Scratch’s Dynamic Duo of Ari Techner and Jeff McCoy Named Chief Designers for Sweet Wood’s Soon-To-Be-Launched Hickory Shaft Line
Eugene, OR, April 19, 2006 – Scratch Golf (www.scratchgolf.com) announced today that Company CEO Ari Techner and Scratch’s esteemed Master Grinder Jeff McCoy have been enlisted by the Sweet Wood Golf Company to create a new line of irons specifically designed for use with hickory shafts. Techner and McCoy make up the design team that has successfully brought Scratch Golf’s innovative sole grind / swing type matching technology to the golf industry. Praised for Scratch Golf equipment’s unique performance and attention to beauty and detail, Techner and McCoy have the credentials to bring to life Sweet Wood Golf’s vision for its line. Sweet Wood Golf Company founder and CEO Kerim Antoine Kfuri has stated that his company’s mission is to "provide old world style (and feel) with modern playability". Sweet Wood Golf Company’s limited edition, first 100 set release is positioned for early June 2007.
"Jeff and I and everyone at Scratch Golf are very excited about this tremendous opportunity," Techner commented. "As a member of the small but proud minority of golfers that enjoy competing with hickory shafted clubs, I feel extremely fortunate to be involved with this unique opportunity to be a part of Sweet Wood’s vision of combining the tradition and feel of the origins of golf with a goal of a more contemporary performance result. I have been competing with hickory ‘sticks’ for the past six months or so and while it is challenging, I really enjoy the experience of using hickory. We at Scratch look forward to being a part of Sweet Wood’s aim to get more and more golfers to try hickory and with the irons we have designed, we feel that we can certainly enhance their progress toward that goal."
"We at Sweet Wood are truly excited to have Ari Techner and Jeff McCoy of Scratch Golf onboard as our chief designers," stated Sweet Wood Golf Company founder Kerim Antoine Kfuri. "Having played their equipment and having watched Scratch Golf’s rise in the golf industry this year, I am confident that we are in good hands and that we will provide an exciting new product for many golfers. Ari’s passion for hickory led to the crossing of our paths when he called me to inquire about a set of our clubs. That conversation led to discussions about Sweet Wood’s goals and needs. I was then introduced to Jeff McCoy and invited to watch him work his grinding magic. The man is truly a wizard at the grinding wheel. I knew right then that this was a perfect fit and that Jeff and Ari were meant to be our design partners. It is a tremendous honor to have them on board and to be working with them and the entire Scratch Golf team."
"Our goal in designing these new irons for the Sweet Wood Golf Company was to bring some of the technological advances of our modern era to a performance-oriented hickory iron set," McCoy summarized. "The challenges included some of the ‘inconsistencies’ associated with hickory as well as the fact that the hosel on a hickory shafted iron needs to be longer and wider. This necessitated the creation of special tooling to manufacture these iron heads as every other iron head in existence today is meant to match steel or graphite shaft specifications. After testing, we are confident that we have achieved our goal of creating a modern playing iron head for a classic hickory shaft. It was a lot of fun working on this project and I came away from it feeling that more golf enthusiasts would enjoy playing with hickory shafts if they were using a modern technology head that was designed to work with and enhance the performance features of hickory shafts. I would encourage any golfer that respects and admires the tradition of the game to acquire one of these initial 100, limited edition sets of Sweet Wood Golf irons."
For more information on Sweet Wood Golf, visit www.SweetWoodGolf.com.
Sweet Wood Golf Company Limited Edition "Performance Hickories"
â?¢ Retail Price — $1,499
â?¢ 3-PW
About Scratch Golf
Scratch Golf is a premium golf equipment manufacturer dedicated to providing golfers with wedges available in an unprecedented five different grind options. Having made over 3,000 custom wedges, Scratch Golf was able to create a simple system whereby golfers can match their swing characteristics to the right grind for them. Further, Scratch Golf wedges offer outstanding "feel" due to the use of truly forged 1018 Soft Carbon Steel in the Scratch Golf manufacturing process. While many other golf companies offer products that are "form forged" (or a combination of cast and forged that they call forged), Scratch Golf insists on providing wedges that offer the precise grain patterns and feel that only a truly forged golf club can provide.
Scratch Golf’s Tour Department has built wedges for many players on various PGA Tours. In 2006 Scratch Golf has become the fastest growing wedge on the PGA Tours and earned numerous top tens, including a top ten at the prestigious 2006 PGA Nationwide Tour Championship. At the 2006 PGA Tour Q-School qualifying tournament, Scratch Golf wedges were used to earn a tie for 8th place, which provided that golfer with exempt status on the PGA Tour for 2007.
Scratch Golf wedges were also in the bag of the 2006 U.S. Boys Junior Amateur Champion in July of 2006 and a 54-degree Scratch Golf wedge was used by that champion to hole out from 104-yards in the final round of the Junior Am. Both the Boys and Girls 2006 Junior Amateur "Players of the Year" used Scratch Golf wedges.
For more information on Scratch Golf, please contact Vice President of Sales and Communications Steve Zunich at (800) 834-4834 or via e-mail at stevez@scratchgolf.com.
Contact:
Julia Angelen
The Z Group PR
(760) 243-7981
zgroup@verizonmail.com
