Vertical Grooves? Straight up

 

Readers will no doubt have come across news last week that a Boston-based company is introducing a driver with vertical grooves. The design of the Vertical Groove Driver is based on a patent that was owned by now-deceased inventor Tony Antonious who made tens of millions of dollars in the 1970s and ‘80s after conceiving the Velcro-strap golf glove as well as dozens of other innovations.

Photographs of ancient irons with vertical grooves show Antonious’s club wasn’t the first of its kind, but he was certainly the first to patent the design, part of the official patent text reading “The vertical-groove concept of this invention minimizes adverse direction such as exaggerated slicing or hooking, and produces a low-trajectory boring ball flight with top spin and increased distance.”

A Kenesaw, Georgia-based company called Merit Golf used the technology to produce a vertical-groove driver—the Tour Trajectory Driver—that debuted in 2002, but it never took off, so to speak.

After Antonious’s passing in 2006, his grandchildren sold off parts of his estate and a quartet of businessmen and entrepreneurs picked up the vertical-groove patent with a view to producing their own club. Tim Krochuk (Executive Chairman), Jeff Barry (CEO), Neal Jagoda (President) and Rubin Hanan (Chief Business Officer) teamed up with golf industry veterans Eric Fineburg (Sales, Managing Partner) and Mike Rossi (R&D) who had previously worked for Etonic, True Temper, Fujikura, and Aldila, to create three vertical-groove drivers to date.

However, they delayed bringing the club to market until now as they labored to find the right combination of center of gravity position, bulge and roll, clubhead size and shape.

Krochuk, who once managed over $20 billion of assets at Fidelity, deals with media and marketing for Vertical Groove Golf and says the USGA added the 2014 version of the club to its list of conforming drivers. But, he adds, the current model, which goes on sale December 15, is currently being assessed.

“You have to submit the club if anything changes, even cosmetically,” he says. “The dimensions, configuration and specifications are all exactly the same, but the logo and color scheme are different. We fully expect the club to be conforming again, however.”

Krochuk knows enough about golf and golfers to appreciate the 450cc Vertical Groove Driver will be seen as a gimmick by many. “I suspect a number of golfers will think we’re just another Hammer (a much-maligned see-through driver designed by Jack ‘the Hammer’ Hamm seen on long-running Golf Channel infomercials),” he says. “But we have done extensive testing with the independent golf research center Golf Labs, and the results have been extremely positive. We receive very positive feedback from virtually everyone that tries it.”

Not many manufacturers produce drivers with grooves nowadays because the clubfaces are so thin, but the makers of the Vertical Groove Driver claim the grooves decrease sidespin and thus reduce the effects of a hook or slice. Krochuk adds testers are also claiming significant distance gains. “I think golfers who feel confident their shot will fly straighter, loosen up a little and therefore swing a little faster,” he says. “So the majority of testers have found the Vertical Groove Driver is both straighter and longer.”

Krochuk accepts it won’t be for everyone. “It’s different,” he says. “We know that. Our driver has a different sound to what some may be used to. And it’s a relatively low spin/low trajectory club.” But even though the target audience may be somewhat limited, for many players the Vertical Groove Driver could be a game-changer.

Advance orders are being taken on the company’s web site, where you’ll get a $50 discount and free shipping if you order before Thursday December 1^st. If you don’t feel comfortable ordering the driver online, you might prefer to try it at a demo day. As an owner of Flatirons Bank in Boulder, Krochuk is very familiar with Colorado and fully intends setting up a number of demos around the state early next year.

$400
Available in right and left-handed – 9.5°, 10.5°, 12°.
Stock shaft – Aldila NV2K (Ladies, Senior, Regular, Stiff, Tour X). High-end shaft upgrades available.
vertgolf.com

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