Every club follows a careful process from start to finish. Eight steps, in order, one club at a time.
What changes is not the process. It's the club at the end of it.
"I make Persimmon woods that are completely custom, contemporary, and one-of-a-kind, built on a firm foundation in the classics of the Golden Age of Persimmon. Made and meant for no one other than the person I build it for."
01. Shape the head from raw persimmon
Everything starts here. A block of wood becomes a head, and every measurement that follows depends on getting this right.
Not every club begins from a raw block. Some start from a head with its own history: a NOS Joe Powell PT1W, a classic medium-deep pear shape. On Cole's driver, the head was turned from an original MacGregor Jumbo Master.
02. Set the face angle, loft, and lie
The numbers that make it a golf club rather than an object. Face angle, loft, and lie are set here, and they're set for one person.
03. Cut scoring lines and install screws
Scoring lines go in. So does the insert, and so does the hardware.
This is where a club starts to look like itself. Cole's Jumbo WW got a red fiber insert with a five-screw pattern, a sweepback soleplate, and five screws in the soleplate, all matching the original MacGregor. The Career Slam driver got an Eye-O-Matic insert made from G10, an extremely hard material rated above 50,000 PSI, in red and white for Northern Ireland, with a very thin strip of green G10 laminated in.
It's also where the improvisation tends to happen. On Cory's driver, the final head weight came out about four grams lighter than it needed to be:
04. Seal areas with lacquer to control stain
Before any color goes on, lacquer goes down. Sealing certain areas is what decides where the dye takes and where it doesn't.
05. Apply aniline dye by hand
By hand, every time.
Color is not a setting on a machine here, which is why it takes as long as it takes to get right. Before Cole's Jumbo WW, John had restored a set of 1954 Toney Penna WW Specials, and it took, in his words, "much trial and error" before the white finish was right. That work landed a few weeks before Cole asked for a white and red club. Perfect timing.
06. Use lacquer thinner to clean and reveal details
Some of the finish comes off. What's underneath comes forward.
07. Add wood filler to highlight the grain
The step that makes persimmon look like persimmon.
"No one likes beautiful persimmon grain more than me, believe me. That said, a painted black club can be really beautiful if done correctly."
Not every club is finished to show the wood. Cory Crelan asked for his painted black with a firing pin, and it came out beautifully. But when the grain is the point, this is the step where it arrives.
08. Install the shaft and finish the surface
Last. The Career Slam driver was finished with a taper-tipped X200 Dynamic Gold shaft and a NOS Neumann leather grip.
Then the surface gets its final finish, and the club is done. Or it isn't. A club that doesn't suit my eye doesn't ship.
The goal is always the same
Sometimes I have a clear idea what I'll make. Many times, improvisation is required. Either way it ends in the same place:
A club that performs well, feels right, and looks beautiful.