Spy Interview: Versus Golf Owner/Chief Designer

Already Looking Forward to 2010!

The first time I saw the prototype clubs coming out of Versus Golf for 2009…I knew we had to get an interview with the man responsible for these designs.

If you don’t remember who Versus Golf is…we covered a couple stories about the company and its new products on MYGOLFSPY a couple months ago…you can view the irons here and the driver here. After you look at these you will know exactly why we wanted to get to know Scott Son the Owner/Chief Designer and man behind these designs at Versus Golf a little better.

We went into this interview originally just wanting to know about the Versus Golf products…although it didn’t take long for us to realize…we were going to learn about much more then just the new irons and driver.  We also learned of a “Secret” technology they are working on for 2010!

So Enjoy!

Scott Son, Verus Golf

We have heard your name before, so where did you work prior to coming to Versus Golf?
Well, I started out at Alpha Golf which at the time was a lower-end component company…and at the time I was just a marketing guy. But I was playing in a local tournament in LA and a guy was bombing drives past us by 30 yards or so. So, we asked what he was hitting…it was an Alpha Reaction (LINK)…I had never seen one before. But I looked the company up and to my amazement I realized they were right down the street from me. So I went in to have a look…I ended up meeting with the owner and after a discussion about where I thought I could take his company…the rest was history. Soon after we made Alpha Golf the first component company that matched up quality wise with the major brands.

You worked at Nakashima as well…correct?
Yeah…Nakashima Golf was great. They were really committed to making the best possible product…which is always nice when you are designing a club. You can let your imagination run wild. I developed the HTEC driver when I was there…which has the shaft technology you see everywhere now.

The shaft technology is interesting where do you see it going and also where do you see the industry going in the next few years?
Yeah, I said for years that the shaft technology would be the standard in golf. And I really tried to push for a “universal shaft adapter” so all the heads and shafts would work together. But it didn’t happen. All the major OEM’s wanted their own adapter system…it would have been great for the consumer though.

What was your inspiration for the new irons?
Well for the Versus VS1 Irons I used the old Ram Accubar as my inspiration…this was the first set I ever owned and my dad gave them to me. So I used them for the concept but upgraded them along the way.

For the VS.7 Irons I got the idea from my drawing book…I carry it around pretty much everywhere I go. I have a background in Art and I am also familiar with CAD systems. So the two go hand in hand. My style has a lot of industrial touch to it…I don;t like to use medallions. Some companies use them and are very good at doing it. For instance I think Callaway is one of the best at using medallions for function. But I just like a cleaner more industrial look.

So whats the deal with the driver…why should golfers buy it over other drivers?
Well differentiating your driver from all the other ones out there is tough now. But we gear our equipment to the better golfers and the better golfers have a different set of wants. So we obviously have the highest MOI and all the other common stuff but this driver sets itself apart in a couple different ways.

• We have designed it to be the easiest 460cc head to work. With a lot of hard work we came up with a combination of bulge and roll and weighting that makes this head super easy to shape on the golf course.
• The bar on the bottom works similar to a high performance sports cars sway bar. It is a super stable head at impact.
• We tested this driver a lot and during our testing we have found a way to make this head feel the same no matter where you hit it on the face. No matter if you hit it dead-center or way off the toe. It’s pretty impressive.

So when is everyone going to get a chance to hit these new clubs?
Well right now they are only in Japan and Korea. Both markets approached us about bringing our equipment over there…they really liked the new designs. But we plan on bringing something to the US in late 2009 and we will be sure to let you guys know as soon as we have a date.

And we also have something really cool coming out in 2010 which will be pretty interesting!

Listen Scott I really appreciate the time I think you guys do great work and I really do wish you the best. It is always nice to see some of the smaller companies producing some of the freshest technology to hit the course. I look forward to talking again soon.
Thanks again…I really like what you guys are doing at MYGOLFSPY. It is kind of like the TMZ of golf.

Thanks…maybe we should change our name to the “Paparazzi of Golf”
Thanks alot guys…Hope to talk again soon!

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To Be Continued…

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