About Us

Meet Our Key Personal

Lloyd Hackman

Lloyd Hackman

Inventor of FitChip Shaft Fitting Technology

Education - BS, Aeronautical Engineering (Structures), Purdue University, 1952

Mr. Hackman joined North American Aviation (NAA), Inc upon graduation. After three months, he was committed to enter US Air Force and was stationed at Edwards AFB, California, as a project manager in the experimental track branch. In August 1954, he returned to NAA. There he served as a structural analysis engineer, senior R & D engineer, and supervisor of the structural composites group where he was active in the early development of Advanced Composite Materials.

Lloyd Hackman

Led a group of investors in establishing Ribtec (Ribbon Technology Corp.) in 1972. Took over control of Ribtec in 1975 to achieve profitable years from 1976 to 1997 when he retired. Mr. Hackman has published 30 papers in various fields, contributed a chapter on honeycomb sandwich design in the book "Analysis and Design of Aircraft Structures" by E.F. Bruhn. Mr. Hackman also holds 15 patents and authored 30 some technical publications. It was with this experience that Mr. Hackman first became interested in using advanced graphite materials in golf shafts. Mr. Hackman built his first graphite golf shaft in l968 using a filament winding process. Mr. Hackman built shafts for himself and friends over the next five to six years before quality shafts began to appear in the marketplace. The fabrication of these shafts is what developed Mr. Hackman's interest in custom club making and then to the concept of Frequency Tuning and Swing Timing with the FitChip (Golf Club FittingTechnology).

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Rich Ruddle

Rich Ruddle

Club Maker and Fitter

I began playing golf at ten years of age in Hot Springs Virginia at “The Homestead” 9-hole caddy course, with Nelson Long Jr., who was the son of ”The Homestead” PGA Professional Nelson Long.

Eventually played on the golf team in High School and in College. In 1971 I competed in the NCAA Tournament in Albuquerque NM. Became interested in equipment and club repair in the mid-1980s while a member of Franklin Country Club in Franklin Massachusetts. Former Club Champion at Franklin. At one time, I was the holder of two-course records, which have long since been broken.

Rich Ruddle

My interest in club repair eventually expanded to an interest in club fitting, and through a variety of contacts, I was introduced to traditional swing-speed club fitting, where I worked with both the Titleist and the Tommy Armour club fitting systems. Following a move to Columbus, Ohio, I had the opportunity to take a part-time job as a sales associate with Ralph Maltby's GolfWorks at their Outlet store in Columbus, Ohio. I eventually became a full-time employee with Maltby and specialized in club fitting using the Ralph Maltby Golfworks club fitting method. When the Golf works outlet store closed, I went to work for Perfected Golf Group and learned the FitChip Swing Timing method of shaft fitting to a specific cycle per minute frequency based upon the golfer's natural swing timing. I have come to realize that this system picks the right shaft for all players at a much higher rate than any other system in the industry.

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