|
|
| Greetings!
We promised that we would send out another email to describe some of the specials that we're offering at our November 21 Sidewalk Sale. On Tuesday, we listed quite a few "super specials" - basically "free" heads. Buy the shafts and get the heads for free. We have a few more of those in this listing that should be interesting.
Don't be mistaken. For the most part, these are one of a kinds, prototypes and classic styles that deserve your attention. But we're also putting the top name brands: Mizuno and Bridgestone on sale.
It's important for you to understand what's behind this sale. We know that many of our customers are very successful and very, very busy. That makes it hard to stop by the Golf Lab - even on a good day. To help we're redoing our website to make it easy for our customers to know what we have in the shop - even the unique models - and buy them without coming in.
We've expanded our record keeping so now we have duplicates of all fittings in our customer files. Once we know your specifications, it's easy to build golf clubs to match your game.
Even if you live nearby, it might be more convenient to have your clubs delivered to you.
So think of this series of newsletters and this Sidewalk Sale as a move toward the "next generation" of the Golf Lab. You'll be able to pay a visit through your Internet browser. We'll be able to offer even more of the unique, one of a kind and custom built products that have become the foundation of our business.
But that's still in the future. For now, plan to stop by the Sidewalk Sale if you can. If you can't, come by in the next couple of weeks and we'll continue the same offers until we're sold out. We hope to see you on Saturday.
Come for the barbeque, stay for the sale. Lunch is served starting at 11:00. |
|
| What's Up With Bridgestone?
Sponsor a Tour Event to Sell Airplane Tires?
You might not be able to tell from the headline, but I really like Bridgestone irons and drivers. The problem with Bridgestone is they just can't figure out how to sell their golf clubs.
Case in point: at the recent Golf Show in Pleasanton, Bridgestone was a sponsor. They gave away two golf balls to every attendee. They had a double booth. What was in the booth? Tires. No kidding. You couldn't find a Bridgestone golf club at the show. They were there to sell tires!!??
Second case in point: When Bridgestone sponsors a PGA Tour golf tournament, they run ads to sell airplane tires. Must be a lot of good airplane tire buyers watching those tournaments.
Four years ago Bridgestone came out with their J-33 line. That was hopeful. They released three forged iron models, all from the famous Endo foundry. That might have been a little overkill since forged irons account for less than 10% of the worldwide irons market. Not that there isn't much competition. They must have thought it was worth fighting for 3%.
Even though the J-33 forged irons were "best of breed" they got little respect except from the cognocenti.
Way back then they also released the J-33 driver that is still in the line. How many companies try to make a driver last four years? The party line is that they haven't been able to beat the performance of that driver. That may be true, but it hasn't stopped Taylor Made, Callaway and Nike from bringing out new drivers. BTW: the J-33 is still one of the top three low spin drivers - even if it is old by golf club standards.
If you want a great set of forged irons for a cheap price, you can't beat the Bridgestone J-33's. We don't have them at our "free" level but they're not that much more. Depending on condition, you can have us custom build your set of Bridgestone forged irons for the price of the shafts plus $150 for very good, $250 for excellent and $350 for mint. The business being what it is, you can even have brand new. That's not a bad deal. Bridgestone forged irons sell for $600 at wholesale with a retail price of close to $1000. In pre-recession days players would buy a brand new set, install high performance shafts and think they got a bargain at $1600. Today, your decked out Bridgestones will cost half that, or less.
There are three models. If you're on the low end of the index scale, you should consider the muscle backs. The head size is on the small side, the sole grind is straight on the leading edge with  minimal bounce. There is very little offset. For a pure muscle back blade, if you're looking for a bargain, you can put the Bridgestone J-33 b's in your bag for less than $600. That's less than the wholesale price for forged heads alone. We have a set of the J-33 b's in our Golf Lab demo collection shafted with Aerotech Steel Fiber 110's set to a PCS Equalizer flex value of 5.5. You can check them out for a weekend for $50. Half that fee applies to any future purchase. There's no need to wonder how they would play on your course.
My favorite J-33 model is the "Combo" set. It is, at least theoretically, cavity back in the long irons and muscle back in the short irons. I really don't think that there's much difference in performance gained from moving a few grams of weight around the back side of a golf club. Most  of the reason is simply fashion styling. That said, the J-33 Combo has one feature that I really like and that I think does make a difference. The sole grind shows a significantly "relieved" leading edge. That lets the iron get a little bit further down on contact, bringing the ball just a tiny bit higher on the face. When you look closely at "Tour" irons, many of them have "relieved" leading edges. Other than that, the Combos are just a little bit bigger than the blades (that much more "forgiving") and a few millimeters more offset in the long irons.
We have two sets of the Bridgestone Combos in the Golf Lab demo program. One is set up with Aerotech I-95 Steel Fiber shafts at 1/2" over standard at a PCS Equalizer flex value of 5.5. Wondering how they would play? No problem. Take them out for a weekend spin for $50, or join the month long Golf Lab demo program for $200. Half of your fees go toward a purchase.
The last of the J-33 models is the straight cavity back. It's the same size as the Combo - just a bit  bigger than the blade. The sole grind has a little more bounce. If you're thinking about a forged cavity back iron, and you don't want to go out and pay retail price, this is your iron model.
Just like the other two Bridgestone models, the J-33 cavity back is available for player testing. We have a couple of different shaft options with the J-33 cavity. If you're interested in lightweight steel, you can't beat the Nippon 950. We have the J-33 cavity available shafted with the 950 in stiff and regular flex for your playing pleasure.
So why are we touting the J-33 when Bridgestone came out with the J-36 in February this year?
As frequently happens, we didn't think that the J-36 was an improvement. That is a definitive "maybe". The one model that bears testing is the "pocket cavity". The jury is still out on all of the pocket cavity styles, now released by practically every company. Our experience has been, politely expressed as "mixed". Too many of our customers have tried the Mizuno MP-52 and the Bridgestone J-36 pocket cavity and then bought something else. |
Goodbye MacGregor - Hello
Gone, but not for long
If you missed the soap opera, MacGregor is out of business. Well, they were only out of business for a few hours while they filed Chapter 11. Once Greg Norman decided to sell the skeleton of the company, Golfsmith stepped up to "buy the brand" and everything else that was left over.
Golfsmith has made a habit of buying distressed golf equipment companies that managed to develop a following. First Lynx, then Snake Eyes, now MacGregor - surely their "brand purchase" with the most followers.
It turns out that MacGregor gave up the ghost one year early. Their 2008 line was very, very good. The takeaway from this lesson is that it doesn't pay to aggravate Greg Norman. Barry Schneider is sure to agree with that statement.
Will the 2008 MacGregor line become a classic? I think that there's one model that will make it.  That's the MacGregor muscle back blade. Why would I think that? In our fitting method at the Golf Lab we give each of our clients irons to take to the range or their own course. That includes all of the top performance brands: Miura, Vega, Mizuno and MacGregor. In the last year, four players came back after extensive testing and chose the MacGregor muscle backs over everything else.
There's a message in the last paragraph. If you want to know the golf clubs that feel the best and produce the ball flight that you're after, the only way to find them is hands-on testing. Keep an open mind. Some of the players that did, chose MacGregor. MacGregor produced two forged blade styles in 2008, the straight muscle back and the classic cavity. Of those, the Muscle back has been the best performer. There's another conundum. Why the muscle back against the cavity back? You would expect the cavity back to be "more forgiving". Not so. The cavity back iron with more bounce and a wider sole is almost always the second choice. So, if you're thinking about a muscle back blade, the MacGregor from 2008 is a good candidate. We have a couple of sets of the muscles and the cavities so if you want to do the testing for yourself, you can do that. Our demos are set up with KB Tour and Scandium shafts.
Turn now to the MacGregor Waterloo. CEO Barry Schneider fell in love with Japanese technology and styling a couple of years too soon. The  "bomb" of 2008 is actually a pretty good golf club, as "game improvement" clubs go. The MacGregor NVG is still around, we have a couple of sets that we're putting into our "free with shafts" deal - so that shows you we're not too excited about them. But, if you're looking for a game improvement style, and you don't want to waste a lot of money on something "new" that might turn out to be a dud, you can go with the MacGregor NVG's. We've played them. They're very good - for what they are. (That is slightly snotty opinion is from players who will never play anything but a forged iron.) They're a good bargain too. When they came out Barry thought they should bring $1200 a set - just like they did in Japan. |
| Very Cool Irons
You might not think of yourself as a candidate for "prototype" irons. Who would be?
"Prototypes" are just the early models of some styles that are in "development". Some make it into product status, some don't. So, you can buy a prototype that's a real dog.
We have a few sets of "prototypes" that became one of the very best models ever produced. If you want to play forged irons but don't think you're "quite good enough" - we've got the answer for you.
Ten years ago, a couple of dreamers founded the Kahler Golf Company. They engineered one style that has become a "classic". In fact, they were originally named "Kahler Classics".
The design is a traditional cavity back that is just a bit oversized. It is slightly offset in the long irons but not offset at all in the short irons. That is the best of both worlds when it comes to "forgiveness" and "playability". In the long irons, a little offset helps get a player's hands stay ahead of the ball and makes solid contact easier. Quite the opposite with short irons. Offset is a nemesis. When you get your hands ahead to hit "knock down" shots with your short irons, offset makes it impossible to aim your shots precisely.
We got close to the company and had them produce a run of special forgings for us. We thought that the most intersting styling concept  would be to finish them without any identification. So, we have the "Kahler Classics" with no markings - in both raw and chrome finishes. This is the best of both worlds. You have irons that you can call "prototypes" but they're not "orphans". They are exactly the same as the "Kahler Classics" that were sold throughout the USA until the company realized that it was too small, ran out of money and gave up hope. Still, forged in USA - a "classic" you can play and confound all of your playing partners.
Buy your prototypes for the price of the shafts you choose, plus $250.
|
Every year there's a model that wins the sweepstakes as the "best of breed" for whatever  category. The Bridgestone J-33's were such a design. In the "game improvement category, no one beat the Tommy Armour 845 U from three years ago.
It was intended to be a follow-on to the most popular iron of all time, the Tommy Armour 845. It only came up about five millions short.
If you want an iron that's easy to hit, this is it. There aren't many of them around because TA wasn't much of a marketing powerhouse in those days. But here you are, a great model "free" with the shafts of your choice. |
Japanese Boutique Foundries
The one product category that we focus on at the Golf Lab is forged irons from the Japanese boutique foundries. For six years we have specialized in Miura - building up the best following in California for that world class line. The Golf Lab is the only place west of the Mississipi where you can demo every Miura model on every available shaft.
As interest in Japanese forged irons is growing, we're expanding our selection. We've already stocked the entire line of Scratch - forged at Ishihara.
You can't really say that the Kyoei foundry is the  "new kid on the block". They've been around longer than Miura. But they didn't jump on the bandwagon to try to market their own line until just this year. The "house brand" is Vega.
We think that Vega has one model that is unique and absolutely beautiful. It is their "raw" grind in a black finish. You can see the skill of the grinder in the club head. You don't get a second chance on the wheel when you're making this grind.
The easiest way to test the Vega line is with their  wedges. They are normally priced to sell at $185 with a custom shaft of your choice. For this Saturday only, we're going to offer the stock we have on hand - 15 wedge heads - for just $135 - set up with the shaft of your choice, flex matched to your swing and set for your loft and lie.
We'd like to see the Vega line gain a little more following so the way to do that is to make sure it gets on the course.
As usual, if you want to test for yourself and take Miura, Vega, Scratch and Fourteen wedges to the course to see which one feels the best to you, we can make that happen. |
"Barbeque Joe" Marasco.
I've been touting "Barbeque Joe" Marasco and the Traeger grill as a customer service.
You get something you don't usually find at a Sidewalk sale - a great smoked pulled pork sandwich cooked up by a guy who competes in National barbeque events. If you want to know  what good pulled pork is supposed to taste like, you don't have to drive all around Tennessee to find out.
"Word of mouth" is the best of all sources of sales. Satisfied customers are the best reference. That describes my relationship with Traeger. This is not a deal that we're doing to earn a commission. I think I'm doing Golf Lab customers who think they might want to smoke meat a favor to introduce them to Joe and the Traeger. That's just because I like the one I bought so much.
There's a little message I'm not embarrassed to get across. We're hoping that you'll feel the same way about the Golf Lab and feel like you're doing your friends a favor to refer them to us.
So, come for the barbeque, stay for the sale. | |
|
|
|
We hope to see you this Saturday. If you can't make it, come when you can.
Best Regards,
|
Leith Anderson, Clint Smith and Dian Terova
The Golf Lab
2103 St. Francis
Palo Alto, 94303
(650)493-1770
|
|
|
