Re: ShopTalk: Selling it

[Bernie Baymiller]

Charlie and Cub,   Yes, I admit to being a self-centered maverick clubmaker of sorts. If I was in the clubmaking business, I would have surely gone the direction you have gone. That's the way I handled accounts during my advertising career...research, quality work and results oriented...which on most occasions certainly justified the not inexpensive cost to do it.   But, my clubmaking started out when I retired in '93 centered on my own problems of lost distance and a rising handicap. It hurt to see that 2 go up to an 8 and 220 was my best hit. So, I started building longer lighter clubs to help me get the distance back that I needed to score. I quickly realized there was a lot to learn about clubmaking and joined this bunch not too long after I glued together my first longer driver, a Mercury 9� on a Grafalloy ASW with a Tour Wrap grip. What a heavy dog that one was...but it got me 15 more yards than my old 43" Top Flite. This went on another year, you guys got me educated (particularly Bozman in those days), for the first time I read stuff my father had written years before, read every catalog I could get, spent more money than I should have, and suddenly I found a 48" driver that I could hit 250-260 yards dead straight and felt great. Well, when you go from an 8 at 59 to a 1.5 at 65, and are suddenly outdriving all the old farts you play with, you attract a lot of new friends who want to try your new driver. Almost everyone could hit that club well...maybe 'cause old farts are a lot alike. "Can you make me one of those?" Hey, why not...I like this clubmaking stuff. Within a month, I'm making 20-30 drivers for both men and women. Found out who could really hit it and who was dreaming. Figured out the specs that made them work and how to help someone hit it accurately. Can you imagine what I thought when a 5'1" senior woman wanted me to make her a 46" driver?  Never did it before, but the "formula" worked. She called it her "Big Bernie" and is still playing it 5 years later. She made the 3rd flight of the Women's State Amateur playing my clubs (woods and irons) this year. Not too shabby for a late 50's lady. Many other ladies tried her $60 driver and the overlength fairway woods I made for her and the ladies about doubled my "business." That's when I had to decide whether to make a business of it , or make a hobby of it. I had enough business for one lifetime, so opted for the hobbyist route. But with those few extra clubmaking bucks, I could buy a stock of shafts, better tools, and do a lot more experiments...enough to get me a good selection of "fitting" demos for awhile.   I made a lot of friends by building good clubs at low prices and earned some respect, I think. Seniors started asking me about their swing problems and all of a sudden I was doing what I had always wanted to do, but couldn't afford to do with a growing family...be a teaching pro (only for free). Think some were sorry about that later when I gave them lessons all around the course. :-)    My youngest son got interested in golf (needed in his business) and I made him some longer clubs when I found he could hit mine OK...these kids were only interested in killing the ball, anyway. Then, his co-workers tried the clubs and had to have some. One young guy was hitting the 48" driver 336 yards into the equipment shed roof beyond the range. He quickly found that wouldn't work on the course... and I cut it back to 46" so he could keep it on the course. This year, I made my best "cheapo" ever for one of son's friends...the culmination of my value orientation, in fact...a $12 Mars Cydonia LCG 13� (2W) on a $13 Tour Golf TSEL (54 grams) with a $3 Sofwrap XT grip...$29 not including free 1/4" round ferrule, a dab of epoxy and some grip tape, shaft alignment, deflection records and about $6 in shipping. Specs were 45" clublength, D4, total weight 292. This was for a prosperous car dealer salesman making a 3 figure salary in his late 30s named Bubba. Short guy, with Bubba-like build and strong. He was playing a GBB at the same length, hitting it about 270 and wanted this as his fairway wood (my son had one I built like this for me and Bubba hit it well when he tried it). Well, Bubba started hitting the cheapo Cy club 290 to 300 off the tee dead straight and 260 off the deck, so put his GBB in the closet. I LOVE it when my $50 (including my $15 for building it) fairway-driver knocks a $400 dollar OEM (or whatever it cost) into the closet.   So there you have a too-long synopsis of how I got to be a maverick clubmaker. :-)   Bernie Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]     ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 7:10 PM Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Selling it Bernie   Being a PCS member I feel you would be a great asset to the organization. All the work you have done with long drivers and posted over the years has been invaluable. It is the exact opposite of what I do but still the validity of the testing is undeniable and that is what makes this a good forum. Hope you are feeling and thanks for all your help.   Charlie B  PS: I really can't picture you laying up so make sur you are totally healed