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Lucky Money aka Lai See aka Red Envelope I've been meaning to do a write up on my first experience with a new love affair my custom Golds Factory putter, fondly named, Lucky Money. Let me back up a bit since I've not really given a formal introduction of myself since I joined the site. I'm relatively new to JDM, as this year marked my first year with this new obsession, but my, has it been a crazy ride since I jumped in the deep end...and I havent looked back since! It started with some Miura wedges, then Miura irons, then my first Epon set (AF Tours), and now its hard to count the stuff that's been in/out of the stable and all the new directions Ive headed with such amazing quality gear. Ive pretty much abandoned all USDM clubs (some old stuff still in the corners of the garage but will need to make an exodus at some point) and have no regrets of all the clubs Ive tried and the experiences I've had thus far being a part of this awesome site and getting to know some of the great members here. One of the early members who befriended me, Stew, warned me at the onset that the addiction would spread like wild fire. He told me that while the iron sets, drivers and wedges may all seem pricy compared to their USDM counterparts, they are well worth their value in the quality and fun I would have with them. I have to agree, I've never had better equipment in my life and Im always thirsting for the next opportunity to try some more JDM, whether old or new. I dunno, call me a club ho, but that's pretty much the state of affairs when it comes to my outlook on all things golf-related at this point. He did warn me, however, about avoiding the putter threads as the potential craze may severely impact my pocket book.. (ominous, I know! ;) Well, it was that one fateful night after putting the kids to sleep when I was sitting on the "throne," and starting browsing the putter threads on my phone...finally. I went from thread to thread looking at all the amazing pics of all your putters that had been through Gold's, and I literally stood no chance!! There was one putter though, that really struck me and sent me over the proverbial edge. Let me take pause and give credit where credit is due...tokidoki1986's Soft Black Inner Gold 1st Edition Seven Putter did me in -- what a beauty! After I handled my "business," I hit the computer and looked at as many pics and read as much as I could on everyone's experience with Golds, the prototype first edition Seven putter and TSG's handling of it all. I was hooked and there was nothing I could do to stop the urge to get one of my own. Weeks later, after unsuccessfully trying to suppress this urge, I contacted Chris to start the discussion about potentially starting a project at some point. Well, the conditional statements were short-lived and days later I was already working on designing my putter with Chris. I like to think of myself as a creative individual with a good sense of design aesthetics, but if I'm being honest, I had no freakin clue about what I wanted. I liked tokidoki1986's putter, and everything I could think of was based off his putter. Chris basically put together a itemized quote for a putter that would match toki's, but somewhere along the way, his encouragement gave me some confidence to start personalizing and making things more custom to me. Before I knew it, I was starting to make small adjustments, which lead to major personalizations and I ended up with something that is definitely somewhat of an homage to tokis original putter, but has my personality written all over it. The entire process was so exciting, working with Chris and going back and forth on email. He was very patient with me as I was making the slightest tweaks and sending new mockups, and he would do his best to either re-quote the changes, or just encouraged me to continue personalizing and designing until I was completely satisfied. I am truly happy with the end result (I'll post my mockups to show how closely everything matched, which is so crazy how precise the craftsmanship is at Gold's!), and I could not say better things about the entire process, especially it being my first experience with anything this custom, and working with a master of his craft, Sasaya-San. Thank you, Chris (and the TSG team), for helping this beauty come to life! I urge anyone that is considering this type of custom work to pull the trigger, as the level of service from TSG cannot be beat and we all know how amazing the flatsticks that come out of Golds Factory always are THE BEST! So, without further ado, let me introduce you all to Lucky Money 1. Seven prototype first generation SM490A putter head 2. Black Boron finish 3. 2 Dark Tungsten weights in the face with milled dots/red paint fill and Chinese characters engraved - toe weight "RED - 利" and heel weight "Envelope - 是" 4. Horizontal PZ Milling on face 5. 5 Overlapping Cavity Inserts with the middle one being larger and my last name engraved w/ red paint fill - 3 copper (main circle has a smaller milled inner circle), 2 tungsten (2 smaller milled inner circles w/ red paint fill) 6 Orbit G weights on sole - otherwise clean on the sole 7. Orichulum site dot 8. Site line 9. 4 Red Aluminum inserts in the bumpers w/ smaller milled inner circles 10. Seven logo milled on toe in red paint fill 11. Shimada Black Shaft 12. Superstroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip This putter might be over the top to some, but for me, it was just such an eye-opening experience to the endless possibilities and the level of quality things can be done by those that are truly passionate about their craft. I definitely think this will be my "busiest" creation, but this first one is something that helps me identify with some important roots, and hopefully that will translate to some much needed zen with the flatstick!! =) One last thing, I must warn those that are not already lucky owners of a Golds putter, it definitely raises the bar for every putter that you will ever encounter, and there is an incessant itch to potentially send in whatever flat stick is currently in your hands to get a Gold's tune up, no matter how amazing it already is!! Thank you all for the inspiration! ;)