Abu Dhabi Golf Club master says problem-solving is par for the course

Just before sitting down for our interview, Terry Visosky receives a call from an unhappy golfer.

The caller had tracked Mr Visosky to Abu Dhabi Golf Club, where he works as the fitting and club repair specialist.

Tall for a golfer — the man said he was 6ft 5; standard men’s clubs suit those who are about 5ft 11 — he was despairing of how his clubs were affecting his game. Could Mr Visosky help?

“I sorted him pretty quickly,” the fitting guru says, telling the caller that an extra six inches of steel added to lengthen the club would help.

The man was delighted. Could he come in the next day to have the work done?

Mr Visosky gently explains there is already a long queue. With 120 or so pros arriving in town this week ahead of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship starting tomorrow, all would be relying on the club master, as he is called, to sort them out too.

And Mr Visosky has his work cut out. Abu Dhabi is the first major tournament of the European PGA tour and where all the golfers pick up their new equipment for the year.

“All the 2014 equipment is coming tomorrow, all the brand new stuff,” Mr Visosky says. “And a lot of it needs adjusting and tweaking.”

Before coming to Abu Dhabi in 2001, Mr Visosky had his own golf shop in Vancouver, Canada. As he built up the business, he realised equipment was becoming more sophisticated and golfers needed a better fit. He attended the Professional Clubmakers’ Society school in Kentucky, US, receiving a Class A PCS certification. When he arrived in the region he was the only person with that qualification, Mr Visosky says.

He came to Abu Dhabi because his wife secured a teaching job here. He is phlegmatic about leaving his business behind.

“You’re married and by yourself so you don’t want to stick around [alone] too long,” he says.

He secured employment at Abu Dhabi Golf Club two months after arriving in the emirate, making this weekend’s championship the ninth he will have attended.

Mr Visosky’s workshop is tucked under the clubhouse building, behind rows of bright red golf buggies. Adorning the walls are signed pictures of some of the players he has helped over the years.

“Thanks for saving me,” the UK golfer Oliver Wilson has scribbled across a tear sheet.

He broke his club but, after his repair job, went on to do well in the competition, Mr Visosky explains.

So what exactly does a custom fitting involve?

It could involve changing the length of the club, the size of the grip or the strength of the shaft.

For example, for a tall player using a standard-size club, there will be a tendency for the nose to hit the ground first, sending the ball to the right side. For a smaller player, the heel will strike the ground first, similarly knocking the ball off course.

“You’d never go into a store and pick the first suit off the rack and think it’s going to fit and that’s exactly the way clubs and sporting equipment is going,” he says. “The equipment I use is extremely specialised — to adjust all this steel needs somebody who knows what they are doing with it. That’s my speciality.”

With the stakes so high, has Mr Visosky ever been blamed if a golfer plays a bad shot?

“Over the eight, nine years on the tour, I’ve never had a problem, “ he says.

He also has support from the manufacturers that make the equipment: the likes of Nike Golf, Ping and Callaway.

Representatives are on hand during the tournament to provide instruction and at various times during the year.

“I am backed up by the factory and that’s where I am pretty much way ahead of everyone else,” Mr Visosky says. “I stay in the loop. I know what’s going on before anyone else in the country.”

In the days before the tournament, he relocates his workshop to a tent near where play will be. He will sort through his inventory of shafts and grips so he’s all set.

Repairs can take anything from a few seconds to an hour and during the tournament the clubmaster will have his nose to the grindstone morning, noon and night. Opportunities for spectating are scant.

“I’ve never seen an actual golf tournament here in all those years,” he reflects. “But the last two years … my wife’s pulled me out my shop and said ‘Let’s go.’ Because if something did break I could run [back] in and fix it. I’ve watched the last putt the last two years but that’s basically it. That’s as much golf as I see. It’s that busy.”

lgutcher@thenational.ae