(Update: Problems described in the article below with the spray-pump have been addressed by the company. New canisters of GolfDust use an aerosal-spray system that worked just fine in subsequent testing by About.com.)
GolfDust is a product that I'd heard good things about over the years, but one that I'd yet to try myself. So I was pleased when the company that markets and distributes the product contacted me about the possibility of an article on GolfDust.
The company sent me two canisters of the product - which is the spray-on equivalent of impact tape, a way for golfers to identify where on the clubface they are contacting the ball, and make adjustments in their swings accordingly.
As I said, I'd heard good things about GolfDust. But something went wrong - both canisters, after a few mists from their spray pumps, stopped working. This must be a strange coincidence, I thought, that I'd receive two defective canisters when I've read glowing reviews of GolfDust and heard good things about it from some of the golf pros I speak with regularly. Nobody mentioned such a problem.
The distributor sent me two more canisters of GolfDust, and one of them was defective, as well.
Now, there are several things that can happen in such a situation. You can tell the company behind the product about the problem, and they can ignore it; they can react angrily and demand that you not write anything about the problem; they can choose to simply not believe it.
Or they can investigate the problem, discover what causes it, and take steps to address it and prevent other consumers from encountering it. They can show responsibility and a commitment to quality assurance.
And that's what the company behind GolfDust has done.
Gary Madryga, president of the company that markets and distributes GolfDust, said he had not received similar complaints. But he took the lead himself in looking into the problem.
"I just went into the warehouse and started testing some product and found an unacceptable failure rate," Madryga wrote me a couple days after I told him of the problem. Madryga had discovered what the problem was: a defect in some of the pumps caused the apparatus to come apart after a couple of sprays. Not all the pumps were defective, Madryga said, but "It's impossible to tell which product has defective pumps because the pumps get mixed in the packaging plant."
If you can't tell which canisters have problems, and which don't, then what do you do? Madryga knew exactly what to do: "All our warehouse product will now be replaced," Madryga said, to eliminate the defective pumps.
"I am glad you had the problem with the product," Madryga wrote me. "No one we have sold product to has complained about the pump problem. Thanks to you we feel we have caught the problem before the consumers have."
And finally, Madryga says that any consumers who might have received a GolfDust canister with a defective pump should contact the company for a replacement.
Now, with that happy ending to the spray-pump malfunction problem, what about GolfDust itself - does it work?
Before I tried it myself, I asked around among some club pros and teaching pros, and many had tried GolfDust and found it useful.
One prominent teaching pro told me, "We actually sold it at the PGA Tour Academy in St. Augustine. Some people really make better contact using the marks on the face for feedback. Often beginners in particular have no sense of feel for face contact and the marks seem to help them adjust their stance and swing for improved contact."
And that's pretty much the purpose of GolfDust: to provide feedback to the golfer on how well he or she is making contact with the ball. To use GolfDust, give a few pumps to the spray-pump so that the clubface is covered. Wait a very short time for the "dust" (actually, a fine mist) to dry on the surface of the clubface, then hit the ball.
Check the clubface to see where on the face you made contact with the ball. Repeat.
GolfDust wipes off easily with a damp cloth. Multiple impacts can be made to a single application, the "dust" wiped off and re-applied, and more impacts made. A single can of GolfDust holds about 100-150 applications.
More information, along with an animated product demo, is available on the GolfDust Web site. Customers can also place orders from the GolfDust Web site.
