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By Mike Stachura (golfdigest.com)

We still don’t know what’s going to happen. The PGA Tour doesn’t know. Equipment manufacturers don’t know. Average golfers don’t know. Even golf’s ruling bodies, the ones responsible for this historic rule change, can’t say for sure. That’s right. Despite spending three years studying grooves and their effect on imparting backspin, the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews still don’t know if the game’s first performance rollback in eight decades is going to make any difference.

At the end of June, after two months of curious debate about possibly delaying the implementation of the new standard it had previously wholeheartedly endorsed, the PGA Tour said it would institute the so-called “groove rule” as a condition of competition beginning Jan. 1, 2010. In short, the new rule limits groove-edge sharpness and groove volume on clubs with lofts of 25 degrees or more (generally, a standard 5-iron or above). The intent is to limit spin — or control — that irons and wedges produce on shots from the rough. The new rule will apply to professional competitions starting next year and amateur events in 2014. However, it doesn’t apply to recreational golfers until at least 2024. The rule grew out of the desire of golf’s ruling bodies to restore the value of driving accuracy, a response to the “bomb-and-gouge” school of course management. The R&A, which governs the game outside the United States and Mexico, and the USGA developed the rule to restrict this performance capability. They have charts illustrating spin reductions by 50 percent on 8-iron shots from light rough and charts showing shots hit with conforming grooves that land at a sharper angle and roll farther than shots with current grooves. It’s all clear, from a laboratory standpoint.

But now that we’ve left the laboratory, there remains a patina of uncertainty hovering over all aspects of the grooves issue, from how the game will be played at the elite level to what average golfers should buy in the interim.

Although any new iron or wedge made after Jan. 1, 2010, must feature the new groove standard to be considered conforming, it’s important to note that companies can continue to manufacture and distribute previously conforming club components through the end of 2010. However, this could mean confusion in the market as manufacturers decide when to transition from old-groove clubs (particularly wedges) to new-groove clubs.

You

For average golfers, the new rule doesn’t go into effect right away. Technically, you don’t have to trade in your current irons and wedges for another 15 years. However, because all USGA amateur events are scheduled to adopt the standard in 2014, some of golf’s elite clubs might require the standard at some of their premier events as early as that year.

Not that it might matter. USGA research suggests that average golfers rarely hit the green from the rough anyway, so failing to hold a shot on a putting surface that isn’t hit to begin with would seem to be a nonissue. With respect to greenside shots, the difference appears to be about perception. John Rae, manager of performance research for Cleveland Golf, has studied prototype new grooves and called the differences subtle. He says a scratch player who hits 50 balls each with the new and old grooves, but doesn’t know which is which, might not be able to tell the difference right away. “If he did know which was which, he might see a difference in one out of every five shots,” Rae says. “For an average player, it might take months. Unless you’re really skilled, a player might see a certain type of shot result and blame it on his grooves, when it could be a function of at least 20 other things.”

In other words, we don’t know yet.

There were more than 1,000 vendors, over 40,000 golf business professionals, exhibits from golf manufacturers, leaders in the industry, seminars and new golf employment ideas launched as 2010 gets going. The show ran January 28-30 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

“From the beginning, the PGA Merchandise Show’s growth evolved through the teamwork of PGA Professionals and industry leaders,” said PGA of America President Jim Remy. He has been a PGA member since 1984 and is the vice president and general manager of the Okemo Golf Division at the Okemo Valley Golf Club in Ludlow, Vt.

“The Show remains a critical forum for all who serve as caretakers of the game,” Remy said in a PGA press release. “As we enter 2010, sustaining that teamwork has never been more vital as we focus on expanding our respective business opportunities both at home and throughout the world.”

The goal of the show is to “offer engaging content” and deliver “real-life value” to every kind of facility, said PGA Worldwide Golf Exhibitions Group Vice President and General Manager Ed Several. He wants ever attendee to return from the PGA Merchandise Show with an opportunity to produce an immediate, positive impact on their business and overall health of the game.

The 2010 PGA Merchandise Show

Top vendors included Callaway Golf, Titleist, PING, Cleveland Golf/Srixon, Fairway & Greene, E.P. Pro, Zero Restriction, Greg Norman Collection, Under Armour, Gear for Sports, Callaway Apparel, Ahead, Club Car, Wilson Golf, Mizuno, Bridgestone Golf, Adams, Imperial Headwear, Antigua, E-Z Go, Cutter & Buck, Polo/Ralph Lauren, Divots Apparel, Yamaha.

65+ Education Seminars & Pro-to-Pro Best Practices such as “Technology for Player Development Programs,” “PGA World Junior Player Development Strategy,” “Where is the Golf Property Market Now?”

Participate in Pro-to-Pro best practice sharing forums in merchandising, teaching, management and more — all designed to provide golf professionals with peer-proven ideas that give them the edge to be the best experts in the game and business of golf.

Outdoor & Indoor Demo Days – Largest PGA Professional Testing In The World:

90+ golf companies with hitting bays, practice greens and the vendor village of the 42-acre practice facility of Orange County National Golf Center.

That’s what they study at the USGA’s Testing Center, part of the tour at the USGA Museum in central New Jersey.

“If you keep a ball in the trunk of your car is going to degrade a lot faster,” said Steve Quintavalla, a senior research engineer with the USGA. “A ball kept in a cool place will last a lot longer. Let no one kid you, but the bottom a pond might be the best place because it’s a low oxygen environment that stays cool year round.”

Clubs and balls are submitted voluntarily, every manufacturer looking for that USGA seal of approval. Clubs are kept in their archive; balls are given to visitors who take the tour. Right off the bat, 80% conform, 20% do not.

“We try to help and guide them through,” said USGA Technical Director Dick Rugge. “We just don’t turn a cold shoulder to them.”

Rugge put it in words that are better left unparaphrased: “Our mission here is to maintain the challenge of the game. Why is the game so popular? Because it’s a hell of a challenge. It has been for 500 years and will be for another 500 years or more, we hope. And it’s possible that if we let the challenge become less and less it won’t be so popular. So we have to be careful about allowing it to become easier and easier. To a point that’s maybe OK but we have to really shepherd that in a very careful manner. And that’s what we try to do. We want to maintain that challenge so it’s a healthy game for a long time to come.”

TESTING BALLS

Every manufacturer submits two dozen of each model golf ball they market. There’s been a limit by the USGA on how far a ball can go since 1976. With technology, the test was updated in 2003. Balls can be a minimum of 1.68 inches in diameter, they must weigh 1.62 ounces.

To give them an even field, balls are kept in an incubator which controls both temperature (75 degrees) and humidity, “To make sure that we are as repeatable and as fair as we can be,” Quintavalla said.

There’s a 200-pound flywheel that launches them at 255-feet per second and 90% of the balls tested conform. If you’re wondering if there’s an MIT graduate on staff, there is.
Balls are then fed into a launcher: “It’s like a pitching machine but bigger and more complex,” said Quintavalla.

A sensor gauges aerodynamics and they’ve tested every kind of dimple pattern with the robot swinging machine.

The legendary “Iron Byron” was used from 1972 to 2005. Now, two modern robots swing at about 120 miles per hour.

TESTING CLUBS

While they showed us a 1000 cc driver head, it was just for show. The limit, since 2003, is 460cc. Most drivers have a bigger sweet spot and the measure is for moment of inertia which is the resistance of an object to be twisted.

Scientists test the spring-like effect on the face, comparing it to a diving board. The more flexible it is, the longer it takes to come off the club. A high-tech sensor measures the contact in microseconds – just how long the ball touches the club face. The limit is 257 microseconds.

Rugge says the shaft has little to do with that test.

“The shaft is simply there as a delivery mechanism,” he said.

VISITORS ON THE RANGE

Out back, once the robotic arms are turned off, visitors can use the driving range with old wooden-shafted clubs from the 1920’s.

“Can I get a set of these?” joked one man from the visiting group of the Massachusetts Golf Association. Another, after hitting a winner, said, “I better quit now.”

Rugge says that clubs are a lot easier to hit today and he doesn’t think they need to get much easier.

RUGGE’S TESTING MISSION

“Those who say, ‘Well, we need to make it even easier to get more people to play golf,’ well, I don’t buy it. I think this is fine,” said USGA Technical Director Dick Rugge.

“We are a competent group that is administering the equipment rules in a very thoughtful and careful manner.”

Rugge added, and why should we argue, “The club, at its basic, is a stick with a hunk of metal on one end and a hunk of rubber on the other end. No moving parts, no electronics, but it’s attached to the most complex machine ever invented, a human being, who has a different swing every time and a different person every time and that makes it a very difficult challenge to make that simple stick work well for everybody.”

“It was very good for us,” Katz said of the show at the end of January. “But it’s grueling.”

Katz said people were serious about buying as his company introduced three new product lines. “It’s just changed everything for us,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of follow up to do.”

Katz had already been marketing a device called “Pro on the Go,” a digital recorder that clips to your belt and gives you swing tips. The advertising tagline is “We Speak Golf,” something he’s carried to the rest of his small company.

Before he left for Florida, Katz had renewed optimism about being an entrepreneur in a tough economy. After he got home, he was sure.

“I never wanted it,” Katz said. “I accidentally invented that recorder. So many people have an idea for something and they never do it. Ideas are a dime a dozen and with this one I just decided to pursue it.”

2009 was a pretty soft business year, Katz said, but he felt fortunate. However, “when you’re a one trick pony, people had reason not to do business with you.”

So Katz introduced what he calls “three and a half” new products this year: the “Smart Mark” with two different styles; the “ProHole,” a round disk you can put anywhere to aim at; and “Bravura,” a handmade divot tool.

“They’re ‘why didn’t I think of that’ kind of products,” Katz said. He did a patent search and called himself “fortunate.”

Even though his company is officially called Silver Bullet Systems, he’s turned “Pro on the Go” into a brand. So it’s called “Smart Mark by Pro on the Go,” etc.

“Everything we do in golf we do under the banner of ‘Pro on the Go’ and use the tagline ‘We Speak Golf.’” That slogan has been registered as Katz’s trademark.

“It’s exciting,” he said “It’s a lot of work, but it’s exciting.” This was his second year at the PGA Merchandise Show.

SMART MARK

At first glance, the Smart Mark is just another ball mark. But Katz has put some lines on it to make it much more.

There are two different styles: one made of metal and one a poker chip design. You place the Smart Mark behind your ball, as you would normally do in the green and adjust your mark so the arrow points at the target. It has lines so you can center your ball and a reminder arrow if you had to move your ball because it was in someone else’s line.

Katz said he’s been caught once or twice not moving his ball back the one or two club heads it needed to be and it has cost him strokes.

“You can have your logo printed on it,” Katz said.

PRO HOLE

“It’s really a round, flat piece of rubber,” Katz said.

Used on the putting green, you place it in a spot you want to aim at, even if there isn’t the pre-cut hole. Katz says that those spots get so over-used, and his can be dropped from your pocket for a hole anywhere to aim at.

“Instead of sticking a golf tee in the ground,” Katz said. The flexible disk measures 3.875” in diameter, smaller than the official 4.25” golf hole. Says the promotional flyer: “If your ball rolls anywhere over the ProHole, you can be confident you’d likely sink the putt!”

A logo can be printed on this idea too and he points out that pros can add it in their shop as an “add on sale” when giving putting lessons.

BRAVURA

The name of his divot repair tool comes from the Italian term for great skill; “bravo, excellent,” Katz boasts in his sales pitch.

It’s a wood handle with a metal fork, handmade in the USA from a “variety of rare woods,” taking 16 individual processes to make one, Katz said. There are more than a dozen designs to choose from including the “Saratoga,” “Augusta,” and “Monterey.”

A buyer in Japan has already ordered 180 units of the tool. “And they paid in advance,” Katz said.

NEXT UP

Katz says he’s in the process of setting up new warehousing in Colorado and says he has a lot of follow-up to do from who he met at the show.

“We’re getting orders every other day and for us that’s unheard of,” Katz said. “We’ve added three new sales reps and hope to get ten more.”

He’s even signed on a distributor in Europe and Canada.

“The show was better than last year even though it may have been smaller,” Katz said.

TaylorMade Logo Aug 8, 2009 by John View Album Play slideshow

They will all have two things in common. First, they all want to win the 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine and second, they all will be sporting a unique logo by their main sponsor, TaylorMade.

From hats to bags to headcovers, the TaylorMade Staff Players are all given specialized equipment designed especially for the Majors.  It’s a practice the company has been utilizing for several years.

“Players really love taking a look at this,” said Chris Piniarski, a graphic designer with TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Company. “Each one, since 2003, has all kinds of symbolism pertaining to the course it’s being played at, history, past players that may have won, the surrounding area, the location, historical facts,” he said.

This year, there was one on Greg Norman’s bag at Augusta, on Ryan Spears’ gear as he made his pro debut at Bethpage in the soggy U.S. Open, and there every time Mathew Goggin swung at Turnberry.  He was paired with Tom Watson during the final round of the British Open.

“It took a ton of research to get to that and finding different nuggets of information that would be linked together in a cohesive way that would make sense,” said Piniarski, who grew up in Western New York and designed the logos for the first two Majors this year.
DESIGNS ON CALIFORNIA

That famous quote, “Go west, young man,” (attributed to Horace Greeley) lives on through Piniarski.  Three years ago, he earned a Communication Design degree from the University of Buffalo and moved to California. “I’ve always loved the West Coast vibe my whole life and wanted to try it and here I am,” he said in a recent phone conversation.

Piniarski drove across the country to “surf and just hang out” and play golf. Two of those things are scarce in Buffalo.  Hanging out can be expensive, so Piniarski did what most college graduates do, began looking for a job. He found an ad at TaylorMade through Monster.com.

“I sent my resume and they liked my stuff and I decided to stay down here,” Piniarski said from the company headquarters in Carlsbad, California. It started as a temporary position and then in 2006 he was hired full-time. “The stars aligned,” he said.

Even in this tough economy, it has worked out for Piniarski. The 25-year old was one of four graphic designers on staff, now there are two. Each designer would take a Major and create the “identity” for it. Now, the four Majors are divided in half. It’s a good living: “I’m doing OK, I’m not going to lie.”

This year, Piniarski designed the logos for The Masters and the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, NY. “We do all the research ourselves,” he said.
THE U.S. OPEN LOGO

The Major on Long Island gave Piniarski plenty to work with. He went from ideas about state parks and railroads. Of all the ideas submitted, the logo the company ultimately decided to go with for the U.S. Open identity was Piniarski’s favorite design. “This one was a little more patriotic,” he said.

It literally revolves around a propeller in the logo, which symbolizes Grumman, a company that started on Long Island in 1936, the same year the Black Course opened. “They introduced an American Fighter biplane that was delivered to the U.S. Navy,” Piniarski said. “The propeller tips had red, white and blue paint on them so it kind of all fit together.”

There are seven rivets representing the seven years that have passed between the first Open held at Bethpage in 2002 and this year. One holds the number “2” to mark the second time the USGA has held its National Championship in Farmingdale.

In the middle of the logo is an exclamation point which represents the warning sign at the first tee at the Black which reads: “The Black Course is an extremely difficult course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers.”

On the bags, there is a second logo near the top that includes a drafting compass, the year 1936 and the initials “AWT” for A.W. Tillinghast, who designed the Black Course. “The red, white and blue horizontal air crew badge is a qualification badge that the United States military awards to all branches of their armed services involved in military aircraft,” he said.
THE GREEN JACKET

The ideas flow back and forth between the designer and the creative director.  Piniarski estimates it take eight months to go from concept to completion. “We do a ton of research and make sure we have our facts right and once we have those facts we put a visual to it and bring it to life,” he said.

For the Masters, Piniarski based his idea all around the Green Jacket. The flourish shape of the logo is inspired by the lapels of the jacket and its three gold buttons. There’s a “60” in the middle marking the 60th anniversary of when the garment was first awarded to the winner at Augusta.  And it came with a hat label in honor of the fedora that Sam Snead wore. He was the first winner to take his Green Jacket off the premises.

“That’s the fun part,” Piniarski said. “It’s an opportunity to get away from the design work that we normally do. We can really do research and capture the essence of what the tournament’s all about and pieces of knowledge that no everyone knows about until they read a little bit deeper.”

Piniarski says his company will continue to produce these unique logos. They have generated discussion and interest from around the world. “We raffle off some of the bags too and the proceeds go to charity,” he said.
PINIARSKI’S PUZZLES

Some of the Staff Players who receive the hats, headcovers and bags try to figure out the puzzles. Piniarski said a few players understand the elements, some find them a bit obscure, but that’s all part of designing. “We and try and please the tour players as much possible,” he said. “They’re the ones we support.”

In 2008, he got a real treat. As a thank you, TaylorMade rewarded the four designers on staff by sending them to the Major they created the logo for. Piniarski went to Royal Birkdale. “I was the lucky one that happened to do the British Open and got sent there,” he said. “I got to walk with the players and chat with them about what the logo was all about. Justin Rose is one of the guys who really enjoys getting the product and the bag. He really likes taking a look and trying to guess what all the symbolism means in the logo.”
A BUFFALO 10-HANDICAPPER

Piniarski’s loves the game of golf.  He plays to a 10-handicap and says he can hold his own.
“Everyone here is a golfer,” he said. “It’s something that’s really ingrained in everyone who works here.

“I think a lot of us here are golfers first and then whatever our job title is [next.] It goes hand-in-hand.”

Piniarski learned the game from his father but never took formal lessons. He was good enough to make his high school team and played casually in college. Right now, he is working on some top secret projects, plus TaylorMade’s golf ball packaging for 2010 and those graphics that frame the in-store displays for the next club line launch.  He’s always got something going.

“We’re keeping pretty busy,” he said. But his allegiance to NY remains. “Buffalo Bills and Sabres for life,” he said. “Western New York all the way.”

The product is called “Pro-On-The-Go,” a device that looks like a key chain that may have the keys to your game at the touch of a button. You can check it out on U-Tube -

“It brings focus to each shot,” said Howard Katz, the co-inventor of the new device that is just now hitting the market. “It drives swing thoughts out of your head. Our new little catch phrase is ‘We speak golf.’”

COMMERCIAL APPEAL

Katz was at Mohawk Golf Club on Wednesday, overseeing a commercial shoot for his product.  The Pro-On-The-Go has four buttons that correspond to tee shot, fairway, pitch and bunker.  Each button has several fixed lessons on it such as “Find interim target” and “Maintain knee flex” for the tee shot to “Focus two inches behind the ball” for a bunker shot.  Each pre-recorded lesson ends with “Focus on rhythm.”

“There are just some things that are accepted fundamentals,” Katz said.
Then you can add a customized swing thought for each button, up to 40 seconds of new content, which you or your teacher can record.

“You’re able to have me with you every time you go play even though I’m not there,” said Glen Snowden. He is the “voice of” the Pro-On-The-Go and the head golf professional at Van Patten Golf Course in Clifton Park. Snowden says he’s incorporating it into lesson packages so when you are finished with his lesson, you can take audio thoughts with you to the range or the course.

“Believe it or not there’s quite a bit of information for ten seconds,” Snowden said. “So the value of that lesson is that much more than that one specific lesson.”

‘THERE MAY BE A BUSINESS HERE’

Snowden has been teaching Katz for several years and that’s how the two collaborated. The other co-inventor is Katz’s friend Joe Basile, who now lives in Cortland.  They met when Katz’s regular group needed a fourth.

Basile, “the technical guy” of the operation, says Katz, made and delivered a $1200 set of customized irons for a customer.  But the guy still had trouble.  With just half a dozen balls left in the bucket, Katz handed him a small digital recorder that Basile had recorded some basic swing thoughts. 

“Each time he tells him what to do in a set up, he hits a good shot,” Katz said. “Each time he didn’t, it’s a lousy shot.” Katz thought to himself, “There may be a business here.”

In the winter of 2008, Pro-On-The-Go was born.Katz set up a think-tank, an advisory council for a couple dozen people at Van Patten last year.  In exchange for lunch and golf, he got about 90 minutes worth of input on how to create the device. That included everything from the name to how it looks to the number of prompts and what the prompts would be.

Plus, the focus group said, don’t make it the color green.“They said if you drop it on the golf course, you’ll never find it,” Katz said.

APPROVED FOR PLAY

Making the commercial at Mohawk Club photos : http://picasaweb.google.com/jrcjmu91/ProOnTheGo?feat=email#

Katz and Basile then sent a prototype to the USGA for approval.  Golf’s ruling body said they needed the actual device and eventually, it was approved.

“The only restriction is you’re not allowed to record a new message after your round starts,” Katz said.This past January, Katz and Snowden went to the PGA Merchandise Show in Florida.  For them, that was a sight – 40,000 people, ten miles of booths of new products and ideas for the golf community.  Teaching pros are their target market.

“Now they’ll have it the way you said it, not how they mis-remembered,” Katz said.
So, while talking in a person’s backswing is frowned upon, what if it’s your golf pro? “You just hit a button, you hear a beep, you let it go and that’s specifically for you,” Snowden said.

It will retail for $19.95 and Katz says that even in a tough economy, golfers know what they want to spend their money on.“The real value is to record the user-specific message that works for you,” he said. “But for the mid to high-handicapper, right out of the box, you’re going to play better golf.”

This week’s Masters, the first of golf’s four major tournaments, will be the last one played with equipment that is supposedly making the game too easy.

to read the artcile – click here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/sports/golf/05score.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Eric Bonham came out of his warm Kinderhook home Saturday afternoon to his favorite spot, the Route Fore Driving Range and Golf Shop in North Greenbush. He traded his couch for a heated hitting stall and what every golfer looks for this time of year, a chance to find his swing and test a new club. Bonham got his wish at the big red barn’s annual demo weekend, which this year was just a Demo Day. “All this new stuff’s great,” said Bonham, 43, who’s been playing for about 15 years. “You always hit them better than your old equipment and that’s the problem.”

But Bonham loves to practice and hits bucket after bucket at this range. Today, he didn’t bring his clubs and instead used the manufacturer’s sticks, including an Adams Speedline 9.5 degree driver that he striped out toward the car dealership at the end of the field with the yardage markers. “I hit some of the Nike new irons, liked those,” he said. “And then I was talking to the Adams rep and I heard that some of the new irons were pretty good so I wanted to check them out. And then he put this driver in my hand.”

COLD DAY, WARM SALES

“If it was ten degrees warmer you might have seen a little more traffic, a little bit more sales,” said Spyder Wilson, the golf pro and manager of Route Fore. “But the people that came out today were the people that were looking to actually buy stuff.” Instead of sending out thousands of postcards and spending hundreds of dollars in postage, Route 4 used its website and a couple of print ads to get the word out.  Wilson even joked that he might not have come out on a cold, blustery, overcast day that even had some spittle of rain. But his shop had its second best March sales in eight years and he said the demo day drove some in-store sales and a few special orders. “I would not say the economy or anything has anything to do with the way sales are going,” Wilson said. “Sales have been strong up to today and based on the number of people that showed up today and the weather and all the elements sales were strong.”

A DOZEN REPS

Representatives from Titleist, Cobra, TaylorMade, Nike, Callaway, Mizuno, Adams, Wilson, Cleveland, Tour Edge, Nickent and Ping were all given a heated stall to show their stuff. “All the manufacturers are here, it’s just so much easier,” said Bruce Bunzey of Westerlo. “They’re all in one spot.” Bunzey owns a set of Cobra irons and came with his friend Kris Higgins to just “nose around.” They’ve already been out playing at Thunderheart Golf Club in Greene County. “Too many, that’s the trouble,” he said with a smile. “I’m now more confused than ever.” Higgins has a set of Nickents. “We’re just testing out,” she said. “I’d like to get another 20 yards out of a club.” And she says the economy won’t stop her because she saves her money for golf season.

INTO THE POOL

“Dip their toes in the pool, so to speak, and get enthusiastic about the game,” said Jeff Kelley, Titleist Sales Representative with Acushnet Company, which owns Titleist, Cobra and FootJoy. For many who show up at golf Demo Days, those are the people you’ll find.

“It’s early,” he said. “People don’t have their ‘A’ game going yet. Some people want to buy a new driver today because when they go play next week for the first time they want a new stick in the bag. Other people are just sort of seeing what’s out there, window shopping.”

Mark Klemballa works with Kelley as a Cobra Tech. He also works out of the Niskayuna Driving Range and works nearly three dozen Demos in a season. Cobra’s new product this year is the S9 Driver. “The best selling point is to get them in here, let them hit a few shots,” Klemballa said. “If I can’t fit them into a club, I’m not trying to fit them in a club that isn’t right for them, I’ve sent them down to other competitors.
“We want to fit the person in a club that’s good for them to improve their game. We’re not here to just sell golf clubs and that is our philosophy.” “We all help each other too,” added Brian Gilbert, an Adams rep based in Queensbury. “We send people to each other and have some comradery.”