Bruce Sizemore Joins SuperStroke Golf as Director of Product Development
August 4, 2010
"We are extremely happy to announce the hiring of Bruce Sizemore to the SuperStroke team," said SuperStroke President Dean Dingman. "What Sizemore brings to the table is a penchant for perfection. His putters resemble fine pieces of jewelry and he is known all over the world for his uncompromising original designs. SuperStroke putters by Sizemore, combined with our booming jumbo grip technology, will allow us to completely change the dynamic of what we are able to offer both the tour player and the consumer."
The addition of Sizemore allows SuperStroke to focus on being a boutique, short game specialist that offers both high end grips and one-of-a-kind putters that are designed to work together to provide performance and quality that no one else can offer. The new SuperStroke putters are being designed with the best players in the world in mind. SuperStroke grips have been put into play by over 75 players and counting on the PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour and LPGA. Since 2000, Sizemore putters have been put into play by 40 players on the PGA Tour, 10 Nationwide Tour players, 5 players on the Champions Tour and 20 LPGA players. Over $6 million has been won on tour with a Sizemore designed putter without endorsement fees paid to the players to use the product.
Sizemore's approach to design is a total club approach that takes every aspect of putting into consideration. From the best materials, precision CNC manufacturing, hand worked finishing and a dedication to original designs to the shaft diameter and underlsiting, everything is working together in concert to give the putters a reliable sound, look, feel and overall performance.
"I like to pay attention to the details," said Sizemore. "I don't make putters to make numbers. I like to go from the head to the grip and make sure that all the components marry each other in perfect unison"
Much of Sizemore's inspiration comes from being exposed to the fine arts. His relationships with world class artisans and metal-smiths led him to start making putters that were considered highly functional pieces of art. Sizemore is known to sell his solid gold, silver and copper, putter designs, made with the ancient Japanese metal process Mokume-Gane, for upwards of $15,000.
"I don't do price point engineering, and I don't use CAD or 3D computer modeling," said Sizemore. "I start with a block of jewelers wax and hand carve all of my designs. They are CAD engineered in the end after hand designing each putter. This reverse engineering allows for me to have something in my hand, put a shaft on it, and equate it to how artists and jewelers look at their creations. I feel like the many designers are losing their personal touch. It's just a different process; no one else does it this way. I never re-hash things. Why would you want to paint the same painting twice?"
Sizemore is hard at work on finalizing new designs for SuperStroke, and expects to have three new models ready by the end of October. The new putter series will feature a proprietary technology the likes of which have never been seen before on a putter.
"The technology Bruce is proposing is far and beyond what anyone else is doing in terms of face technology," said Dingman.
Sizemore turned pro when he was 19 and began playing the mini-tours and giving golf instruction as a PGA Golf Professional in Indiana, New York, California and Florida. He embarked on his mission of creating his own custom-designed golf equipment in 1994. Using the skills and knowledge developed during his years as a professional player and teacher, Sizemore began developing putters and technologies out of a specialized milling process that he created over two years of analysis and development.
In 1996, Sizemore brought the Copper Stix brand to market to rave reviews. His technologically advanced designs proved to be some of the most effective in the industry and gained Sizemore notoriety as one of the premier putter makers in the business. Another two years of research and development led to the launch of the groundbreaking Sizemore Collection in 2003, where Sizemore designed over 30 putter models for production, the professional tours and for exotic and artesian series.
Sizemore returns back to his original golf roots by joining the Michigan based SuperStroke Golf, owned by Michigan natives Dean and Darin Dingman. Sizemore grew up in Michigan and originally learned pro shop and course operations at his local club in Michigan before entering the Professional Golf management Program at Ferris State in Big Rapids.
"The coolest part of this story is that you have three guys who went to the same high school who are joining forces after all these years," said Sizemore. "All three of us grew up in the Detroit area in the golf business, and all three of us have classic Mustangs. All the signs point to this being the perfect situation for everyone involved. I couldn't be more excited to start the next chapter of my putter designs and to help make SuperStroke the world's finest short specialty game company."