Coming to grips with a problem

Richard Patshkowski has never been a fan of cold, wet weather – especially when trying to golf.

But instead of simply complaining about the miserable conditions golfers in the Pacific Northwest sometimes face in the early spring and late fall, Patshkowski went out and did something to combat them.

The 58-year-old former airplane mechanic and Spokane Valley resident concocted an innovative heating and drying system that attaches to the battery of his golf car and keeps the grips and shafts on his golf clubs warm and dry.

Only the prototype of his invention and four other manufactured heating and drying units that are being used by himself and three of his friends exist, but that could change dramatically if Patshkowski happens to win over a panel of experts and a national television audience with his appearance on “Fore Inventors Only,” a Golf Channel reality series. The series premiers this evening at 7 but Patshkowski isn’t scheduled to appear until next week.

The weekly show, which has been patterned after the hit reality series, American Idol, will be hosted by Vince Cellini and will feature a panel of three golf experts – PGA Tour professional Fulton Allem, golf instructor Bill Harmon and Golf for Women magazine’s senior editor Stina Sternberg – assigned to evaluate the creations of 103 inventors who made the first cut and then pare the field down to five finalists.

During the series’ live season finale, which will air on Sept. 4, viewer voting will determine the winner of a year’s worth of free shelf space for his or her invention at golf retail giant, Golfsmith, along with a professionally developed infomercial and $50,000 worth of commercial and promotional air time on the Golf Channel.

“It’s really a pretty big deal,” said Patshkowski, who took his invention to Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla., earlier this year as part of the auditioning process but is contractually prohibited from discussing the outcome of those auditions prior to the airing of the season finale.

“I’m not an outgoing person, I’m just not,” he added. “So I was really nervous in front of the cameras.”

According to Patshkowski, the three panel members who listened to his presentation in Orlando, seemed duly impressed with his invention, which is called “Hot Grips, Dry Grips” and consists of a small black heater/fan component that blows warm air into two different golf bags through a pair of aircraft heating and air conditioning hoses.

“They took it well,” he said. “There were some real crazies that auditioned, and some of the stuff the panel members were looking at had to make them roll their eyes – which they did. But they took mine very seriously and discussed it.”

Patshkowski, by his own admission, is a serial tinkerer.

“There’s very little that I own that’s still in it original condition,” he explained. “I just can’t leave anything alone.”

Not even a top-of-the line electric golf car, as it turns out

It was shortly after Patshkowski and his brother, Bob, purchased an expensive, street-legal Columbia ParCar, equipped with headlights, taillights, turn signals and a horn, that the two started wondering what they could do to make it better.

“We don’t like to leave anything as is,” Bob explained.

So while driving back from Lewiston after having a cover put on their golf car, Patshkowski came up with the idea of heating his golf bag. That was back in 2001, when he still owned and operated Aircraft Maintenance Specialties out at Spokane International Airport.

“I don’t like to play golf cold,” he said. “And I don’t like wet, either. I had my own airplane shop at the time. I had the equipment to do it, so I designed this thing.”

According to his brother, Patshkowski, who now works as a production supervisor at a local body shop, came up with a prototype of his invention within a couple of weeks of them having first discussed it. That prototype, which Patshkowski crudely constructed “using duct tape and silicon,” is still attached to his cart, but it no longer operational. Unlike the manufactured version, which has only two hose outlets, it has three – which allowed Patshkowski to run one hose into his cart.

“It was a little short on heat for the cart, though,” he admitted, “so I only used two hoses in the final version.”

Patshkowski’s invention is designed to work with any golf bag, but produces better results when the club dividers in the bag are cut off at the bottom to grip level to allow for more circulation of the warm air coming from the hoses. A towel draped over the bag holds in the heat.

“Hot Grips, Dry Grips” keeps clubs, shafts and grips warmed to about 100 degrees – a fact that worried a couple of the panelists who critiqued the invention.

“They were concerned,” Patshkowski said, “about it maybe melting graphite shafts.”

Patshkowski, who first heard about the Fore Inventors Only competition from his brother, was able to assure those concerned panelists that melting would not be a problem, mainly because it wasn’t meant to be used on 100-degree days.

Patshkowski, a 22-handicapper and self-proclaimed “hack,” is a member at Painted Hills Golf Course, where he and his brother play nearly every Saturday, from early spring to late fall.

“We do several men’s club tournament each year, too,” he said, “and you can’t pick your weather. In the early spring we sometimes start off early after waiting for the frost to get off the greens. It’s cold when you’re playing around here in April and September, and having been a mechanic for so many years, I lose circulation in my hands and can’t grip the club.

“This invention helps with that. But it’s strictly for cold-weather golf.”

Patshkowski has invested nearly $20,000 in “Hot Grips, Dry Grips” and hopes to market and sell his invention regardless of how it goes over on Fore Inventors Only. He said he expects to price it between $350-400, but figures the cost will go down once mass manufacturing begins.

According to a spokesperson for the Golf Channel, the Fore Inventors Only installment featuring segments of Patshkowski’s auditions, will air on July 17.

“I didn’t particularly like my presentation,” Patshkowski said, “and I’m probably going to be embarrassed by anything they show of me – horribly embarrassed. But the Golf Channel people were very professional, and it was still a lot of fun.”