By PAUL GIORDANO
Courier-Post Staff

Why is it that the average golfer is almost always turned on by the so-called bigger and better driver to improve his game, no matter what the cost?

He or she will get that TaylorMade R580, the Big Bertha E.R.C. II, the Nike 400cc, Wilson's Deep Red Fat Shaft, Ping's TISI Tec Titanium. They will spend that $300, $400, $500 to get one in the bag.

OK, whatever turns the player on. It's his money. The question is, though, how many times is the driver pulled out of the bag during a round of golf? Twelve, 13, 14 times at the most.

What about the short game? What about the putter? It's used at a minimum of 18 times per round. Unless, that is, you can chip in a couple here and there ... maybe.

Putters come at a fraction of the cost of the big cannons too. You can get one from under $100 to a 24k gold-plated face for $249.95.

"It's all perception," said Walt Boettger, president and CEO of the STRAIGHT 8 golf company. "It's what the golfer sees on TV. It's long and strong."

Not to be outgunned, Boettger's STRAIGHT 8 company does have a cannon of its own … a real big guy at 550cc. STRAIGHT 8 also manufactures irons.

The irons have an octagonal … eight-sided … graphite shaft which controls club-head torque, or rotation. It's designed to take club-head torque out of the swing equation. At the point of impact, if your hands are square, the club head will be square.

The eight-sided shaft helps rotate the club head back to square more effectively than a round shaft will. There's no kickpoint. It forms a perfect parabolic curve and unloads right at the point of impact. You do not lose any power because this shaft doesn't have a kick point. It never gets out past itself. The octagonal shape also eliminates drag.

"We have a good, very good product in our driver, fairways woods and irons," Boettger said. "But we are the so-called new guy on the block. And being the new kid on the block … even though we've been around since 2000 … it has become very hard to get our foot in the door with our woods and irons, especially when golf shops like Nevada Bob's, Somerton Springs and others are not around anymore.

"So I wanted to come up with something that was effective, that worked, but was different enough that would give us a reason for people to pay attention to us.

"My thought was to come up with a putter that would give 60 grams more in weight so you didn't have to go back as far to generate head speed. It would give you balance so that you would never have to worry about where the face is going to be. So this is what I came up with.

"The face is 4 inches across. The 2-inch piece (back) controls the whole hitting surface," Boettger said. "In other words, the weight is balanced (both ends from the outer lines). If you take any other putter and start a pendulum motion with it, the toe will open. It's the only putter that stays perfectly square to the intended target line."

STRAIGHT 8's Stedi Stroke putter has a sole that is perfectly flat, "so that you are certain the putter and player's heads are positioned exactly as they should be over the ball," Boettger said. "All the weight is centered around the shaft, so the weight is equal. The only thing that touches the green is the first 1/8-inch, and then it's tapered three degrees so when you come back, you don't have to worry about dragging on or catching the green. It's always going to go where your hands put it, because the head can go no other place than where your hands are."

Boettger said it took, "me 14 months to get it done right. It's a combination of stability, alignment, feel and balance. The ball starts to roll immediately, eliminating skidding and further reducing off-line putts."

The stabilizer bar (back of putter face) is 2 inches wide and extends out past the diameter of a golf ball by approximately 1/8-inch.

"This gives the putter an enlarged sweet spot that allows the golfer the freedom of knowing that all he has to do is make contact with the ball anyplace on the hitting surface from the indicia lines (on the top of the putter face, width of golf ball) drawn through the center of the golf ball," Boettger said.

The putter comes in four finishes. All of the heads are solid brass. And a belly putter is also available.

"The finishes we offer are black nickel and polished brass for $134.95," Boettger said. "Mirror black goes for $99.95, and for the company that wants to use the putter as a promotional piece, we offer it in 24K gold plate for $249.95."

Different strokes for different folks.

Reach Paul Giordano (856) 486-2424 or pgiordano@courierpostonline.com
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