British Par 3 Championship

British Par 3 Championship, Nailcote Hall, Warwickshire 10th - 13th August 2010


The British Par 3 Championship proved to be a very good event for us even though at times the rain was relentless. With a decent turn out of both the public/celebrities and pro golfers this was a good stage to continue our brand awareness and show off our new T9+ and T8 product lines. Our location down the side of the first fairway was great for exposure although we were slightly worried about any hooked shots hitting the truck!! Luckily only one wayward shot came our way which rebounded off our Sam Torrance graphic on the side of the truck, fortunately no damage was done to Sam!

Our location on the 1st

Most of the work involved was checking the loft/lie angles of clubs. With this being a par 3 course the majority of loft/lie checks were on the 8,9,PW and wedges of players. Former European Tour player Malcolm MacKenzie had all his iron and wedge lies checked and after a couple of tweaks he was on his way to the first tee.

European Senior Tour Player Kevin Spurgeon requested a T9+ hybrid making up for testing on his next few events. We assembled a no 4 head and fitted a tour issue UST Mamiya 7X hybrid shaft (the 7 meaning the uncut weight of the shaft and the X denoting the extra stiff flex). We will see how Kevin got on when we go to the next seniors event at Woburn.

T9+ Hybrid club assembled for Kevin Spurgeon

On the Friday after the golf had finished we had a visit from ex Manchester United legend Lee Sharpe. Lee was very interested in trying out our new forged TP wedges after using one on our 'Sam Torrance chipping challenge' inflatable. After conversation with one of our tour staff Lee did some wedge testing in a small bunker area and was very impressed with the feel of the clubs. So impressed was Lee that he purchased a 52, 56 and 60 wedge and had them customised on the tour truck. We took 3 degrees loft off his 52 which made it a 49 giving him some added distance. With the 60 we took some bounce off by grinding the sole and also sharpened the leading edge.

Lee Sharpe is presented with his TP wedges

Also on the Friday we had a visit from Sky TV who were wanting to record some footage of what goes on in a tour van such as ours.  Amongst other things we demonstrated how to grind the sole of a wedge, how to check the loft/lie of clubs and a step by step guide on how to build a basic golf club.

John Letters Tour Team

Sky TV pay a visit

Len Goodman carried a Letters pencil bag

The 'Sam Torrance Chipping Challenge'

Welcome to the John Letters Tour Truck Workshop Blog.

This is a new feature on the John Letters website that has the purpose of sharing tour information, details of the technical needs of Professional Golfers and photos from the various tours throughout Europe.

Throughout the coming months we aim to provide information on upcoming John Letter’s products and prototypes that will initially be tested on the tours.

We hope that you enjoy the blog, happy golfing!

BRITISH SENIOR OPEN AT CARNOUSTIE GOLF LINKS

Friday 23^rd July- This proved to be a very busy day in the truck with a demand for both repair work and adjustments. With the famous wind at Carnoustie getting up in the morning many players were looking to check/adjust the lofts on their lower irons with the purpose of hitting a lower ball flight into the wind. The closing holes of 16, 17 and 18 in particular were causing difficulty with a strong headwind.

Ian Woosnam paid a visit to check on the loft of his #9 + #PW irons. Ian thought his #9 was 1 degree too strong for what he wanted. After a quick check in the loft/lie machine it was confirmed that Ian was correct. It`s amazing that these guys can tell if there clubs are 1 degree out just through practice on the range!

Wayne Grady sampled the new TP wedge and was very complimentary on the look of the club as were several other pros that tested both the TP wedges and the brand new T9+ range that was launched one week earlier at the Fairmont, St Andrews.

Eamonn Darcy came into the truck with his 8 iron head loose just one hour before his tee off time. After a quick re-glue he was able to put the club into play later in his round.

Saturday 24^th July- This proved to be another busy day with many requests for new grips to be fitted and more loft/lie checks. 

Four times PGA Tour winner Tim Simpson requested a full loft and lie check on all his irons and wedges stipulating that there should be ½ degree difference in lie angle between each club. It turned out that his #6 was the same lie as his #5. To correct this we flattened the #4 + #5 irons ½ degree so that the #6 fitted into the incremental pattern of ½ degree between each iron. After this Tim requested the whole set be flattened 1 degree as he felt the irons were too `toe` in the air.

Open qualifier Steve Cipa used a John Letters Tour staff bag for the last two rounds of the championship. It was great for us as a brand as he was paired with John Letters Staff Player Sam Torrance. Both players can be seen practicing on the range in the photo:

Sunday 25th July- A quieter day today mainly as it was Championship day and not many of the pros wanted to tinker on money day! Ian Woosnam requested his #2 iron to be moved from 24 to 23 degree, we had a rare chance to see our work in action later on when Ian hit the #2 iron off the 17th tee.

The British Senior Open proved to be a very successful event for us. We distributed 10,000 packs of John Letter’s tees and ball markers free to the public and a good number of caddies took a John Letters towel to put onto their pros bag. The new T9+ range was warmly received with many of the players requesting the club with their preferred shaft and set up. We had a lot of interest from the American pros regarding the history of the brand and our plans for the future; they showed genuine interest in the Scottish roots of the game. I know that a few of the Americans coupled the event with some sightseeing, Glamis castle and Edinburgh seemed to be the favoured destinations.

Once the final pairing of Bernard Langer and Corey Pavin had finished practising on the range we packed up and made arrangements for the six hour drive back to head office and a deserved sleep!

John Letters Tour Team