Vertical grooved driver
R.....After almoost 40 years you meet quite a few. And even better you develop friendships. I looked for the old school designers as they are much more interesting. And most of them got screwed by some if not all the companies they worked or consulted with. Which is why most started their own company. If they just would have gotten an honest count there is no telling what they could have done. And don't get Mario started on that.....LOL
Speaking in metallurgic terms of the fact that the thinner faces implored to increase trampoline effect, that creating a scoring line in the face would increase the possibility of a fault developing. I understand that a driver can take thousands of impacts from the majority of golfers SS, so I guess for how long most people change drivers it wouldn't be an issue. I think I was over-thinking this,
A common practice not just in the golf industry. Used it up then tossed it away.
That's why most of them make employees sign a release of right to anything came out of their stay to the company and of course a non competitive clause suggested by their corporate attorney.
Come to think of it, these release clause had been and could be challenged if proven the condition of signing was under duress or fear of losing the position.
As Mario said in the video posted above, the CAD had taken over the art form of designing. Perhaps in the future the art form of designing will return simply because the limit of rules of conforming had been pushed and reached in most cases. Unless there is new affordable material introduced into the golf industry, we should not expect earth shuttering innovation soon.
- Edited
R...one last post for tonight the two most fascinating designers I ever knew and I met most of them from Karsten to Pat Simmons were #1) Stan Thompson #2) Johnny Z (Zebellion-spelled wrong). Tell you about them tomorrow. If you're interested?
sdandrea1 Chapstik - not as messy...or obvious...caught a guy doing that in a scramble...
They should have a publication with list of the cheaters and sandbaggers.
Clear silicone tire shine put into a small lotion or other bottle. Put a little on a corner of your bag towel and just wipe the face as if cleaning, but do not buff. I only did this in some less than desirable scrambles.
Bangoman
I'm always interested in hearing the opinions of designers. Or whatever else they are up to. It's the mechanical engineer coming out in me, I can't help it. I did a presentation in my materials engineering class my sophomore year all about the advantages of titanium driver heads vs stainless. That was 20 years ago. Give or take...
First up Johnny Z Patterns. This guy was a genius. All these companies claiming they made the first modern metal wood.....its all BS. It was Johnny Z. He approached most of these companies with his Patent tooling and they walked all over him and his Patent. Not one dime. They knew he didn't have the money to fight them. At his small foundry and machine shop he walked me thru the lost wax process. He made all his own prototype metal woods and tooling from scratch. End of Part 1 on Johnny Z
These days there are companies/individuals who will fund your patent defense costs for a percentage of the patent rights.
The patent system is kind of screwed up for the same reason the rest of the litigation process usually sucks. If they had loser pays legal fees most of this kind of behavior would go away as if you have a valuable patent finding the front money to prosecute patent infringement would be a lot easier.
Similar results would be seen in the rest of the non criminal legal system and I wouldn't have had to peel off endless warning labels on the ladder I just bought.
Trial lawyers might actually be encouraged to do something useful.
Someone should have pointed him to an attorney specialized in patent infringement.
It'll cost him nothing.
Secondly, he probably did not do everything possible to protect his invention and there could be loop holes in the patent he applied. Should have consult for legal advice before hands. Sorry to say, when one wave a piece of meat in front of a carnivorous beast is asking for trouble. Present examples are with Microsoft, Facebook.....
Verticle grooves. Ho hum. Show me a verticle smile....
I understand what you're saying and that is exactly why these large corporation could get away with what they do.
There are attorney set their goal on either the fame or the potential pay-off. One would just need to search and find them. Easier these days if using the social media, which in turn might apply some pressure and result in settlement after the words gets out.
I know the tactic of delaying the process, the useful life span of the product, the limitation of a human life and of course the looming legal expense all come into play. But we have social media now..... one could get attention quickly and cost almost nothing.
Seriously, the idea or the product should be protected ( as we found out the patent right alone is not enough ).
If someone being so naive to hand it over to a large corporation on the silver platter thinking they could use the corporations resources to promote their product and get compensated, is, like asking a tiger to guard your safety while you sleep.