Pete’s Golf Shop The Best in the Business
WOODS
Irons Wedges Putters By Terrence Jordan
ClubFitting
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pend some time with Pete Makowski and Woody Lashen, co-owners of Pete’s Golf Shop in Mineola, and you will immediately notice the differences between the two. Pete, a thoughtful sort with a lean build, switches seamlessly from golf to fishing to current events in conversation. Woody, a former collegiate golfer, is the larger of the two, and the enthusiasm in his voice when speaking about all things golf is contagious. For over two decades, though, these two seemingly different men have taken what was once a basement operation and turned it into the definitive source for custom clubfitting not just on Long Island, but arguably, in the country. That’s because for all their differences, they share a vast wealth of knowledge and a commitment to customer satisfaction that are unsurpassed within the industry. The business began about as modestly as a business can—in the basement of Pete’s parents’ home. The year was 1979. On the grander golf stage, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus were still waging familiar battles, while newer names such as Fuzzy Zoeller and Seve Ballesteros were win-
ning major championships. This was also one of the turning points in golf equipment technology, as TaylorMade introduced the metal wood that would effectively end the run of persimmon woods. Back in that Mineola basement, though, Pete Makowski was picking up and delivering clubs from local players to be reshafted, regripped, or refinished. His work became so popular that it quickly outgrew its subterranean residential confines. “After about six months I already had so much business that my father said, ‘Get out of the house,’” Pete said. From there he rented a garage-sized building on First Street in Mineola, which was so small that he says, “Two guys would have to shuffle by just to get past the front door.” Towards the end of his two-and-a-half year stay on First Street, Pete met Woody Lashen, an avid golfer and caddy looking for a summer job. The business had grown to the point that having more help would make sense, so Pete hired Woody to do pick-ups and deliveries around the Island. It was the beginning of an enduring friendship and business relationship.
cover Shortly after Woody came on board, business once again dictated a move to more spacious environs. In 1983, clubfitting by appointment became one of the company’s main services. This “static fitting” didn’t even involve hitting golf balls into a net or swinging a club, a far cry from today’s technologically advanced methods. Though an inexact science, it was a breakthrough at the time, such that Pete and Woody basically were able to write their own rules. “Back then, there were no fitting schools,” Woody explained. “There was nobody teaching fitting, there was nobody doing fitting. We had to learn all on our own. We had to learn by tripping and falling.” It was this baptism-by-fire philosophy that began to set Pete’s Golf Shop apart as real experts in the field of clubfitting. Whereas other so-called clubfitters offered golfers the option of changing their grip color, for instance, Pete and Woody opened the realm of possibility to so much more than just aesthetic changes. “We always look to fine-tune more than what the person has,” Pete said, “so if they’re having some inconsistencies and we can tighten it up, their shots are better and their scores will be better. They can trust their clubs more and relax when they swing. If you can take the equipment out of their mind as being a vulnerable point, now they’re just looking at the target and swinging.” The pair accomplished this by recognizing that not all clubs bought off the rack were suited to all golfers. Their experience in clubmaking and club repairs allowed them to both tweak existing clubs and build new ones, allowing golfers to find a personal fit that they couldn’t get in stores. Two major developments arrived in the late ‘80s that propelled the store from an underground favorite to a more mainstream sensation. The first was a move to the current store location on
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to pay for this thing, but we can’t give it back.’” The device allowed the duo to fit golfers with a scientific precision that was lacking up until that point. It has since been replaced with a newer model, one with a high-speed color camera and incredibly accurate data capture abilities. “We think of it as an MRI, whereas the old equipment was an x-ray,” Pete said.
Pete’s Golf Shop’s rise in popularity has not prevented Pete and Woody from constantly trying to better the store. A recent renovation has resulted in a facility befitting the quality service it provides. Another net was purchased to allow more fittings to be conducted (the company now employs over 15 people), while the interior was redone to give new customers a more secure sense that, “This is where I want to be.” As Woody explains it, “One of my friends said that it was like a Lexus dealership in the back but a used car dealership in the front.” So why is Pete’s Golf Shop so popular? Why do so many of Long Island’s top playing pros, including Mark Mielke, Darrell Kestner, Mark Brown, and Charlie Bolling, all swear by these guys? It all starts with an interview. Pete and Woody both like to talk with each golfer before beginning a fitting, finding out what they believe are the strengths and weaknesses of their games. They then observe you as you hit some balls into the net, which is followed by a series of data collection and measurements. That’s when the fun begins. Let me first mention that you should bring your resolve with you to your first fitting session, as it can get pretty intense. Over the next hour
I’ve been going to Pete’s every year since they’ve been in business. I take their advice and run with it.
Jericho Turnpike (which is about six times larger than their previous location), and the second was the procurement of a launch monitor, a revolutionary device that enabled split-second measurements to be taken of spin rate, ball speed, and several other faster-than-the-human-eye variables. It was Woody’s persistence that led to the launch monitor finding its way into the store to begin with. “I saw an ad for [a launch monitor] and the guy said we could have a 30-day trial, and if we didn’t like it we could bring it back,” Woody recalled. “It was astronomical—$20,000 or something like that. I remember Pete said, ‘Woody, we are not spending that kind of money on a launch monitor. Don’t even have them bring it in.’ We brought it in anyway, and two weeks later he said to me, ‘I don’t know how we’re going
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Darrell Kestner, Deepdale Head Pro or two you will be hitting dozens of golf balls, switching from among the hundreds of test clubs and shafts to find out just what works best for your swing. The amount of data produced from these sessions is amazing. Pete and Woody can pick out the perfect shaft for you just by seeing your swing speed and shaft load stats. They can pick out the model of club best suited to your swing by observing your spin rate, ball speed, distance, and trajectory. Woody likes to say, “Pete and I are scientists, but golf is art. You have to figure out the best science to work for the art of that individual.” That’s why they stress that assigning ratings to clubs is an exercise in futility. “All of the big companies now make great prod-
cover Story ucts,” Woody said. “It’s just a matter of what works best for you. We have to figure out what you need, so that you can put the right clubs in your bag.” One of the things that separates Pete’s Golf Shop from other stores is the mind-boggling number of options golfers are provided with. For instance, go to your local pro shop or big name golf store and try to buy a new driver. Not only are you confined to the dimensions of the clubs they have in the store, you only have, at best, two or three shaft options. At Pete’s they can put any shaft into any club. Do you want that new
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In addition to helping people find the right clubs, Pete and Woody can also help determine what the best ball is for them. “Most people have a steady ball that they’re playing,” Pete said, “but they don’t know why they’re playing that ball. A lot of people are buying golf balls because of the status associated with them.” So while a 20-handicap may buy a box of Pro V1s because that’s what many of the top golfers use, he is actually wasting his money on a ball that his skills don’t allow him to take advantage of. Getting a ball fitting will point golfers toward the best combination of distance, spin, and feel for their games. Many golfers are still in the dark about custom fitting, but that is slowly changing. “I think the biggest misconception is that you have to be a good golfer to get custom fitted,” Woody said. In
Pete’s Golf Shop is where serious players go to get their clubs worked on.
Callaway driver in a 9° model with that new Mitsubishi Diamana shaft? Consider it done, with the lie angle, length, and grip adjusted precisely to your specifications. What you get at Pete’s Golf Shop is a golf club tailor made to fit you. Integrity and respect for the customer are the foundations that Pete’s Golf Shop is built upon. It’s also the only way to explain why Pete’s customers keep coming back year after year, often with their friends in tow. They won’t sell someone a club they don’t need, and they don’t try to push certain clubs over others to clear inventory. Pete and Woody smartly use a “brand-neutral” approach to selling clubs, meaning they don’t allow customers to know what type of club they are hitting until after they are done. This eliminates any preconceived bias towards big names such as Nike or TaylorMade that golfers might have and allows them to simply pick the club that works best for them. It’s for this reason, Pete says, that they have such a strong reputation. “The major manufacturers like us because we’re one of their bigger vendors,” he said, “but they don’t like us because they can’t just hand us a truckload of product and have us sell it. We make their life a little difficult because we insist on giving the customer only what’s right for them. We give people what they’re looking for. We have the technology and capability to make them more accurate, to give them more distance and more consistency.” Name the club, and Pete and Woody can find the best one for you. Driver fittings, iron fittings, wedge fittings, and putter fittings are all available.
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Charlie Bolling, Fresh Meadow Head Pro
reality, all golfers, from first-time players to singledigit handicaps, stand to gain something by being custom fitted. Word-of-mouth has helped the legend of Pete’s Golf Shop grow near and far, from Mineola all the way to California, Canada, and Spain. The store has survived so long because its customers trust Pete and Woody to give them unbiased advice that is based off of years of experience. “We make the adjustments on the clubs so that the customer doesn’t have to make adjustments to his or her game,” Pete said. Custom fitting will only become more relevant in the near future. “Manufacturers are at the peak of what they can do,” Woody opined. “For us, that’s good, because without us, you can’t get better performance. The custom fitting industry is just going to get better, because even a great club still has to be matched to the golfer.” As long as that’s the case, Pete and Woody will be there with the same goal: to help golfers get more performance from their clubs and more enjoyment from their time on the golf course.