THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412040037
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By PATRICK K. LACKEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GRAFTON LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
As a touring rock 'n' roll guitarist in the early '80s, Mickey Russell fell in love with golf - its luscious fairways, snow-white sand traps, crisp clean air, soaring dimpled balls, peace and low decibels.
Turns out he was ahead of his time. According to a recent Newsweek magazine article, rockers like R.E.M.'s Mike Mills have gotten hooked on golf. The hip TV channel VH1 is sponsoring a golf tournament featuring rockers, and there are even rock bands named Golf and Nine Iron.
But wait! Russell, 45, is still ahead of the game. He went on to become a professional clubmaker at his own small golf shop, Pro Am Golf Co., in a former beauty salon on Route 17 in the York County town of Grafton.
One of his specialties is bringing hickory-shafted clubs back to life, often after more than 70 years of storage and neglect.
Kathy Czerwonka, director of member services for the Professional Clubmakers' Society in Louisville, said she refers owners of wood-shafted clubs from Kentucky and other states to Russell.
``Mickey is quite a craftsman and historian,'' she said. He even knows, she said, what the original finishes were like.
Russell is one of 315 Class A clubmakers in the world, as accredited by the Professional Clubmakers Society. He's one of six in Virginia and the only one in Hampton Roads. The Class A accreditation test lasts about a week and includes manufacturing six clubs to weird specifications.
When Mark Carnevale of Williamsburg, the 1992 PGA Tour rookie of the year, feels his clubs are out of whack, he often takes them to Russell for tweaking into perfect shape. Russell employs a sense of feel developed over six years of apprenticeship, plus high tech equipment measuring everything from club speed to a shaft's per-minute vibrations.
Russell has a helpful, cherubic quality, like one of Santa's helpers. After discussing golf with customers for 10 hours or more nonstop, he keeps smiling. Though he is too busy to play the game, he still loves it.
A rainy day might find two or three golf pros in his shop talking golf, along with a stream of excited amateurs, looking for the small difference that will cut their handicaps by a stroke or two, say from 23 to 21.
``I know people who have 20 putters in the house,'' Russell said.
About a dozen people interviewed about Russell all said he loves his work and never seems out of sorts.
Carnevale said of Russell, ``I've never seen him in a bad mood.''
Moss Beecroft of Newport News, founder of Beecroft and Bull clothing stores and five-time state amateur seniors champion, is another customer who always finds Russell in a good mood. ``He likes what he does,'' Beecroft said. ``That's the best testimony I can give you. He really enjoys what he is doing, and it is not just a means of support.''
Valerie Ragans, teaching pro at Newport News Golf Club, and another Russell fan, said: ``He always helps me as if it were an emergency. He's always there. You can always talk to Mickey. He's the same old guy. When he says he is going to do something, he does it.''
Russell was born in Pulaski but grew up in Richmond, where at age 13 he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show and, like thousands of other youths, suddenly knew he wanted to be a rock guitarist.
Still in high school, he formed a band called The Fugitives, which in 1966 had the number-one hit in Richmond for 14 weeks. The song was ``Bo Diddley,'' and Russell made enough money to buy a Corvette.
One of the albums the band later cut was titled ``On the Run with The Fugitives,'' and the liner notes say, ``Mark Russell, 17, plays lead guitar and does mostly harmony singing. He has red hair, loves Vetts and XKE's. He and Richard Donlavey are the only two original Fugitives, and he has high hopes for `the big time.' ''
Years later ``The Fugitives'' became ``Rain's Children,'' with the musicians attired in Nehru jackets.
They played a number of shows with Bruce Springsteen, before Springsteen hit it big.
``I love music,'' Russell said. ``I was consumed with it. Just being on the stage, that was a real release for me.''
But he tired of traveling. He and his wife, Nancy, moved to this area eight years ago. At his church, a golf shop partner asked if he'd like to work on golf clubs.
Russell figured he loved golf and liked to work with his hands. Why not?
He got his Class A license two years ago and moved to his own shop just this past August.
He decorated the interior with old, wood paneling to resemble St. Andrew's of Scotland, the original golf club. ``I am definitely a purist when it comes to the game,'' he said, ``keeping alive the traditions and history of the game.''
Part of his job is custom-making clubs. He buys the heads from a foundry and uses True Temper shafts. A set of irons, clubs 3 through pitching wedge, cost $260 to $280. A graphite-shafted driver costs $130; a steel-shafted one, $80.
Part of his job is adjusting clubs that customers purchase off the rack. He can adjust the angle of the shaft and the loft of the clubhead to a quarter of a degree.
As Ragans of the LPGA put it: ``You can't fit a person to the equipment. You have to fit the equipment to the person.''
The Pro Am Golf Co. opens six days a week at 10 a.m., and it is not unusual for golfers to be there, ready to talk golf and try out putters.
One recent morning, Gary Greenwell, 44, of Hampton, had brought ancient hickory-shafted clubs to be repaired. He's a member of the Golf Collectors Society, as is Russell, and he wants to play in some of the society's tournaments - only wood shafts are allowed.
An odd language is spoken in Russell's shop. Holding a used driver head close to his eyes, he said, ``It looks like they tried to save the back porch and sacrificed the rest of the face.''
Apparently that's not good.
Phil Alberry, 38, a major in the British Army, was in the shop just to watch Russell work. ``I go home in April,'' said Alberry, now stationed at Ft. Eustis. ``This sort of organization would go over very well in the UK.''
He said of Russell: ``I think the enthusiasm he shows is absolutely fantastic, and the professionalism and the craftsmanship are the things that shine through. You can tell this is his life. It's not his job.''
``Golf,'' said Russell, ``is a game of adjustments. I never met a golfer who was satisfied with his game.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ROBIE RAY/Staff
One of Mickey Russell's specialties is bringing hickory-shafted
clubs back to life, often after more than 70 years of storage. He
even knows, an expert says, what the original finishes were like.
by CNB