John L. Saksun (May 3, 1922 - November 1, 2016) was a Canadian-Czechoslovakian

tool and die maker Tool and die makers are highly skilled crafters working in the manufacturing, manufacturing industries. Variations on the name include tool maker, toolmaker, die maker, diemaker, Moldmaker, mold maker, moldmaker or tool jig and die-maker depending ...

and precision machinist. He was born in Zalobin, Czechoslovakia. At age 16, shortly after the wartime occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1938, Saksun left the country for Canada. He founded military and commercial aircraft manufacturer, The Queensway Machine Products Ltd, in 1952. He later founded

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Wood (golf), Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; iron (golf), irons, the most versatile class ...

manufacturer, Accuform Golf in 1975.

The Queensway Machine Products Ltd

Saksun incorporated The Queensway Machine Products Ltd in 1952 after gaining standing delivering on tank radar and

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

bomber manufacturing contracts in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The company has since played a central role in

Canadian history The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Canada were inhabited for millennia by ...

through its manufacturing of the 1976

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Olympic Torch The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic ...

, involvement with the

Alouette 1 ''Alouette 1'' is a deactivated Canadian satellite that studied the ionosphere. Launched in 1962, it was Canada's first satellite, and the first satellite constructed by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. Canada was th ...

, involvement with the

Avro Arrow The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) ...

, and provisions made for the

Canadian Armed Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

during wartime. Queensway Machine has primarily acted as a subcontractor for

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in M ...

Fleet Canada Fleet Canada Inc., the successor to the Fleet Aerospace Inc division of Magellan Aerospace Inc, is a manufacturer of aerospace structures, component parts, and assemblies to approved design data. It is located in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, wh ...

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...

and

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

over its 70-year operating history.

Golf Industry

Saksun applied his manufacturing expertise to the

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

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

heads. Saksun also invented the cylindrical-shaped bunker rakes found at most PGA Tour courses and around the world. At the company's peak,

Davis Love III Davis Milton Love III (born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer who has won 21 events on the PGA Tour, including one major championship: the 1997 PGA Championship. He won the Players Championship in 1992 and 2003. He was in th ...

Joey Sindelar Joseph Paul Sindelar (born March 30, 1958) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the PGA Tour, winning seven tournaments between 1985 and 2004. Early life Sindelar was born in ...

Gary Koch Gary D. Koch (born November 21, 1952) is an American professional golfer, sportscaster and golf course designer, who formerly played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and Champions Tour. Early years Koch was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana ...

Mike Donald Michael William Donald (born July 11, 1955) is an American professional golfer. Donald was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He won 1974 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) title while playing at Broward Community College and also ...

Dan Halldorson Daniel Albert Halldorson (April 2, 1952 – November 18, 2015) was 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 coll ...

, Jerry Anderson,

Jim Rutledge James Edgar Rutledge (born August 26, 1959) 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 Cl ...

and Dick Zokol played Accuform clubs. The company was sold to former

Labatt Labatt Brewing Company Limited (french: La Brasserie Labatt Limitée) is a Belgian-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Int ...

president Don MacDougall in the early 1990s. In 1990, Saksun was utilized by the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) 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 ...

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

PING Ping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Ping, a domesticated Chinese duck in the illustrated book '' The Story about Ping'', first published in 1933 * Ping, a minor character in ''Seinfeld'', an NBC sitcom * Ping, a c ...

's immensely popular

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

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

change the design of subsequent Eye2s,

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

Awards

*Saksun won the Canadian Professional Golf Association (CPGA) Pro-Am Championship in 1979. *Saksun was one of one thousand nine hundred eighty-four Ontario residents who received the Ontario Bicentennial Medal in 1984. *Saksun was granted Honorary Membership to the Canadian Golf Tour in 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saksun, John L. Canadian businesspeople Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada 1922 births 2016 deaths