Honma and Justin Rose Call it Quits

In January 2019, Honma announced a multi-year equipment agreement with Justin Rose, though, in the month preceding the announcement, the agreement itself was the worst kept secret in golf.

Now, a little over a year later, we’re largely in the same situation. Friday’s announcement formally spells out what everyone saw coming roughly two-and-a-half months ago. Justin Rose and Honma were, to borrow a line from Taylor Swift, “never, ever, ever getting back together…”

Mountains or Molehills?

Behind closed doors. Inside the ropes. Tip of the iceberg. There’s plenty of clichés to go around.

While most details fit into the “we don’t know what we don’t know” category, it’s reasonable to surmise issues have been percolating for some time. Signing a player of Rose’s caliber to a multi-year deal doesn’t happen overnight. Similarly, dissolving such a relationship isn’t going to happen over a small tiff or routine frustrations present in every player-OEM relationship.

As is typical in such situations, questions exceed answers. People will speculate and theorize, but ultimately only a handful of individuals will really know what went down and why. In time, pieces of the truth may surface.

Today’s announcement is primarily a formality to acknowledge what everyone already knew. Rose no longer believed Honma was the best fit for him. Or Honma no longer thought Rose was the best fit for them. Or whatever.

The statements from Rose and Honma give little insight into, well, much of anything. It’s typical C.Y.A legalese. It’s a series of well-crafted generic phrases that don’t say much.

Some “Justin will no longer be one of Honma’s brand ambassadors” here and “I have enjoyed working with the Honma team and collaborating closely with them to design and develop excellent golf equipment” there. And nothing of any great substance in between.

While it’s what everyone reasonably expected, it’s also the last official statement we’ll likely receive from either party on the topic. Even so, to give a little context, let’s rehash some keystone moments over the past several months.

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Rose Benches Honma TR-20 Driver

The first public evidence of some unease occurred in early March at The Honda Classic. Rose ditched Honma’s new TR20 driver in favor of the new TaylorMade SIM model.

Unusual? Perhaps, but not unprecedented. It’s also worth noting, until signing with Honma, Rose was a member of TaylorMade’s tour staff for the better part of two decades. So, perhaps he was tinkering around with his set up to find an optimal arrangement headed into the bulk of the season. Rose’s deal required him to carry 10 Honma clubs, so he was free to experiment with the other four spots.

But the driver is a pretty damn bit spot to swap out of the starting lineup, particularly given that Rose said he was seeing four to five miles an hour faster ball speed with the Honma driver. Perhaps a honeymoon period, perhaps a classic oversell. Who can say for sure?

The Honda was followed by the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where Rose showed up to the Wednesday Pro-am with a mixed bag, including TaylorMade irons, TaylorMade and Cobra metal woods, and several TaylorMade, Titleist and Wilson wedges to test.

There wasn’t a single Honma club in Rose’s bag.

If the week before caused some raised eyebrows, this set them on fire.

When Rose appeared at the 10^th tee on Thursday morning for his 7:54 AM tee time still without a single Homna club in the bag, it was the death knell.

The move appeared to catch pretty much everyone off-guard. Without any lead notice, Honma execs didn’t have much to say other than, “Out of respect for Honma, Justin, and the tournament, there will not be any comment until that time (Monday)”

The Monday announcement never happened. Instead, a global pandemic ensued, Rose missed the cut, and like all other PGA Tour related news, it faded temporarily to the periphery.

Not Your Average Relationship

Player-OEM splits usually don’t garner this type of attention, but then again, this wasn’t a typical staff ambassador situation. Justin Rose was the entirety of Honma’s PGA Tour presence. Without Rose, Honma didn’t exactly have a Plan B.

Honma’s work to establish a larger footprint in North America included landing a marquee PGA Tour player as a vital part of the strategy. In hindsight, it might have made more sense to follow Wu-Tang’s advice and diversify your bonds. However, by signing Rose, Honma acquired some amount of instant credibility in a crowded and competitive marketplace.

Even so, Rose wasn’t just a marquee player with global appeal. He was the #2 ranked player in the world, reigning FedEx Cup champion and Olympic Gold Medalist.

Maintaining that pace into 2019, with a new bag of sticks, wasn’t a reasonable expectation. However, Rose notched his 10^th PGA Tour victory at the Farmer’s Insurance Open in late January. It would have been tough to script a better start, though no one would have thought twice had Rose struggled to gain form after a wholesale equipment switch.

Rose would go on and finish the season 13th in strokes gained/round with on-course earnings of $4.3 million and an OWGR of #8. By any measure, it was a successful first season. With Honma’s TR-20 line slated to release in early 2020, everything appeared to be in order. “I have a lot more trust in the product now because I’ve tested it under the toughest of circumstances and conditions,” asserted Rose.

Not According to Plan

Unfortunately, Rose’s play entering the new decade has been less than stellar. A lot less. Before the COVID-induced hiatus, in five official events, he had three MC’s, a T-56, and a 2^nd place finish in the Singapore Open on the Asian Tour. Why the slide?

Who knows? Golf is hard. Players aren’t robots. Golf is really hard.

Was it the equipment? Exceedingly unlikely. Again, Rose had a direct hand in the design of his Honma equipment and even asserted, “At the end of the day, a blade is a blade, so the most important thing about a blade is that it looks pretty.”

So, the driver produced more ball speed, and according to Rose, “feels much more forgiving and incredibly stable. From that point of view, it’s an improvement for sure.” The muscle-back irons are, apparently, mostly a question of cosmetics and as for the wedges…

“I’m playing the highest bounce option in my 56, and I was actually out there at Torrey today using it a lot out of the rough, and it’s actually becoming my go-to club much more over my 60, even out of the bunker, I seem to be really, really enjoying it.”

What’s perhaps the most perplexing part of all of this is that these statements from Rose were taken from an article penned by Jonathan Wall (Golf.com) that published only several weeks before Rose’s SIM swap in early March.

Parting Thoughts

It’s nice to think we can take players at their word, and there’s no reason to suggest we shouldn’t in the case of Rose. He’s doesn’t seem the type to build sandcastles, blame camera angles, or send cease and desist letters. That said, the timing of all of this is entirely curious. Alongside the PGA Tour’s more condensed schedule, one would think to make wholesale equipment changes the month prior to that little invitational in Augusta, GA is something a professional only does out of necessity. Then again, I suppose what one player considers necessary others might call desperate. We’re also assuming everyone involved is a rational actor, acting based on objective information. That’s anything but a safe assumption when contracts, emotions, money, and ego all have a seat at the negotiating table.

So, where does that leave us? At the end of the day, all we can be reasonably sure of is the following:

Rose and Honma are no longer.

A good craftsman never blames his tools.

Right?

The post Honma and Justin Rose Call it Quits appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

Instagram sensation Paige Spiranac rubbed fans the wrong way with her opinion.

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Submitted May 24, 2020 at 07:08AM by PrincessBananas85 https://ift.tt/2ZsfkMi

My first round back

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Submitted May 22, 2020 at 03:47PM by Mitchellbladesgolf https://ift.tt/3eha8iB

Kevin Na reveals Tiger Woods Ryder Cup rumor, is not great at keeping secrets.

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Submitted May 22, 2020 at 10:08AM by PrincessBananas85 https://ift.tt/3e5bJaQ

Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1 Limited Run Putter

The Rite of Spring

The Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1 is the quintessential limited-run putter. It is thematic, uniquely constructed and produced in limited quantities. Today, we are going to explore these unique features of the Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1. – the design elements that separate this Spring Classic from the stock 2020 Bettinardi putters.

Spring holds a powerful place in the human psyche. It is the season where we celebrate the conclusion of winter and the return of the life-giving warmth of the sun. Spring is the season of possibilities and optimism.

Capturing all of that sentiment on the limited canvas of a putter is a tall order. But before we get to that, let’s see why Bettinardi is calling a brand-new putter a “classic.”

Golf’s First-Ever One-Piece Milled Putter!

Introducing the latest Limited Run putter of 2020, the BB1.1 Spring Classic. A nod to Robert Bettinardi’s and golf’s first-ever, one-piece milled putter, Robert crafted the BB1.1 from Soft Carbon Steel and added a 303 Stainless Steel insert with flymill face milling for a super-soft, responsive feel at impact. Precision-milled to 355 grams, the refined head shape pays tribute to Robert’s original one-piece head, giving the new BB1.1 a constant neck alignment with his classic, setting up masterfully at address.

History is a funny thing. Oftentimes, the events of the past seem recent but then we realize that “recent” is actually years or even decades ago. It can be hard to remember when common things were not yet common. Take cellphones for example. While smartphones are pretty much ubiquitous these days, if you turn the clock back 20 years, “smart” meant your phones had an interchangeable faceplate and you could play Snake on it.

CNC-milled putters live in a similar have-always-been-here sphere and yet they have really only been in the golf arena since 1991.

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Yes, that 1991. Back when you were working on your Motownphilly harmonies and getting sexed up by Color Me Badd, Robert Bettinardi took his military metal milling machines and collaborated with golf industry giants of the age to produce the first one-piece milled putter. If you’ve wondered why Bettinardi Golf is a thing, that’s why Bettinardi golf is a thing.

There’s little doubt that Scotty Cameron remains the commercial king of the mills but I’ll bet some of you out there that don’t know that Bettinardi milled the Cameron putters in the ’90s, likely helping Scotty get to where he is today.

The Classic-ness

Pop quiz: Raise your hand if you know what golf event The Spring Classic is referencing? Granted, this year we will be calling the tournament The Autumnal Awesomeness, but The Spring Classic is an obvious reference to The Masters. Many companies use this we-shall-not speak-its-name marketing strategy (e.g., “The Big Game Sale!”) with big events. It’s a standard way to get your products into the event zeitgeist without paying big licensing fees. So, yes, Bettinardi is doing the same thing. However, Bettinardi is on slightly firmer ground than usual with the “Spring Classic” designation as it’s a legitimate tournament-winning design.

Check out putter A000676 in the Scotty Cameron Putter Registry. As you read the description there, you will find some crazy facts. Bernhard Langer used the pre-Titleist Classic 1 to win the 1993 Masters. Crazy, huh? Langer won with a standard-length putter! Sure, he had a crazy arm-lock thing happening but his putting was spectacular that week.

Scotty’s name may be on the putter but it was milled in Bettinardi’s shop. When you compare the neck of that Masters-winning Classic 1 to this current Spring Classic, you’ll see Bettinardi’s nod to that classic winner. It makes sense that Langer’s win would be something Bettinardi would choose to commemorate as it was arguably the win that really launched the careers of both Cameron and Bettinardi.

Milling the 1997 winner for a punk kid from Orange County didn’t hurt their prospects, either.

Obviously, marketing restrictions prevent this putter from being called a Masters commemorative release. However, that 1993 win is a moment worth celebrating for Bettinardi. That victory fueled the increasing presence of milled putters over the next three decades.

Specifications: Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1

• Head: BB1.1
• Material: Soft Carbon Steel Body/303 Stainless Insert
• Face Milling: Flymill
• Finish: Graphite Grey PVD/Tour Blast Insert
• Grip: Perforated Gripmaster Leather
• Weight: 355g
• Pieces: 275
• Price: $750
• Release Date: May 28, 2020

Exploring the Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1

Completed in a durable Graphite Grey PVD finish and a Tour Blast 303 SS insert, the BB1.1 showcases our craftsmanship, with the flymill extending across the outer bumpers, intricately engraved azaleas along the sole, a fancy-script Hex B in the pocket, and “Bettinardi” along the inner neck. The BB1.1 was hand-painted in a sharp, classic green, white, and pink color scheme, and comes paired with a perforated leather Gripmaster grip, and premium Made in USA leather head cover.

Aesthetics

Now that we have our history lesson out of the way, let’s take a deeper look at the putter. Aesthetically, Bettinardi has taken a more understated approach this time around. This is not to say there aren’t elements that are visually interesting. In fact, there are all kinds of cool details, like the fly milling of the bumpers and milled azaleas on the sole. Both are a bit muted as we might expect from Bettinardi. The milling somewhat shallow and paint fills only one of the azaleas.

I like the subtle design path. And remember, this comes from an admitted lover of bold putters. The putter’s design and history allow it to quietly invoke the feeling of spring golf. Sometimes a whisper is better than a yell.

This Blade, Will Putt

The “gamer versus wall-hanger” question is also worth exploring for any limited-run, expensive putter.  Either way, you’ll need to be faster than the Langer-heads (Bernhard Bros?) when they release on May 28 at 10 a.m. CDT in The Hive. They are going to sell out fast.

Once in hand, then you can ask, “Should I game this?”

My answer to that is a resounding “Yes!” Sure, the putter is a limited-run collectible but don’t stash it away for the kid’s college fund. Be like Bernhard and collect checks with this BB1.1 in your bag.

After rolling a few putts in the garage and on the practice green, I knew this was a potential gamer for me. Sure, the help-make-putts-tech is more prevalent in other modern putters. However, the BB1.1 has amazing balance and putter personality. I love how it sets up at address with the laid-back bend in the neck. The stainless insert gives the ball the little bit of pop my stroke needs. The matte PVD finish wraps the package in a glare-proof grey business suit. It has all of the elements of a gamer, including a head cover that just pops.

My one criticism that limits the gamer potential a bit is the Gripmaster leather grip. It looks amazing but just misses a bit for me in the comfort category. While I like the tactile experience of the perforated leather, I find the geometry and firmness of Gripmaster grips to be a little off for me. If this is truly to become the summer gamer, I may need to swap the grip for a green Bettinardi deep etch or a BestGrips leather grip. YMMV on this as it’s purely my opinion but I want to give you my complete take on the putter.

Spring Into The Hive on 05.28.2020

As mentioned, the Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1 Limited Run putter will be available in The Hive on May 28 at 10 a.m. CDT. Yes, they are $750 and, yes, that is a significant expense. However, if you want one and have the means, don’t hesitate. As limited runs go, 275 pieces is not a lot. The demand for this one will likely be quite high.

The Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1 combines the history of the Langer Masters/first one-piece CNC-milled head with great spring visuals. I can definitely see this putter being a talking point in your bag, as well as a putter that makes some putts for you.

The post Bettinardi Spring Classic BB1.1 Limited Run Putter appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

When we last saw Tiger play golf, there were questions about his game. Are they still there?

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Submitted May 21, 2020 at 11:58AM by PrincessBananas85 https://ift.tt/2ZraT4i

2020 Graphite Shaft Survey – The Results

Several weeks ago, we asked you to take a graphite shaft survey. We wanted to understand the kind of shafts you’re playing, where you got them and gauge your perceptions of the brands across the industry. We received more than 5,000 completed surveys (5,192, to be precise) and, today, we’re sharing the results.

To keep things concise, we’ve eliminated the demographic stuff (not much has changed since our ball survey) and focused on the questions we thought were most interesting.

Before we dig into it, congratulations to Kem S., who was selected to win one dozen MGS-logoed balls from Golfballs.com.

The Results

I don’t know that we’ve ever asked about swing speed in a survey before so this one is just an FYI. We know golfers don’t hit the ball as far as they think they do so it’s reasonable to wonder if golfers don’t swing as fast as they think they do, either. Regardless, it appears swing speeds for the average MyGolfSpy reader skew faster than the golfing population as a whole. That’s not mind-blowing info or anything but it’s good to know.

As a golf equipment site, I would again expect that we skew away from the general population of golfers. That said, my hunch is 78.85 percent would be considered a big number by most equipment companies. Having no previous insight into this aspect of our readership, I would have guessed 60 percent – tops.

This is the answer I like to see. Retail Fitting Boutique accounted for more than a third of the aftermarket shaft purchases (at least within the “check only one box” choice we gave you). This suggests you’re getting fitted for your (presumably) bigger-ticket golf shafts. The surprising one here is ebay (online auction). I expected that number to be higher, though I suspect if we had asked about how many shafts you purchase in a given year, the persistent tinkerers among us would show significantly higher purchase rates through forums and online auctions.

It’s always tough to gauge the accuracy of the responses to this question. How much are we being influenced by the tour without knowing it? In a fitting environment, it shouldn’t matter but I’d be willing to bet many gearheads could recite every shaft Tiger has ever played (and they’ve tried all of them).

I will continue to argue that tour use doesn’t carry the weight it used to but how many shafts are there in OEM catalogs or on fitters’ walls that aren’t used on tour? I’d wager the percentages are low and that’s without discussing how tour play influences what goes into a manufacturer’s stock and aftermarket lineups.

In the survey, these were two separate questions but we decided to get clever and combine them into a single response. Among our readers, fitting rates for both drivers and irons exceeds 50 percent. In general, that’s awesome. It’s the right thing to do.

It’s also not particularly surprising that iron fitting rates are a bit higher. While most golf shops offer what amounts to “grab and go” service for drivers, between dialing-in length and lie angles, sorting through a growing catalog of shafts and accounting for grip preferences, comparatively few iron sets are sold off the rack.

The 20,000-foot view: The reasons golfers don’t get fitted for irons are mostly the same reasons why they don’t get fitted for drivers.

Cost will always be an issue but, in many cases, the fitting fee is included in the purchase. Lack of consistency and “not being good enough” are, I’d argue, two reasons why you should get fitted. A good fitting can deliver greater consistency and ultimately improve your game.

The next two are similar and while I struggle to find much credence for either, I am aware there remains a segment that views custom fitting as something akin to a cash grab veiled in witchcraft.

Allowances must be made for the reality that not all custom fitting is created equal and while there are some excellent fitters working out of big-box stores (where the overwhelming majority of golf gear is sold), realistically most can’t match the expertise (or the inventory) at a full-service fitter like Cool Clubs, True Spec or TXG. All of that brings me to a broader acknowledgment that not every golfer has a competent fitter nearby. Driving a couple of hours (or more) for a fitting may not be a realistic ask of many of you, so yeah…I get that part of it.

Among those of you who chose Other were plenty who take a DIY approach to fitting. I’ve been known to do that a time or two myself. Some of you mentioned having a prior bad fitting experience. Others talked about not having the time (or being lazy). Winning clubs or receiving them as a gift was another frequent response as was “I know my specs.”

For whatever it’s worth, I do a ton of DIY work and having tried as much gear as I have over the years, I have a damned good idea what works for me but that said, I never pass on an opportunity to get a second opinion.

This is one of the more interesting questions for me and it’s not entirely because of the answers themselves. Given their prevalence in mainstream driver lineups, it’s not surprising that Fujikura, Mitsubishi and Project X top the list with similar percentages. In a typical year, the majority of stock offerings are reasonably evenly spread across the three – though anecdotally (and without counting), my guess is Project X has become increasingly more common.

While Aldila is beginning to find its way back into stock lineups (Rogue White in Mavrik Sub Zero, for example), the brand isn’t as prevalent as it once was.

Graphite Design is notable because it’s not a brand you find among the stock offerings. The business is almost entirely driven by upgrades and the aftermarket.

What I find most interesting are the responses listed under Other. There were some smaller brands listed (Paderson, Veylix and House of Forged). PING’s Alta lineup received several mentions, as did Miyazaki. Matrix is still kicking around, too. There was also a tremendous number of specific models (Tensei, EvenFlow, Kuro Kage, HZRDUS), which could suggest that while some golfers know what shaft they play, they don’t necessarily know the brand that made it.

It’s no real surprise that the most popular brands are the most common in club lineups, on tour and basically everywhere. “Circle of life” type stuff. True Temper and KBS each account for 20 percent of what’s in your bags while Nippon and True Temper sister brand, Project X, aren’t far apart in the 13-percent range.

This result was to be expected. The names most everyone knows (and the brands every club manufacturer uses) are at the top. UST (Recoil) and Aerotech (Steel Fiber) smooth the transition to the other graphite brands.  We don’t need the steel versus graphite question to get a sense of the disparity in play between the two materials used in iron shafts today.

I’m a firm believer in the idea of “never saying never.” I can’t be alone in that so so perhaps there’s some wiggle room from the 32.53 percent who said they wouldn’t consider switching to graphite in their irons. I believe graphite shafts are the future of iron shafts (and I’m probably not the first to say it). Maybe that’s the case. Maybe it isn’t. But it’s worth pointing out that you’re not seeing graphite shaft brands jumping into the steel category but there’s some evidence (KBS, Nippon) that traditionally steel brands are trying to cross into the graphite space. It makes one wonder if there might just be something to it.

Fundamentally, I view the responses to this question as an education problem. There’s definitely some overlap in the answer choices we gave you but a good bit of the “why” behind a lack of interest in graphite suggests that graphite shaft producers haven’t done the best job of delivering the messaging.

Yes, it’s true there are fewer options. That’s true for both club manufacturer lineups as well as the aftermarket and especially true when you move into 120+ gram offerings where you can quite legitimately count the current offerings on a single hand. Accra had something, UST has the Recoil Proto (I miss the standard 125), and not long ago Mitsubishi launched a 125-gram version of the MMT.

For the most part, however, options top out at 115 grams or so and that’s an issue for those of us who’ve played tour-weight stuff forever. I suspect that’s the reason behind the idea that graphite won’t help faster swingers. It’s too light and, likely, won’t hold up to faster, more aggressive swings. Rhetorical question: Why wouldn’t a lighter-weight graphite shaft hold up to a faster swinger when graphite wood shafts in the 60-gram range are holding up just fine under the stress of PGA TOUR swing speeds?

The feel argument…If you’ve played steel forever and most, if not all, of what you’ve tried in the graphite space is the ultra-lightweight and stock-grade stuff, I suppose that’s a reasonable concern.

With a more focused message that conveys the benefits of graphite and, yeah, a wider range of offerings, too, there’s an opportunity to grow the graphite iron shaft market, though it will likely take some tour play before a significant percentage of the “steel and only steel” crowd is willing to take a look.

The One-Word Survey (Shaft Edition)

Included in the survey was a section of questions modeled after our One Word Brand Survey. The concept is simple, we give you a single word, you tell us which brand you most associate with it. If no particular brand comes to mind, you can choose none – and very often you do.

Here’s a selection of those questions.

It was a last-minute decision to publish this chart. Given our education-focused Shaft University series, it’s reasonable to think our readers are more familiar with recent Fujikura efforts in the educational space. Outside the confines of Shaft University, Fujikura and True Temper (which included Project X) have done an excellent job producing content to help golfers understand the features and benefits of their products as well as broader shaft-related topics.

That being said, the category remains ripe with secrets and misinformation. That’s not great for consumers, but the reality is that leaving some details out of the conversation is necessary to maintain business as usual.

I should also mention that larger brands garner the lion’s share of the responses for these type of questions. This hold true for nearly every survey we’ve ever done.

We effectively have three brands that are dominant in the OEM shaft space (Fujikura, Mitusbishi and Project X) against smaller, mostly aftermarket options. As a small company trying to do something fundamentally different, TPT is a curiosity. It hit some bumps in the road but the fact that it’s viewed as more innovative than more established brands like UST and Oban could suggest that golfers see something unique in the offering.

Market leaders are typically leaders for a reason so, again, it’s not the least bit surprising to see the biggest names leading the pack. The drop off in Project X’s percentage of the responses is a little surprising but given that the company hasn’t been in the graphite space for nearly as long as the others, it could also simply be a matter of familiarity coupled with some influence from the next question.

Again, we see four clear leaders and the actual numbers from the tour tell us that in any given week any of them could be at the top of the table. It’s just a guess but the Tensei series remains popular on tour and given that Tiger has used both Diamana and Tensei series shafts recently, it’s possible he’s swaying perceptions. At a minimum, it’s likely the shafts being used by a few players are driving perception.

Hype is a double-edged sword. It carries an inherently negative connotation and yet, if you haven’t generated some amount of hype, there’s a good chance nobody knows your name.

Project X basically doubling up Graphite Design and Fujikura is tough to wrap my head around. Perhaps some of it can be traced to its line of Handcrafted shafts which indisputably led some to believe Project X was doing something everyone other than TPT does (rolling shafts by hand) was somehow unique – even exotic. And yeah, we beat them up a bit over the T800 stock offering in the Callaway Epic driver.

That said, I’d also argue there’s a correlation between hype and exposure. In my opinion, Project X leverages social media better than any of its competitors in the shaft space and arguably does it better than may of the club companies.

I’d certainly like to understand why you selected the brand you did so feel free to use the comment section below to explain.

Again, this is about what you’d expect with the same brands popping up again and again. What I think is notable is Accra which even in single-digit numbers, has over-performed relative to its size across this survey. Accra isn’t as well known as most of the other brands included in this survey. That’s likely because you won’t find it in OEM lineups but it’s trusted by fitters and has built a small but loyal following among golfers in the know.

With None leading the way, it’s reasonable to say no shaft manufacturer has positioned itself as the undisputed leader in fitting. That’s reasonable, given that while most companies offer some sort of education platform for its fitters, ultimately the quality of the fit depends on the fitter more than it does the product. Every manufacturer on this list is capable of producing a shaft that will deliver performance for the golfer.

Do the results suggest an opportunity for a brand to step up and stake a claim as the leader in fitting technology?

We know there’s a huge void in shaft education so we wanted to better understand how you’d like us to fill it.

We’ve tackled a bit of the design piece and have some other things in the works in that area but it’s not even a little surprising to have you confirm that there’s a lot of interest in OEM versus aftermarket shafts. Frankly, it’s a particularly challenging area to cover because shaft companies aren’t’ particularly interested in going down this road.

Whatever the full truth of the matter is, there’s no comfortable answer.

Are the high-volume OEM-grade shafts made with lesser materials and to lower tolerances? Are they watered down to cut costs?

Is it possible that aftermarket shafts aren’t that much different than the made for OEM offerings? Are exotic materials and tales of unique and elaborate constructions being used to artificially increase margins?

The Takeaway

Reading through your answers the thing that stands out is how much opportunity remains for shaft brands to inform and educate golfers. Mythology, misinformation, and ultimately confusion remain part of the shaft experience from the consumer perspective, and for lack of a more elegant term, that blows.

The category is always going to occupy a niche corner of the golf world, but for brands willing to step up and claim a leadership role in providing golfers with real information, I believe there’s an opportunity to separate from the pack.

The post 2020 Graphite Shaft Survey – The Results appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

Scott says he won't return to PGA Tour until July

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Submitted May 21, 2020 at 10:37AM by scuba586 https://ift.tt/2TpxISf