Tom, No offense was taken. I just wanted to be sure that you hadn't forgoton the many hobbyists who really do have a passion for clubmaking and helping other players for no real profit. Seems to me that from what Al says, PCS is now aware there are many more of us (who might help build a strong foundation for their organization) than there are pros. Though, as he also mentioned, the difficulty will be identifying those with the passion and ability for clubmaking from the "glue-and-stickers."
I like your tailor analogy...I'll have to use that one on some of my OEM-influenced, "could-be" customers. I had one senior guy about 3 years ago for whom I made a 48" long driver which took him from 240 to 275, straight and with a nice little draw. He had the best rounds of his life with that club for about six months...got down to under a 5 handicap. He's a very handsome ex-salesman with wavy white hair (never a hair out of place), no gut and dressed to kill...absolutely the image you'd pick for a commercial on senior golf. Then, one day he comes to the course with a 45" Titleist 975D (or whatever was the hot pro club then). I asked him why he gave up on my driver. He said, "No reason. I just wanted to try one of these," or something to that effect. He hasn't played as well since and the last time I looked, he was up to an 11. Geez, when the image of "what's in your bag" gets put ahead of performance, I give up. It's just stupid. It continues to amaze me how many times there is a "what's in your bag" post on many of the golf forums. They seem to buy all these clubs just to impress people with what they spent on the clubs and want to be judged as a "player." Why.... when with a little work and clubs that really helped them, they might really become a player? Why should anyone care what clubs are in someone else's bag? I sure don't. I only care what's in my bag and why it's there. And, I'm definitely not at all interested in what a pro has in his bag...stopped having that kind of swing many, many years ago and they all play just about the opposite of what I need. Of course, I am interested in what components are available that would be of benefit to my customers. I have about 60 component supplier sites on my computer and am a very "value-oriented" shopper...for instance, I check the quality of every shaft I buy on my Neufinder 2 (deflection and magnitude in thousandths) and find many $12 to $15 proprietary shafts better built (USGA defined as unifomity) and more consistent shaft-to-shaft than the strangely popular over-hyped, over-priced Harrisons, Grafalloy ProLites and UST ProForces. The Accuflex Verizon specs like it might be a good shaft for me...but at $60..no way! The "selling" of OEM golf clubs, and even heads and shafts, is looking more and more like a car hustler's business every day...all hype, higher prices with no real improvement in quality, no honest information...and that's disturbing to me. My rant for the day, now that TFlan and Dr. Voo with his epistles in bold face type got me into this stuff. Guess you'll all have to bear with me while my Prednisone dose is still high. :-) Doc says I can play by Christmas, if I'll lay up a little. Yeah, right. Bernie Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "tom wishon " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 3:27 PM Subject: RE: ShopTalk: Selling it > BERNIE: > The nature of the beast when it comes to the professionalism of > component clubmaking is in the treatment of the customer, from the time > spent with them to the educating you do for them, to the quality of the > component selection and fitting to meet their needs and desires. If > that is done, then in no way is the customer walking away from the > experience with the feeling that they bought something cheap, even if > the price is lower than what some of the other clubmakers and OEMs > charge. What I have called the "tailor experience" is what I have > always hoped clubmaking should be all about - when we all walk past the > tailor's shop why do we know that would be the best suit we could ever > buy? The tailor has no "brand name" on his cloth, thread or buttons, > but we still think that suit would be better than anything we could buy > off the rack in the department store. Because of the FIT and the one on > one nature of the buying experience. It sounds very much like you do > that for all your customers, so that means they all walk away with the > most positive experience they could get, and then after that, feel like > they got a deal when you don't charge them a high price. FIT vs > off-the-rack is the most important part of the component clubmaking > process for sure. IF you do that, which it sounds like you do, then > good for you and better for your customers. But I still think that in a > case where there is minimal to no care and passion offered, the majority > of customers would look at a low price as being an indication of product > quality. But then that's not you after hearing what you say about your > clubmaking, so there is no reason for you to take any offense from my > comment. > > As I envision starting out with my own name on some of the components we > will sell here, I look forward to thinking about my components being > custom fit, or heck, even standard assembled by clubmakers who first of > all, treat the process with passion and with a sense of craftsmanship, > regardless of what they choose to charge. In the end, whether we are on > the component end or the clubmaking end, this business, craft or hobby, > whatever you want to call it, should carry a sense of pride of creation > from all of us. And to Al's request for our individual definition of a > 'cut and gluer', that's pretty much at the top of my description. > 'Course I guess there has to be some education in there too, because I > will never forget the time way, way back in my work in this field when a > guy who was interested in club repair came up to me holding a club with > a grip all crooked beaming that he had successfully put on his first > grip. . . . without any tape or solvent!! > > TOM W > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > On Behalf Of Bernie Baymiller > Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 11:27 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Selling it > > Tom, > > > OR, a club that they sell for such a cheap > > price that it virtually carries a 'label' that says to the customer > and > > any other golfer who sees the set, "I am a cheap piece of junk that my > > owner bought because he was too cheap to really pay for a GOOD set". > > Sorry, but I can't agree with your condescending remarks about "cheap > prices" equating to cheap clubs...if that's what you meant. > > There are some of us who build clubs for fun and charge a token price > for > our efforts. I do all you say a good clubmaker should do, and though I > don't > have a lot of expensive equipment to fit my customers, I do have a lot > of > experience doing it for my friends and those I play with on our 3 > community > courses. It does help to know a customer's game. I may have 150 > customers > (men and women) and keep adding a few every year by word of mouth only. > I'll > stack the performance of any club that I build against any OEM any time, > though mine may not be as graphically co-ordinated, or the ferrules > polished > quite as well. However, they're better fit to the customer's needs, > better > aligned and better matched. And, I can instruct my long driver customers > how > to adapt their swing to the length successfully...if they'll do it. As I > said in another post, I don't care if the components are over $100 or > more, > my charge to put together a single club is $15, and maybe a bit less > when I > have to put together a set and can get some more time efficiency. I > keep > records, but I don't want to make a profit, I don't want the hassle of > state > taxes, business licenses, etc. I want to remain a hobbyist only, even > though > I enjoy making a lot of clubs for a lot of old friends and new friends. > In > fact, I find my kind of clubmaking a way to make a lot of new friends. > And, > having the stable of customers that I do have, allows me to experiment > in > directions few other clubmaker would risk or have time to do. > > > Personally, the main reason I have always campaigned against clones > and > > clubmakers who sell sets for cost + 10% is because that tears down the > > real essence of what component clubmaking COULD be. When you think > about > > it at its most base form, component clubmaking has always held the > > promise of the very BEST set a golfer could buy. Think about it - a > one > > on one fitting session between the clubmaker and golfer - what OEM can > > offer that? Getting to choose from a big variety of heads, shafts and > > grips - what OEM can offer that? And being there with the clubmaker > to > > tweak, adjust and fine tune when the set is built - what OEM can offer > > that? > > I do all of that and am a fairly good instructor for my senior > customers. I > do it for fun, certainly don't charge enough to cover my time and > sometimes > do it for free. I agree completely with your assertion that custom > clubmaking holds "the promise of the very BEST set a golfer could buy." > I > don't agree that a "cheap" club is necessarily a poor club, nor that it > tears down the "essence of what clubmaking could be." Clubmaking is > everything you suggest it could be for me...and I'm cheap. :-) > > Bernie > Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > >
