Fit to a Tee

Zero Friction was founded in 2001 as Excel Golf, but it wasn’t until 2005 that the Chicago-based company introduced the three-pronged tee for which it is best known. Golfers everywhere took some convincing their choice of tee could have a significant impact on their game, but at a time when tour pros began searching for every last inch of distance they could possibly generate, the tee steadily became a legitimate part of a golfer’s arsenal. Zero Friction (its corporate name changed from Excel in 2014), said the “contact area between the tee and ball was reduced by 66%, resulting in significantly less resistance and therefore longer drives” – typically three to four yards for elite players.

Buoyed by the original Performance Tee’s success, and that of the tees that followed – Far Out, e-Tee, Lock-n-Drive, FATTEE, ZFXtreme, etc. – Zero Friction began offering other golf products. The Distance 312 Golf Ball appeared in 2009, Advantage Grips arrived at the start of 2012 and, a little later that year, Advantage Clubs (driver, 3-wood, and hybrid) made their debut.

In 2014, it launched its first glove, the Compression Fit which was available in either Cabretta leather or synthetic, all-weather material and which featured either Lycra or Spandex woven into specific areas of the glove allowing it to expand to fit the golfer’s hand. “This meant one glove could fit multiple golfers,” says Joe Jung, Zero Friction’s National Sales Director. “So instead of purchasing seven different sizes usually all in white, golf shops could stock the Compression Fit’s nine different color options.”

Jung, a golf industry veteran with nearly 30 years’ experience, began his career in 1988 at a Strictly Golf store in Skokie, IL. Two years later, he moved to Medinah Country Club where he ran golf shop operations. At a clinic put on for the membership by Johnny Miller, Jung was introduced to the 25-time PGA Tour winner and the two hit it off, Miller subsequently recommending Jung to the suits at Callaway Golf where he would work in sales for eight years.

In July 2014, following stints at MacGregor Golf and club-fitting store Champion Golfer, Jung joined Zero Friction where company founder and president, John Iacono, suggested his new employee tap into his former friendship with Miller with a view to introducing the Hall of Famer to the company and the Compression Fit glove in particular.

“I showed Johnny the product and he loved it,” says Jung. “He was impressed with the design, the colors and, of course, the fit.” Miller thought so highly of the glove and the company in general in fact, he bought a stake in it in November of last year, saying “Zero Friction has developed truly innovative products which enhance golf. I had to be a part of it.”

Miller never intended to be a silent partner (not altogether surprising perhaps), becoming the brand’s global ambassador, spokesman, and a contributing voice at the design stage. At the PGA Merchandise Show earlier this year, Zero Friction launched the Johnny Miller Motion Fit glove, made from a combination of Cabretta and spandex which, the company said, “stretches and compresses to each hand for a taught fit, eliminating the friction caused from a loose or stretched glove”. Like the Compression Fit, the Motion Fit is only available in one size, but is primarily white. However, there are 12 different flap color options.

Available at Dick’s Sporting Goods, PGA Superstore, and numerous pro shops throughout Colorado.
$21.95; zerofriction.com

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