By Dave Metchkoff
There’s a saying in the game of golf and it’s this: “Hit it Thin to Win”. An avid golfer knows what it means. This might sound like positive reinforcement. Nope. On the contrary, it’s actually a sarcastic remark about someone who’s poorly hit a shot, but ended up having a great result. You see, a well hit golf shot should be struck on the middle of the club face, solidly toward the target with good velocity and maximized distance for the club chosen to hit that specific shot. When a golfer hits the ball off the bottom of the club, at its thinnest contact point, the ball usually travels at two feet height above the ground, narrowly taking the heads off any gopher, rabbit, squirrel or duck that might be enjoying a bite of well-groomed fairway grass. The ball then rides the ground bounding towards the flag stick, landing to an impossibly close proximity to the hole. Then, said duffer confidently as he bloviates how he intended to hit said shot, “You’ve got to hit it thin to win”. My best friend did exactly that, ultimately with his ugly shot rolling up the green for “hole in one”. He didn’t hit his ball worth a darn, but the unintended consequence of that poorly hit thin shot is one we’ll never forget. I tend to use allegorical references about golf because I play way too much. I tell you, there’s a lot about life that can be learned playing this maddening game.
You’re probably wondering, what does any of this have to do in regards to the subject of engine block sleeving? Well, nothing really. But that experience gave me an idea. This happened back in the early 2000’s when we were asked to build some sleeve liners for a couple high profile NASCAR Cup teams.