumed they were made in both hickory and steel since the club was a 1928 model. I made 5 samples of the club before I found out that the model was actually never made in hickory. It was a 1928 model but it was only offered in the Bristol Steel shaft. I had already taken those 5 clubs to Tad’s tournament in Selma and sold all 5 of them. There were at least 2 more people who placed orders for additional clubs. But once I found out the club never existed in the Hickory era, I stopped making them and refused the 2 orders I took in Selma. I value our integrity more than making a couple of bucks on some clubs that are not in the “spirit.”
 
I know you are a proponent of playing original Hickory clubs, and I think that is great. I think it is okay to have events where only original clubs are allowed. But there is room for replicas too, especially if you want more people to enjoy the experience of Hickory Golf. And if there are going to be replicas, then they need to be true replicas, and that is what we have at Louisville Golf. As I hope I have proven, we take great care to make sure our Hickory Golf clubs are offered in the right spirit, congruent to the integrity and enthusiasm Hickory Golfers demand and display.
 
I would love to have you come down and go through our plant so you could see the pains we go through to make our Hickory-shafted golf clubs as authentic as possible.
 
I would really like to hear what you think about all this.
 
Thanks for listening,
 
Mike Just
mjust@louisvillegolf.com
www.louisvillegolf.com

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL BLOG ENTRY MIKE JUST IS RESPONDING TO:

I, and through my site Hickorygolf.com, only support authentic clubs. So my opinion is a bit biased. (Editor’s note: The original question was about reproduction clubs and their value.) The repro/fakes do allow you to play your modern game and not experience golf of the era. ALL the ones produced have too much modern tech infused in there design. I had pushed for an approval process many years ago when this first came up but there was no way to enforce it. The club designers can no more forget the tech they know while design their wares than you can forget your ideas about the game when you first try playing with them. Of course you will impress your modern knowledge on your play, that is a given. IMO you might as well be playing a modern head with a hickory shaft stuck in it. And that is actually being done by one of the companies. (Editor’s note: Tad Moore Golf.) They force you into a “set” mentality that never really existed in that time. (It started to take shape in the mid 20’s but didn’t take hold until the 30’s when it was almost entirely steel shaft). It all but eliminates the opportunity to add a unique utility club or try a different head shaped version of any of those numbered irons. Anyway, Pandora’s box has been opened and the march is on to change all hickory events to repro/fake events. I don’t believe there are many real club only events left.

Hope that answers your question.

Ralph

Editor’s note: This discussion is going to end up being a personal choice up to the individual golfer to decide, and there probably isn’t a right or wrong answer. What is important is that Hickory Golf be promoted in a way that preserves the game for future generations, so that the origins of the game will always be respected. This is the spirit we at Louisville Golf make all our golf clubs.