In the Studio with Jesse Ortiz

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.