West Coast Putter Co.

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.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Hi folks,
Just an update to apologize for my recent absense. I’ve suffered back problems most of my adult life and the last couple of weeks have been difficult up here.
There have been a couple of developments and I will post a full update this week.

Marco.

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.

Well, well, well … I have to say that 2010 will go down in my memory for some incredible sporting events and it’s only April! We opened the year with the Olympics here in Vancouver, which has turned out to be one of the most celebrated Winter Olympics in recent history. Now The Masters has come and gone but what an event to watch.
Leading up to this weekend in Augusta you would think the name had been changed to “The Tigers” with all the anticipation of his return to the game. The man did not disappoint with good rounds Thursday through Saturday to remain in contention to Sunday. The biggest story from his rounds was the minor meltdown where he proclaimed to all the Patrons, “Tiger Woods, You Suck!” By past standards, pretty tame for Tiger. Then the final round, the pressure cooker that is Sunday, and the all important first tee shot. Tiger found himself in the 8th fairway with a stand of pines between him and the green. Foreshadowing for the days events, unfortunately yes. Woods never really looked comfortable out there, it was as if the smiling, confident and relaxed Woods was replaced by a Tiger that had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Still, he did manage to grind it out and finished off the tournament to the applause of the gathered Patrons.
The attention was squarely on the final group on Sunday, as it should be. The crowd favourite lefty Phil Mickleson and the dark horse Brit Lee Westwood. To be honest I was cheering for Westwood from the start, maybe it’s being in a Commonwealth Country maybe because I like an underdog. Both Phil and Lee found trouble while strolling the hallowed grounds of Augusta but both players also played two spectacular rounds of golf. When Phil took the lead, he never looked back, although Lee tried he just couldn’t take it back.
The one moment that will stick out in my mind will be the 5′ putt Phil hand lined up perfectly and as he took the putter back a small seed pod fluttered down landing directly on his line at the exact moment of impact. The ball skipped offline and he missed the birdie. You had to stop and think for a second, “Has Augusta already chosen its champion this year?” More like Bobby Jones played a practical joke on one of his favourite sons. That point couldn’t have been made more clear when Phil took a 6-iron out of the pine straw, under and through the trees and cozied the ball up to 8 feet or so.
Phil deserved his Green Jacket and Lee deserved to revel in being #2. Lee made a statement about world golf and its’ golfers while Phil conquered his own demons to prevail. This will undoubtedly go down as one of the most entertaining Masters this Century, well in my mind at least.

Marco.

So now that the press conference is over I guess the world can go about its daily business again. I watched this anti-climactic interview with a perverse interest, not in Tiger’s sex life but to see if anyone actually asked him ANY questions about golf. Finally after 20 agonizing minutes there it was!
I respect Tiger as a golfer and always will. It is because of this respect as a sports figure that I couldn’t care less about his private life just like he doesn’t care about mine. He is a sports personality, pure and simple. He plays a game for a living. If Tiger quit the game tomorrow the sun would still rise and the world would go on another day, so why is it that “The world stopped today to hear Tiger’s words(The Golf Channel’s Rich Learner)” like he was His Holiness The Dali Lama. We as a society need to re-examine what is important if this is how much importance we place on a sports celebrity.
Today’s press conference proved one thing to me and that is that Tiger is humble, human and still a competitive golfer. Isn’t that what we really wanted to know anyway? Now let’s leave the guy alone and let him get back to what he does best and that is play golf.
Play well this week Tiger and enjoy being back on course; I know we are looking forward to the highlights on Sunday night.

Well it looks like this weekend is going to be a wet one. If I get some clear hours I’ll set of a video shoot to demo the new putter.
Will also video some stroke saving tips for the community downloads.
Hope all in Houston are having a great round!

It amazes me that despite he’s not in the field, the biggest discussion on The Golf Channel is who will play with Tiger next week. I am personally tired of the speculation, the questions and such. Now I personally have no issues with TW the golfer; he’s set the standard for future golfers, he’s changed the way the world approaches the game and he’s inspired a world of young people to play a game that few would have considered before the phenomenon known as Tiger. Tiger has made a huge splash in golf no one can deny that. He single-handedly made golf a sexy sport. But when exactly did the ‘Golf Channel’ become the ‘Tiger Channel’. I’ve watched GC for years because it was the ONLY golf coverage you could find on demand; European, Asian, PGA, LPGA, CPGA and NW tours were always on the tube. Then slowly, programming was phased out in favour of Tiger-based shows. Tiger as a kid, Tiger’s first Major, Tiger Tiger Tiger. Now I respect Tiger as arguably the best golfer that has ever played the game, but I also champion the Jason Gores and John Does that make up the meat-n-potatoes of the PGA Tour.

In my mind it’s not fair to the several hundred PGA pros that grind out a Top 25 or 50 every week, make cut after cut and receive zero coverage in the press. These schleps that pay their entrance, scrounge for sponsors and make a living as a touring pro golfer. Would they have to scrounge and scratch so much if their good steady play got a little coverage, of course not. All a sponsor wants is their 15 seconds to showcase their product, if John Doe gets that for them consistently for being an average hard working pro then he/she get’s a pay raise; a better coach; exemptions to better tourneys and maybe the chance to elevate their game to where it can be. Unfortunately, The Golf Channel has taken on a TMZ / Access Hollywood style of journalism that pushes Golf the Game to the back burner and focuses on Golf the Headlines.

Case in point: on Twitter @golfchannelnews tweets; Tiger Woods’ return brings extra buzz, business to Augusta ; @PGATOUR tweets; Woody Austin just tallied ace at 7th hole @ShellHouOpen . Just a simple case of what the two entities regard as golf journalism.

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.

Why all the excitement, well version 2.0 of West Coast Putters is finally here. At least a good solid base to build it.
First off is the Mingle Community. My hopes is it becomes a platform for golfers, golf widows and golf nerds can interact and network with Industry Pros and other enthusiasts. There will also be a new Community Forum component in testing where the end user will have their own soapbox.
In addition I’ve added mobilty to my posts by integrating this site into my Blackberry. I’ll have the ability to do instant feedback from the golf course. I’m working on a live chat feature that will allow you to contact me for questions or just to shoot the breeze about golf.
Looking forward to meeting you.
Marco Renna
President
West Coast Putter Co.