Clubmate Golf Australia

Because the component clubmaking industry has never been able to compete with the vast marketing programs of the large assembled club companies, there is a tendency among golfers to believe that all of the significant design achievements and breakthroughs in golf equipment and clubmaking come only from the large brand name golf companies.

In an effort to offer you more accurate information in your quest for true game improvement, below is a complete overview of the various clubmaking firsts that have come from the design and clubmaking technology experience of Tom Wishon Golf Technology.

[Click a title below for more information. To view Tom's design firsts since starting TWGT in 2002, please click here.]

First injection molded polymer and metal ironhead
1989 - Dynacraft* IMI-703 (prototype model only)
First metal woods with power chamber attached behind the face
1990 - Dynacraft Greyshadow Wood
First vertical flow weighted iron set
1990 - Dynacraft Genesis Irons
First set of irons to use different steel alloys for different heads within the same set
1991 - Dynacraft Vari-Steel Irons
First set of irons to combine hollow and solid body construction within the same set
1991 - Dynacraft Innerdyn Irons
First set of metal woods and irons with a face insert
1992 - Dynacraft Coalition Woods and Irons
First one-piece investment cast undercut cavity ironhead
1994 - Golfsmith** RMC270 Irons
First wooden driver head >250cc in volume/size
1994 - Golfsmith Long Jon Laminated Maple + Graphite Insert Driver
First metal wood manufactured with no internal foam filling
1994 - Golfsmith Solid Tone Stainless Steel Driver
First set of ironheads with all CNC machined faces
1995 - Golfsmith CNC5000 Irons
First graphite driver with heel weighting for slice correction
1995 - Golfsmith AccuCore Graphite Driver
First graphite + metal hollow cavity driver head
1995 - Golfsmith Power Link Driver
First metal wood with adjustable hosel sleeve for customizing the face angle and lie
1995 - Golfsmith AHT metal woods
First driver family designed with specifications matched to different golfer swing speeds
1995 - Golfsmith Designated Drivers
First titanium metal wood introduced in the USA
1994 - Golfsmith Titanium 230 Driver
First putter head with polymer backed face
1995 - Golfsmith Insulator Putter
First iron set with progressive topline thickness for vertical center of gravity change
1996 - Golfsmith XTR II Plus Irons
First stainless steel driver head to exceed 225cc volume
1996 - Golfsmith SS-235 Driver
First heel weighted metal wood driver for slice correction
1996 - Golfsmith AccuCore Driver
First metal wood with titanium wrap-around face construction
1997 - Golfsmith BlackHawk Driver
First metal wood with stainless body + aluminum hosel
1997 - Golfsmith Bi-Metallic woods
First metal woodhead to exceed 350cc volume
1997 - Golfsmith Long Jon jumbo metal driver
First metal wood with aluminum body joined to stainless steel sole for ultra-low CG
1997 - Golfsmith Super Track Woods
First titanium iron with bi-metal construction introduced in the USA
1997 - Golfsmith MWD1000 Irons
First clubheads designed with weight addition cavity at the base of the hosel
All new Golfsmith, Penick clubhead models starting in 1997
First iron with titanium face insert + high density metal weighting bar for 3-Metal construction
1998 - Golfsmith BlackHawk Irons
First boron carbide metal matrix investment cast clubhead
1998 - Golfsmith Cermet 2000 Driver
First Driver with maraging steel alloy face to exceed 300cc in volume
1998 - Golfsmith Super Sonic Boom Driver
First beta grade titanium alloy driver introduced in the USA
1998 - Golfsmith Beta Titanium 255LT Driver
First iron manufactured with aluminum alloy body
1998 - Golfsmith TG System Irons
First iron with multiple face thickness variations for CG and weight distribution control
1998 - Golfsmith Jetstream 2 Irons
First set of metal woods matching stainless steel fairway woods with a titanium driver
1999 - Snake Eyes CMF Metal Woods
First Metal Wood to match face thickness to different golfer specific swing speed ranges
1999 - Snake Eyes Elasteel driver and 3 wood
First metal wood with wrap-around face construction forged from high strength steel
2000 - Golfsmith TI Steel 465
First iron and wood set with progressively moving tungsten weighting for specific flight performance
2000 - Lynx Black Cat MTW Woods and Irons; Harvey Penick Plus Irons; Golfsmith Sterling Irons
First utility driving iron with heel located tungsten weighting
2000 - Golfsmith XPC3 Driving Iron
First USGA C.O.R. non-conforming driver with steel alloy face construction
2000 - Snake Eyes AerMet CMF Drivers
First Thin Face Forged Steel Set of Irons
2001 - Snake Eyes Fire Forged Irons
First Putter head with vertical CG positioned at same height as the CG of the golf ball
2001 - Snake Eyes Straight In Putters
First putter head with ultra-low friction, ultra-thin face insert to reduce putt side spin
2002 - Golfsmith Friction Free Putter
2003 - Wishon Golf Smoooth Series Putters

To view Tom's design ‘firsts’ since starting TWGT in 2002, please click here.

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First injection molded polymer and metal ironhead
1989 - Dynacraft* IMI-703 (prototype model only)
Described in US patent #5,333,871, this was the golf industry’s first ironhead designed by injection molding a light and strong polymer material over a heavy steel sole and inner core piece. The intent was to create an ironhead with Center of Gravity and weight distribution that could be varied a lot more significantly than in any full homogenous metal or multi-metal construction.
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First metal woods with power chamber attached behind the face
1990 - Dynacraft Greyshadow Woods
This metal wood design incorporated a 5/8” diameter x 5/8” diameter steel cup permanently attached in the center of the face on the back side of the face of a 17-4 stainless steel investment cast set of metal woods. The purpose of the cup, or chamber behind the face was to ‘capture and concentrate’ energy from impact with the ball that could be directly behind the point of center face impact. While innovative in concept, and while the cup did contribute to a solid feel of impact, this was not exactly one of Tom’s designs that was founded in enough scientific fact to be considered technically significant.
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First vertical flow weighted iron set
1990 - Dynacraft Genesis Irons
Hundreds of sets of irons in the 1990s to present, many which have been made by a number of the largest golf companies, borrowed their weighting concept of progressing the placement of mass low on the long irons to higher on the short irons. The Genesis iron was the first in the golf industry to introduce such a concept of keeping the CG low on the less lofted heads to help increase launch angle, and the mass higher in the back cavity as loft increased to prevent hitting the ball too high with the high lofted irons in the set.
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First set of irons to use different steel alloys for different heads within the same set
1991 - Dynacraft Vari-Steel Irons
The Vari-Steel, short for variable steel alloys, was designed using 17-4 stainless steel for the body material of the long irons, 431 stainless for the middle irons and 1030 carbon steel for the short irons in the matched set. While most certainly a “pain” for the foundry to manufacture because of the requirement to change steel alloys in the investment casting process and monitor different heat treatment procedures for each segment of the set, the Vari-Steel irons employed the use of three different steel alloys in the same set to offer golfers a difference in ‘feel’ and material hardness through the set.
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First set of irons to combine hollow and solid body construction within the same set
1991 – Dynacraft Innerdyn Irons
Full sets of two-piece, investment cast hollow body irons brought about greater perimeter weighting and movement of the CG further back from the shaft – both proven features for game improvement for middle to higher handicap players. However, moving the CG further back from the shaft is not necessary in the higher loft irons, where the loft is enough to enable all levels of golfers to easily get the ball up. The Innerdyn design consisted of hollow body, rear-CG long irons with one-piece, solid body middle and short irons. The Innerdyn recognized that a low and rear-located CG was worthwhile in the longer, less lofted irons, but such a design feature is wasted on the irons where the normal loft increase and length decrease combine to make the iron easy-to-hit. Thus the game improvement features of the Innerdyn were offered were they were needed, not where they were not, and kept the total price of the set more affordable than all hollow iron set designs.
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First set of metal woods and irons with a face insert
1992 - Dynacraft Coalition Woods and Irons
In the early 1990s, the USGA modified their rules to allow face inserts made from a different material than the body of the head to become a part of the design of any clubhead made from metal. To do this required clubhead designers and their production foundries to learn all new manufacturing procedures. The Coalition woods and irons not only became the first full set of woods and irons with a separate striking insert installed in the faces. The design also brought about an improvement in clubhead weight distribution for performance improvement as well. BY removing a portion of the steel in the face and replacing it with a very light but strong polymer, more weight became available to be used in the enhancement of the clubhead’s perimeter weighting and CG location. By assisting the production foundry in the development of manufacturing methods and machinery to allow the Coalition to be made, the foundry hired Tom as a consultant in materials and manufacturing technology, a relationship which still exists between the two parties today.
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First one-piece investment cast undercut cavity ironhead
1994 - Golfsmith** RMC270 Irons
Ironheads with an undercut back cavity became a popular offering of many companies in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The first such ironhead design which attempted to “scoop out” mass from the back and position more weight farther behind the face to move the CG farther back from the shaft for a higher trajectory was the RMC270, which was designed by Tom approximately 5-6 years before undercut irons became a popular style of design with other companies in the golf equipment industry.
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First wooden driver head >250cc in volume/size
1994 - Golfsmith Long Jon Laminated Maple + Graphite Insert Driver
In the early to mid-1990s, the trend toward making larger driver heads had begun. Yet, the skills of the foundries and the use of lighter and stronger metals was not quite up to the task of keeping up with the market’s demand for even larger head shapes. While metal woodheads dominated in sales popularity, in the early 1990s there was still a worthwhile demand for wooden woodheads. Prior to the Long Jon, the largest wooden driver head was 200cc in volume. By using the stronger laminated maple for the woodhead, performing R&D to determine the maximum possible size of a mass-reduction cavity inside the wooden head, and using very light polymer in the face and striking areas of the head to reduce mass, the Long Jon was able to achieve a significantly larger head size at just over 250cc in volume.
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First metal wood manufactured with no internal foam filling
1994 - Golfsmith Solid Tone Stainless Steel Driver
Prior to 1994, all investment cast stainless steel drivers were manufactured with their internal cavity filled with urethane foam. This had been done since the beginning of stainless wood manufacture in the late 1970s to dampen the sound of impact from the metal woods, so that golfers making the switch from wooden heads to metal would not be greeted with such a dramatic change in the sound of hitting the ball. On the average size stainless steel driver, the weight of the urethane foam used to fill the internal cavity would range from 20-30 grams. Thus the weight of the foam had to be considered in the design of the metal wood, which in turn limited the weight distribution that could be incorporated in the design of the head. In 1994, Tom decided to depart completely from tradition by designing a stainless wood with no internal foam, so that the weight normally taken up by the foam could be used to increase the size and improve the off-center hit performance of the driver. As a result, the Solid Tone certainly had that – a very different and much higher pitched sound at impact which came from the elimination of the internal foam. Within 2 years, the rest of the golf industry followed suit and today, no metal wood in the golf industry is made with internal foam.
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First set of ironheads with all CNC machined faces
1995 - Golfsmith CNC5000 Irons
In the middle-1990s virtually all ironheads were manufactured by investment casting. While a very accurate process for repeating specifications and shapes in large production, the faces of investment cast irons at this time were never perfectly flat. In addition, in the middle 1990s the dispute between V- or U-shaped grooves, and which was better for generating more backspin was raging in the golf equipment industry. The CNC5000 ironheads were investment cast after which, each face was precision computer machined to virtually perfect flatness. In addition, a milling cutter pattern was chosen which created a texture on the entire face that increased the friction between the face and the ball in an effort to enhance the spin on the ball. However, perhaps the most significant part of the manufacture of the CNC5000 was that the irons still had consistent USGA legal score lines – given the nature of face flatness variations from the investment casting process, machining the face after casting could have created wide variations in the width and depth of the lines on the face. Thus to even manufacture the CNC5000 irons, the casting process had to be improved to make a very flat face right out of casting so that when the faces were machined, the scorelines were still consistent and USGA legal.
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First graphite driver with heel weighting for slice correction
1995 - Golfsmith AccuCore Graphite Driver
The concept for heel weighting of clubheads and how such weight distribution could assist golfers with a tendency to push or slice the ball originally was revealed in Cochran and Stobbs’ milestone book, The Search for the Perfect Swing. In addition, Tom Wishon had seen and helped perfect the making of an early heel weighted wooden driver that had been developed by the late Elmore Just’s Louisville Golf Company in 1991-2. But the problem with a heel-weighted wooden head was that the relatively high density of the laminated maple or persimmon did not allow more than 10-15 grams to be positioned in the heel, which was minimal in its ability to assist with slice correction. By using graphite for the head body material, the AccuCore graphite driver was able to be designed larger in size and allow the use of 35 grams of weight to create a driver head which delivered a visible push/slice improvement for golfers.
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First graphite + metal hollow cavity driver head
1995 - Golfsmith Power Link Driver
Golfers may look at the 2004 Fusion model driver and believe its metal + graphite hollow body design was originated by Callaway Golf Company. However, the first such metal + graphite hollow body woodhead design was commercially developed by Tom Wishon in 1995. Tom had always been intrigued by the possibility of combining two materials of different density in the same clubhead for the purpose of improving weight distribution and CG location. The Power Link was another example of a pioneering design in both weight distribution and in new manufacturing engineering to enable such a design to be made. The Power Link’s investment cast stainless steel face and sole piece was placed into a compression mold with a special inert core so that graphite could be molded to the steel face/sole piece to create the hollow driver head with a very high portion of the head’s total weight positioned in the sole and face to keep the CG low and more forward. Of particular difficulty in the design was having to master the precision of the cast stainless part to fit in the compression mold the same exact way every time, and to engineer the fit and durability of the graphite to the edges of the steel all around the face and sole edges.
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First metal wood with adjustable hosel sleeve for customizing the face angle and lie
1995 - Golfsmith AHT metal woods
While golfers are now familiar with the plastic hosel insert in PING brand woods to allow golfers to choose a lie and face angle that best fits their style of play, the first metal woods to offer this concept for customizing were the AHT woods designed by Tom Wishon in 1995. The neck of the AHT woods was designed to accept a precision machined aluminum sleeve into which the shaft was inserted for assembly. The sleeve was machined so that it could be rotated in the neck of the woods to allow a series of different lie and face angle orientations when the shaft was installed.
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First driver family designed with specifications matched to different golfer swing speeds
1995 - Golfsmith Designated Drivers
While golf publications just began to write about the importance of higher loft for greater carry distance in 2003, in the mid-1990s, Tom began to educate clubmakers on the importance of increasing loft on the driver as a way to increase distance for golfers with slower clubhead speed. Prior to this information, clubmakers and golfers had always assumed that the lower the loft, the greater the distance generated by the driver. The Designated Driver series consisted of 5 different stainless steel driver heads, each made with a different loft, face height and face angle that was matched to 10mph increments of golfer swing speed from <70mph up to >100mph.
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First titanium metal wood introduced in the USA
1994 - Golfsmith Titanium 230 Driver
The first Titanium alloy metal woods in the world were developed and manufactured by Japanese foundries, and were introduced by Japanese clubmaking companies for sale only in Japan. US companies were hesitant to embrace the potential for Titanium in driver design because of the much higher cost of the heads and because of the fact that virtually none of the experienced woodhead making foundries in Taiwan had the capability of producing woodheads made from Titanium alloys. Realizing the potential of Titanium’s ideal strength to elasticity characteristics for increasing driver performance, and understanding the learning curve to manufacture Ti heads being faced by the Taiwan foundries, Tom researched and began to develop a working relationship with engineers from the Metal Park foundry, located outside Moscow in Russia. Metal Park had years of experience in casting Titanium, but had no experience in the manufacture of golf clubheads. With Metal Park providing the Titanium know-how, Tom advised and taught the Russian engineers about the technical requirements of woodhead production tooling – the result was not only the first Titanium woodheads ever introduced in the US, but also the first clubheads of any design or material that were produced by a Russian manufacturer. Other golf companies in the US to subsequently work with Metal Park in Russia to manufacture Ti woodheads included Taylor Made.
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First putter head with polymer backed face
1995 - Golfsmith Insulator Putter
Most people who design wood and ironheads do not design putter heads, and vice versa. Some of the most well-known putter designers such as John Reuter (Bulls-Eye), Otey Chrisman, Scotty Cameron, and Bobby Grace restrict their design talents only to putters. The Insulator model putter was created by Tom in an effort to design a putter head with soft feel for hard, 2-piece ball construction types but with a metal striking face for less friction between the ball and the putter face. Granted, while this was a relatively ugly head shape for which Tom would admit deserving a “thumbs down” in response, the technology for reducing friction between the face and the ball while still delivering a soft impact feel was very sound.
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First iron set with progressive topline thickness for vertical center of gravity change
1996 - Golfsmith XTR II Plus Irons
In a design shape and style that Tom later admitted was a bit on the weird side, and thus could have been inspired by the metallic multi-faceted comic book anti-hero to Superman known as “Bizarro”, the XTR-II ironhead set represented a design in which the topline width was kept thin on the long irons (3.5mm on the #1-iron) and then allowed to widen progressively through the set (12mm on the wedges). Through this design feature, it was possible to keep more of the head mass lower for a lower CG in the long irons, while progressively moving the CG higher to offset hitting the ball too high as loft increased through to the short irons and wedges. Thus even modern designs such as the Cleveland Micro-Cavity irons, in which weight is removed from the topline to enhance the CG location, stand as a concept pioneered initially in a Tom Wishon design.
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First stainless steel driver head to exceed 225cc volume
1996 - Golfsmith SS-235 Driver
When Titanium woodheads were introduced in the US in 1994, (See design #14) the lower density of Titanium opened the door for designers to meet the public’s increasing demand for ever-larger driver head shapes. However, in the mid-1990s, Titanium drivers were significantly more expensive than what the majority of golfers in the US were yet willing to pay. Thus there was a also a demand for larger stainless steel drivers. The SS-235 was a 235cc driver head investment cast from 17-4 stainless steel which employed changes in the shell formation of the steel casting process followed by a different heat treatment to allow the SS-235 to have a thinner wall construction which was still strong enough to withstand normal impact. Thus the increase in volume size was accomplished which pushed the envelope in stainless steel driver head manufacture to a size not yet seen before in the golf industry.
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First heel weighted metal wood driver for slice correction
1996 - Golfsmith AccuCore Driver
(See design #10 for preliminary information) The AccuCore Graphite driver represented a way to greatly increase the amount of heel weighting for slice correction by using a low density graphite composite for the head body material. However, by 1996 the market demand for graphite body woodheads was in decline. In an effort to satisfy the market’s greater demand for metal woodheads and still offer a significant level of slice correction, Tom turned to high strength 7005-T6 treated aluminum as the material of choice for the AccuCore metal driver body. With aluminum being very low in density and comprising the entire body construction, it was still possible to create a large 240cc woodhead and still increase the mass of the slice correction (draw-bias) heel weight plug to 50 grams. Thus the AccuCore metal wood driver satisfied the market demand for a metal wood, and at the same time was able to deliver a higher level of push/slice correction than its forerunner.
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First metal wood with titanium wrap-around face construction
1997 - Golfsmith BlackHawk Driver
Even before Tom began to assign sophisticated face modeling computer software to investigate the potential performance of a metal wood face design, he was aware that the strength to modulus ratio of Titanium made a better face material for increasing ball velocity. In addition, Tom realized that the Ti face’s spring face capability would be enhanced by increasing the surface area of the Ti face that would be unsupported or untouched by welding. By forging the 6/4 titanium face in a wrap-around construction and then casting the high strength 7005-T6 aluminum material of the body of the Black Hawk Driver around the ‘cupped’ edges of the Ti face, the deflection (spring face) capability of the face for its designed size was able to be maximized. The same wrap-around, or what is also called ‘cup-face’ Ti face construction as employed by Callaway Golf in their Titanium woodheads, did not come about until 2-3 years later.
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First metal wood with stainless body + aluminum hosel
1997 - Golfsmith Bi-Metallic woods
A designer can look at the weight contained in the hosel of the clubhead in two ways – it is mass that can be used to assist in slice correction by helping to move the CG closer to the shaft, or it can be mass that can be eliminated or reduced and thus re-distributed in the head to improve perimeter weighting or vertical CG location. Following the latter design technology, the Bi-Metallic woods were a set in which Tom designed the body of the heads from 17-4 stainless steel and was able to increase weight distribution inside the body of the head by designing the hosel as a separate part made from high strength 7075-T6 aluminum. In addition, because the hosel was made from aluminum, vibration from the head up to the golfer’s hands was also able to be reduced.
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First metal woodhead to exceed 350cc volume
1997 - Golfsmith Long Jon jumbo metal driver
Today, a 350cc metal wood Driver is a common design - 6 years ago it was virtually unthinkable to conceive of a Driver head of that size because Titanium woodhead construction and forming technology had just advanced to the point of being able to make a 300cc size Driver that would withstand the normal wear and tear of play. Again turning to high strength aluminum alloys for the solution, the Long Jon metal wood Driver was totally forged from aircraft grade 7005-T6 aluminum to be able to deliver the strength required to accommodate a high performance Driver of 350cc size. At the time, the Long Jon was nearly 50cc larger than any metal Driver yet made.
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First metal wood with aluminum body joined to stainless steel sole for ultra-low CG
1997 - Golfsmith Super Track Woods
The very playable concept of a super heavy sole attached to a high loft fairway woodhead first became commercially successful in the 1970s with the popularity of clubs like the Stan Thompson Ginty and the Cobra Baffler. However, no company or designer had ever converted the heavy sole design concept to a metal wood to meet the market’s universal demand for a heavy sole metal wood. Never before had the concept been accomplished on a driver to potentially increase the launch angle. The reason was threefold – 1) Drivers being so much larger than fairway woods did not allow significant amounts of additional mass to be positioned on the sole, 2) nearly 100% of the high-end metal fairway wood sales were in stainless steel. With steel being very high in density, this did not allow much mass to be located in the sole to lower the CG. 3) Titanium, which with its low density would allow a heavier mass to be attached to the sole, was in 1997 still limited chiefly to driver sales because of its much higher cost – i.e. golfers would spend more for a single Driver but would not yet spend the same amount for a titanium fairway wood. Thus, the Super Track became the first full set of metal woods with a truly heavy sole metal Driver and high lofted trouble wood. Rather than use screws to attach the stainless steel railed sole piece to the very light aluminum top shell which had less “eye appeal” and could potentially come loose with use, Tom chose to design the Super Track by inserting the investment cast steel sole piece into the forging dies for the 7005-T6 aluminum so the body could be press fit together with the heavy sole. The result was a series of metal woods from driver to fairway trouble woods that had a very low CG and were extremely easy for golfers to hit.
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First titanium iron with bi-metal construction introduced in the USA
1997 - Golfsmith MWD1000 Irons
Titanium irons had a short life in the golf industry, chiefly because a full set cost nearly $2000, second because the first sets introduced by Tommy Armour Golf were far larger in blade size than what golfers were comfortable with playing. Titanium when formed into a hollow body, thin face woodhead design performs well because its high strength to modulus ratio allows for a faster ball velocity off the face. However, when Titanium was formed into a solid body construction for an iron, the spring face capability is gone and the low density of the Ti requires the head to be extremely large to achieve normal iron headweights. The MWD-1000 irons recognized that the potential for Titanium in an iron design could only be realized by designing the head close to a normal ironhead size, and then employing the use of heavy density weights to be attached to the head to reach normal headweights, and to improve the perimeter weighting and CG requirements of a good game improvement ironhead design. Thus the MWD-1000 irons became the first Ti ironhead to utilize a second metal (brass) in the design to allow the creation of a more normal size head with greater perimeter weighting at the same time.
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First clubheads designed with weight addition cavity at the base of the hosel
All new Golfsmith, Penick clubhead models starting in 1997
Clubhead models designed for assembly with any shaft or grip are easier for clubmakers to assemble to the desired swingweight if there is a way to add weight to the clubhead. Prior to 1997, all clubheads that were made with a weight addition capability utilized an unsightly screw to allow access to the port for adding lead powder. In 1997, Tom Wishon designed the “weight bore” which was located at the bottom of the shafting bore in the neck of the clubhead to allow clubmakers to add a series of weight plugs of different mass to enable them to achieve desired swingweights with their assembled clubs. The weights could be epoxied into the weight bore before the shaft was installed. Thus not only did the shaft lock the weight in place, but the weight addition was invisible and did not detract from the appearance of the clubhead.
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First iron with titanium face insert + high density metal weighting bar for 3-Metal construction
1998 - Golfsmith BlackHawk Irons
The design of the BlackHawk irons was originally intended to be a Titanium face design that would first introduce a slight spring face nature into an iron, and which also used the Ti face and brass back bar to change weight distribution more dramatically in an iron than possible with a homogenous metal construction. By using Titanium for the face, an additional 25-30 grams of mass could be re-distributed into areas of the head to improve perimeter weighting and CG location. Additionally, by inserting a brass back bar behind the face, the CG was also pulled slightly back from the face, thus slightly enhancing the trajectory of shots hit with these irons. In addition the BlackHawk became the first ironhead designed with three different metals on the same head.
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First boron carbide metal matrix investment cast clubhead
1998 – Golfsmith Cermet 2000 Driver
Aluminum metal matrix composite (MMC) materials have to be thought of as almost being ‘aluminum on steroids’. On its own, the highest strength aluminum alloys can rarely exceed 100,000 psi in strength (6/4 Ti and 17-4 stainless steel are 140,000 psi, 10-2-3 Beta Ti is 185,000 psi and Carpenter 455 steel is 250,000 psi to contrast). However, by adding a ceramic material the strength of the resulting MMC can be significantly increased in strength, to the point that some MMC’s will approach and even exceed the strength of some stainless steel alloys. As a material for potential use in clubhead manufacture, MMCs held the potential for very high strength to weight ratio so a large head size can be designed with additional weight available to be added to specific areas of the head to greatly enhance perimeter weighting. In the mid-1990s a company named Langert Golf had introduced a small size driver head made from Aluminum ‘alloyed’ with a ceramic called Silicon Carbide (SiC). The head was produced through a very expensive die casting procedure that was required to keep the distribution of the SiC consistent through the aluminum and thus achieve consistent strength equally in all areas of the head. SiC MMCs are known to be very brittle. The Cermet 2000 was innovative because it no MMC had yet been produced by investment casting. In addition, it incorporated the use of Boron Carbide (B4C) ceramic particles. Through investment casting, the tooling costs and the per head cost could be greatly reduced, while the use of B4C increased the MMC strength while making the MMC less brittle. This allowed the Cermet 2000 to be made in a larger head size and in different models of loft for a price that was far less expensive than a Titanium driver head. Later the Cermet heads originated by Tom Wishon expanded their performance potential with the addition of bi-material weighting to further improve on their perimeter weighting capability.
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First Driver with maraging steel alloy face to exceed 300cc in volume
1998 - Golfsmith Super Sonic Boom Driver
Maraging steel is a classification given to certain alloys of steel which possess extremely high strength, in the range of 300,000 psi, or more than twice that of common metal woodhead stainless steel alloys such as 15-5 and 17-4. In the late 1990s, maraging steel had only been used as the face plate attached to a common stainless steel body and never designed to be larger than 240-250cc in size. By attaching the maraging face to a 300cc forged high strength aluminum body, the Super Sonic Boom Driver not only became the largest steel face Driver in the golf industry, but the maraging steel face eliminated the less popular “thud” sound of an all aluminum woodhead. The result was a high performance ultra-thin face construction that not only enhanced the spring face capability but rendered a more favorable sound at impact.
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First beta grade titanium alloy driver introduced in the USA
1998 - Golfsmith Beta Titanium 255LT Driver
Alloys of Beta Titanium represented a definite increase in the strength to modulus ratio for titanium woodheads so that drivers could be made larger in size, and made with a higher C.O.R. than what was possible using the 6/4 Titanium alloy that had been so predominant in titanium driver design up to this time. While the US market of golfers had become accustomed to the higher price of a 6/4 Titanium alloy driver by this time, the higher raw material cost of the more sophisticated Beta grade titanium alloys would raise driver prices even higher. Therefore, in the late 1990s, all of the US golf companies were hesitant about switching from 6/4 titanium to a beta grade titanium for their driver designs. Because Tom was starting to rely on computer modeling at this time to predict the performance of a driver face design, he knew the potential for both increasing head size and improving the COR of the driver face design that the better beta grade titanium alloys offered. Thus, in 1998 the model 255LT beta titanium driver was not only a larger size driver than what had been offered before, but also increased the COR over what had been done before, and became the first driver made from a beta titanium alloy commercially offered in the US.
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First iron manufactured with aluminum alloy body
1998 - Golfsmith TG System Irons
In ironhead design, Tom knew from his previous experience with designing the titanium + brass MWD1000 irons that iron performance was all about being able to re-position weight in specific areas of the head to improve off-center hit forgiveness and improve the CG location to improve the launch angle of the ball off the irons. To gain more mass to move to desired areas of the iron required that the body of the iron be made from the lightest material possible that was still able to withstand the force of impact. Because irons are subjected to far less impact stress than woods, Tom decided to turn to a high grade aluminum alloy to construct the body of the ironhead. Because aluminum has a density less than half that of titanium and 70% lower than steel, this allowed the re-positioning of a tremendous amount of the total weight of an ironhead. The TG System irons were thus designed with a large tungsten weight placed in the sole of each ironhead to greatly lower the CG, with two additional heel and toe located weights to improve the moment of inertia of the head to make off center hits more forgiving. Thus the TG System irons became the first aluminum body iron ever designed and offered a greater amount of weight distribution enhancement than any iron yet made.
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First iron with multiple face thickness variations for CG and weight distribution control
1998 - Golfsmith Jetstream 2 Irons
In 1998, Tom had discovered that moving the CG slightly off the center of the face scoreline area and a little more toward the shaft would allow the golfer more time to rotate the club back to square on the downswing and thus reduce the chance of pushing or fading the ball. It was also recognized by most designers that a lower CG was preferred for average to less skilled players. Prior to this time, investment cast stainless steel irons were always made with a uniform face thickness of 3mm so the CG position had to be controlled by the height of the blade or the width of the sole. The Jetstream 2 irons were designed with different thicknesses over different areas of the face – the upper toe area was reduced to 2mm and the lower toe area to 2.5mm to keep weight from being high on the head and too far from the shaft. The bottom areas of the face were increased to 4mm thickness to help move the CG lower in the head. Thus the original height of the blade and sole width could be retained while still being able to manipulate the position of the CG in the head. This design required very precise production dies to be made to ensure the accuracy of the face thickness design and thus be able to move the CG to the desired position lower on the head and a little closer to the shaft to offer golfers more control and accuracy.
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First set of metal woods matching stainless steel fairway woods with a titanium driver
1999 - Snake Eyes CMF Metal Woods
Today, virtually all fairway woods made to match with a titanium driver are designed from steel. In the late 1990s that was not the case as all companies chose to make titanium fairway woods to match their Ti drivers because they were concerned a change in metal in the set would bring a change in performance that would not match. Because Tom’s wood designs had been incorporating computer modeling of the face since 1997, he knew that there were ways to engineer the face design of steel woods so that they could offer a very close feel and ball velocity performance that would match up well with Titanium. The incentive to do this came from the fact that titanium fairway wood sales were far lower than titanium driver sales. Market studies showed that golfers were more than willing to pay the higher cost for a titanium driver because it represented a single club that was of great importance in playing the game. However, golfers shied away from paying a high price for matching titanium fairway woods because the total cost of a set of 3 or 4 woods became too high for their comfort level. Tom recognized this market trend himself and stepped out to computer model the design the Snake Eyes CMF fairway woods from steel with a thinner face than had been done before on a fairway wood. The result was a full set of Titanium driver with steel fairway woods that matched well in performance and offered the golfer a high performance alternative for a full set of matched woods that was lower in price. Thus Tom pioneered a trend in wood set design with the Snake Eyes CMF woods that is now followed by virtually all equipment companies.
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First Metal Wood to match face thickness to different golfer specific swing speed ranges
1999 - Snake Eyes Elasteel driver and 3 wood
From further computer modeling studies of wood face design, Tom noted that the maximum ball speed came when the face was flexed inward to its maximum point. At the same time, his computer modeling work revealed that the amount the face could flex inward was proportional to the clubhead speed of the golfer. That meant golfers with slower swing speeds were buying titanium drivers with faces designed to flex fully only for the highest swing speeds of golfers, and thus were not getting the maximum ball velocity from their purchase. Tom designed each of the three Snake Eyes Elasteel drivers and 3-woods with a different face thickness that was computer modeled to achieve its maximum face deflection for a specific and different range of golfer swing speeds. Thus the golfer with a 75-90mph swing speed used a driver with a 2.25mm thickness face, a golfer with a 90-105mph swing used a 2.6mm face, and golfers with a >105mph swing speed used the Elasteel driver with a 2.9mm thickness face – and all three ranges of swing speed players thus were able to gain the same amount of face deflection and performance increase. However, such a design concept required a heavy communication campaign to prevent high swing speed golfers from using the Elasteel driver and 3-wood designed only for the lower swing speed force! Fortunately, people listened as only four Elasteel drivers were returned with broken faces from being used by a player with a higher swing speed than what the head was designed to withstand!
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First metal wood with wrap-around face construction forged from high strength steel
2000 - Golfsmith TI Steel 465
Prior to 2000, all woodheads using a high strength steel alloy for the face had been made by either press-fitting the face piece into the face surface, or welding the face piece on the very edges of the face of the wood. Such attachment methods of the face to the body of the head reduced the area of the face that was able to be flexed inward and with it, reduced the potential for a high strength steel face to offer the same ball velocity capable from a beta titanium face. During this time, Tom Wishon had been working with a number of sophisticated high strength steel alloy manufacturers and performing computer face modeling of their various alloys that possessed strength properties in the range of 250,000 – 300,000 psi. With such ultra-high strength alloys, he had determined it was possible to create steel face drivers that could offer the same high C.O.R. capability as any of the beta titanium alloys. However, to do that required that no welding touch the back of the hitting face. Hence, by creating face forging dies that would wrap the face piece around to allow the welding attachment to be on the top, sole and sides of the body of the head for the first time in a driver design, welding was kept off the back of the face and the high strength steel face construction was able to perform to its maximum spring face capability.
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First iron and wood set with progressively moving tungsten weighting for specific flight performance
2000 - Lynx Black Cat MTW Woods and Irons; Harvey Penick Plus Irons; Golfsmith Sterling Irons
At this time, some equipment companies were beginning to use the very high density of tungsten to move the CG to be lower on the clubhead for the purpose of increasing launch angle of the ball from the clubhead. However, Tom recognized that there was no need to lower the CG on high lofted fairway woods or the higher loft irons in a set, because the much greater loft angles of these heads generated a high enough trajectory already. To continue to put tungsten low on the head for all heads in the set meant the high lofted clubheads would hit the ball too high and potentially reduce distance. Thus in the above three different branded set designs, Tom restricted the use of the tungsten to only the heads in the set in which the lowering of the CG would be advantageous to the launch angle of the shot. In addition, the tungsten was placed more toward the heel on the long irons to also shift the CG closer to the shaft, to thus make these longer length clubs easier for the golfer to rotate back to square on the downswing. Thus for the first time in the golf industry, each ironhead in these sets utilized its tungsten weighting for a specific function unique to the loft and length of the club. In the Lynx Black Cat woods, the tungsten sole weight piece was placed closer farther from the face in the driver to enhance the launch angle from the lowest lofted woodhead, but progressively moved closer to the face for the matching #3, 5 and 7-woodheads to prevent hitting the ball too high as loft increased through the wood set.
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First utility driving iron with heel located tungsten weighting
2000 - Golfsmith XPC3 Driving Iron
By 2000, companies were recognizing that conventional low loft iron clubs were too hard for most golfers to hit solid and generate a high enough trajectory to maximize their distance. Alternative hybrid long ironheads began to appear which all were designed to be more broad from face to back than a conventional ironhead of the same loft. This was done to move the CG farther back from the face as a further method for increasing the launch angle for the same low lofts. The first such hybrid driving irons were popular with a number of players on the professional tours because they were easier to generate a high, soft landing trajectory for long approach shots into greens. However, such low loft and longer length driving irons were still difficult for average golfers to overcome a slice or push, so to counteract this tendency, Tom designed the XPC3 driving irons with tungsten weight on the bottom of the sole, but moved into the heel side of the sole, so that the CG could be kept low, but also shifted toward the shaft to allow golfers to rotate the face back to square much easier, and in the result reduce the tendency to push or slice the ball.
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First USGA C.O.R. non-conforming driver with steel alloy face construction
2000 - Snake Eyes AerMet CMF Drivers
In 1999, the limit on the C.O.R. of a clubhead was a rule of the game that was only in effect in the US and Mexico, the only two countries who follow the Rules of Golf of the United States Golf Association. As a result, golf companies with the capability of designing high C.O.R. driver heads would create two versions, one with a C.O.R. of less than 0.830 for use under USGA rules, and one with a higher C.O.R. for use in all other countries legislated by the Royal & Ancient of St. Andrews. Because the USGA wanted to keep track of all “non-conforming” high C.O.R. drivers, the rulemaking body published a listing of all of the non-conforming drivers with a C.O.R. in excess of their 0.830 limit. Until the design of the Snake Eyes AerMet CMF drivers, every driver on the USGA’s non-conforming list was a titanium alloy driver, because no golf companies had developed the ability to manufacture a steel driver with a C.O.R. over the USGA’s limit. Tom Wishon thus became the first designer in the golf industry to create a steel face driver with a C.O.R. higher than 0.830. This achievement came about because of his knowledge of high strength steel alloys and the ability to computer model the performance of such alloys. (The C.O.R. of the Snake Eyes AerMet CMF drivers was 0.854)
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First Thin Face Forged Steel Set of Irons
2001 - Snake Eyes Fire Forged Irons
Because of the vast experience of computer modeling thin face drivers that could perform with a high C.O.R., Tom turned his attention in 2000 to trying to determine if a thin face design could improve performance in a set of irons. This was a much more difficult project because the amount a face can deflect inward and thus deliver a higher ball velocity, is completely dependent on the loft angle of the face. The greater the loft, the less deflection force is applied by impact with the ball, and the less the opportunity for an improvement in ball velocity. Thus with irons ranging in loft from 20 to over 50 degrees, Tom knew that he was going to be trying to “squeeze blood from a turnip”, so to speak. By working with a foundry which had the capability to custom mix steel alloys to achieve different mechanical properties in the final metal, a brand new high strength steel alloy was created which possessed more elasticity than other steels previously used in clubhead design. This alloy became the material of choice to forge the 2.1mm thin steel faces for each of the heads in the Snake Eyes Fire Forged irons. Because Tom’s face modeling capability was restricted at the time to uniform thickness face design, the Fire Forged irons were not a variable thickness face, nor did the face thicknesses change from head to head in the set of irons. (See #43) Testing with the irons showed a slight increase in ball speed with the #3 – 6 ironheads as a result of creating the first truly thin face iron, along with a definite change in the feel of impact due to the slight increase in face deflection.
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First Putter head with vertical CG positioned at same height as the CG of the golf ball
2001 - Snake Eyes Straight In Putters
Back in the 1970s, the former PGA Golf Company introduced a putter which took the appearance of a flanged sole putter head turned upside down so that the protrusion of the flange stuck out from the top of the putter head. The model was designed to move more mass high on the putter head in an effort to induce less backspin and more forward roll on the putt. However, this design did not actually move the CG of the putter head up that far because its face height was still made to be in the conventional putter head range of 24mm. The family of Snake Eyes Straight-In putters were able to achieve a CG position precisely level with the CG of the golf ball by designing the heads with a much taller face height. The heads were designed from soft aluminum in the center of the head and face, and with tungsten heel and toe sections to also greatly increase the MOI and off-center putt performance of the models. By carefully engineering the weight distribution with the putter head dimensions, thus the Snake Eyes Straight-In putters became the first putter head design to deliver the CG position of the head directly in line with the CG of the ball to more effectively increase the potential for the ball to begin rolling with overspin sooner after impact.
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First putter head with ultra-low friction, ultra-thin face insert to reduce putt side-spin
2002 - Golfsmith Friction Free Putter
2003 - Wishon Golf Smoooth Series Putters
At a time when the most popular putter design concepts were to either use a soft polymer material as the striking face of the putter or CNC machine the face flat with swirled machining marks, the Friction Free and Smoooth Series putters made a complete departure by employing a very thin, highly polished low-friction high-strength steel face insert to greatly reduce the friction between the face and the ball. The softer the striking face, and the more rough the surface condition of the face, the more the ball will be “grabbed” at impact and potentially pulled or pushed more off-line. No golfer is able to execute the putting stroke perfectly every time. Striking across the ball from an ‘outside-in’ or inside-out’ stroke is a common putting mistake among all golfers. By using a very thin high-strength steel face insert, a soft feel of ball contact could be retained in the Friction Free and Smoooth Series putters. And by using a high strength steel alloy, the face insert could be highly polished AND nickel chrome plated to greatly reduce friction between the face and the ball. The result was that on putts hit with a slight push or pull stroke, the ball would not be “grabbed” as much by the low friction face and thus offered a little greater chance of sliding putts in the side of the hole that would have no chance to fall if hit with a soft face insert or CNC-machined face putter.
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>> To view Tom's design "firsts" since starting TWGT in 2002, please click here. <<

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**Golfsmith, RMC270, Long Jon, Solid-Tone, CNC5000, AccuCore, Power Link, AHT, Designated Driver, Titanium 230, Insulator, SS-235, XTR-II, Accu-Core, BlackHawk, Bi-Metallic, Super-Track, MWD1000, Cermet 2000, Super Sonic Boom, 255LT, TG System, Jetstream, Snake Eyes, CMF, Elasteel, Ti-Steel, Lynx, Black Cat, Sterling, XPC, Fire Forged, Straight-In, Friction Free are all registered trademarks of Golfsmith International Company. Harvey Penick and Penick are registered trademarks of the Harvey Penick family licensed for use by Golfsmith International Company.

Clubhead Design Technology “Firsts” Created By Tom Wishon