Crenshaw says he likes how the clubs felt in his hands after shaft realignment. "A golf club has to feel good for the player, that's the bottom line," he said.

If you believe Weiss' critics, his process is about as effective as a sugar pill.

Weiss, so confident in his process he offers a money-back guarantee, doesn't care what his opponents say. "It works," he said. "If it didn't work, I would have already retired."

One of Weiss' biggest critics is engineer Bob Bush, a consultant with Adams Golf, a member of Golf Digest's technical advisory staff and former director of research and development at True Temper.

"Nobody wants to practice, they all want to buy a game, " Bush said.

In 1997, Weiss acquired patent No. 4,958,834 from Michigan's Bob Colbert pertaining to the assembly of golf clubs. The patent reads, in part, "To minimize adverse effects of bending and torsion forces on a seamed shaft when striking the ball, the shaft seam is oriented to the club face in a predetermined orientation."

The USGA, however, does not want to allow shaft orientation that might help correct a hook or slice.

Weiss, who for years had lobbied the USGA to modify its stance on shaft alignment, finally got the compromise he was seeking in 1999 from the USGA Implements and Ball Committee.

Frank Thomas, who recently retired after 27 years as USGA's technical director, wrote the 1999 ruling that went in Weiss' favor. Was Thomas happy about it? Sort of.

"Dick says because of the spirit of the rule, 'I'm going to take the spine and find and neutralize the effect,'" said Thomas, who now runs his own Web site, Franklygolf.com. "As far as I'm concerned, there's no harm done. Is it really going to make a difference? I haven't seen any evidence to show that. I think the outcome was acceptable because it's not having any detrimental effect on the game."

Thomas says he understands Weiss' position to be: "I'm just pointing out a fact that these clubs have a spine, and I can identify where the spine is. We don't want to violate the rules, so we'll neutralize the spine. I can make money off this."

USGA President Trey Holland explained the 1999 decision in a response to an e-mailed question: "The USGA changed its original position about intentionally locating the spine in golf shafts after determining that alignment of the spine served to improve uniformity of golf clubs rather than adding some special performance enhancement."

Bush does not believe it's possible to sort out the bending properties of a shaft and identify a spine. "I just believe if you say it fast enough, it sounds like it makes sense," Bush said. "No one's ever been able to tell what's the correct orientation of the spine. I'm questioning if spining works so well, why is no major OEM (original equipment manufacturer) using it?

"It's like a guy who goes out and buys a $500 driver as opposed to one $49.95 at K-Mart. He's going to hit the $500 driver better."

Weiss responded, "I would challenge Mr. Bush in this point of my career. I'd be happy to do his set. If he believes there's no preferential direction a shaft wants to bend or twist, then what would be the difference? I couldn't hurt his clubs. What does he have to lose?

"If he has all this work he says he did, then I challenge him - publish it, back it up."

One of Weiss' biggest proponents is Tom Wishon, chief technical officer for Golfsmith. Wishon originally was a critic.

"I was a naysayer on it," Wishon said. "I do a lot of writing in the industry, and whenever asked an opinion, I'd say this type of asymmetry did exist but I didn't think much about it."

Wishon said he started changing his mind when he saw Data from Weiss' engineers showing what happens to the club during the swing. That data showed that when the club is at the bottom of the swing, any shaft asymmetry tends to pull the head of the club out of the straight plane of the swing.

"In doing that, it takes the head with it and that causes more of an off-center hit than what the golfer would've deserved to get," Wishon said.

Wishon was further convinced when he put the technology to the test. Golfsmith had the prototype for a new driver, and he didn't particularly like the club. The shaft was pured, and Wishon played the club that weekend. "I had never hit a driver that well," he said.

"It's not that you hit it longer or straighter," Weiss said, "it's more consistent. It's like a sharp butcher knife going through butter."

Members of Golfsmith's research and development team say swing robot Max Headspeed is proving that Weiss' process works. In one particular test, Max was swinging clubs that hadn't been pured. "You saw the ball going all over the place," robot operator Thomas Hull said. "Once the shafts were pured,he was lacing them like a new pair of shoes."

Mike Duggan, manager of shaft technical services at Golfsmith, says puring is "a way for you to hit a higher percentage of shots on center. I'm not going to say you'll hit it 50 yards farther, but I know you'll feel better."

And Duggan smiles. "Even with all the equipment, you still have to practice."