In fact, I did a lot of business with several private clubs -CC's. Mostly it was loft and lie and tricky reshafts - "tricky" in that back in the past there were still a lot of real, wooden headed clubs. So there was plenty of re-whipping, re-weighting, refinishing and some reshafting. There even was, gasp! actual wrapped leather grips on underlisting! Imagine doing that these days! I'd guess there aren't a dozen guys on these forums who have a clue as to how to work on a real, wooden club. I mean no disrespect, I thinks it's simply the way of things.
Of course today's clubs are a cakewalk to work on. Metal headed drivers and fairways and utilities are simple and not very time-consuming. Certainly not challenging. Which leads me, naturally, to the "custom club maker". Note I didn't say "club fitter". I'm talking about the guy who calls himself a custom clubmaker who's little more than a cut, glue and stick guy. I can't imagine how that guy can stay in business and make enough money to support himself, let alone a workforce and a family. I was fortunate to come into the biz when there was still plenty of "real" club work, as mentioned above, and I was fortunate enough to sell out my biz at a time when work was plentiful for a custom shop. As it happens though, the guy who bought me out got into the OEM sales end of the biz because there wasn't enough repair work. So the combination of club repair, custom fitting, OEM sales, and long hours make my buyer marginally comfortable. He has one employee, full-time, a wife doing the books and making calls on golf courses for business. They're doing o.k. But if they were doing what I did only, they'd be out of biz poste haste. I'm out of it now and glad to be out. The little L&L stuff I do, the occasional reshaft, spine, frequency matching keeps me in beer money. But to get back in the biz again? Today? No way my friend. TFlan --- Tom Wishon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >
