Clubmate Golf Australia

[To view Tom's career-long design "firsts" please visit this page.]

First Driver with flat-topline crown surface to reduce crown flexing at impact
2003 - Wishon Golf 915CFE Forged Beta Titanium Drivers
First forged iron design to incorporate a 5-step forging process for improved metal density and face profile consistency in finishing
2003 - Wishon Golf 550C and 550M forged carbon steel irons
GRT face design by TWGT delivers far more consistent launch angle
2004 - Wishon Golf 515GRT
The first 0.830 COR fairway woodhead design
2004 - Wishon Golf 515GRT Fairway Woods
True Moment of Intertia matching of golf clubs
2004 - MOI
The first variable thickness high COR iron design
2004 - Wishon Golf 770CFE Irons
Matching hybrid shaft with hybrid clubhead design
2004 - Wishon Golf 321Li Hybrid Long Irons
The most rear-located CG driver for higher launch angle with higher ball speed
2004 - Wishon Golf 949G/Ti Driver
Interchangeable loft faces on putters
2004 - Wishon Golf CLF Series Putters
The most complete and significant control of driver launch angle and flight
2004 - Wishon Golf 715CLC Driver

First Driver with flat-topline crown surface to reduce crown flexing at impact
2002 - Wishon Golf 915CFE Forged Beta Titanium Drivers.
A little known source of energy loss and possible distance loss during driver impact with the ball that can reduce the ball speed even from a high C.O.R. face design comes from a high face impact that causes the traditionally curved shape of the top crown to "flex". With the advent of much taller face, larger driver head shapes, this possible energy loss became even greater.
To counteract this and allow the high C.O.R. face to perform at its optimal level for generating maximum ball speed, the Wishon Golf 915CFE forged Beta Ti drivers were designed so that the traditional curve upward of the top crown surface of the heads was created to be a flatter shape for the first 10mm back from the top of the face. By greatly reducing this typical top surface curve, a greater "brace" was created to better resist and prevent the top crown surface of the head from flexing when impact occurred on the top half of the face.
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First forged iron design to incorporate a 5-step forging process for improved metal density and face profile consistency in finishing
2002 - Wishon Golf 550C and 550M forged carbon steel irons
In 2002, Tom was asked by one of the top production foundries for which he consulted to help solve a problem for one of the foundry's other clubmaking company customers. This company was trying to promote a brand new forged iron on the PGA Tour but had been receiving criticism from a number of the tour players that the face profile shape at the leading edge position of the different heads in the set was too inconsistent. After researching the problem, Tom determined the inconsistency in the shape of the leading edge came because the preparation of the heads required the foundry's workers to grind too much off the bottom of the sole directly under the leading edge to remove the wide flat section left from the shearing off of the excess steel after the typical 4th and final step in the forging process. By making another forging die mold, and forging the heads one more time, the area under the leading edge of the face which had to be ground to blend with the sole radius was greatly reduced to a very small section of steel. Thus the workers could more accurately remove this small section of excess steel without changing the profile of the leading edge, and the result was the foundry could now deliver heads which demonstrated a very high level of consistency for overall face profile shape.
However, an additional benefit of adding a 5th step to the forging process was not realized until the Wishon Golf 550C and 550M forged cavity and muscle-back irons were being designed and tested in the early fall of 2002. While the 550's displayed the same high level of face profile consistency known to come from the additional forging step, golfers involved in the testing of the 550's reported a much softer feel of impact than they had ever felt with previous forged carbon steel irons.

Investigation of these claims eventually showed that by forging the heads one more time than had been done before, the carbon steel was packed much tighter in the 5th die mold. Photomicrograph analysis showed the additional 5th forging step had also compressed the steel in each head much tighter, which had the effect of greatly reducing the natural 'voids' (microscopic holes) inside the grain structure of the steel that are present in all forged ironheads. By eliminating a huge number of these voids, the internal vibrations from impact were also reduced, which had the effect of transmitting a softer and more solid feel to the golfer.
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GRT face design by TWGT delivers far more consistent launch angle
2004 - Wishon Golf 515GRT
Wishon Golf demonstrated the knowledge and the courage to buck more than 100 years of woodhead face design to eliminate the old vertical roll radius and replace it with a unique vertical face design that ensures consistent loft up and down the face. As driver heads have grown from 200cc to 460cc in the past 15 years, driver face heights have increased from 1.5" (39mm) to 2.4" (60mm). That means when all other companies choose to use a typical 10-12" vertical roll radius up and down the face, the loft of the driver will be 3-4 degrees lower on the bottom of the face and 3-4 degrees higher on the top of the face.
For golfers to achieve a consistent launch angle with such drivers, they have to develop the skill to hit the ball in an area the size of a thumbtack! Wishon Golf's Graduated Roll Technology (GRT) face design is now incorporated on virtually all of the company's driver and woodhead designs and delivers a far more consistent launch angle for much more consistent distance and flight for every single golfer.
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The first 0.830 COR fairway woodhead design
2004 - Wishon Golf 515GRT Fairway Woods
In 1999, Tom Wishon became the first to design a high strength steel driver that exceeded the USGA's limit for COR. In 2004 Wishon Golf elevated its skill in woodhead face design by creating the first fairway woods to reach the USGA's 0.830 COR/257 CT limit. Previously thought to be impossible because of the much smaller face area of fairway woods, Wishon Golf achieved the "hot fairway wood face" breakthrough by combining a forged cup-face construction with a vertically flat 0 Roll and a totally new high strength steel alloy from Carpenter Steel. Launch monitor testing reveals a ball velocity increase of 4mph with the 515GRT fairway woods over some of the industry's brand name fairway woods, and golfers who have been custom fit with the 515GRT fairway woods are completely amazed that such a distance increase is now theirs.top of page

True Moment of Intertia matching of golf clubs
2004 - MOI
Engineers with a working knowledge of golf clubs have long known that matching all clubs in the set to Moment of Inertia (MOI) is superior to matching all clubs by swingweight. By building all clubs in a golfer's set to have the same MOI, each club will swing with exactly the same feel and effort from the golfer. Swingweight matching cannot do that, so the golfer has to use a different effort to swing each club. MOI matching is truly a custom fitting parameter because each golfer has a different combination of strength, athletic ability and swing tempo.
MOI matched clubs must be individually fit to each golfer so that the benefit of more consistent on-center hits will be achieved by each golfer. Real MOI matching has never been pursued by any OEM because their business model is to make standard made golf clubs. By developing the golf industry's first MOI Matching System, TWGT has enabled professional and serious custom clubmakers to offer golfers a manner of matching swing feel and improving their on-center hit percentage.
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The first variable thickness high COR iron design
2004 - Wishon Golf 770CFE Irons
Ironhead design has languished in countless variations of heel and toe weighting for decades. With the 770CFE Wishon Golf has opened an entirely new door to improving the performance of irons by proving that superior face engineering can increase the COR of an iron, and with it deliver a full club more distance to all golfers. In addition, by creating the faces of the 770CFE irons from different steel alloys and CNC-machining the faces thin on the perimeter and 0.4mm thicker in the center, Wishon Golf has improved ball velocity from off-center hits for all heads in the set regardless of loft angle change. The 770CFE irons won the "Top Concept" award for clubhead design from Golf Tips magazine and were recognized by Golf Digest as being the "Best Iron from a New Company" in their noteworthy Hot List 2005 issue (GD Feb 2005).top of page

Matching hybrid shaft with hybrid clubhead design
2004 - Wishon Golf 321Li Hybrid Long Irons
While hybrid clubs have achieved a high demand in the golf business, Wishon Golf developed a true hybrid shaft to pull the most performance from their 321Li hybrid ironheads. The shaft can be a major contributor to increasing launch angle but only if its design is a result of true "thinking outside the box". By departing from the typical larger tip diameter construction of all iron shafts and incorporating a smaller 0.335" tip design in their GI-335 shaft for the 321Li hybrids, Wishon Golf was able to offer golfers a 3.5 degree higher launch angle than any other hybrid of the same loft tested with a conventional iron shaft. Thus the combination of the unique small tip GI-335 iron shaft with the extreme rear-CG design of the 321Li hybrid heads, TWGT once again proved its ability to understand ALL of the elements of golf club performance to create a truly easy-to-hit long iron replacement that can be experienced by golfers from the very first hit.

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The most rear-located CG driver for higher launch angle with higher ball speed
2004 - Wishon Golf 949G/Ti Driver
In its technical writing from its ongoing R&D, Wishon Golf exposed the industry to the fact that a rear-located Center of Gravity has more of an effect on increasing launch angle than a low CG position. From that, TWGT discovered that it was possible to combine a much more rear-located CG with a conventional loft angle and achieve a higher launch angle previously only possible from increasing the loft. Increasing loft automatically lowers the ball velocity for all golfers.
By pushing the CG back to an amazing 44mm behind the face in the 949G/Ti driver, Wishon Golf has been able to deliver the launch angle of a 12 degree driver with the ball velocity of a driver with a loft of 10.5 degrees. As a result, golfers custom fit to the 949 G/Ti have experienced the best of all worlds - higher launch angle for more carry distance with a higher ball speed not previously possible with that optimum launch angle. The 949G/Ti CG is 6mm (1/4") farther back from the face than the CG of the Callaway Fusion™ driver and thus stands as the most rear CG designed driver measured in the game today.
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Interchangeable loft faces on putters
2005 - Wishon Golf CLF Series Putters
Superb putters know the importance of using the proper loft angle on the face of their putter. Without the correct putter loft, the ball will never roll smoothly and consistently, which is a key to reducing 3-putts, and making more putts overall.
Almost every putter offered in the game today is made with 3 or 4 degrees of loft. Yet golfers do not all arrive at impact with the putter with their hands in the same position. Golfers who forward press the putter compared to those who putt with a more "wristy stroke" cannot possibly roll the ball consistently using the same putter loft. By creating the CLF putters with the option of a full interchangeable face, CNC-Machined to accuracy in 2, 4 and 6 degree loft angles, Wishon Golf has afforded golfers a real chance to find the loft angle that rolls the ball smoother and more consistently, which will translate into lower scores.
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The most complete and significant control of driver launch angle and flight
2005 - Wishon Golf 715CLC Driver
Weight adjustment drivers that offer a maximum of 24 grams to move around the head will only allow the slightest of visible ball flight adjustment. To a tour pro, yes, a 24 gram movement will create a visible flight change because they all have such consistent ball flight that they will notice a 3-4 yard movement of the ball in flight. To the average golfer who's normal ball flight varies from swing-to-swing, no real change will be seen from moving only 24 grams around the outside of the head.

Wishon Golf's 715CLC driver incorporates up to as much as 40 grams of discretionary weight that can be moved virtually anywhere around the inside of the head cavity. As a result, a change of 3.5 degrees in launch angle can be seen between the "at face" to "away from face" positions of the weight arm, and a correction of up to 20 yards of sideways ball movement can be made when the weight arm is in its heel or toe bias positions. Designed to be custom fit to the golfer's needs by serious custom clubmakers, the 715CLC departs from the typical weight screw design on the outside of the head and offers a more dramatic adjustment in ball flight through a much more unique internal weight design.

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Tom Wishon's Design Technology "Firsts" Since Starting TWGT in 2003