Building HICKORY Golf Clubs by Hand

There’s something so satisfying about a center strike on a Persimmon driver. The Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson knows the feeling all too well, and constantly chases it.

Andy builds his custom set of brand new, old-school Louisville Golf clubs ahead of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Part 1 of Against the Grain, presented by Charles Schwab.

Check out the Charles Schwab Challenger Series episodes featuring:

Louisville Golf: https://content.schwab.com/web/retail/public/corporatesponsorships/challengers-video-louisville-golf.html

Andy Johnson:
https://content.schwab.com/web/retail/public/corporatesponsorships/challengers-video-johnson.html

Learn more about the Challengers:
https://content.schwab.com/web/retail/public/corporatesponsorships/challengers.html

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[Music] every Club has its own special look to it to me that’s one of the neatest things about these clubs that’ll make that green pop even more to me they look a whole lot better than anything [Music] modern perfect [Music] all right this is exciting I’ve been such an admirer also a user of what Louisville golf’s been doing uh they kind of challenged the general idea that you have to have the latest and greatest new clubs to enjoy the game so we’re uh we’re building a Hickory golf club set and we’re going to see kind of how this Hickory set works at some golden age golf courses in the Dallas area uh it includes The Golf Club of Dallas and Colonial Country Club which is the host site of the Charles Schwab challenge gillo for the win he has been perfect from that range this week 8 years since his last win and 8 years was more than enough the G yeah so we’ve been working on it kind of excited to get you out there see how our craftsmanship uh helps you get it closer to the hole out there man it’s so neat that we’re both featured in The Charles Schwab Challenger Series I think it just made sense for us to to connect and do this because our passions and our motivations to challenge the status quo and change how people view the game there’s so many similarities and and kind of parallels to golf course architecture and handcrafted clubs like Louisville makes and that’s what I’m so excited about with the Charles Schwab challenge at Colonial Colonial is being restored obviously by by Gil Hance and so many of these original features um and characteristics of golf courses of of that age are being brought back I always enjoy playing these older architectural designs with hickories cuz they were meant to be played with hickories they were designed for [Music] [Applause] [Music] hickories for me to purchase the company and move forward with it it was more derived out of passion for the game uh passion for the hick golf clubs um is is really why I I chose to to take this path the wood itself is beautiful and it takes on its own personality I think we are have gotten to where in golf we’re just used to looking at black gunmetal gray whereas when you come in with wood you can get mahogany stains you can get blonde stains you can do a natural fill with it every one of them is handmade so there’s unique differences no matter what we do here each one of them is going to have its own unique characteristic that makes it your Club what I see there’s this phenomenon when I play pictory where you just have the people that you’re with like everybody wants to look at it touch it put it down in a dress and then they want to hit it the minute you you strike that club and you hit it off The Sweet Spot it’s almost electrifying it the way it just comes up into your body the feeling is kind of completely different from a modern Club the biggest thing to me I would think you would be able to play a club just like they played it for hundreds of years and you don’t have to worry about all that you know all that technology and all that track man stuff you just get out there and wing it and see how it goes you know I started Fred at golf because I had a really deep passion for golf you know with what I do with Golf Course architecture playing golf with Hickory clubs the golf courses just kind of come alive you know that kind of it changes the status quo of what that Golf Course is thought of you know when you’re playing these Hickory Club if you are going to hit your driver your spoon all the way through my Niblick which is your sand wedge and there’s not a course on this planet that I’ve played with my Hickory clubs that I didn’t use all of those clubs so that element you’re searching for is is to test yourself and I feel like you know being able to hit every Club in the bag um is something that is very unique to Hickory Golf one of the things that’s been so fun for me is playing the type of clubs that you you guys make there because it really challenges the way that you think about golf have you seen from your business standpoint how it’s kind of challenged the status quo of golf we’re seeing all all demographics come into Hickory the interest level of what it’s like to even hit a hickory Club most people didn’t even know it existed yet alone what it feels like to hit one the difference in it players are actually able to run shot up through the neck of the green that’s kind of cool you know bounce the ball in there have some options out there the rub of the green the the ground Runners and stuff coming up you know I mean bringing all that stuff back that’s what I’m so excited about with the Charles Schwab challenge at Colonial it is being restored and so many of these original features and characteristics of golf courses of that age are being brought back and there are going to be open angles to approach and hit a running shot in you know obviously in in Dallas you have Golf Club of Dallas and Colonial they both were designed by Perry Maxwell Perry Maxwell was the great architect he was very economical with bunkers bunkers on Perry Maxwell courses are placed in places to protect certain angles being available and then the greens you know he’s very well known for his greens so playing these Hickory golf clubs out there you’re going to be able to use some of these design features that are being put back and and really change the way you think about playing that golf course because you’re going to have open entrances to Greens where there used to be some bunkers some bunkers are going to be put back in places and and they’re going to be bigger and they’re going to challenge you more to to stay out of them and with Hickory clubs that that’s the name of the game and and it it reveals what the essence of the game is is the challenge is the essence of the game it is this game that that you cannot perfect no matter how hard you try that’s what the beauty of the game is and to me Hickory clubs amplify that they give you such a rush of exhilaration when you hit the great shot I that’s well stated I don’t think you can put it any better than that just for the experiences and the emotions that go into playing Hickory clubs that’s just awesome I can’t wait to see you play these clubs uh in Dallas and and some of these courses uh play them well and and uh let report back man I want to see how this goes yeah I uh I can’t wait Jeremy I um I’m I’m excited to tote him around with me learn about them in Dallas I think that’s the other thing you learn about these clubs you you figure out the little nuances of each one and I can’t wait to start that journey and I know uh they’re going to be beautiful beautiful clubs and they’re going to they’re going to feel great if you if you guys are making them