The Loerzel Story
Steve Loerzel, the Supervisor of Excursion Functions as well as Owner Nightclub Contractor at PROTOCONCEPT GOLF, has actually been actually greatly taken part in golf due to the fact that childhood years. Coming from grow older 10 to 16, he operated at the Arnold Palmer Driving Variation in Crystal Pond, IL, sustaining a serious interest for the sporting activity.
Later, Loerzel honed his golf devices fixing abilities at Custom-made Golf Property in Orange Region, The golden state, maintenance over one hundred golf links in the area as well as regulating manufacturer’s warranty help noteworthy labels. His 17-year period certainly there dramatically formed his progress pathway.
Loerzel’s efficiency out of commission as well as group structure led him to Cleveland Golf, where he mastered crafting groups for trip experts, accompanying the firm’s trip plan development. His experience supported the development of Cleveland Golf’s trip division, ultimately taking care of the manufacturing division as well as its own 120 employee.
His noteworthy job captured the interest of Fourteen Golf, a premier Eastern golf company, where he devoted eleven years boosting their existence on both the LPGA EXCURSION as well as the WEB.COM EXCURSION, helping in over one hundred specialist triumphes. Just before leading PROTOCONCEPT GOLF’s trip Division as well as Custom-made Installation Plan, Loerzel contributed in the quick development of Nightclub Champ Installation Suppliers, managing their Body Store as Supervisor as well as participating in a crucial task in their quick development.
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You get out of bed in the early morning — what’s the steering interest?
The interest that steers me is actually golf.
It has actually been my lifestyle due to the fact that my initial project at 16 years of ages working with a group fixing firm in Southern The golden state. I began conforming at the grow older of 10, it’s in my blood stream.
It doesn’t injure that I’m an individuals pleaser, I enjoy to assist gamers strengthen their video game.
How carries out Protoconcept Golf separate on its own coming from others in the classification?
ProtoConcept Golf is actually a superior Eastern nightclub maker.
Forged, top quality, tiny set item. Nothing at all is actually standardized therefore resistances manage to be actually always kept to a tighter selection.
Major producers are actually making an effort to satisfy revenue scopes, compromising high quality to satisfy their scopes.
Who is your client?
Our clients are actually golf enthusiasts, of any kind of amount, trying to find exceptional top quality golf nightclubs.
We have models that meet the needs of all levels of players, from pros to high handicappers. All four of our models can be made into combination sets.
The shape, offset and overall appearance from address is very similar, allowing players to mix and match models without having a completely different look from one model to the other.
Most of our tour players are playing combo sets, a more forgiving model in their long irons then in their mid to short irons.
What’s the biggest misunderstanding golfers generally have regarding club fitting?
That it’s only for the serious golfer.
All levels of golfers can benefit from being fit.
A good fitter can recommend a club setup that works for your swing. Nothing replaces the benefit of taking some lessons to help make a better pass at the ball, but if you are swinging the wrong shaft flex, as example, you may need to completely change your swing to make them work for you.
Getting a fitting will determine if your equipment is right for you.
What’s more challenging – fitting a tour professional or average player?
Fitting an average player is more difficult in my opinion.
Professionals generally have a better or at least a more consistent swing.
Average players don’t have the repetitive swing that allows to precisely match a shaft to their needs.
Consistency in the striking of a golf ball is central to success. From a practical level what is the lowest loft iron most players should have in their golf bag?
I’m seeing more and more players using some type of a hybrid iron for their 3 and 4 iron. Even a hybrid wood in some cases.
I think for the average player, the 5-iron should be the lowest loft — in a standard iron — they should carry. Look for a utility or hybrid style iron — like our C01.5 — if you are going to carry a 3 or 4 iron.
Does it help or hurt most golfers when opting to use a 60-degree wedge or more?
That is a hard question to answer.
I tried a 64-degree wedges for a very short time, it cost me more strokes than it saved me. With the stronger lofts on iron sets these days, I think a 50, 54, 58-degree setup is more functional.
Our wedges are so easy to open up, and still make good ball contact, that I think a 58 degree is better. It really depends on the loft of your sets pitching wedge and the players’ ability level. If the pitching wedge loft is 45 degrees, then you may find a 4 wedge (48, 52, 56, 60) setup works better for you.
So much depends on the ability to hit half and three-quarter shots consistently.
If you could change one thing in golf unilaterally — what would it be and why?
Change the rules to make the game more friendly for non-professional golfers. Get rid of going back to the tee for lost balls or out of bounds.
Allow players to move balls out of bad lies at no penalty. Our company need to speed up the game to keep or get new players interested.
This is not new, but I think it is very important. I know there possess been some changes made in the past few years that are moving our sport in that direction. I hope it continues along that trend.
The biggest challenges facing Protoconcept Golf short and long term are what? And what strategic responses are being developed to deal with both?
Product recognition is the biggest problem I see for ProtoConcept short and long term. It is hard for a small company to get a strong foothold in this industry, especially when you are a high-end product.
To help solve that issue, we are investing resources on major professional tours worldwide. We are competing against big companies with deep pockets, who pay big dollars to professionals to play their products.
We aren’t there yet, but with time, I see us making strides to get our product recognized.
Best advice you ever received – what was it and who was it coming from?
“When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life”. I know that is not unique, as well as I’m not sure when the first time I heard it was, but it has been true for me.
I was lucky to find my passion early in life as well as even luckier to be able to make a career out of it. Anyone that works in a support position on tour knows they will never be rich, but that wasn’t ever my goal.
I enjoy the comradery and family feel this job gives me working with both professionals and various other scenic tour reps.
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Related: Andrew Green interview
President as well as Principal Architect, A.H. Green Design.
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