2012 John Letters Tour Blog

Hello and welcome to the John Letters Tour Truck Blog for the 2012 season.

The aim of this blog is to provide a behind the ropes look at the workings of a tour truck and to also share the journey, stories and photos as we attend tournaments across the country. In this first blog we would like to introduce and explain how the tour truck goes about its business.

This year we have a bigger and better vehicle. Over the last two months we have been working hard at our base to re-graphic the whole van with John Letters branding. Last years truck and trailer were decked out in the JL staff colours of blue and white whereas the graphics this year are a sleek black to match our new Tour Black range of clubs. The design is a real eye catcher and we think it looks the business on the motorway! The work done was not limited to the outside of the vehicle though. New graphics, an updated roof and other additions have been made internally.

Each event that we attend requires a different amount of stock and as such we have to plan weeks in advance to make sure that we have good levels of components across our brand lines. For

example if we are attending a links course where the wind can soon whip up then we will store plenty of hybrid heads with low flight, tip stiff shafts.

Typically for an event we will carry the following: 40x sets of iron heads, 140x driver/fairway heads, 60x hybrid heads, 200x wedge heads, 300x graphite wood shafts, 1400x steel iron shafts and 1600x grips. On top of the hardware components we also have to make room for the soft goods that players require such as towels, umbrellas, caps and clothing.

Away from the technical area of the truck there is a seating area where players can sit and relax whilst they wait for repairs etc or they can just shelter from the rain. In this room there is a tv/dvd, mini fridge and a laptop with internet access. In the cabin of the truck there is a 2 bed bunk which occasionally gets used dependant on the event location. Staffing at events varies dependant on the need for our services. At most tournaments we will have two Tour Technicians and one other member of staff from our management/business side to look after the players and to deal with official brand business.

This will be our third year on tour and we are pleased to say that we will be joined by Neil Cooke this season who is a bit of a technical genius within the industry. You can not stop learning in this job so Neils input will be valuable and push us onto the next level.

The first event of the year for us is the PGA Seniors Championship at Slaley Hall in June.

Please feel free to comment or send us suggestions regarding this blog.

All the best, Kevin Ludkin - Tour Technician