Commentary

MIKE MASTERSON: Robbie Newton

Yoda of distance

What's a fella to do when he reaches 70 and his golf game reflects it? Losing yards on a drive can be downright discouraging, especially when even older friends are knocking it past you.

Seeking any cause other than a fundamental lack of ability, I immediately blamed the equipment. Yeah, that's the ticket. I needed a kinder, age-accommodating shaft for my driver. And off-season January seemed an ideal time.

So off I headed for Golf USA in Fayetteville where I met more than I was searching for in 39-year-old businessman Robbie Newton. As luck would have it, he creates world-class graphite golf shafts for youngsters, old folks and PGA tour winners alike.

Robbie is a congenial entrepreneur who began playing and repairing clubs in the family garage as a 4-year-old under the tutelage of his father, Mitch Newton.

Graduating from Fayetteville High School in 1996, Robbie earned a golf scholarship to McNeese State after winning a number of high school tournaments, including the 4A Conference Championship, the Harrison Stroke Play Championship and ultimately the overall state high school stroke play.

Today, he credits his father, as well as former long-drive champion Mike Dunaway and PGA club professionals Bill Agler and Steve Arnold, as his most influential mentors.

Although Robbie is too busy to play many full rounds nowadays, he does hit lots of tee balls on the computerized driving range inside Golf USA. That's his impressive electronic laboratory for analyzing the swings of patrons and fitting them with the ideal shaft.

He knows what he's doing with drivers. In years past he translated a clubhead speed of about 130 miles an hour into top-three finishes at long-drive championships. He said his longest competitive drive stopped rolling at 367 yards.

"I'm training now by losing weight and lifting weights to hopefully qualify for the 2017 RE/MAX National Long Drive Championship," he said. "It also means I'm getting a lot of reps with the driver here in the store. When new shafts arrive, I like to hit 100 balls with each to learn its characteristics. This helps determine the right size, angle and weight head for each player to gain their maximum distance."

Robbie spent nearly an hour videotaping as I hit at least 50 drives into the computerized screen using different drivers. I swung away to the point of exhaustion as he analyzed my speed, rate of ball spin (very important), direction and distance. Robbie said the center of gravity in any driver's head is crucial to distance.

"When I can match up the center of gravity, shaft, loft and face angle for a particular player, it will provide the most yardage they can possibly achieve," he said.

At least 90 percent of the customers Robbie analyzes and fits have been using driver shafts that aren't ideally compatible with their swings. He explained that when struck correctly, a driver will launch high with the lowest spin possible and without falling too soon. "Driver length also is critical but you don't just cut down a driver to fit someone," he said.

"The head weight is equally crucial. The shorter the club, the heavier the driver head needs to be. Eighty percent of any driver lies within the shaft. It's both the engine and steering wheel. A player could lose up to 50 yards with the wrong shaft while gaining that much with a correctly fitted shaft."

The young craftsman who had several golf-related businesses in Louisiana between 2003 and 2014 sold out and returned to Fayetteville in 2015 to be close to his extended family. He'd developed his RT Technologies Golf Shafts in 2005, using overseas craftsmen to forge his concepts into various shafts of differing strength and flex.

He said his RT shafts, while considerably less expensive than most recognizable name brands, are actually crafted with unique and more expensive ingredients.

As a result, he said, more than a dozen notable PGA professionals, including Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson and Vijay Singh use them. Robbie said professionals who've used them have won nine major Champions Tour events, 45 non-majors and 300 top-10 tournament finishes.

Today, Robbie focuses on helping male and female handicappers get the most out of far lesser abilities.

Chris Knodle, who has doubled the size of Fayetteville's Golf USA since purchasing the store in 2009, said Newton's experience working on the PGA Tour repair van provided him with rare skills that are a unique asset. Knodle began carrying Newton's specialized shafts well before Robbie returned to the Ozarks.

"Robbie began working with me about 18 months ago and we've had 100 or more satisfied golfers with the fittings and shafts he's delivered." It's also beneficial to golfers that Robbie has a successful background in long-drive competitions, Knodle added. "After all, the driver is the only club you swing up on to hit the ball."

I left my new "Yoda of Distance" after 90 minutes with my reasonably priced, hopefully hit-ball-one-mile RT shaft firmly anchored to my original club head and ready for those older long-knockers.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 01/24/2017

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