Legendary journalist Michael Bamberger is known for his prose and a list of books that have been consumed by golfers far and wide. One of the most obvious is “To Linksland. If you’ve never had the privilege of diving into Bamberger’s prose, this is the place to start.
Without giving too much away, Bamberger, then a sports writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, quit his job and made a pilgrimage to Europe with his wife, Christine, where he won a job on the European Tour for Peter Teravainen. He also found his game in the Scottish Highlands.
It was during his time abroad that Bamberger began to understand the different ways players attack shots from the green. Tour pro Glen Day chose a fairway wood over a wedge on multiple occasions. On one of his many trips to the old course at St. Andrews, Bamberger also observed natives using the flat stick from the settlement surface.
An idea began to form in his mind.
“I had this idea of how you could combine the two,” Bamberger said waves Fully featured podcast. “Chopping with a fairway wood is difficult because you’re standing too far (from the ball). Putting is one of the easiest strokes. I wanted to combine the fairway wood, the shoulder and the weight of a sand wedge where only gravity would bring you back to the ball.”
In an industry where literally every idea has been done in some form or fashion before, Bamberger was shocked to learn that no one had created a club with the positioned and right lie angle of a barrel, the shape/size of a wood of freeway and weight. of a sand wedge.
With the help of Stanley Chu, a club maker, the E-Club Type II Jigger was born more than two decades ago.
“It took maybe a year, a year and a half to get it right,” Bamberger recalls. “As soon as I had a prototype of it, I brought it to the late Frank Thomas, the USGA equipment guy, and he said, ‘It’s good for off the green and it couldn’t be fairer than 72 degrees.’
“Just because he’s Trevino,” Bamberger said. “Why don’t you do it? I never heard anything, or knew if he got it. Then in 2000 when Trevino was playing in his final (Open Championship) at the Old Course in St. Andrews, he used it. He was 64 or 65, I think. As Jack Nicklaus said when he won the Masters at age 46, he could quit now. This is probably the main point. Definitely the highlight of my golf design career. Maybe my whole career. Lee Trevino used a club I invented.”
After the club got the green light, it began to gain traction in the world of professional golf. Nick Price became the pitchman for a series of E-Club infomercials that ran overnight on the Golf Channel. Bamberger also sent several prototypes to touring pros at the same time, including 6-time major winner Lee Trevino.
“Just because he’s Trevino,” Bamberger said. “Why don’t you do it? I never heard anything, or knew if he got it. Then in 2000 when Trevino was playing in his final (open championship) at the Old Course in St. Andrews, he used it. He was 64 or 65, I think. As Jack Nicklaus said when he won the Masters at age 46, he could quit now. This is probably the main point. Definitely the highlight of my golf design career. Maybe my whole career. Lee Trevino used a club I invented.”
Former President George HW Bush, via Fred Couples, ended up with an E-Club in his hands at one point – and it didn’t take him long to see the benefits of the design.
“Fred told me this, and I’ll take it to the grave, (President Bush) said, ‘Every golfer over the age of 65 should have this in their bag.’ Well, that’s a lot of golfers!” Bamberger recalls.
Golfers are a desperate bunch, so it should come as no surprise that Bamberger sold a lot of E-Clubs, mostly through overnight infomercials, to anyone and everyone who needed a game fix. Asked how many he sold, he joked that it was “almost enough clubs to break even.”
Bamberger also tried to pitch the club design idea to anyone and everyone who might be interested in participating for the company. That included Callaway Golf and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, but neither was willing to bite.
Go look on eBay and you’ll notice that the E-Club is still hanging around. It’s a reminder that while Bamberger will always be remembered for his prose, he is much more than that. He is a former tour operator and, as luck would have it, a club designer. This is a resume.
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