Grips with success

Stroke Solutions Inc., a small golf equipment company in Grafton, had a huge role in K.J. Choi's victory at the AT&T National on Sunday.
Choi installed an over-sized SuperStroke grip on his putter and went on to win the inaugural event at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

He finished second in the field in putts per green in regulation (1.685) and fifth in total putts (115).

Choi bought the SuperStroke after seeing it advertised in an infomercial.

"He just sat on it for a while," said Ron Creten, president of Stroke Solutions. "He said it was big and ugly and he didn't know if he wanted to put it in play.

"His agent called us Friday and said K.J. was like a kid in a candy store, he was so happy."

At about 1½ inches in diameter, SuperStroke is twice the size of a conventional putter grip. The mass helps reduce two of the biggest causes of missed putts: Too much grip pressure and too much wrist action. SuperStroke can be installed on any putter.

"When you watch infomercials, half the time you don't believe it, half the time you believe it and you don't know what's right," Choi said after his second victory of the year. "But I just kept on watching it and I was convinced that it might work for me. So I ordered one."

Creten said several PGA Tour players had practiced with the grip but none had used it in a tournament.

Since Choi's nationally televised victory, however, the company Web site ( www.superstrokegrip.com) has been deluged.

"Response has been off the charts," Creten said.

Callaway Golf ordered a dozen grips and plans to ship them to Scotland for its staff members who are playing in the British Open next week. Edwin Watts will begin selling the grips and Creten is negotiating with Golf Galaxy.

SuperStroke was invented by Harold Roelke of Elm Grove. He called the grip "Fatso" and it was named best new product at the PGA Merchandise Show. But he had problems marketing the grip, eventually ran out of money and sold his company to Creten, Keith Miller and majority owner Chris Doerr.

"We had a family reunion in Alaska and I didn't see any part of the tournament," said Roelke, a minority partner in Stroke Solutions. "As my wife said, even if nothing else happens from this point forward, I invented something that helped somebody win a PGA Tour event."