Jim Grundberg
Co-Owner, Seemore Putter Company
Handicap: 9
In the Bag:
Driver: Titleist
3 Wood: Callaway
Hybrid: Nickent
Irons: Titleist
Wedges: Titleist Vokey
Putter: Seemore mFGP Milled
In 1999, Stewart one-putted the last three holes to win the championship by one stroke. He sunk what’s considered to be the longest putt in Open history on the 18th hole to win the tournament. Under its new ownership, SeeMore has introduced its new mSeries of putters combining the beauty, precision, accuracy, and feel of 100% milled heads with the original proprietary and proven alignment benefits of the SeeMore RifleScope Technology (RST) system. The mSeries comes in four distinctive, finely crafted models to appeal to different player’s putting preferences and styles. The m1 is a classic heel/toe blade with center shaft, the m2 is a classic heel/toe blade with heel shaft and the m3 is a classic mallet with center shaft and the mFGP is a milled version of the original FGP putter used by Johnson to win the Masters and by Payne Stewart to win the U.S. Open. All models are available in left hand. Custom grip and lie options are available. All mSeries putters are made in the USA at SeeMore’s Franklin Tennessee facility. The putters will have a suggested retail price of $325. The patented RST alignment system technology allows a golfer to set up the putter perfectly each and every time in relation to the intended target line. This is accomplished by lining up the black bottom portion of the shaft between two white lines and covering a signature red dot on the heel of the top line. The process resembles locking radar onto a target. SeeMore putters are custom made in Franklin, Tennessee.
E2G: Tell me about your company and what do you do?
Jim Grundberg: I am a partner with Jason Pouilot and we own the revitalized SeeMore Putter Company. Our mission for SeeMore was to re-launch the great brand and proprietary RifleScope Technology (RST) alignment system that was behind one of the greatest putting performances in the history of the major championships (Payne Stewart, 1999 US Open Winner). We also realized that several great young players (Zach Johnson and Vaughn Taylor) had won tournaments and PGA tour putting titles, and became two of the best putters on Tour while using the same SeeMore technology. They also had qualified for the US Ryder Cup team being recognized as great putters. These players chose to play SeeMore on their own for the benefits of RST technology all the way back in 2000 and continued using it continuously since then even while the company was not active and operating. The same has been true of Briny Baird, another very solid player on the PGA tour who continues to compete at a very high level year after year using a SeeMore putter. So we knew that RST alignment system was very special and that the golfers of the world were missing out by not being able to find it over the last few years. We also looked at Pat O’Brien, the head of instruction at Lakewood CC in Dallas and one of the most refreshing new teachers around, and saw how he had incorporated the SeeMore putting system into his philosophy of putting. Pat has coached Zach Johnson and Vaughn Taylor to become the best putters on the PGA tour over the past seven years. He based his putting theories on the SeeMore putting system derived from his observations of Payne Stewart who used a SeeMore putter in 1999 to not only win twice but become the best putter on tour that year.
E2G: How did you get started in the golf industry?
Jim Grundberg: Jason and I have extensive backgrounds in the industry. I was involved with sales and marketing, product development and international business management with Wilson from 1983 to 1993. I then joined Taylor Made and was involved in the development and launch of the Burner Bubble golf clubs, which were very successful at re-energizing the Taylor Made brand in the mid 1990’s. I then joined Odyssey as VP Sales and later GM, and helped grow that brand from a small start up into the #1 brand in the industry. During my five years there, the company was purchased by Callaway, who eventually closed the doors on Odyssey as a stand alone subsidiary in late 1999. Jason and I worked together there for five years. Jason was a terrific sales rep and then sales manager for the company, and eventually National Sales Manager. Jason and I shared the same passion and we ended up leaving Callaway at the same time, at the end of 1999. I had a non-compete agreement, which took me to Nashville Tennessee to head up global sales and marketing for Gibson Guitars, another great icon brand. And Jason went on to become VP Sales for Never Compromise, where he helped that brand become one of the top putter brands in the game, before that management team sold the company to Cleveland. Jason and I always said we wanted to work together again, and when we realized that we had a chance to buy SeeMore, we jumped at it. We both have believed for years that SeeMore’s RST was the best precision alignment system in the game, and that it was the brand out there with the most unrealized potential. We believe that we have the answer to one of the greatest problems in golf, which is inconsistent putting due to poor direction control and aiming. In putting, consistently great aim is everything, and there is not another product that helps solve this problem as well as the SeeMore putting system. SeeMore’s RST is the answer. In a world where great product and breakthrough innovation are the keys to success, we knew that SeeMore could be very successful in the market. It was already proven with the best players in the world. It just needed some focus, and it needed a vision for it to become the most exciting new product launch in the world. And of course it needed passion, which we have brought to the brand. We were so lucky that there were already thousands of great players at the tour and club level around the world that believe that SeeMore is a product they cannot live without. We simply needed a way to take that passion and make the world aware of it.
E2G: What is your company’s current focus?
Jim Grundberg: When we bought SeeMore, we decided to offer two clear options to golfers. First would be a re-launch of our original FGP blade, which was used by Payne, Zach, Vaughn and many others around the world to win tournaments and putting titles over the last eight years. This product is not flashy, but the RST is highly functional and the putter will make golfers better putters. This is proven. And for around $150, the price point is very affordable for any golfer looking to improve their game. This is the same putter that has now been used by Zach Johnson to win the Masters in 2007, along with Payne Stewart’s US Open in 1999. So SeeMore has won two of the greatest majors ever, which is amazing for a brand that has been relatively dormant for most of its 10-year history. Second, and most exciting, we planned to launch our new mSeries, which would combine the technology and performance benefits of RST along with heads that are 100% precision milled in the USA using the finest materials. The mSeries putters offer the best of all worlds — feel, craftsmanship, design, materials and precision milling that surpass the finest putters available, and the patented, original and proven RST. All of this constitutes the proprietary and proven SeeMore putting system.
E2G: Do you specialize in a certain segment of the golf market?
Jim Grundberg: We only make and sell putters because we want to focus on making the best putters and putting system in the world. Our philosophy is to be the best putter brand in the world. We will not offer products in any other category. We are 100% privately owned by Jason and I, and we want to be known for many years as a company that cares only about helping golfers become great putters. We will not spend a lot of money on advertising, nor will we pay tour players, but rather we will be experienced by one player at a time on all levels who will eventually tell others about our great product. That is that RST provides consistency and confidence to make more putts. SeeMore is about a putting system more than the putter, although our putters are a big part of the story. We believe that it is our patented RST that allows the golfer to get better over time. And we also will tell our story through our own web site, at Seemore.com, and through golf professionals and teaching pros who use our putters and teach with our system. We also have five golf professionals on our team, three in Tennessee and one running our European business, Graham Webb. We also have Pat O’Brien on our team as a consultant. We are passionate about talking about great putting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
E2G: Describe your current product line?
Jim Grundberg: The new SeeMore mSeries combines the beauty, precision, accuracy, and feel of 100% milled heads with the proprietary and proven alignment benefits of SeeMore RifleScope Technology (RST). The mSeries, the first new products under SeeMore’s new leadership team, includes three distinctive, finely crafted models to appeal to different player’s putting preferences and styles: ” m1 is a classic heel/toe blade with center shaft ” m2 is a classic heel/toe blade with heel shaft ” m3 is a classic mallet with center shaft ” mFGP is a milled version of the original FGP putter used by Johnson to win the Masters and by Payne Stewart to win the U.S. Open. The mSeries putters feature a 100% milled 303 platinum stainless steel body and jewel-like face accounting for 95% of the mass of the putter. The new mSeries putters (models 1-3) also include a small precision milled 6061 lightweight aluminum back cavity insert, which allows for higher MOI and an expanded sweet spot. The milled back cavity insert also interacts with the milled stainless steel body to enhance feedback and create a solid, crisp, silky distinctive feel. Headweight is 342 grams on the m1 and m2 and 350 grams on the m3, and 333 grams on the mFGP. Standard loft is 3.5 degrees. Standard lie angle is 70 degrees. Standard grip is a Golf Pride classic.
E2G: What sets you apart from your competition?
Jim Grundberg: SeeMore’s patented, proven RifleScope Technology (RST) alignment system sets us apart from the competition. The RST, known by a visible gun sight on the topline, allows the golfer to set up the putter perfectly each and every time in relation to the intended target line. This is accomplished by lining up the black bottom portion of the shaft between two white lines and covering a signature red dot on the heel of the top line. The process is like locking radar onto a target. The two parallel white sight lines frame the shaft and serve as an indicator that the golfer is in perfect position to make a consistent and reliable stroke.
E2G: What is the main way that golfers will benefit from your product?
Jim Grundberg: Improved putting performance through the patented RST alignment system technology allows a golfer to set up the putter perfectly each and every time in relation to the intended target line. This is accomplished by lining up the black bottom portion of the shaft between two white lines and covering a signature red dot on the heel of the top line. The process resembles locking radar onto a target. The mSeries SeeMore putters with RST also perfectly promote and enhance the popular pendulum-style (inside to square to inside) putting stroke favored by many of the best players in the world. In this stroke, the golfer places his hands and the putter head directly below his eyes at set up and turn his shoulders, holding a triangle through the stroke.
E2G: What is one thing that you want golfers to know about your company and product line?
Jim Grundberg: SeeMore’s proprietary and proven alignment system and the beautifully crafted, jewel-like milled heads of the mSeries are the most exciting new game improvement products in the industry. They will elicit passion unlike any other golf club. Golfers who have purchased the new products, and tour players who have already won with them, have written us raving notes of praise that claim incredible improvements in putting performance. SeeMore mSeries putters, or the original FGP series, are worth investing in to improve your game and build a consistent putting system around. The promise of SeeMore RifleScope Techonology is that it will make you a better putter over the long haul by giving you a simple system to go back to every time you play.
E2G: Where can golfers find your product?
Jim Grundberg: Golfers can find SeeMore putters on-line at SeeMore.com and at selected fine golf shops and specialty retailers where local PGA professionals will be trained to teach and promote the SeeMore putting system and authorized to sell SeeMore putters.
E2G: Does your product help grow the game?
Jim Grundberg: SeeMore putters will improve putting performance and make playing a more enjoyable experience. Any time that happens, golfers want to play and practice more.
E2G: How do you see the game being played in ten years?
Jim Grundberg: I think the game will be healthy as ever with many improvements in equipment, player development and, course designs and new entrants in the game. It will be challenging and rewarding to keep up with this vibrant business.
E2G: What are the biggest challenges the industry faces in the next ten years?
Jim Grundberg: Recruiting and retaining players across all genders, ages, income and races. Showing people the mental, physical and social benefits of a round of golf. You can make a case that better putting performance can contribute to that.
E2G: What is the single ingredient in your product that attracts the golfer?
Jim Grundberg: hat SeeMore putters are about a putting system more than the putter, although our putters are a big part of the story. We believe that it is our patented RifleScope Technology (RST) alignment system that allows the golfer to get better over time. The patented RST alignment system technology allows a golfer to set up the putter perfectly each and every time in relation to the intended target line. This is accomplished by lining up the black bottom portion of the shaft between two white lines and covering a signature red dot on the heel of the top line. The process resembles locking radar onto a target. The mSeries SeeMore putters with RST also perfectly promote and enhance the popular pendulum-style (inside to square to inside) putting stroke favored by many of the best players in the world. In this stroke, the golfer places his hands and the putter head directly below his eyes at set up and turn his shoulders, holding a triangle through the stroke.
E2G: Do the tours help or hurt everyday amateur players?
Jim Grundberg: They help because they allow manufacturers like us to develop test and produce innovative products with the insights and input of the world’s premier players. These innovations contribute to improved performance, as proven by SeeMore and the enjoyment of golf.
E2G: Parting thoughts?
Jim Grundberg: Jason and I and our great new team at SeeMore have had a wonderful initial year relaunching SeeMore in 2007, and we receive positive feedback every day from tour players, college players and club players that our original putters and new mSeries putters have made them very happy. Certainly Zach Johnson winning the Masters was an incredible moment for our company and our brand, and we love the fact that Zach and Vaughn and other great players have chosen to use SeeMore putters and made us one of the fastest growing brands on tour. We offer a unique product that helps them putt better. But we are just as excited to hear from the thousands of players who have told us that they have never putted better than with their SeeMore putters and SeeMore putting system. We are on a mission, and there are hundreds of golfers out there who as raving fans of SeeMore are helping us grow this brand every day!
