Senior Open Day 3

We spent a lot of time with Sam, and had a lot of interest on the putting green, however the Tour van was busy at all times with requests from players. Over 60 players came on to the Tour Van this week, and we got as many of them as possible to try the latest John Letters equipment as well as any repairs that the guys needed. 


South African legend David Frost took a real shine to the new Master Model Tour Black Driver. We built him a 9 degree head, with an Aldila NV75X shaft, at 44 ¾ Inch long and a ribbed tour velvet grip set a fraction closed to how he liked it. Frost loved the simple looks, and explosive power of the plasma welded Titanium face. Former US Open winner Steve Jones also fell in love with the Tour Black driver and took a 10 degree with Aldila RIP on the course to try.

American veteran Dick Mast came on and Tour Technician David Cox built him a T9+ 3 and 5 wood with Aldila Voodoo SVS7 shafts, and 52, 56, and 60 degree Tour Black wedges with KBS shafts.

Paraguayan Angel Franco took a shine to the T9+ Hybrids, and took with a 16 degree 2 hybrid and a 19 degree three hybrid built with Aldila R.I.P 85 Stiff Hybrid shafts and Black Widow Widow Maker grips in red.

Eventual winner, left handed American Russ Cochran came onto the truck and had hybrids and fairway woods built. The American had three clubs built for him at the beginning of the week. We built a 3 wood with UST Mamiya V2 shaft, and 3 and 4 hybrids with Aldila Rip 85 X Flex shafts. Although he didn’t use them in his win, he told us they would go into play when he returned to the US.

We've added a wall of signatures to the tour truck, and got everyone who came on board to sign it, however it wasn't only the world’s best golfers over the age of 50 that came onboard. Star of Ghostbusters, Lost in Translation, and most importantly Caddy Shack, Bill Murray came onboard looking for shelter from the inclement weather

Seniors Open Day 2

After concentrating on Sam for the majority of Monday we got to work with the rest of the field. Unlike the European Tour, a lot fewer players at the Seniors level have equipment contracts. This means players use equipment that performs and not just what they’re paid to use so it’s the perfect platform for us to get our equipment into play.

As well as launching the Master Model Tour Black driver and Master Model Tour Black Irons this week, it was also the debut on the Seniors tour of the all new Golden Goose and Silver Swan putters. Although both were iconic in their own right, it was the Golden Goose that John Letters became known for and the new putters received a fantastic reception. CNC Milled from soft 303 stainless steel, the putters feature our proprietary Roll-It technology grooved face. The grooves not only improve top spin, but because there is less material on the face, they also   help give the putter an even softer feel.

Japanese golfing legend Isao Aoki was very keen on the Golden Goose. But then that should come as no surprise. Aoki, who was widely regarded as the best putters of the 70’s and 80’s, won most of his tournaments using an original Golden Goose Putter. So Tour Representative James Graham was surprised when he took the all new GG3 model to use in the tournament. “Aoki holed everything. He has his hands low, and the toe sticks up in the air, but every putt seemed to drop on the practice green” said Graham. And the Black Golden Goose head cover really stood out in his “Ghost” white golf bag with his white head covers. The heel shafted mallet is an en vogue shape again at the moment, and with its thicker topline, the GG3 is one of the best looking on the market.

Another player who fell in love with a Golden Goose this week was Francois Illouiz. As he succinctly put himself in his French accent, “I’m Illouiz and I’m using the Golden Goose “. The Frenchman fell hard for the Original Golden Goose and it’s simplicity, and stated he was going to use it in his next event.

Juan Quiros was another who fell for a John Letters Putter this week. Spaniard Quiros went for one of the new Silver Swan putters. CNC Milled from 304 Stainless steel, the Silver Swans feature a deep mill pattern on the face that gives a perfectly flat face and solid crisp strike at impact. Again there are three models, including an Anser style, a mid Mallet, and a MOI design. Quiros went for the SS8, our new mid mallet design with a plumber’s neck and put it straight into the bag for the tournament.

Day 1 at the Seniors Open Championship

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the John Letters Tour Truck. While the open was a fantastic event for us, we were busier looking after the media than we were players. It’s a major championship week, so players tend to be ready with their equipment already.

The Seniors Open at Walton Heath however has been truly manic. With the best golfers in the worlds over the age of 50 descending on Walton Heath golf club it was always going to be our busiest week of the year. The senior’s golfers grew up using John Letters equipment and trust that we can make clubs that will perform for them under the pressures of Tournament golf. If the Master Model was good enough for Gary Player and Lee Trevino, it’s good enough for them.

As the Seniors Open was our first event on the Senior Tour this season, it was the perfect place to catch up with John Letters Staff professional Sam Torrance. Torrance has been using the Master Model irons since the beginning of the season, and the Tour Black wedges since last year, but we had some new toys to try with him, and we were going to see what we could get in play this week.

We showed Sam the limited edition Master Model Tour Black irons and it was love at first sight. “Gorgeous” was his first comment. After testing with a variety of steel shafts including his current Project X 6.5 shafts, Sam settled with the new Nippon Modus 3 shaft. “Perfection” was his second comment. The new black head was getting a great reception from everyone that saw them. It’s an identical head to the standard Master Model, but with its dark finish, everyone mentioned how much smaller it looked at address. Expect to see these in the bags of a few players in the coming weeks at Seniors events, with a dozen sets made up for players including Barry Lane.

It was also the first time we had shown the Sam the final version of the Master Model Tour Black Driver. Integral in every stage of development, Sam had hit the first unmarked prototypes as far back as September last year. The traditionally shaped 460cc head features a sleek black PVD finish, plasma welded Beta-Ti face, and a one degree open, but optically square face angle that better players are looking for. The standard driver features an Aldila RIP Beta shaft as standard, but as you can imagine of someone of his ability Sam’s specs were far from standard.

Knowing what Shafts Sam has played and got on with we built a variety of specs to try, including the Fujikura Motore Speeder VC7.1, Aldila Voodoo XVS7, the Aldila Voodoo XNV7,  Project X 6A4 and Aldila RIP 70 x. While Sam loved the look of the head, and felt that the 11 degrees of loft was correct for him, he couldn’t settle into a shaft. He wanted a little more launch and a touch more spin. He currently uses a Matrix Ozik TP7 X flex so that’s what we are going to try next. He was a bit tired after all this testing so we let the poor guy sit down.

Chris Hanson bags the first set of Master Model Irons

John Letters Staff Player Chris Hanson yesterday picked up his new Master Model irons ready for 2011 season. The Master Model is returning to the John Letters line up after a 30 year absence, ready to retake it's place at the pinnacle of the game.

The 8620 carbon steel head is forged for an ultra soft feel at impact and features a tour inspired head shape and thin topline. The brushed satin finish reduces glare at address. Unique to the Master Model is the option for paint fill personalisation, so Chris came in and got hands on, choosing a blue colour scheme.

Most tour players strengthen their lofts on their iron sets to get the ball flight they want, so we have built these stronger lofts into the set straight out of the box, and Hanson noticed this straight away. "I loved the strong penetrating flight they gave me, the short irons had a really strong piercing trajectory."

Despite the cold weather, Chris is practicing hard in preparation for the first Challenge Tour Event of the season in India, and all going well the Master Models will join the T9+ Fairways, Hybrids and TP Forged wedges in his bag for the start of the season.

Expect to see the John Letters Master Model in store this spring.

TOUR TRUCK STOPS OFF AT SOLIHULL

The John Letters Tour Truck visited Direct Golf Solihull this weekend. The dreary weather didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the hundreds of keen golfers, who couldn't keep themselves away from the lure of a working European Tour Truck.


Product development manager and Tour Technician James Graham was kept busy by inquisitive golfers eager to learn about the ins and outs of life on tour and keen to get their clubs worked on. James focused on custom fitting wedges on the day, offering a variety of tour only finishes and grinds not usually available on general sale.

The most popular option on the day was a torched finish. By taking the chrome off of the wedges, it opens up a variety of finish options. By taking a blow torch and heating the wedge you can change the colour of the wedge from a light gold all the way to a deep purple depending on how hot and how long you keep the blow torch on the wedge. Another popular tour option for the John Letters TP series wedge is brushed chrome. By putting the wedge on a buffing wheel it dulls the finish to a satin chrome as preferred by many better players for its glare reduction qualities.

This Saturday the van is visiting the Direct Golf UK Wirral store, there all day from 9AM.

Torrance Bags JL Tour Black Wedges

Sam Torrance had his highest finish since March this weekend, coming third at the OKI Castellón Senior Tour Championship, including a course record nine under 63 in the second round. And it was a good week for us as here at John Letters HQ,  the first week that Sam has bagged the 2011 JL Tour Black wedge in a tournament.

Developed with the tournament professional in mind, the JL Tour Black wedge features a subtle sole grind that offers relief on the heel and toe of the wedge. While using a classic teardrop head shape. When Sam first saw the wedges he told us “These are beautiful, do you have any for me to use in play next week? These will go straight in my bag." And good to his word Sam put them in as soon as he received them in his spec.

Playing a three wedge set up with a 52, 56, and a 60, Sam has his wedges shafted with KBS Tour X Flex shafts, soft-stepped for a slightly softer feel and a touch higher launch than a typical Dynamic Gold S300 shaft. This set up will help produce a little more spin, important considering the change in the groove rules this season for professionals.

Sam has also requested a 54 degree wedge to use on certain courses. This show's the attention to detail tour pro's go to, taking extra equipment options to each tournament. In this case the 54 degree sand wedge replaces both the 52 and 56 degree wedges for weeks where he feels the course requires an extra long iron, hybrid or fairway wood. As 54 degrees isn’t one of our stock loft options, co-designer of the Tour Black wedge James Graham has bent and stamped a 56 degree sand wedge to his specs.

The JL Tour Black wedge will be available in store from March next season.

Archer Prepares for 2011

John Letters Staff Player Phillip Archer came to our  test centre at the Stadium Driving Range in Huddersfield yesterday to help us with product development for next season, while being fitted for some new gear himself. 

Testing was focused on two area’s.  Firstly we’ve got a tour driver in development for next season, that sit’s square to slightly open at address, looks a little smaller, and that hit’s it with a flatter ballflight and lower spin. Chris had already done some testing on the head, but it was it was the first time Phil had hit the proto. And we almost didn’t get it back. Compared to his current driver Phillip hit the ball on average 3 yards further, but more importantly his dispersion was improved from 6.2 yards to 2.7 with the JL Proto head. So he was quite literally hitting it longer AND straighter than his current driver, known for being the number one driver on tour. 

We had to make sure we had our eyes on it the whole time, as otherwise Phillip would have nabbed it, but as it’s currently the only one in existence we couldn’t let him have it just yet.  On Phillips request, we’re also going to develop a deep faced version of the driver for players who like a smaller looking driver at address. 

Secondly we also fitted Archer for a three wood. In a lot of ways these are the hardest clubs to get in the bag of a touring professional. Their three woods need to be used as a mini driver off the tee, hitting into par 5’s from distance, while also being used to shape the ball. It’s not necessarily all about having optimal spin rates and launch angles, but what feels right. Phillip tested a variety of shaft options, but settled on an Aldila VS Proto 60 x shaft. Lighter than what he’s used to using he was hitting a John Letters T9+ 15 degree three wood as far, and with better dispersion than his current 13 degree head. Archer wants to do some on course testing first, but all signs point towards it going into his bag for the start of next season.