Darin Aldrich - make that Dr. Darin Aldrich - has seen the light.
The founder and president of Photon Golf, Aldrich is the developer of the Laser Surface Modification and Laser Nanogroove Technology used on Photon's drivers and putters, respectively.
The processes have helped result in a driver and putter that each has received excellent notices from Tour pros who've tried them, along with excellent reviews from GolfTestUSA and PGATour.com.
Add About Golf to that list. But more on that in a minute.
Aldrich founded Photon Golf, Inc., in November, 2000, after developing the laser technologies now applied to Photon clubs. Prior to founding Photon, Aldrich worked as a principal at Mountain Stream Design, LLC, providing design expertise to the sporting goods and advanced materials industries, while also working as a Research Assistant Professor in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. It's from the Colorado School of Mines that Dr. Aldrich received his Ph.D. in Materials Science.
Photon's Titanium Pro Driver and YAG line of putters debuted at the 2003 PGA Merchandise Show.
The driver features a 360cc head, a three-piece titanium construction with a Ti-6Al-4V face. The laser application to the clubface helps eliminate surface defects that create a non-uniform elastic response in untreated clubfaces; this, in turn, helps channel vibrations away from the impact area. That means a more solid feel from the driver.
"The laser surface modification is done after the head is assembled," Aldrich said, and it results in a textured area whose obvious boundary around the edges of the clubface might fool some people into thinking there is a face insert (there isn't).
"There is no 'insert' on the face, that is merely the texture that is the result of the laser processing," Aldrich explained. "Since the laser is an extremely high temperature, a very small amount of titanium is evaporated off of the clubface, which results in the texture."
Improving the feel is the primary goal of the laser technology, Aldrich said, but eliminating surface defects is a very nice side effect.
"We have several pros that have tested our driver on a launch monitor vs. their clubs," Aldrich said, "and all reported as good as or better performance from an initial velocity, launch angle, and spin rate standpoint."
The YAG putter series currently includes two models, the YAG-1 and YAG-2, that fall into the heel-toe weighted category. Both are heel-shafted; semi-mallet, heel-toe weighted mid-slant and center-shafted models are due soon.
With the putters, the laser application creates nanogrooves that grip the ball to eliminate skidding and produce a better roll.
"The process is functionally similar on the putter," Aldrich said, "but in this case we are trying to create a much larger degree of texture which helps grab the ball on impact and get it rolling sooner."
And a somewhat surprising development with the putters is that many who've tried them report a feel as soft as many inserts ... but not too soft.
"Interestingly enough, we have received a significant amount of feedback that the 'feel' of the putter is softer than a standard face, but not as soft and mushy as a polymer insert putter," Aldrich said. "Our rationale is that there is a reduced contact area between the ball and the laser nanogrooves, thus the cover of the ball is compressed more (thus feels softer) than a standard putter face. We like to use the example of pushing a pencil eraser into your hand vs. pushing a pin into your hand - the smaller contact area of the pin puts a larger compression on your skin than the pencil eraser."
Continued: About Golf Testing, Specs, Pricing and More
