ORLANDO, Fla., January 28 — While Cobra-Puma Golf has captured eyeballs with glitzy celebs and snazzy marketing at this week’s PGA Merchandise Show, a small Connecticut club manufacturer has been earning high praise and taking orders for its Heavy Driver, irons, woods, and hybrids.
Stephen Boccieri is the 58-year-old owner, designer, and one-man PR machine behind Boccieri Golf, which you probably know as the “Heavy Putter” company. After achieving good reviews for his Heavy Wedge at last year’s show, Boccieri embarked on an improbable 12-month odyssey to design, engineer, and deliver a full set of irons, fairway woods, hybrids, and Heavy Driver for the 2011 industry gathering.
“People loved the feel and control of the wedge,” Boccieri, a former nuclear engineer, told New England Golf Monthly Friday from his “Heavyweight Challenge” station on the show floor. “They asked if we had the rest of the set.”
And the race was on. Boccieri decided the only way to do it right was to go all in on gear from irons through driver, so he spent the next year commuting between his Ridgefield, Conn., headquarters and manufacturing plant in China.
“For this thing to really work, I’d have to create a whole line of golf clubs at once,” Boccieri said. After all, golfers want the same pace and tempo on all their clubs. As Boccieri described it, his differently weighted sticks help players maintain consistent swing planes and maximize their club-head speeds.
The Heavy Driver accomplishes that by balancing the weight of the 208-gram driver head with the 50-gram shaft end, Boccieri explained. “The secret is in the butt end of the club.”
If you’re concerned about adding extra weight to your carry bag, don’t be. Replacing your current set with a full group of Heavy clubs would be akin to adding one extra bat to those you now carry, Boccieri said.
Boccieri could spend all day in animated discussion about the thin-face technology that helps balls rocket off the club face — and he has since he gathered his team of sales reps together for a passionate pep talk on the eve of the show. After eavesdropping for a few minutes Tuesday night, I caught Heavy Driver fever and couldn’t wait to get the clubs in my hands. I made straight for the Boccieri bay on Demo Day.
Despite Boccieri’s cogent and spirited tutorial about balance, I expected the clubs to feel somewhat foreign. While I can’t report on each member of the set, suffice it to say that the 8-iron, 20- and 23-degree hybrids, and driver felt fluid and natural. I could certainly live with the uniformly straight and longer-than-expected shots that seemed to fly off each club’s face.
With many of the large retailers — including Golfsmith and Edwin Watts — interested in Boccieri’s compelling product line, look for the company to deliver the equipment to a pro shop near you on March 1. Expect retail pricing of $399 per driver (9- or 10-degree loft), $199 per 3- or 5-wood, $159 for a hybrid, and $749 per set of steel-shafted irons (4-PW). Add $100 for graphite shafts, Boccieri said.
As for going up against the glamorous big boys, Boccieri can’t match their multi-million marketing budgets but was undaunted, especially after generating so much buzz this week. “There isn’t a guy who’s going to buy a [TaylorMade] R11 who’s not going to try this,” he said. “He’s going to give this a whack.”
So, after making good on his promise to deliver a full club line in a year, what’s next for the 14-employee Boccieri Golf? How about the world’s lightest golf bag to counter-balance the heaviest clubs?
“We’ve had major discussions about doing that,” Boccieri said. “It might happen at next year’s show.”
Oh, and don’t hold your breath for a bright white Heavy Driver any time soon.
“I like to eat steak,” Boccieri said, “not listen to the sizzle.”
Now, if only the snow in Boston would melt by March 1 so I could take these babies for a spin….
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, and National Golf Examiner websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter.)
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