2005 Wrap-up, 2006 Preview

2004 was a milestone year for the Golf Lab. In our fourth summer, we became an “overnight success” when we received a favorable mention in Golf Magazine due our strategic relationship with the Max Out Golf Group. The Founder of Max Out is Mitch Voges, 1991 US Amateur Champion. Max Out Golf Group, headquartered in Los Angeles, has included the Golf Lab in testing their proprietary technology and methods, including their launch monitor, video training system and club load measurement. You can expect the Golf Lab to keep its position on the “bleeding edge” of custom clubfitting and clubmaking.

We finished building and equipping our Tour Van and are now booking dates for 2006. If you are a member of a club that has a driving range and would welcome Golf Lab clubfitting and clubmaking technology at your course, please get in touch with Leith (Leith@calgolftec h.com) to plan a visit. You are doing your PGA club professional a favor. We take full responsibility for correct fitting. Your professional will earn a commission for all Golf Lab Tour Van fitting, repair and clubmaking services. We have the latest, state-of- the-art technology including the EDH Flightscope. In addition to fitting, we can provide precise club gapping services based on radar that tracks guided missiles. It is exciting to imagine making Golf Lab technology more available in 2006.

If you would like a chance to spend an hour with Mitch Voges, working on fitting your golf clubs and understanding the concepts and methodology originated at Max Out Golf, call the Golf Lab to reserve your time. The Max Out Mantra is “Talent, Technique, Technology – in that order.” We will be working out our new video system during Mitch’s visit, so you will see a view of your swing that is beyond our current capabilities.

We will also be hosting a reception at the Golf Lab for Golf Lab customers who would like to meet Mitch but who don’t have the time for a full fitting. Call the Golf Lab for details and your invitation.

Nike Sasquatch Driver

We’ve received our first shipment of Nike Sasquatch drivers. If you’ve been living in seclusion lately, the Sasquatch is the most innovative driver design that we’ve seen for 2006. The technology story behind the Sasquatch is “increased moment of inertia (MOI)”. The effect of the new design is to “resist the twist” around the shaft axis. The effect is supposed to be straighter drives. We have demos at the shop for you to take to the range. For a small rental fee, you can play a brand new Sasquatch for an entire weekend so you can be sure you won’t make a mistake. Like all drivers, the Sasquatch is great for some players. If you can get past the thought that you’re looking at a driver head that’s squished out to the size of a saucer, you might find the Sasquatch just your cup of tee.

The Nike Sasquatch features a Mitsubishi “Diamana” shaft. Truth be told, it’s not the $300 Diamana – but why would one of those come on a $350 driver? Unlike many proprietary shafts, the “Sasquatch Diamana” is a good shaft that you might not have to replace on day one. The trend to feature name brand shafts on commercial drivers continues. There’s the Titlest “Speeder” – and now the MacGregor “Speeder” to go along with all of the name brand shafts that help the Big Guys sell their products. The Aldila NV is all over. Our advice? Take a second look at every driver shaft, it might not be what you think. Paint is cheap. Our price is MSRP $350 but we’re including SST PUREing to sweeten the deal for our Members Only.

Late breaking news: We’ve just been informed by Nike that they’re releasing a few of the “Tour Sasquatch” drivers to the Golf Lab in November. They won’t be available to the general public until February so this is a great opportunity to get next year’s most likely winner early. The “Tour Sasquatch” comes with the “True Diamana” – the shaft that we’ve been selling for $300 all year. Retail price will be a little south of $600 – this is truly a Tour grade driver with a premium shaft - .335 hosel and all. We’ll throw in SST PUREing for all of our customers.

More late breaking news: The new Nike Slingshot “Tours” have been released. We delivered our first set and they’re beautiful. For irons, Nike is extending their popular Slingshot line for 2006, adding the “Tour” model and the oversize OSS to go along with the original Slingshot. We’ll be playing Slingshots in 2006.

Apache OZIK Shaft

Just when you started thinking that $300 is a lot of money for a driver shaft, along comes Apache with their new OZIK. They were lucky, K.J. Choi was a winner with the OZIK (and a Nike Sasquatch “Tour”) a couple of weeks after it became available.

The story behind the OZIK is that it is hand made by the best technician at Apache. The quantities are very limited. As you might expect, there are even a couple of versions of the super, super, super premium shaft.

The Golf Lab is one of the very few custom shops in the country that will be authorized to sell the OZIK shaft. We have only six on order and there won’t be any more until 2006. One will be shafted up in a demo, so if you’re the kind of cynical customer who thinks he should get a chance to try before you buy, that’s a possibility. The price? It looks like a cool $600 to get started with the top of the line at $1000 We’re thinking that it ought to be worth about $10 per swing to test the demo. How many do you want?

Z-Com, “Da Bomb”

We get almost all of our information about combinations of heads and shafts that work well from our customers. That’s how we found out about Aerotech. What we don’t hear from our customers, we read on the Internet. A few weeks ago, a player posted a review on the GEA about reshafting his Titleist 905 with a Fujikura Z-Com shaft. He referred to it as “Da Bomb”. Well, that got our attention.

We had a 905 sitting around because we wanted to practice pulling the shaft that Titleist says only they can pull. We pulled the shaft - no problem - and reshafted the Titleist 905 with the Z-Com. Leith took it to the course and it was indeed “Da Bomb”. On a very cold and wet morning at the Muni, distances were mid-Summer.

If you’ve got a Titleist 905 that hasn’t lived up to expectations, set it up with “Da Bomb” and you’ll be walking a few steps farther down the fairway. As all Golf Lab recommendations, if the setup doesn’t do what we say, we’ll put your club back the way it was and give you your money back. Try getting that guarantee from Golfsmith.

Forged Blades

We’ve noticed an increased interest in forged blades – particularly the world leader in quality forgings – Miura. The Golf Lab is the exclusive Bay Area representative of Miura. Some players think that they can’t play forged, but in certain circumstances, forged are easier to hit.

If you’re playing tough courses that have thick rough, a compact forged head will dig the ball out. A shovel won’t do it. We’re building out complete sets of Miuras to put in our testing program. If you would like to give them a try, you can arrange that at the Golf Lab. As golf clubs get more expensive, we think that players are going to insist on testing exactly the setup that they plan on buying on the course. Buying golf clubs should not be an act of faith.

The Golf Lab has top of the line forgings from Mizuno, KZG, MacGregor, Nike and Bridgestone in addition to Miura.

That’s all for now. Stop by the next time you’re driving down 101. We’re just a minute off the road.

Best regards,

Leith Anderson and Bob Huff