With a degree in finance from the University of Miami (1968), entrepreneurial ambitions led Dick Weiss to qualify as licensee for life insurance and real estate brokerage in Florida and California. From 1971-75, Weiss was the regional director for two real estate land sales companies in Los Angeles and San Diego. Weiss was the company's primary lecturer and real estate negotiator, having personally negotiated and executed over 1,000 land contracts.

After a successful business career, Dick Weiss took on the USGA.

In 1978, after moving back to Miami, Weiss co-founded General Funding Financial Corporation, an equipment leasing and business consulting firm. He assumed the positions of Chairman and President and still maintains a non-active capacity in those positions today. Weiss personally negotiated and executed over 1,000 corporate leases on all types of equipment for all types of businesses.

Through GFFC activities Weiss was able to microscopically examine the details of business operations in varying industries and attain business acumen available to few. He lectured widely and published numerous articles on leasing, finance and credit criteria. During this period, Weiss was able to finance and manage the world record-holding super boat racing team driven by actor Don Johnson.

Weiss' passion for golf was evident from his first introduction to the game as a youngster. He played on the University of Miami golf and track teams from 1965 to 1968. He won several local and regional tournaments over the years and has at one time held four different scoring records. During the 1970s and 1980s Weiss organized and administered numerous amateur, collegiate and professional tournaments. His most notable contribution was as co-founder and Chairman from 1986 through 1989 of the University of Miami/Taylor Made/Golfweek National Collegiate Invitational, a predecessor of today's quality collegiate events.

In 1986, Weiss was awarded the Rotary International Club's most prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship Award for community service.

In 1994, Weiss co-founded Florida Golf Management Consulting and Brokerage Services, Inc., a consulting group for buyers and sellers of golf courses. This fledgling company became the predecessor of Gotham Golf Partners properties, which today owns 21 courses east of the Mississippi and is actively pursuing additional acquisitions. Also in 1994, Weiss assembled a team of like-minded individuals with seniority in the golf industry to research current golf company acquisition opportunities and emerging growth opportunities for golf companies.

Shortly after turning 50 years old, Weiss turned professional in 1996 and made the first cut at the PGA Seniors' qualifying school before being eliminated in the finals. He was successful in earning an exempt spot in the now defunct Senior Series Tour. In early 1997 Weiss built a state-of-the-art club-repair facility at one of his clubs, Miami National Golf Club. He joined the Professional Clubmakers Society and the Clubmakers Association and has lectured and written several articles for them.

From his experiences in his repair shop and during his self-financed quest on various senior professional circuits, Weiss discovered that certain shaft orientations to the clubhead made noticeable differences in distance, accuracy and feel. After months of experimentation, research and testing, Weiss acquired 1990 patent #4,958,834 from Michigan welder Bob Colbert. The patent pertains to the assembly of golf clubs, and in particular pertains to the assembly of golf clubs utilizing a longitudinally extending seam (spine).

In 1997, Weiss engaged the United States Golf Association (USGA) in discussions concerning a 1990 rules decision that appeared to say his discovered process of orientation and assembly did not conform to the rules of golf. Unsatisfied with the USGA staff's conclusions, Weiss more directly requested a formal written response to his inquiry regarding the issue of "conformity." Eventually the USGA invited Weiss to appeal their staff's decision to the Implements & Ball Committee at their annual conference on Feb. 3, 1999. Weiss did so, and on Feb. 9, 1999, the USGA wrote Weiss and sent a "Notice to Manufacturers of Golf Clubs and Golf Shafts," stating in part:

The intent of the Rule, as stated previously, is for shafts to perform symmetrically with respect to these properties (bending and twisting), and the goal from a manufacturing standpoint should be to achieve this objective to the extent that it will make no difference how a particular shaft is oriented in a golf club. However, shaft manufacturers have not yet been able to assure us that they can maintain tolerances which greatly minimize or eliminate asymmetries in twisting and bending.

The Committee has therefore concluded that the process of orienting a shaft with the intent of causing it to perform as if it were symmetrical would not be inconsistent with Rule 4-1b.: