Bob VanSweden Named TaylorMade Golf “National Club Fitter of the Year” for 2nd Time In Three Years

For the second time in three years, TaylorMade Golf Company has named Bob VanSweden of the Golf Repair Center in St. Petersburg its “Club Fitter of the Year”, an honor that recognizes individual retailers who share TaylorMade’s values and are relentlessly committed to fitting their customers into the best performing golf products for their games. VanSweden is the only two-time winner in the award’s history.

“We don’t know a better ambassador of the TaylorMade brand than Bob VanSweden,” said David Abeles, TaylorMade’s senior vice president and general manager. “This award is way beyond what Bob does as a fitter – it’s what he does to support us as a group that puts him head and shoulders above the rest. We’re thrilled to honor him a second time."

VanSweden’s path to the golf industry and master club fitter status is as unique as they come. He was a boxer for eight years before becoming a professional bodyguard in the late 1980s, and spent 10 years on the road protecting groups like Sting, Megadeath, Extreme and Third Eye Blind. By the age of 30 he had traveled the world.

When he returned to St. Petersburg, VanSweden met his wife and gave up his bodyguard career for her. He began playing golf every day and eventually accepted an unpaid position with a local golf shop where he quickly mastered the art of club fitting.

Now 43, VanSweden, his wife and son still reside in St. Petersburg, where he runs his Golf Repair Center. Bob recently revamped his new shop into what can best be described as a TaylorMade fitting studio, and offers both indoor and outdoor fitting (with outdoor fittimgs conducted at nearby St. Petersburg Country Club). He utilizes the TaylorMade MAT-T System for putting, as well as a new FlightScope fitting system, allowing for full-flight, radar-based club fitting. In addition to club fitting, VanSweden also performs custom club repairs.

The nomination process through which VanSweden was selected started with TaylorMade’s local sales representatives identifying an individual from their territory who is respected by his peers and has mastered the craft of club fitting, yet seeks to continue to grow his skill and knowledge of the club fitting process. Nominations were submitted to the regional sales manager to identify the top candidate from each of the four sales regions in the U.S. and the four regional Club Fitters of the Year nominations were then submitted to a committee at TaylorMade headquarters to identify the National Club Fitter of the Year.