'This is my biggest dream and investment'

WEDNESDAY, JAN 30: Gerald Basden hates to lose, especially when beer is on the line.

He can trace back to the day over 15 years ago when the idea came to him to develop a revolutionary golf product.

“Coming from Bermuda I played on Ocean View… and when I play, I play to win. The rules were if you lose, you have to buy the beer. I had a bad slice and was working on different grips when I ended up straining my thumb.

“So I was trying to figure out how to play golf with a strained thumb and not lose. I needed something to secure my thumb, which was sprained, and something to lock my grip onto the golf club and take the pressure off it.”

That’s when he came up with the Eagle Claw.

Mr Basden said his longtime friend and fellow avid golfer, Nelson Bascome, told him he needed to patent it.

“I never really thought about it because I had one for myself and I was beating everybody, that was all that was necessary.”

He said his original design last a long time before breaking about two years ago.

“So I built a prototype and took it to China.”

His original order was for 5,000 copies and his investment in the product is over $150,000.

“This has been a big investment, but the bottom line is it’s something that works.”

The Eagle Claw has a power grip mechanism in the device that locks and maintains the grip pressure throughout the swing culminating in the delivery of a square face to the ball for a straighter shot. The mechanism in the device, once locked in place, enables the golf club to become an extension of the arm itself.

Challenged

Mr Basden said: “There is nothing more disconcerting to a golfer than not being able to play golf. Who wants their golfing abilities that they have spent countless hours perfecting thwarted by injury healing times, or their golf brain challenged by unruly shot making and pain and discomfort associated with it? That is why I developed the Eagle Claw: to reduce these physical and psychological impacts on a golfer and to get them back on course sooner”.

It recently was given USGA approval under the section “Equipment Permitted Conditionally for Medical Reasons.”

Just in time too as he was already booked as an exhibitor at the PGA Show in Florida last week.

“I couldn’t believe how busy we stayed. We were just swamped as this was new technology. We got the USGA approval so everybody had to try it out.”

He said several distributors bought samples of the Eagle Claw to test out and Mr Basden is hoping that will lead to even more sales. The Eagle Claw is already available at these retailers online: Golfsmith, Walmart, Wayfair, Sears, Amazon, DW Quail, Go Golf & Travel, and Hunter-Nusport and is reported to be moving into the international market shortly.

“A lot of the distributors and buyers bought samples to go and try. A lot of PGA professionals bought them as a training tool for those students.”

He said there has been interest from the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Korea, Japan and China.

Mr Basden said the future is looking great for his company.

He is hoping to get  former pro golfer Jan Stephenson, who has arthritis to be the spokesperson for the Eagle Claw.

“This is ideal for somebody who has arthritis,” said Mr Basden. “I’ve also sent on to Phil Mickelson because he suffers from arthritis. I haven’t heard back from him.”

Mr Basden said everything is happening very fast now and “this is a big dream come true. This is not little money — this is big money and a huge investment by me. This is by far my biggest investment and by far my biggest dream.”