West Coast Putter Co.

UPDATE: Many thanks to everyone, and that is a LOT of you that applied to be WCP Testers, the response was overwhelming! We are closing the open application today (Aug 12, 2010) because we have a huge group to choose from already. Thank you again everyone, we’ll contact our chosen Testers by August 31, 2010.

With the addition of 3 new prototypes, West Coast Putter Co. has openings for a few good testers.

Please email, info@westcoastputters.com with the following information:
Name:
Location:
Handicap Index:
Rounds of Golf/ Season:

Testers will be contacted by the end of August 2010.

I love trying new stuff out, especially balls. I should start by saying that I’ve been a devoted Callaway player for several years but I always like to try a new box of something here and there. I’ve given Srixon, Bridgestone, Volvik, Taylormade and Maxfli a try, but I always go back to my Callaway Tour ball (currently Tour i(s)).
I went to Golftown recently and grabbed a box of #1 Wilson Staff C:25. Before I took them out for a test round I wanted to get an idea of the balls’ feel at my indoor range. I popped out a sleeve and started swinging. When I first connected with my 7 iron I was very happy with the “butter” soft feel coming off the clubs face. Loved it! The net and padding gave way with a solid thud. So it continued; THWAK followed by THUD! I went through all my irons and wedges with the same result. To me this is pretty cool partly because most balls out there fell a little different as you go through the bag; soft balls don’t feel as nice as a distance ball on long irons and hybrids, maybe it’s me. Also, I wanted to judge the wear on the ball with my irons, I religiously sharpen the grooves every six weeks and had just done the maintainace. The cover held up rather well considering I hit those 3 balls roughly 35 times each and the cover definitely showed wear but I’ve personally seen worse.
This weekend I’m heading to my local 9 hole Par 30 to give them a playing test. So far they really seem promising.
More to come with pics.

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There is always a lot of talk about “What’s in the Bag” at PGA tournaments. Everyone always wants to know what their favourite pro plays at a particular tournament. Have you ever picked up on the fact that the Top 25 players in the world change up a few key clubs depending on where and in what conditions they’re playing. If you think about it, it actually makes sense.
So what brings this on, you ask? Well, being US Open week there’s been a lot of WITB talk all over the place. I’m playing in the Malaspina Open in Powell River, BC this weekend so I’ve been doing a lot of tinkering myself. My set-up for the last year has been fairly consistent; Nicklaus ML-3 8.5* Driver, Claw 13* FW, Polarity 3h, 4h, TR-1 5-PW, Callaway X-Forged 50, 54, 58 wedges and of course whatever prototype putter I’m working on at the time. Recently, I made a slight change adding a Srixon 5 wood and Cobra Baffler TWS 4h; I dropped my Polarity hybrids. Now this is why the change:
D- 255, 3W- 235, 3h- 185 … You can see the descrepency in distance, 50 yards, far to big a gap. Adding the 5 wood bridged the distance at 205, choked down I can hit it 190. Last little change made was my 5 and 6 irons; I’ve had some issues getting my distance dialed with the TR-1 irons so I swapped out for my Polarity HCT 5 and 6 iron. The HCT’s have a wider sole and floating face technology that really helps get my distance back and help impact the ball solidly on softer fairways.
So my set-up for the tournament is as follows:
Driver- Nicklaus ML-3 8.5* or Cobra X-Speed 9.5*
FW- Nicklaus Claw 13* and Srixon 18*
Hybrid- Cobra Baffler TWS 24*
Irons- Nicklaus HCT 5&6
Irons- Nicklaus TR-1 7-PW
Wedges- Callaway 50, 54, 58
Putter- West Coast Putter Co. Plumber’s Blade

Wish me luck at the tournament. Malaspina Open @ Myrtle Point GC&C, Powell River, BC June 19-20, 2010.

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I should have titled it Rick and Me but this has a lot to do with Jack Nicklaus too. More over it has to do with the people he has working with him, in this case Rick Gomes.
Rick and I met over a phone call almost a year and a half ago now. I had purchsed the Polarity HCT irons with Rifle graite shafts and had a question about trimming and flex for my supplier. To make a long story shorter my supplier couldn’t answer specifics so he emailed me saying someone from Nicklaus Golf would give me a call. Within in the hour the call came in from Rick. Here’s what I didn’t know about Rick at the time; Rick Gomes has been Jack’s clubfitter for 35+ years and is Nicklaus Golf’s Director of Technology.
After a long chat about my clubs and what I wanted them to do Rick told me he would call my supplier and have them send me a box of FST Silver Light shafts. In that conversation we talked about Nicklaus Golf, Clay Long NG’s Chief Designer and of course a newly formed company called West Coast Putters. Here’s where our relationship began.
Rick Gomes has been an excellent friend to me and West Coast Putters. He always had time to chat, always answered my emails and always took time from his busy days to offer a helping word. I asked, in time, if I could send Rick the first prototype for him to look at. I asked as a friend looking for some feedback from someone who knew golf clubs and has been the go-to guy for one of the legends of the game. Rick, as a friend, said he would have a look and give me his thoughts. Now to be fair, Rick was NOT acting on behalf of Nicklaus Golf, nor did I ask him to, but he still took the time to give me some feedback on the design and he found a few problems that I later rectified. This week I’m building a new putter for Rick; there have been a couple changes and the lines are cleaner, I’m getting the neck engraved with his name this time, I hope this one is a keeper for his bag.
I’ll say this in closing, Rick’s kindness gave me the energy to continue to dream big. I’ve never met him in person but we share something intangible and that’s a love for golf and the people that play the game.
Thanks to you Rick Gomes for your friendship and support, West Coast Putter Co. will always have a special place for you and those at Nicklaus Golf.

I received the irons shafted with FST Silver Stiff shafts, I immediately re-gripped the irons, installed TT Sensicore inserts, a kind leftover from the Internet boom, and I happily trotted to the range on the weekend. First thing I noticed, my 7 iron flew 20 feet higher and 15 yards longer with the first swing. The next 25 balls landed with +/- 10 yards in distance and +/- 5 yards dispersion left to right. The 7 would hit down range around 160, take two forward bounces and roll to a hair over 170. Distance, check. Control, check. I went down through the 8 then 9 finally PW. Each club consistently 10+ yards farther with a consistent high 5 yard fade. I was feeling really good about my purchase so far. These clubs are considered “Super Game Improvement” irons by Golf Digest and other publications but they out-perform the Taylormade and Callaway equivalents at twice the retail price, almost twice anyway. Now came time to hit my nemesis clubs, the 5 and 6 irons. It was something mental, it had to be, anyway, now that I’m good and warmed up and feeling quite confident in my swing and clubs so I just lead with that. I hit 10 perfect straight long 6 irons and couldn’t wait to wail on the 5. I put the ball down and hit the most pristine 5 iron I have ever hit in my golfing life. I felt an actual springboard effect as the ball left the clubs face and went straight down the range the coming to earth on the other side of the 200 yard marker. I hit 270 balls that day, of that maybe 10% were terrible.
I played my first round of golf with them a couple of weeks later in Powell River,BC. The performance from range to tee box is impressive. Solid impact and true flight on every iron. With the big distance boost it made me have to start thinking through my bag which I enjoyed a lot more than just hitting my 7 iron over and over.
The Polarity hybrids are and continue to be a thing of genius. I challenge EVERY clubmaker out there to match the forgiveness to performance ratio that Clay Long managed to design into these clubs. Whether I was in the woods off the tee, in a fairway bunker or in 6″ fescue these hybrids cannot shank a shot. Believe me I’ve tried.
I played these for a year and now use them as my winter clubs in Vancouver where carry distance is at a premium because you get little roll (in the winter months). Dollar for dollar I can’t think of a better set of clubs for the guy or girl that is looking for jaw dropping distance and game improvement through common sense design.

Marco on the Nicklaus Polarity HCT irons.

This torrid affair began a little over 2 years ago. I started working at Nevada Bob’s Golf in West Vancouver where I was to learn about the shot saving, game improving clubs produced by Nicklaus Golf. I learned about Polarity technology, balancing the hosel and toe of the club to promote straighter more solid shots.  Hybrid technology that made you feel like you are actually hitting a perfect long iron. Drivers and fairways that give you the confidence to go for the green. Working in a golf store I got a pretty good discount I could have picked Taylormade, Nike, Callaway, Adams or anything on the wall but after a few months of ‘testing’ our launch monitor cage i always came back to a set of Polarity MTR irons. I hit them straighter than the Callaway X-22, farther than the Taylormade Burner Plus and there was no comparison at all with Adams and Nike .. Wait! These are Jack Nicklaus clubs?! How can they be out performing clubs that have twice the price and marketing budget? Simple, the technology in these clubs isn’t just hype it’s actual common sense!

I have been playing Nicklaus Premium clubs for a couple of years now. My handicap came down, confidence went up and now I can actually hit my long irons without gripping the club a little tighter. I’m no expert or engineer for that matter but I know what works and what doesn’t for me. Having worked in retail I’ve also figured out what works for other people too. In the next few weeks you’ll find reviews for all the Nicklaus and non-Nicklaus gear I play. Why? Why not.

I think that taking time to select the RIGHT gear is paramount in your enjoyment of this most frustrating game. I’ve also think that huge advertising budgets don’t necessarily build the right clubs for you.