Gold's Factory USA has Launched!

[gocchin]

Gold's Factory USA is a collection of premium tour quality putters and wedges hand crafted from start to finish by M.Sasaya of Gold's Factory. These are all unique one time only designs made for Gold's Factory USA. Sasaya-san picks the best (most uniform with least impurities) and most expensive S20C from Sumitomo metals (as I mentioned before this is what he will do for any head he marks as tour or prototype). He then has the wedges forged at Kyoei into the most balanced heads. The putters are machine milled from the ingot (block of the best S20C steel) into putter heads. Sasaya-san then grinds and hand crafts and hand finishes all putters and wedges to perfection.

Sasaya-san considers these his best works and will perform like masterpieces either on the green or as a collectible in your showcase (^_^).

No doubt that these are not ordinary putters nor are they priced so. You pay for what you get and you can ask those who own Gold's that they are worth their weight in gold... (^_^)

The initial launch has 5 putter designs and 3 styles of wedges (two wedge sets).

http://www.goldsfactoryusa.com

and in the Pro Shop:

http://www.tourspecgolf.com/proshop/m54/Go...tory/index.html

[xxio]

Point of clarification.

When you say Sasaya "has them forged", does it mean Sasaya does not forge them himself?

Does he have a foundry?

If he does not, then who does the forging?

[gocchin]

Sorry I should be more specific there, when I say forged I'm talking about the wedges.

The putters are made of pure S20C and they are machine milled from the ingot (block). Which is why the quality of that steel is so important.

The wedges are all forged at Kyoei then sent to Sasaya completely raw, he machines them, grinds them, engraves them and finishes them.

[xxio]

So Sasaya does all the milling from scratch on the heads for his putters and outsources the forging for wedges? Just confirming

[+TourSpecGolfer]

So Sasaya does all the milling from scratch on the heads for his putters and outsources the forging for wedges? Just confirming

Sasaya carries several types of heads some milled from a solid block the others half milled from the factory. It depends on the model but they are all his designs.

He outsources the forgings on pre grinds, he is a custom club crafter not a steel foundry.

Wedge blanks are very rarely forged by the manufacture.

So many brands use the same forged blanks but the most vital part of the wedges production is if a master crafter himself like Sasaya or Tomaru build it from start to finish.

The process is different from what you would see with other supposed custom wedge crafters, one is more assembly line through various stages of production touching many hands, while the other is literally done from sketch to engraving tool creation to design, grinding, finishing, & paint fill by a true Master. With Sasaya It's part CNC & part Hand Grind even his finish is applied by hand.

Due to the way they are hand made I can't put them on the same level as even other top brands.

[xxio]

So putters are his design but some/most of the raw heads are made/CNC'd elsewehere? They are all forged right?

I was just curious because most of the puttermakers seem to make the heads from the raw billets themselves.... Bettinardi, TP Mills, C&L, Byron etc.. Cameron outsources but that is because he makes hundreds of heads per day.

I agree on the wedge grinding being difficult to do. There is a caddy over here who does maginificent grinding work. I just show him pics or have him copy a grind I want and it comes out perfect. I have gone to clubmakers and they weren't as good.

[gocchin]

Sasaya emailed me today and all the machine milling of Gold's Putters are done by Sasaya-san himself or people directly related to him and trained by him either recently under the Gold's Factory brand or back during the Gauge Design days (including his father).

To quote Sasaya-san's words, "Many people think just because there are no scratches or visible flaws or defects on a product it equals high quality. Of course this is not always the case. Mass production of clubs made in China by part time workers such as housewives who take on a job for extra income know nothing about golf clubs. I recently bought 10 driver heads (he did not name the brand). I am very picky and for me each head had a different shape and that will definitely effect the performance, the ball will not fly as far for some of these heads. So who machines the head is very important. Some putter makers machine, some can just stamp."

As for the raw wedge heads from Kyoei, Sasaya machines them and finishes them.

[xxio]

That is what I wanted to confirm.

I was told in the rumor mill that Sasaya-san or GF buys pre-milled heads in the Hemjei area then he "tunes" them with the inserts and the groove face tech. In the same sense as how many people get upset that Knet does the milling of a majority of Cameron putters than Cameron's "studio" adds the finishing touches. I too would prefer that for the price I pay that the puttermaker himself or his main employees are the ones doing the putter from start to finish. I have seen sub-contractors at work in a lot of different countries. Sub-contractors most of the time do sub-par work.

Gocchin says Sasaya-san confirms every putter is milled from start to finish (from the solid billet I presume) by him or his employees, that should put that "tuner" rumor to rest.

Edited October 16, 2008 by xxio

[gocchin]

That is what I wanted to confirm.

I was told in the rumor mill that Sasaya-san or GF buys pre-milled heads in the Hemjei area then he "tunes" them with the inserts and the groove face tech. In the same sense as how many people get upset that Knet does the milling of a majority of Cameron putters than Cameron's "studio" adds the finishing touches. I too would prefer that for the price I pay that the puttermaker himself or his main employees are the ones doing the putter from start to finish. I have seen sub-contractors at work in a lot of different countries. Sub-contractors most of the time do sub-par work.

Gocchin says Sasaya-san confirms every putter is milled from start to finish (from the solid billet I presume) by him or his employees, that should put that "tuner" rumor to rest.

You have that right. (^_^) All the putter milling is done either withing Gold's or those closely related and trained by him.

[xxio]

thanks

Edited October 16, 2008 by xxio

[gocchin]

Getting me confused.

Clarifying again.

Milling --from start to finish? Meaning from the block/billet til the end, right? No pre forged head shapes then the final grinding by Sasaya-san.

Employess vs closely related/trained by him? Meaning it could still be sub-contracted to ex GD employees?

Just plugging all the loopholes so that when someone asks me.

No problem (^_^)

Sasaya san said milling directly from the ingot/block/billet and by either Sasaya himself or others he trusts ie trained by him like his dad or yes, ex-GD employees who worked under him in the past. Who mills what depends on which design, the material, volume and cost.