Equipment
Club Champion Master Club Builders discuss the craft
At Club Champion headquarters in Willowbrook, Illinois, club builders are often responsible for meticulously assembling more than 100 clubs per day.
And while this is an impressive number to the layman — as is the 50,000 possible club combinations Club Champion can craft — we wanted to know more about what the process actually entails — and further, learn more about the men epoxying shafts to heads, installing grips, bending, grinding, SST PUREing, and stamping.
Many Paths
The master builders of Club Champion we spoke to took different paths to the Willowbrook headquarters and their expertise in the unique blend of art and science. Company founder and 25-year club building veteran Nick Sherburne had one of the most unique roads in of the builders we spoke with. “I’m a bigger guy who needed to alter my clubs but I didn’t have the money for the options that were available at the time.” Through an initial process of trial and error, Sherburne honed his skills, eventually linking up with Everett Lokenvitz and securing a PCS (Professional Clubmakers Society) Class A certification.”
Master Club Fitter & Builder Ryan Bulkema of Oak Lawn, Illinois, has been building golf clubs for 16 years. He began his journey in big box world. “Very early on, I found myself gravitating to the club tech area and on frequent occasions,” he said, learning the intricacies of “cutting off grips, regripping, pulling shafts, bending loft and lie, and even basic club assembly.”
Alex Buckridge, who has been a master builder at Club Champion for four-and-a-half years, specializes in club stamping and paint fills. He got his start in the industry the same way many golf business lifers do: working at a golf club as a caddie and bag room attendant.
The Fitting Process
In addition to being curious about their paths to the profession, we wanted to know what the club building process at Club Champion looks like. Alex told us “I could tell you…but then I’d have to kill you.” But fortunately, others were willing to give us a peek behind the curtain, demystifying a process few outside the industry — and the GolfWRX forums — understand.
The builders we spoke to broke down the Club Champion builders process
- Builders being by hand-picking weight-sorted products to make sure they’re using consistent, quality parts to start
- After initial item inspection, builders dive into the build sheet
- SST PUREing shafts to make sure they can be installed in the optimal position is next
- Shaft tipping (if needed) and preparation is next
- Club builders fit the shafts into heads, measure on the club ruler to the intended length, and cut the shafts if needed
- Club builders debur the edge and put the grip on the shaft with the appropriate tape for the build. “Grip before glue” to ensure a perfect swingweight
- Once grips are installed, a builder puts the head on to dry weight the swingweight
- This allows a club builder to map out the set or individual club and determine if any weight needs to be added. if not, s/he adjusts accordingly to the fitted specs using lead, tungsten, rat glue, weights that come with some heads, etc
- Once swingweight is good to go, the proper ferrule is added and the club is glued using a 24 hour epoxy
- When the club is dry, the ferrule is turned to ensure a clean look
- Any bending of the club is done on a Mitchell digital loft and lie machine
- Shining up, stickers
- A final full QC process
Common Misconceptions
Digging deeper, Club Champion builders said there are no shortage of misconceptions about their craft.
Chief among these, according to Sherburne is the idea that off-the-rack clubs are consistently build and match the specs shown online.
And in terms of specs, Sherbune cautions, “not all loft and lie machines measure the same, which is why having properly calibrated machinery is important to performance. At CC, we make sure all machines are calibrated to match, from stores to build facilities, so there are no discrepancies.”
Additionally, Sherburne emphasized how every piece of a club build affects other elements. He offered this example: “Swingweight changes flex: A heavier shaft plays looser, and if the swingweight is light, the shaft will play stiffer.”
Tolerances are also important to keep in mind when thinking about the build your golf clubs. Club Champion builders work within one inch of loft and lie, 1/8 inch length, and one swing weight point. Other builders aim for 2-3 degrees loft and lie, 1/2 inch length, and minimal swing weight tolerances.
Alex Buckridge spelled out another major difference between off-the-rack manufacturing and how Club Champion operates. “Most off-the-rack clubs are built in an assembly line style, with much looser tolerances. In this scenario, maybe one person cuts, one grips, one glues, and so on. For some manufacturers, machines complete portions of the process. With a professionally built club like those we create, one person is doing the build from start to finish. We’re following much tighter tolerances and can offer a much wider range of custom options.” Sherburne added, “The tolerances for mass-produced clubs are all over the place, which is why a professionally hand-built club is key.”
No Comparison
In terms of the abundance of custom offerings, Club Champion is the summit of the mountain.
Regarding the aforementioned, Sherburne said, “If you’re comparing us to the few other brand-agnostic fitters out there, it comes down to our desire to go above and beyond. More brands, more model options, more training, tighter tolerances, tougher QC processes, the Perfect Fit Guarantee, more attention to detail. The list goes on and on. The moral of the story is we can create essentially anything and that’s key to finding the ideal performance for so many different types of golfers.”
And certainly, there’s no comparison to OEM fittings and what’s available at big box retail, in terms of availability, customization, and the ability to dial in specs.
And while everyone we spoke with at Club Champion agreed home club building is a great hobby, Ryan summed up the need for professional club building best, “I see club building as an art form, with an almost infinite number of possible options. I have the ability to achieve a much higher degree of change, within a much tighter tolerance, with a high attention to detail. If you expect the best performance out of something, you don’t tend to DIY it unless you’re an expert in that field. Golf clubs are no different.”
For More
You can read more about Club Champion in our other features below and check out ClubChampionGolf.com.
- What really happens during a putter fitting?
- What to expect during a club fitting
- Addressing club fitting’s biggest myth: It’s only for good players
- Club fitting 101: How to prepare for a fitting
Cameron Young’s WITB from his win at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. Cameron is a Titleist staff player but his bag is definitely filled with some unique clubs. Here are the clubs he used to secure his first PGA Tour win!
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Black VeloCore+ 10 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 631.CY Prototype (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F @57), WedgeWorks (60-K* @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Prototype
- Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (10 degrees, C2 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Titleist GT3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
7-wood: Titleist GT2 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Irons: Titleist T150 (4, 5), Titleist T100 (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper AMT Tour White X100
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F, 56-08M @57, 60-04T @62)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Fastback 1.5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Yellow
We’re proud to once again partner with 2nd Swing Golf to bring you GolfWRX Members Choice 2025! 2nd Swing has more than 150,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
What is the best driver in 2025? At GolfWRX, we take great pride in our online community and the cumulative knowledge and experience of our members. When it comes to the best driver of 2025, we want to know what our forum faithful think.
Since our founding in 2005, the bedrock of GolfWRX.com has been the community of passionate and knowledgeable golfers in our forums, and we put endless trust in the opinions of our GolfWRX members — the most knowledgeable community of golfers on the internet. No other group of golfers in the world tests golf clubs as frequently or as extensively, nor is armed with such in-depth information about the latest technology.
Below are the results of GolfWRX member voting for the 2025 best driver, along with the vote percentage for each club.
Best driver of 2025: The top 5
5. Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond: 6.02%
Callaway’s pitch: “For golfers looking for a fast, forgiving, yet workable driver, the Elyte Triple Diamond features a tour-inspired shape and is the preferred model by most Callaway tour players.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond here.
4. Ping G440 Max: 6.86%
Ping’s pitch: “The most forgiving G440 model, MAX has a hotter face to generate speed and distance, and a lighter overall system weight with a longer shaft (46″) for faster clubhead speed, higher launch and longer carries. The Free Hosel and Carbonfly Wrap crown save weight to create our lowest CG ever and increase forgiveness while contributing to a more muted, pleasing sound.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 Max here.
3. Ping G440 LST: 9.53%
Ping’s pitch: “LST is an especially good fit for faster swings, offering less spin and more control with a penetrating trajectory. A hotter face, lighter overall system weight and longer shaft (46″) deliver more speed and distance while maintaining tight dispersion.”
@phizzy30: “Not a fan of Ping drivers in general, but 440 LST takes the cake. It’s super forgiving across the face for a low spin head, looks and sounds good and the ability to make it play neutral or slightly fade biased through the hosel settings is very appealing.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Ping G440 LST here.
2. Titleist GT3: 16.55%
Titleist’s pitch: “The GT3 Driver offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization through adjustable performance. Dial in the CG Track to your frequent contact location to make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping.”
@mrmikeac: “I’ve been Anti-Titleist for years and years and years (outside of Vokey, of course). With that being said, HOLY BEGEEZUS the GT3 driver is an absolute NUCLEAR MONSTER! This thing blew my G430 10K Max out of the water in every single category. Forgiveness is the biggest thing that stands out of me, the 3 model has always been one of the less forgiving models in the past but this GT3 can take bad shot after bad shot and still end up in the fairway, I think a ton of that has to do with the adjustability, it’s actually effective. Feel and sound is perfect, that solid crack is so addicting to hear and when you hit it out the screws this thing can absolutely bomb it. Titleist, I’m sorry for doubting you. You have converted me.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT3 here.
1. Titleist GT2: 22.91%
Titleist’s pitch: “Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, the Titleist GT2 Driver extracts maximum performance through a forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed.”
@DTorres: “The Titleist GT2 has proven to be the best driver of the year. Packaged in a classic profile, GT2 perfectly balances performance and forgiveness while consistently being a high performer across all categories.”
You can read what other golfers are saying about the driver in the GolfWRX forums, and see our launch piece here. Shop the Titleist GT2 here.
Other drivers receiving >2% of the vote
| Driver | Vote percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Cobra DS Adapt Max K | 4.85% |
| Ping G430 Max 10K | 3.85% |
| Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond | 3.68% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 | 3.51% |
| Callaway Elyte | 3.18% |
| Cobra DS Adapt X | 2.34% |
| Cobra DS Adapt LS | 2.17% |
| TaylorMade Qi35 LS | 2.17% |
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Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...
Mike yass
Jun 8, 2022 at 1:19 pm
Nothing in here about the employees building the cubs in a 90 degree building with no air conditioning. Weird
Connor Stremke
Jan 1, 2022 at 1:47 pm
Club Champion approves of this message*
Also, fuck club champion
Pm
Dec 31, 2021 at 2:28 am
Reading all these comments and all the other bad ones in the Forums, sounds like CC is struggling and is on a campaign to try to do more sales through this type of hype advertising, but obviously it’s not going to work. Not that any of the other fitting places like TrueSpec or CoolClubs are any better, they all try to upsell you and that’s that. Clowns. Make sure people aren’t paying for SST Pure, that is a sure waste of money
TP
Dec 30, 2021 at 11:20 pm
Club Champion is the biggest rip off. “Grip before glue”?? WTH. Anyone who has a clue what they’re doing wou never do this. A- use a swingweight scale that allows for a grip to be placed under the shaft for a dry fit. B- having a grip on shaft before gluing gives the air in the shaft nowhere tango after you glue it up and increases the possibility of the shaft creeping up. Also for what they charge 1/8″ and 1° loft and kie variance is atrocious. I have all my personal clubs within 0.2 swingweight and 1/32″ and 0.25° loft and lie and I’m doing it from my house. Ridiculous. Do yourself a favor and get a set blueprinted out or spec’d out by someone who takes their time and has tighter tolerances
Internet Police
Dec 30, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Not concerned much with safety. No gloves with solvent, no gloves with the grinding / buffing wheel. Sparks flying all over bare skin while cutting shafts. It’s laughable. But hey, they’ll spine your shafts for you…. What a joke, Club Chumpion”.
Jim Thomson
Dec 30, 2021 at 10:20 am
What a waste of digital space. Club building is not rocket science. I’ve been a hobbyist club builder for over 40 years and I’ll put my ability up against any CC “specialist” as would many experienced DIYers. BTW, does anyone proofread this stuff? Interesting that CC works to one inch of loft and lie. No wonder you found their “process” so amazing.
Kevin S
Dec 30, 2021 at 4:51 pm
I thought the same thing, Jim Thompson. I read, “Club Champion builders work within one inch of loft and lie, 1/8 inch length, and one swing weight point. Other builders aim for 2-3 degrees loft and lie, 1/2 inch length, and minimal swing weight tolerances.” Whaaa?? I’m a simple hobbyist, too, but if I was simply “aiming for 2-3 degrees on loft and lie,” as Sherburne tries to disparage me and everyone else, I wouldn’t even be attempting it.
Tom
Dec 30, 2021 at 6:41 am
Did a CC fitting…. Ordered the irons to the exact specs they fit me for, on my own, not through them as their prices are ridiculous. I have never hit an iron worse in my life and I am a plus handicap.
leezer99
Dec 30, 2021 at 6:12 am
Had a fitting at CC just a couple of weeks ago. I could have gotten better results going to my local shop and hitting random clubs on their LM. Sent in a complaint and they offered to redo the fitting at another location but I really don’t see the point.
geohogan
Dec 30, 2021 at 6:02 am
So much made of loft /lie machines, when key to fitting
IMO, is height of hands from the ground the same for all clubs.
ie butt end of clubs, height from ground is the suited to golfer and the same for all clubs. Exact degrees of lie angle is irrelevant.
Ts
Dec 30, 2021 at 2:55 am
What no Frequency, or MOI match options? What about checking for CG strike locations dependent on which shaft will be installed, other than the completely useless and pointless SST pure? What happens when the CG locations are changes in the heads? They measure for that?
leezer99
Dec 30, 2021 at 6:05 am
If having your shafts pured was necessary they’d offer it on the PGA Tour trucks. Guess what… they don’t.
andrew
Dec 29, 2021 at 4:41 pm
How much did they pay for this ad?
Golf Nobel
Dec 29, 2021 at 8:25 am
Influence on CG is pretty null as you can easily find here on the forum tech pages.
Adding tip weights even up to 8-10 grams is required when you replace shafts as every model has a different weight distribution and is required if you want to match a specific SW.
Even Ping or other factories do that, you should know it if you have ever pulled a shaft.
Also, majority of the golfers (everyone is not a Tour level player) cannot spot any differences in 2-3 SW points range or minor changes in flexes like few cpm…
Eric Spaulding
Dec 29, 2021 at 11:07 am
“Influence on CG is null”?? Really? Tell that to the manufacturers who spend millions of marketing dollars boasting about their “movable weight systems” on driver heads. I guess Ping is wasting their time caring so much about this exact issue with irons.
Golf Nobel
Dec 31, 2021 at 5:58 am
I’m talking about irons where there’s no horizontal gear effect, drivers are another story.
Go study mate.
Eric Spaulding
Jan 2, 2022 at 1:33 am
“Mate”,
Your original comment said nothing about gear effect; you said “influence on CG is null”.
Sorry, but adding weight to one end of an object changes CG whether it’s on a driver, iron, feather, or army tank.
And regardless, I’ll go with option (b): Ping engineers know more than you and I both
Jack H.
Dec 28, 2021 at 4:32 pm
When I had my fitting there the guy who was helping me bragged that the same people who were going to build my clubs also build all the fitting shafts. I had 4 separate adapters break free and even had one head fly off because they used such little glue. Mind you I swing a driver 98-100 mph max so we are not talking long drive or even PGA Tour speed here. After that disaster of a fitting I politely declined ever buying anything from their “master” club fitters.
Eric Spaulding
Dec 28, 2021 at 12:20 pm
Hilarious. All that talk about tolerances, weight-sorting components, etc, and then they slap an 8 gram slug of lead in the hosel to get the swing weights in a set to match up. At least Ping (an engineering company to begin with) cares enough to use toe weights to keep the CG of an iron where it should be