Music plays.
Jeremy Wright: I think everybody should own a persimmon golf club. Persimmon golf makes this game fun again.
My name’s Jeremy Wright. I’m the owner of Louisville Golf.
Throughout, Jeremy, Gerard, Ronnie, and Robert sit in the warehouse where they make their golf clubs, explain their history, and show their process of designing and making the clubs as well as the materials and final products. They also take some swings on a golf course.
Onscreen text:
Charles Schwab Presents
The Challengers
A series about people who
Question. Engage. Succeed.
Louisville Golf
Jeremy: I kind of feel like there’s several types of golfers that you need to identify first. There’s a performance-oriented golfer looking to perform his best in tournaments, competitions—he may even be a TOUR player. And that player, I think, is going to have a difficult time understanding why you might want to play hickory golf or with a persimmon golf club. And then I really feel that there’s a golfer out there that may be your weekend warrior—they are looking to enjoy golf. That category is where we stepped in.
Playing golf with persimmons is fun. Playing golf with hickory is fun. Who wouldn’t want to experience what it felt like to be Bobby Jones?
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Who wouldn’t want to experience what it felt like to be Bobby Jones?
Jeremy: If you’re not curious about what it feels like to hit a persimmon wood, then maybe you’re not asking yourself the right questions.
Gerard Just: My name is Gerard.
Ronnie Just: My name is Ronnie.
Robert Just: My name is Robert Just. I work here at Louisville Golf, and I’ve been here a little over 46 years. It wasn’t like going to work. I’m the fourth brother in line, and my older brother Ronnie, my brother Elmore that owned it, my brother Mike, myself, and then my younger brother Gerard.
Gerard: I mean, everybody had a key to the company. It was a family thing.
Ronnie: That’s what made it so nice: being around your family all the time.
Gerard: Hanging out, enjoying each other’s company.
Ronnie: Our brother Mike was the president for years after the founder, Elmore, passed away—and when Michael wasn’t able to run the company anymore, here comes Jeremy, that is a hickory man himself. So that worked out really well.
Jeremy: We were founded in 1974 by Elmore Just. What makes Louisville Golf Club special is the quality, the craftsmanship, the dedication, and carrying the feel and tradition of persimmon golf into the future. There are about 200 steps before a golf club ends up in the customer’s hands.
Gerard: It would take weeks to make clubs.
Jeremy: You need to select a log that’s a minimum of eight inches in diameter.
Ronnie: To make a driver, the block had to be large enough—but it also had to be light enough.
Jeremy: And then from there, we’ll rough turn them, oil harden it, fine turn, cut the nose, the neck, mill the face, sole plate, proper weights, bore angle, hand-cut grooves, hand stamp them, spray it from there, clear coat it—and this is entirely done by hand.
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Rough turn
Oil harden
Fine turn
Cut the nose the neck
Mill the face
Sole plate
Proper weights
Bore angle
Hand cut grooves
Hand stamp
Spray
Clear coat
Gerard: One time when we were doing 100 heads, we might have only one job to do—and we did that all day. But as things changed, we might do 10 different jobs now. I’ve probably made or touched at least 100,000 clubs.
Robert: Actually, you could probably get away with a lesser workmanship, but that’s just not something we’re going to do. You can’t stop technology; it’s always going to move forward. But I think people play hickory and play persimmon because they’re more of a purist, and they want to put their self to test more than just the equipment. They’re the ones that enjoy it the most. I’m almost afraid that, as technology advances, you almost glean less from what you’re doing. It’s “faster and further”—and it just loses something. If there was a taste of golf that you savor, I think it’s being lost.
Onscreen text:
Louisville Golf makes some of the finest hickory and persimmon clubs in the world.
They have been making them the exact same way for decades.
Onscreen text:
Ask questions. Be engaged.
[Charles Schwab logo]
Own your tomorrow®
Robert: I have never hit a metal driver. I never will. It wouldn’t be the same.
Onscreen text:
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Music ends.
Onscreen text:
Thanks to
No Laying Up
