LEAWOOD, KS – The Accu-Length Expandable Pro Quality Junior Golf Club System gives youngsters the feel of success.

There are so many technical aspects involved in the creation and manufacturing of the Accu-Length that you'd think it was the next generation of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Like the Hubble, Accu-Length is providing a new, clearer vision - in the direction junior golf clubs may go in the future.  However, the Accu-Length is not a Space Age product.

Instead, it's a Spacer Age product.

Accu-Length relies on a one-of-a-kind, patented spacer system to help the club grow with the child over a period of up to five years.  For approximately every 2 to 2 1/2 inches of the child's growth, an inch of shaft length, in the form of a spacer that locks into the shaft, should be added to the club.  The shafts become more rigid as additional spacers are added, thereby naturally and structurally benefiting the growing junior.

The spacers are made from a special grade of aluminum, similar to that used in NASA's space shuttle, that helps strengthen them.  Ernie Vadersen, President of Vadersen Design Group in Jacksonville, Fla. and the man who designed many aspects of Accu-Length's golf clubs, says that in testing of up to 110 mph on the hitting machine at Golf Laboratories in San Diego, Calif., the spacers didn't break or come apart.  What's more remarkable is that there was no glue, adhesive or setscrews used during the testing.

But why use super-light aluminum inserts in a graphite shaft?

"We were concerned about overall weight.  It was more of a weight issue than a strength issue," says Vadersen, the founder of Snake Eyes Golf and the current president of Smith and Wesson Golf.  "You can get aluminum that's so strong it's incredible.  We were able to find the right kind of aluminum and mill the aluminum in a manner that functions incredibly well when placed into the shaft.  These shafts can be easily lengthened and because of the technology we use, and because of where it is located on the shaft, performance is superb."

"We use an inherent way of connecting the spacer systems together so once they're twisted and locked into place they're not going to come apart," adds Vadersen.  "We made the thread left-handed so that every time a youngster impacts the ball it is a tightening effect, not a loosening effect."

Making the thread left handed, using aluminum for the spacers, and designing the golf club with a junior golfer's safety in mind is just part of the advanced thinking that went into the development of the Accu-Length.  Vadersen ranks it as one of the top challenges of his career.

"We had so many challenges that faced us that were unique in the golf industry," says Vadersen.  "How do you put an appliance in a graphite shaft when you cut the shaft a certain distance from the butt and you have a smaller taper coming up from the head to where the cut is made and then you have a continuing, expanding taper going towards the butt?  How do you design an appliance that fits in that configuration that lines up perfectly straight every time but doesn't wobble or get loose?  That was the challenge that was a 4-month deal for us to work on.

"We had to design how the spacer fit in those ends of the golf club permanently, and design the shaft so that it would receive it," adds Vadersen.  "The interior and exterior of the shaft had to be of such specifics that were within several thousandths of an inch of being perfect in the matching, which is almost unheard of."

In fact, when Rick Rutter, President, COO and Co-Founder of On-Track Sports, LLC, the parent company of Accu-Length, approached Vadersen, the entire concept of a golf club that could grow with a child was unheard of.  Then again, as the commercial says, the same was true years ago of graphite shafts, titanium heads, and fairway woods.

But all three are here to stay.

So, too, is the Accu-Length.

"When the guys first came to me they had a patented device that would extend the golf club but they couldn't get it to go into the shaft correctly.  They needed a designer to build the shaft to accommodate their patented expansion system, to build the club head, to design the grips and to put everything together for them so that they would have a high performance golf club," says Vadersen.  "When I got into the picture I said to them that the only way I would do it is if you allow me to design something that is extremely first class because I'm known for quality golf clubs.  I'm not going to design a pot metal head with some cut off shaft to jab into it and have some floozy type of golf club.  They said that's not what they wanted. We want the best."

That's exactly what's happened.  It's why Accu-Length stands far above other clubs made for junior golfers.  The filament wound shafts, designed specifically for junior golfers, are made by a very prominent, high-class shaft maker.  Because there are four sets within the Accu-Length system - the 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 -- the grips are made from their own molds to meet the specifications of youngsters, especially because their hands grow as they get bigger.

"We can facilitate the youngster being fitted really well.  This helps reduce injuries to their hands and their elbows," says Vadersen.  "They get the best fit we can offer on a broad based scale."

Accu-Length's club heads are made from high quality stainless steel for strength and durability, instead of low-grade zinc alloys used by many competitors that has their club faces looking like a bad case of acne after just a short while.

"They stand up and take the normal abuse that a 6-year-old or 10-year-old might put on a golf club because they don't make perfect swings all the time," says Vadersen.  "They sky the ball and they hit rocks and occasionally, when dad's not around, that club hits pine combs and gumballs and things like that.  We think this club will survive the gumballs and the pine combs."

And even more.  The strength of the stainless steel, and the overall construction of Accu-Length's clubs, give youngsters a safety element that will make their parents breath easier when they're buying the product for their budding future Tiger Woods or Annika Sorenstam.

"The principal parts of the club are done with the safety in mind of the youngster," says Vadersen.  "We wanted a golf club that a youngster, if they hit a rock with it, is not going to fly apart and break.  It won't chip off in chunks any more than any other stainless steel head, which is not very likely.  We really wanted a club that was safe."

The spacer system adds to the safety factor by dampening the vibrations that come from hitting a golf ball at an early age.  Subjecting a youngster to those vibrations in their formative years can lead to big troubles in key areas of their developing bodies.

"You don't want to put all that shock into a youngster's hands, arms, elbows and shoulders," says Vadersen.

There are also other important technical aspects that aid in Accu-Length's performance and benefits.

• THE KICK POINT is gradually lowered as spacers are added, thus increasing loft and distance.  Testing shows that distance increases approximately 10 yards per additional spacer added at a 60 MPH swing speed with the A/L3000.  "We use a tip flexible shaft so it has a low kick point.  The junior player has the opportunity to put the ball into the air real easy," says Vadersen.
  
  
• SWING WEIGHT gradually increases as spacers are added and the club lengthens.  The longer the shaft, the greater the swing weight for the same club head.  The distance increase is similar to the kick point changes.
  
  
• HEAD TORQUE is minimized because the lower end and the butt end of the shaft lessen the torque because of the shortened distance between the head and the lowest spacer.

Accu-Length's lies are designed in order to help youngsters get the ball airborne easier.  The easier it is, the more joy the user receives.

"We see that children are actually able to draw the ball with this golf club and hit it in the air," says Vadersen.  "A high draw is the hardest shot in golf to hit, for adults as well as little juniors.  I have purposely made the clubs a little more user-friendly than the typical junior club because we think it helps the player.

"In order for a youngster to have fun he's got to be able to hit the ball in the air.  That's what they react to initially," adds Vadersen.  "Every time you look at a youngster and you put a golf ball down in front of them and they hit it and it goes in the air they're so pumped and excited."

Which is exactly what happens with The Accu-Length Expandable Pro Quality Junior Golf Club System.

That's why Accu-Length gives youngsters the feel of success.

Consult your local tournament director for use at USGA sanctioned tournaments.  For more information on Accu-Length, contact Mary Deatrick at 407-332-5212 or visit the company's web site at www.acculength.com.