Making golf clubs suits retired teacher to a tee

Floyd Glenn, 81, adjusts the shaft on a modern club at his golf shop Dogleg Inc. in San Francisco, Calif. Glenn has been running his own shop for 24 years since retiring as a San Francisco school teacher. Floyd Glenn, 81, adjusts the shaft on a modern club at his golf shop Dogleg Inc. in San Francisco, Calif. Glenn has been running his own shop for 24 years since retiring as a San Francisco school teacher. Photo: Mike Kepka / The Chronicle Photo: Mike Kepka / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Making golf clubs suits retired teacher to a tee 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

A recent Monday, 10:22 a.m.: Floyd Glenn doesn’t do anything that’s not worth doing well. When the teacher of the year retired after 31 years in San Francisco schools, rarely having missed a day, it was no wonder to anyone who knew his work ethic that he would become one of the world’s premier golf club makers.

“He is so well-known throughout the golf community — always has been and always will be,” said Steve Rodriguez, resident pro at Glenn’s golf shop.

Before the industry changed to graphite shafts and computer-designed titanium heads, the 81-year-old Glenn made customized golf clubs the old-fashioned way — one at a time, with his own hands. He was part of an elite group of craftsmen who valued the club not only for its function, but as a work of art.

He still smiles when he looks at a handmade club, with a delicious grain pattern that could only come with the finest woods. But the demand is gone.

“I have clubs in the back that were once worth $200 or $300. Now they’re worth $10,” he said.

Glenn’s interest in golf technology started at age 15, when a man for whom he was caddying shanked a shot so badly it hit him. “He felt so bad he gave me his clubs,” Glenn said.

Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Floyd Glenn, owner of Dogleg Inc., pals around with friends...

Teaching, however, became his first calling. He went to work in the San Francisco schools in 1959 and eventually taught history, geography and civics at McAteer High, where the students voted him teacher of the year and gave him a customized golf bag when his days there were done.

In his free time — something he didn’t have much of, given that he and his wife raised 10 children — Glenn collected clubs, scouring thrift stores for castoffs that he could refurbish and sell. After a while, his garage began to fill with classic wooden drivers.

“And so I found a place to put them,” Glenn said.

Two months after retiring from McAteer in 1990, he opened Dogleg Inc. at Ocean and Ashton avenues. Later he moved a few doors down, to the former Ingleside library building. It’s the ultimate clubhouse, a place for Glenn and his friends to spin stories and for the old pro to regrip the occasional club. Many of those who come in simply want to banter with Glenn.

“Somebody described the place as a cross between a golf shop and a barber shop,” Rodriguez said.

Glenn’s club-making days are mostly behind him, thanks to the advances in golf technology. Rodriguez and another assistant, Garland Gilbert, a retired Muni driver, do most of the basic repairs. But when something comes along that Glenn deems worthy of his efforts, he’s still the fastest worker on the bench.

He figures he’s got a couple of years left in the shop before he turns the keys over to someone else. He does it because, aside from teaching, it’s what he does best.

“I’m retired.” Glenn said. “I want to do it.”

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