When former Marucci Sports CEO Reed Dickens saw an opportunity to get in the golf business, he took it, buying the inventory and assets of the now-defunct Matrix shafts in 2018 and rebranding as a new venture, LA Golf.
Dickens had enormous success at Marucci, and decided to apply the same playbook to LA Golf. He believed that there was ample room for innovation in the world of shafts, and on this week’s bonus episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, Dickens explained how his partnership with Bryson DeChambeau led to the creation of a new putter.
“The shaft is a tool of the trade,” he said. “It’s both the engine and the transmission of the golf swing, and it’s been mass-produced and rolled like an ice cream cone for 50 years, and no one’s innovated shafts, even though it has the most effect on your ballflight and your ball performance.”
Dickens partnered with Bryson DeChambeau, who he said had a three-and-a-half-hour conversation with LA Golf’s engineer.
“I knew we had something special,” he said. “So we started with shafts. And then Bryson called me one day and said, hey, I think the descending loft technology in the SIK putter face is the most innovative face technology. He said, I’ve tested hundreds of putters. And anyone who knows Bryson knows that was not an exaggeration. He said, you should buy this company.
“And I already wanted a putter,” Dickens continued. “I knew that we had the best putter shaft probably ever created, that actually keeps the putter head from wiggling on impact. It actually impacts ball performance. And so I wanted a putter, but I kind of assumed we’d develop one over time.”
LA Golf moved quickly to acquire SIK Golf, and just introduced their newest product: The LA Golf Putter, which is available in four lengths and retails for $1,500. It’s the first-ever all-carbon putter head to hit the market, and Dickens hopes it will be a game-changer — literally.
“I think it’s the most technologically-advanced putter in probably 30 years,” he said.
For more from Dickens, including why he says so many U.S. Presidents find golf so appealing, check out the full interview below.
