In the Studio with Jesse Ortiz

Collaboration with the Guru

Jesse — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:34:20 +0000

We are two weeks away from introducing a revolutionary design that, I believe, will change the way wedges are made.

Seven years ago I worked with short game guru, Dave Pelz on his wedges. Dave is a mentor to Phil and Vijay, among other Tour pros. He explained to me that the pros change their wedges every month or so…and some even every two or three weeks. Why? Because the face texture and the edge of their grooves wear out within a few hundred hits, and trajectory and spin control are compromised.

Golf, being a game of opposites, is challenging enough without fighting your equipment. The way to lower your scores, is to work on your short game, where 65% of your strokes are taken. Practice makes perfect, but the more you practice, the more your wedges will deteriorate….thus making finesse shots more difficult to execute.

Everyone has hit a great chip shot to a tough pin placement and been shocked to see the ball run way past the hole. The reason could very well be your worn out wedge. If the pros change so often, shouldn’t that be sending a message to you? If you think you aren’t good enough to notice a difference, then you probably don’t have the confidence that you can ever improve as a player.

That’s a bad thought. Nearly everyone can notice a difference in their chipping game when they get a new wedge, but as it wears, we become used to pitching the ball shorter and shorter from the pin and ‘letting it run up’. The basis of a good short game is to get the ball to land and stop as close to the pin as possible… to make the putt.

You can’t do that consistently with a worn out wedge. Sure, the pros get their equipment for free, so they can change frequently; but what about the rest of us? That’s what our new wedges are all about. Fitted with an indestructable aerospace material our faces will provide consistent spin and ‘bite’ characteristics for years instead of months. Log onto bobbyjonesgolf.com for more details. The future of wedge design is here.

Hybrid-Fairway Wood Nonsense

Jesse — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:20:08 +0000

The latest scam from manufacturers is the marketing of a new type of product called a fairway-hybrid club. It’s a clear attempt to extract more money from consumers for a product that not only serves no purpose, but actuallly will be detrimental to your game. It’s an unashamed move to capitalize on the hybrid craze in Golf.

Hybrids came into being because long irons had become too difficult to hit. Why? Because in the name of ‘technology’, manufacturers strengthened the lofts of irons to make them longer in distance. They also made them a half inch or one inch longer in length and ‘Presto! You’re 15 yards longer!’

It’s just the Law of Physics that a longer and stronger lofted club will go further. Ther’s no magic in this! No one could hit a 1-iron 25 years ago, so what makes you think you can hit today’s 3-iron? They are virtually the same loft!

Hybrids are designed with wider bodies, lower and deeper CGs and wider soles that make them more forgiving than the long irons they have replaced. But these are the exact features that give fairway woods the advantage over hybrids. As the shaft length gets longer, your hands are farther away from the ball, making contact more difficult.

This is why we are making drivers 460 cc’s! It’s because we are farther from the ball and thus need a bigger head that creates a higher MOI with a larger hitting area to produce more consistent drives.

For this same reason, fairway woods need to be larger in the proper areas than hybrids. Fairway woods are usually an inch and a half to two inches longer than hybrids. These new fairway-hybrids are actually smaller than normal fairway woods in critical dimensions such as body width and face area so as to make consistent contact MORE difficult.

Hybrids should replace your long irons, they should not replace your fairway woods! It appears that logic has taken flight at these companies, but when a company’s total existence is wrapped under the ‘Hybrid flag’ it will stop at nothing to expand their product line confusing consumers with the hope of gaining sales.

Next time you see one of those fairway-hybrid ads, ask that company if they also sell snake-oil products that cure baldness and impotency. It would not be a stretch for them. buy cialis buy cialis buy levitra buy levitra buy propecia buy propecia buy soma buy soma buy levitra buy cialis buy propecia buy levitra buy soma buy cialis buy propecia buy levitra buy soma buy cialis buy levitra buy propecia buy soma

The Off Season continued…

Jesse — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:42:23 +0000

The Off Season

So while the golf season slips into hibernation, the production of products is in high gear. It is the time of year when surprises are not welcome. Polishing and finishing issues that were long thought to have been solved arrive with the first run of final samples.

The blood pressure rises when I see a detail in the graphics that was ‘agreed upon’ months ago in long distance phone calls and emails, but has not made it to the final product.
My stomach gets that sinking feeing when that special face material that takes four months to get, is now delayed six more weeks! It’s just another wonderful day in the golf business.

On Innovation and Asia

Since I can’t afford to be a follower in this Industry, the price I pay to be an innovator is reflected in my thinning hair and my growing fondness of wine. I used to be particular about my wines, but recently the golf biz has made me much less particular. Although I abhor the travel to Asia, the suppliers I have cultivated over the past 15 years or so, treat me royally on my visits.

This despite the fact that I tend to passionately take over production meetings and the tooling and machine shop activities. My hosts fondly have a work apron with my name on it because they know that I come to work. One of the perks of the trips over are the great restaurants we go to every evening. I assure you that the cuisine is much different than the fare we get in the states; and remember, I live in San Francisco, so I know my Chinese food.

The abundance of seafood and fresh vegetables is incredible. Nearly all of the restaurants have huge holding tanks on display for the vast varieties of sea life, some recognizable, that will be presented in the middle of the table to be shared by all. Platter after platter appear on the centerpiece lazy susan with my hosts always spinning the new offering to me first. My frequent protests declaring that have been there so often that I should no longer be considered an honored guest, first go unoticed, and then loudly denounced.

Every three minutes, or so it seems, one of my hosts raises a glass and assertively say, “Jesse, cheers!’ Then after five or six toasts, comes the one I dread. It’s the , “Jesse, cheers….Gambay!”, which means bottoms up. One of my longtime suppliers likes fine Cognac and his group pours it during dinner into corressponding glasses like you would wine. I make sure I have no time scheduled at the machines the next day.

The New Products

This Fall season has been especially busy due to the production of our new driver and wedge collections. I’m very excited about both because they are so different from anything on the market. The driver is X-rated. It’s an extended, expananded and extraordinarily shaped design based on my original triangular version of 2004.

Although it somewhat shocks the senses when first gazed upon, within a few minutes, its grace, beauty and aerodynamics become so appealing that every other driver immeduiately looks stubby, bulky and very ordinary. The triangular shape provides the perfect takeaway path for your backswing, and locates the club’s CG in the optimim location for the proper rotational movement through the impact zone.

Square designs compromise the gear effect by creating pushes or pulls, rather than the corrective forces inherrent in a tripod designed body. But don’t believe me, just try one yourself in February; or if you live up North somewhere, try it in April. By then your snowbird buddies back from wintering in Florida or the Desert will have been using one and waiting on the first tee to tak advantage of your hibernated game.

Travel Log: Asia

Jesse — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:00:42 +0000

Fall in Northern California signals shorter days and less intense sunlight. The smell of woodburning fireplaces fills the evenings. Although we enjoy some of the best weather of the year in October, clearly the season to enjoy playing golf is winding down.

However for equipment designers, it is kicking into high gear. I travel to Asia about three to four times a year. Living on the West Coast is an advantage, but it’s still a 14 hour flight and a 15 hour time change. I’m not getting any younger, and the recovery time is taking longer. Still, it is a necessity to be ther this time of year. It’s the final walk-through before the flipping the switch on full production on the new models for next season.

With leadtimes running nearly 12 weeks for product, manufacturers must book capacity at foundries now, to have product for assembly in late January so they can deliver in early march. Since I keep my models longer than my competitors, not every October is hectic, but this one has been. I’m introducing a new collection of drivers and wedges.

When all the foundries were in the US, production seemed to be easier to schedule. The Japanese and European markets have long been supplied by the Asian factories, but today, we are all using the same sourceing partners. It’s all about economics. I wish it weren’t, but American consumers want innovation and quality at inexpensive prices.

Now you may think that a $400 driver or a $200 hybrid is not cheap, but if the components were were made in the US, they would be nearlu double the price…and the extra cost would not be lining my pockets! Precision tooling and part manufacturing in the US is more costly than what consumers wish to pay for a golf club.

Nearly all of the companies have agents in place at the factories that represent them to oversee QC and production issues on a daily basis. This may sound like a good idea, but familiarity breeds complacency, and often the ‘in-house’ agents form loyalties that supercede those of their US employers. I prefer to be hands on and get into the machine shop and onto the production line to inspect the parts and instruct the workers how best to finish them.

Over the years, many of my techniques learned from my persimmon days, have been taught to the various factories, making their way into my competitiors’ products and improving them. Polishing techniques and metalurgical designs have become the melting pot that is the Asian production of golf parts to the world.