John L. Saksun - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

John L. Saksun is a Canadian-Czechoslovakian tool and die maker

Tool and die maker

Tool and die makers are workers in the manufacturing industry who make jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools , gauges, and other tools used in manufacturing processes...

and precision machinist. He is the founder of military and commercial aircraft

Airliner

An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...

manufacturer, The Queensway Machine Products Ltd (1952), and golf club

Golf club (equipment)

A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...

manufacturer, Accuform Golf (1975).

The Queensway Machine Products Ltd

Saksun incorporated The Queensway Machine Products Ltd after gaining standing delivering on tank radar and de Havilland Mosquito

De Havilland Mosquito

The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...

Bomber manufacturing contracts in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The company has since played a central role in Canadian history

History of Canada

The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians thousands of years ago to the present day. Canada has been inhabited for millennia by distinctive groups of Aboriginal peoples, among whom evolved trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social hierarchies...

through its manufacturing of the 1976 Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

Olympic Torch, involvement with the Avro Arrow, and provisions made for the Canadian Armed Forces during wartime. Queensway Machine has primarily acted as a subcontractor for Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

, Bombardier Inc., Bell Helicopter, Fleet Industries, de Havilland

De Havilland

The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...

and McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...

over its 60-year operating history.

Golf Industry

Saksun applied his manufacturing expertise to the golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

world in the mid 1970’s. He founded Accuform Golf in 1975, which designed and manufactured golf club

Golf club

heads and cylindrical shaped bunker rakes. At the company's peak, Davis Love III

Davis Love III

Davis Milton Love III is an American professional golfer.Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina before turning professional in 1985. He earned his PGA Tour card in the fall of 1985, on his first attempt. He quickly established himself on the PGA...

, Joey Sindelar

Joey Sindelar

Joseph Paul Sindelar is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the Champions Tour.Sindelar was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky while his father was serving in the Army, but has lived in New York for most of his life...

, Gary Koch

Gary Koch

Gary D. Koch is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer, who formerly played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour.- Early years :...

, Mike Donald

Mike Donald

Michael William Donald is an American professional golfer.Donald was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He won 1974 National Junior College Athletic Association title while playing at Broward Community College and also attended Georgia Southern University.Donald's sole win on the PGA Tour was the...

, Dan Halldorson

Dan Halldorson

Daniel Albert Halldorson is a Canadian professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Canadian Tour.Halldorson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in Brandon, Manitoba. He did not attend college and turned pro in 1971. He joined the Canadian Tour in 1973 and the PGA Tour in...

, Jerry Anderson, Jim Rutledge

Jim Rutledge

James Edgar Rutledge is a Canadian professional golfer who currently plays on the Champions Tour.Rutledge was born in Victoria, British Columbia. He won the Canadian Juvenile Championship in 1975 at the Gorge Vale Golf Club in Victoria and the Canadian Junior Championship in 1977. He turned...

and Dick Zokol played Accuform clubs. The company was sold to former Labatt president Don MacDougall in the early 1990s

1990s

File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...

. In 1990, Saksun was utilized by the United States Golf Association

United States Golf Association

The United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system...

(USGA) to help solve a controversy regarding the use of square, or U-grooves, in PING

Ping

Ping is a computer network administration utility used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol network and to measure the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer...

's immensely popular PING

Ping

Eye2 irons. The United States Golf Association argued that players who used the Eye2 had an unfair advantage in imparting spin on the ball, which helps to stop the ball on putting greens. Saksun set up methods of measuring the unique grooves and determined that PING

Ping

was in compliance with the rulings. However, by proposing a cost-effective solution to help PING

Ping

change the design of subsequent Eye2s, Saksun saved PING

Ping

hundreds of millions. PING

Ping

subsequently withdrew their US$100 million lawsuit against the United States Golf Association.

Awards

Saksun was granted Honorary Membership to the Canadian Golf Tour in 2006.
Saksun won the Canadian Professional Golf Association (CPGA) Pro-Am Championship in 1979.

External links

http://globeandmail.golfcanada.ca/?articleId=1601847
IC.gc.ca
Sports.sympatico.msn.ca
Answers.com
BCgolfnews.com

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