THE VA
EXPERIENCE
AT THE HICKORY HOUSE
The R&D home of VA Composites — and a private fitting experience for serious players. A lit driving range, indoor/outdoor hitting bay, full launch monitor build-up, and every VA shaft profile on hand. Led on-site by Josh Shook, former PGA Tour rep and master fitter. Located 25 minutes from Pinehurst.
WHERE EVERY
VA SHAFT IS
TESTED &
PROVEN.
The Hickory House is the R&D home of VA Composites — the private facility where every VA shaft profile is tested, validated, and proven before it ever reaches a player's bag.
The private lit driving range, the climate-managed hitting bay, the layout of the property itself — every piece of it was engineered to capture clean shot data, day or night, in any weather. This is where prototypes get vetted, production runs get validated, and the spec sheet that backs every VA shaft gets earned.
That same R&D infrastructure now opens, by appointment, to serious players — a private, off-the-grid experience to be fit and tested the way tour pros are, in the exact facility where the shafts themselves are developed.
EVERY DETAIL
BUILT FOR TESTING
Three integrated environments — a full-length lit range, an enclosed performance bay, and a relaxed clubhouse — let a session run from morning warm-up through detailed launch monitor work into long-iron testing and debrief, without anyone leaving the property.
A full-length private driving range with overhead lighting for night sessions. Real ball flight, real wind, real turf — the only way to truly validate what a launch monitor is telling you. Hit until the light bulbs burn out.
- Full-length private range
- Overhead lighting for night testing
- Natural turf — real conditions
- No queue, no waiting, no other golfers
An enclosed performance bay that operates indoor or opens to the range — so launch monitor work, swing-camera capture, and detailed shaft testing happen in controlled conditions, then move outside to validate against real ball flight.
- Climate-controlled testing environment
- Launch monitor + high-speed camera ready
- Opens to real outdoor ball flight
- Full VA shaft library on-site
Tour fittings don't end on the range — they end at the bar with launch numbers on the screen and a decision to make. A full entertainment bar, fire pit, and lounge let the session breathe and the conversation finish properly.
- Full entertainment bar on-site
- Outdoor fire pit & lounge areas
- Traeger, Big Green Egg, Blackstone
- Stay overnight — sleeps up to 12
JOSH SHOOK
Josh runs every session at the Hickory House. A former PGA Tour rep, Josh spent years inside the ropes working with touring professionals on the most demanding equipment changes in the game — the kind of work where a tenth of a degree in launch or a single gram in shaft weight changes a paycheck.
That tour-rep experience is now embedded into every fitting at the Hickory House. Josh isn't reading off a fit chart — he's reading the player. The miss pattern. The transition. The numbers behind the numbers. It's the difference between a fitting that produces a shaft code and a fitting that produces shots you can trust under pressure.
For VA Composites, Josh leads on-site testing of every shaft profile through R&D, validates production runs, and personally heads every guest fitting session at the property.
VA SHAFT IS BORN
A FULL-DAY
FITTING EXPERIENCE
Most public fittings give you 60 minutes, a couple of head options, and a list of shaft codes you've never heard of. The VA Experience runs the way tour fittings actually run — long enough to be honest, controlled enough to be repeatable, and finished only when the numbers say it's done.
- Full-day, distraction-free fitting
- Access to the complete VA shaft library
- Launch monitor data plus real ball flight
- Build path through your preferred dealer
- Private, off-the-grid testing
- R&D-grade controlled environment
- Direct access to VA founder & engineering
- Confidential — no leaks, no spectators
- Group fittings, sequential or parallel
- Overnight stay — sleeps up to 12
- Tee times at Pinehurst & Tobacco Road
- Custom packages built per group
HEART OF
NORTH CAROLINA GOLF
The Hickory House sits in Sanford, NC — placed deliberately at the geographic center of the most concentrated golf destination in the country. Tobacco Road is two miles away. Pinehurst is 25 minutes south. A dozen Sandhills classics are inside an hour's drive.
It's the rare facility where you can spend the morning being fit in a tour-grade environment, the afternoon validating it on a top-100 course, and the evening at the property's own fire pit running back the data.
TOBACCO
ROAD GOLF
CLUB
The Hickory House sits two miles from the gate of Tobacco Road — Mike Strantz's masterpiece and one of the most distinctive public courses in the country. A long-standing partnership with the club means VA Experience guests get access to one of the great American golf courses as part of the visit.
It's the rare arrangement where a player can spend the morning being fit in a tour-grade environment, then take the fresh build straight to a top-100 course to validate it on real ground. Same day. No travel. No excuses.
in a retail bay with eight head options
and a stock shaft rack.
You need the room, the data,
and the time to be honest.
BOOK YOUR
FITTING
The VA Experience at the Hickory House is appointment-only. Individual fittings, tour-level testing sessions, and group retreats are available year-round. Tell us about your game and your goals — we'll build the right package.