Golf Club Designers

Howzat

I'd Rather Be At The Hideaway
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Seems like only a handful of these guys get credit and that is usually becuase they slap their name on the club. I wanted to have a thread dedicated to those indivuduals that come up with the ideas that allow us to play all the cool gear available. Who are some of you favorite club designers and why? If you don't know who designed your favorite club than maybe others here can tell you or we at THP can find out.
 
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Anyone know who designed the R9 SuperTri?
 
Bruce Sizmore putters are awesome especially when he was designing with SuperStroke the diamond milling felt like no other putter I have used.

Also whoever is the person behind the 2013 X-Forged and the Apex Pro's is fantastic.
 
The way I've been swinging it lately, whoever designed the 913D2 deserves several beers from me. And whoever was designing irons at Adams in 2012-ish - love my CB3's and the absolutely gorgeous CMB's.
 
The way I've been swinging it lately, whoever designed the 913D2 deserves several beers from me. And whoever was designing irons at Adams in 2012-ish - love my CB3's and the absolutely gorgeous CMB's.

Those were probably Michael Vrska irons. He is at Wilson Staff now.
 
Tom Stites - http://www.golf.com/equipment/nike-golfs-key-designer


http://www.pga.com/golf-equipment/golf-buzz/tom-stites-retires-nike-golf-chief-club-designer

Tom Stites, the chief club designer at Nike Golf since the company entered the club business, is retiring. He will stay with the company as a consultant. ''Officially, Tom has retired,'' Rob Arluna, Nike Golf's global golf club business director, confirmed to Golfweek. ''He is moving into a consultant's role, and we call him the Chief Imagineer.''

Stites made his name as a club designer at Ben Hogan Golf in Fort Worth – under the watchful eye of Hogan himself – and had formed a popular boutique firm, Impact Golf Technologies, when Nike knocked on his door in 2001. Nike Golf's first club launches under Stites came in 2002, and he has overseen the development of every major Nike golf club – including all the ones in Tiger Woods' bag – ever since.

Nike Golf established a research and development facility nicknamed ''the Oven'' in Fort Worth, where Stites has created dozens of clubs, including the recent VR_S Covert line of woods and irons. Stites will continue to work there, but instead of focusing on day-to-day operations going forward, he'll concentrate on conjuring up the clubs that'll make up Nike's long-term future.

Stites' move has been in the works for some months and, late last year, Nike Golf hired Cleveland Golf veteran Nate Radcliffe as director of engineering for golf clubs. Also, Golfweek said, Mario Lafortune, director of the Nike Sport Research Laboratory for the past 15 years, will move to Fort Worth from Nike's headquarters in Oregon.
 
It is interesting about Stites is you can see instantly now that he is gone that the clubs have taken on a Nate Radcliffe look, sound and feel to them. Nate previously with Cleveland Golf. Heck, the new Vapor Speed is so much like the Cleveland MTs in sound, feel and performance.
 
Those were probably Michael Vrska irons. He is at Wilson Staff now.

I guess that means my bag is extremely Vrska'ed out, since IIRC one of his first projects at Wilson Staff was the M3 line.
 
Sounds like a lot of club designers are like football coaches. Leave one place like NY and pop up in Buffalo or leave Adams and move to Wilson Staff. Is there many new young guys designing clubs? It wouldn't sway a purchase but curious to know.
 
It's threads like these that set THP above all other golf sites. So many people with so much more knowledge than I could ever imagine. I don't know anything about club designers but definitely interested to hear what people know!
 
It is interesting about Stites is you can see instantly now that he is gone that the clubs have taken on a Nate Radcliffe look, sound and feel to them. Nate previously with Cleveland Golf. Heck, the new Vapor Speed is so much like the Cleveland MTs in sound, feel and performance.

I always think of the Slingblade when I think of Stites. Just crazy out of the box ideas. I think he designed that iron before he was working for Nike.

These guys, club designers, not just Stites, will create something that works, but won't sell, and just let it collect dust until it's something they can modify, or the public perception changes to accept the radical idea(s).
 
I don't know exactly which clubs he is responsible for, but playing golf with John Pergande of Wilson Staff was awesome. His title is Manager of Golf Club R&D. A wealth of knowledge and a heck of a nice guy.
 
The way I've been swinging it lately, whoever designed the 913D2 deserves several beers from me. And whoever was designing irons at Adams in 2012-ish - love my CB3's and the absolutely gorgeous CMB's.
I'm also curious who is designing Titleist's gear and where they came from.

Also, who is behind the beauty that is Bridgestone's and Srixons irons? Just superb work.
 
It's threads like these that set THP above all other golf sites. So many people with so much more knowledge than I could ever imagine. I don't know anything about club designers but definitely interested to hear what people know!

That is what I love about THP. So much knowledge and if the answer is not known, Josh will just go to the source and get the right info.
 
From an aesthetics stand point I really like Stites and the guys at Mizuno, from a performance standpoint I like the guy that did the 2013 Xforged and the Mizuno MP-68s, they are both very functional in the hands of an amateur.
 
VAS irons....I want to shake that guy's hand. They're tremendously unique. And Corey Pavin won a major with them, if I recall.
 
I don't know exactly which clubs he is responsible for, but playing golf with John Pergande of Wilson Staff was awesome. His title is Manager of Golf Club R&D. A wealth of knowledge and a heck of a nice guy.

He is one of their main iron guys. A great guy with a great mind for clubs.
 
Karsten Solheim. The Anser putter and K1 irons changed the game and still impact club design to this day.
 
Gene Sarazen's idea to add extra material to the wedge to create a "sand wedge" was a game chamger. And not just in sand play, it was a big step in understanding bounce and what it does for your game.
 
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