Golf Digest - The PowerPod makes its return

These would be heady days for Jim Flood were it not for some health issues from which he is recovering. They're exciting ones nonetheless. Tiger Shark Golf this week began selling Flood's latest driver design, the PowerPod II.

First some background. Flood, 78, founded Aldila, the first major graphite shaft company, and Odyssey. He also designed the Basakwerd putter that was used by several players on the PGA Tour, including Johnny Miller and Gene Littler.

Yet none of it compares on his personal list of projects to the PowerPod II.

"The Basakwerd putter, I thought it was great," he said. "It its heyday it was successful. The graphite shaft had the greatest impact, because it was so different and was a new innovation. The insert putter came along at the right time, Odyssey, which was very successful. But I'd rate the PowerPod II number one right now, just because it's been a dream of mine to make it so it does work."

He introduced his original PowerPod in the mid '80s. "We probably made a million-six-hundred-thousand of them," he said. "About a third came back broken." The head was made from polyurethane and was fragile, eventually spelling the demise of the company.

"But the reaction from users was astounding. They all felt it was a very live driver that could not slice," he said. "The balance in the head caused it not to slice. In the ensuing years I was very hung up on trying to bring it back. Darin [Dingman], the owner of Tiger Shark, was using it in the mid '80s and said it was the best driver he's ever hit. About two years ago he said, 'why don't we bring it back?'

"So I designed a model, made out of titanium, and the feedback I got was that it hits phenomenal, that it's easy to hit, you can't slice it, you can't hook it, and it's very hard to top because the face is so deep. I'm very enthused and excited."

-- John Strege