In this interview we ask Sweet Wood Golf, makers of luxury golf equipment about their products and philosophy.
Can you share a little about how you entered the luxury golf market?
Sweet Wood: Sweet Wood Golf Company was founded in 2006 by several golf enthusiasts, historians and collectors. In response to the oversaturation of the golf market with high-tech clubs, gadgets and paraphernalia which essentially takes the “golfer” out of the equation. The partners at Sweet Wood Golf Company decided to develop a luxury line of handmade clubs, leather goods and apparel which emphasized craftsmanship and high quality traditional components and materials.
How are you finding player’s reactions to your style?
Sweet Wood: Probably our greatest compliment/insult we get is that our products are “too beautiful to play with” or use. Obviously we do make our clubs to be used on the links but we can’t stand in the way of folks who want to keep them as beautiful display pieces. The beauty of our products, their uniqueness, the overall high quality & materials and without a doubt our abilities to FULLY customize of products from the ground up. In this way we take a philosophy similar to the Kenneth Smith company who had the slogan “Handmade for You”. Thus, we maintain an impressive list of who’s who golfers, celebrities, corporations and organizations that is quite large for a company as small as we are.
Seems like you’re more focused on the feel of Old Tom Morris than Tiger Woods. That’s a great historical feeling. How has this influenced Sweet Wood?
Sweet Wood: By restoring elements of traditional golf products in a very modern way we feel as though we are regenerating an interest in “FEEL BASED or SENSORY GOLF”.
The sensory experience and club/shaft responsiveness a golfer could expect by using hickory clubs with leather grips and forged steel heads is unparalleled with today’s high tech equipment. So the idea came about to try to take the best of both the traditional & the high tech and fuse them together to create modern/traditional equipment.
In a world of graphite and microfiber, where does a hickory driver fit?
Sweet Wood: Currently, we do not manufacture Hickory Drivers. But in short, the flex of Hickory of our Hickory shafts used on our Irons falls neatly in FLEX between that of Steel and Graphite, and is a perfect compromise as far as vibration dampening is concerned due to the naturally complex cellular matrix of Hickory Wood. That is why Hickory is used in Hammers & Axe Handles as it is resilient and dampens vibration.
How do the clubs hit? What’s the feedback like?
Sweet Wood: Folks are always SHOCKED at how well our clubs hit. We spent almost 2 years of R&D to make sure the were weighted/balanced correctly and were fully playable. Most folks state that they hit just as good (if not better) than the stiff steel shafted clubs they currently own. As far as responsiveness these clubs “talk to you”. This is because we use 8620 Soft Carbon Steel Heads, 100% Hickory Wood Shafts and Leather Performance Grips where we suggest to NOT use a golf glove. In this way, the clubs becoming a tuning fork for good and badly stuck shots. You hit is well, you know. You it it badly, the club really lets you know as well. In this way, our clubs serve as good training aids to many golfers.
Kerim Antoine Kfuri President Sweet Wood Golf Company ph: 917 776 6217 KerimKfuri@SweetWoodGolf.com www.sweetwoodgolf.com