John Letters, one of Scotland’s finest clubmakers since 1918, has secured the services of Peter McCalla as the full-time Master Clubmaker for the new Workshop in St Andrews.
A 254 yard drive from the 18th Green of the Old Course, the new workshop is now fully operational and occupies an enviable position on North Street where it is the only place in the home of golf where clubs can be professionally custom built and repaired on site.
Peter brings a wealth of experience to the John Letters team having been a PGA professional for 34 years. He started his career as a green keeper at Glenbervie golf club, where he caddied for John Panton, a John Letters Staff player, who represented Great Britain three times in the Ryder Cup.
However, it was at Hazelhead golf club where Peter, as well as being an assistant golf Professional, first learnt the basic clubmaking skills under Ian Smith. Learning to make woods and irons in an ‘old school’ style, Peter also had the opportunity to learn many of his clubmaking skills from Alistair Johnson at JB Halleys in St Andrews.
As a club professional at Westhill golf club in Aberdeenshire, Peter actually signed as a John Letters staff player before moving to Brodick in the Isle of Arran. For the past 25 years, Peter has been running his own Pro Shop where he has handmade woods, putters and replica long-nose scared neck woods under the Goatfell brand.
Commenting on his appointment, Peter said: “I’m thrilled to be returning to my first love – that of making golf clubs and I’m looking forward to being a part of the John Letters team in the home of golf.”
Under the Stewardship of John Andrew, John Letters of Scotland are making big steps to regain the title as the finest clubmaker in golf and the Showroom and Workshop are a continuation of the brands commitment to reconnect with its Scottish heritage.
The new Workshop will enable John Letters to combine the latest performance technologies with their finest clubmaking traditions and expertise to hand assemble and custom-build its 2011 range of products in Scotland.
With the majority of golf equipment manufacturers assembling their equipment in the Far East, John Letters are bucking the trend of brands and with Peter’s expertise will be hand-assembling and custom-fitting products in Scotland in a bid to ensure the most-exacting standards on each John Letters product; including the recently re-launched Master Model irons and much-coveted Tour Black wedges.
John Letters www.johnletters.com