Tiger Woods LEAVES Nike! NEW clubs are in! Ai Smoke, TaylorMade Qi, Mizuno Pro and more! | Ep. 35

HAPPY NEW YEAR and a massive thank you to our first 1,000 subscribers! We are excited to be back in the studio and the year is already off to a fast start! With the news of Tiger Woods splitting with Nike (where he has been for the last 27 years) what will be his next clothing sponsor? It’s also the season of new clubs and our fitting bays are already being flooded with new gear. New shafts, drivers, fairway woods, and irons are here and we talk about which ones we are most excited for. We have already released two tech reviews for the Callaway Ai Smoke driver and the Mizuno Pro 2024 irons. Also, Wilson has revamped the Staff Model iron as they make a charge at the top competitors. Oh, and Ben Hogan irons are back… again!

#golf #podcast #tigerwoods

Content:
0:00 – Intro
1:04 – Tiger Leaves Nike
11:59 – Callaway Ai Smoke
20:08 – TaylorMade Qi
29:06 – Mizuno Pro Irons
33:28 – Cobra Darkspeed
36:28 – Ping G430 MAX 10K
38:16 – Wilson Staff Model Iron & Ball
40:37 – Ben Hogan Irons are back! (again)

I think if they do it more boutique style and get bque or Boutique man we’re in North Carolina you don’t have any room to talk so we’ll be interesting to see It’ll be interest okay okay don’t hurt yourself Cheez oh y’all can finish I’m you made it you made it what 10 minutes into the podcast before saying a word welcome back to episode 35 of log golf podcast happy new year thanks for uh getting us to 1 th000 subscribers it’s a a big start to this uh YouTube journey

And it’s only the beginning so did you guys have a good New Year quiet quiet for me too yeah little bit of golf here and there and then uh now it leads us into all this crappy weather the Dark Cloud comes over again this noow day it’s coming

Today but uh but yeah excited for 2024 for sure and what it brings yeah I already started off with the you know ginormous news you know coming from the tiger boat something out of left field here yeah so 27 years uh with his partner Nike and him parted ways

Yesterday so in memorium of this I wore the ugliest shirt Nikes ever made oh GE my God the Tiger Woods not wear Tiger Woods mock neck tiger stripe oh my gosh so where do we go from here I I can’t believe well did you buy that no okay

All right good yeah he did I mean he does to admit it I did not buy it from a store I got it on eBay I was going to say on a on a serious note even worse bought it second somebody else had to buy it first

Before you bought it no it’s smart they bought it for 90 I bought it for $1750 oh man can’t turn that down I guess Deal’s a deal on a serious note on that that shirt is part of the reason why Nike did not Reign or renew a contract

With Tiger Woods because ever since Nike golf started what what is the same report we hear every year Nike golf division they do what lose money lose money yeah you know so when you look at why why does why don’t they resign tiger well one his last contract was from 2013

It was a 10-e cont contract $200 million so does tiger bring much does tiger bring 200 million dollar again for another 10 years I they can’t because Nike golf has never been profitable in the soft goods even hard Goods included when tiger was playing Nike well I think you got also

Throw in how much are spending on their other athletes like Roy Michael Rory and Scotty sheffler for sure yep you know it all adds up it all adds up for sure and you got to wonder it’s it’s like okay now obviously like Kyle and I talked

About it there’s a lot of people that have either currently work at Nike or have worked at Nike and they were saying they’re really upset right now that they’re not leading the market in running shoes so they’re trying to get back to their Roots so it kind of sounds

Like they’re just kind of tightening the ship a little bit yeah but where do we think Tiger goes from here I say I and because we’ve even kind of mentioned but Nike golf in general is doing a lot of repositioning for sure you know so I

Don’t think it’s just on tiger side of this you know it’s all the dots are line lining up gonna happen yeah I know Kyle have a lot of information but I think Tiger goes to Grayson because Charlie just signed with Grayson and then you got Justin Thomas who’s a good friend who’s with

Grayson but I think that’s where Tiger goes but speculation I think if it’s already in a established company I I feel like that’s the only company that makes sense now the one reason why I would say fashion wise it doesn’t make sense tiger wears stuff like that not Grayson doesn’t make ugly apparel

Tiger’s Tiger’s wardrobe is terrible he is known for wearing some of the most awful outfits now his golf outfits are very simple but especially like when he arrives to the course stuff like that I don’t see Grayson black glasses I say I don’t the Nike Vapor sunglasses oh but I

Don’t see Grayson making a mock neck probably not but like to see Caleb wear some Nike Vapors nah um I was going to say I think this might be a um hot take or he or hear me out I think tiger is going to come out

With his own brand I like that maybe it starts as like a subsidary of someone like Grayson or something like that but I think it all really comes down to it’s about Charlie now so I think Tiger’s going to start trying to position ways

To where um he and well I would say him and Charlie and like his family can capitalize on Charlie’s Mark marketability um as he turns into a professional golfer like gets a little older turns into professional golfer like reaching 18 so I think they’re going to try to position themselves to

Where they can kind of own all of those endorsements does he own the tww logo does he have rights to that logo I think so yeah it’s under tgr umbrella I think yeah yeah because I know the tgr logo is like the three stripes essentially I

Mean the TW logo maybe be Nike prop that’s what I’m wondering so that’s where I’m thinking it’s like if he has the rights to that logo then I don’t see what’s stopping him from starting his own apparel brand I think he’s probably going to do it with Taylor

Maid I mean it kind of makes sense how Taylor Maid is no longer a partner with Adidas as or I should say as large of a partner because you notice in the past all Taylor Made golfers used to have to wear Adidas now they don’t you don’t see

That anymore they used to be under the same umbrella global own Taylor Maiden yeah you’re right so so I think I mean Taylor Maid and Callaway as a club comp as manufacturers are probably in the best position to actually start a soft well call actually hasis they own Travis

Matthew so Taylor Maid I’m I wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor Maid kind of spit something out there for him say it may be he gets ends up with part ownership of torade or like the Tade apparel brand whatever it is but I think I think you’re going to see Tiger have his own

Apparel brand yeah well look who Taylor mid’s partnered with the last two years it’s either been Grayson or G4 G4 Footwear and Grayson apparel well T mate also has a partnership or a partner deal with uh Peter M as well well who owns G4 Peter marar yeah yep Peter

Miller I just hope it doesn’t end up being one of those brands that we end up seeing in Costco you know you get you you think about like different Peril Brands like Greg Norman since is that okay no okay yeah that members Mark’s way better I there’s nothing wrong but with that

But we’d like to see it stay exclusive to the golf courses and retailers well and that’s a that’s a tough thing with apparel because Grayson’s Mark ability I would say they probably do majority of their Sales Online they only have a few actual distinct retail locations that

They own and they’re kind of doing it more boutique style yeah you know and that’s where you you kind of wonder if you’re starting a pale Appel brand do you just go with someone existing to where you they have the stores that you could just put it in or do you have to

Build the stores build the locations or do you just trust that online is going what’s going to drive your business it’s a it’s a it’s a tough tough world because the margins are so minimal I mean if Tiger Woods puts his logo on a shirt it’s not going to be like how Nike

Shirts in the past were were they’re $79.99 if you’re going to get a tiger wood shirt going forward wherever whever he goes it doesn’t matter which company you’re going to be spending H1 to $120 a shirt that’s just kind of where the market is right now on apparel that’s

How how much are Grayson polos 129 to 149 depending on the print that’s off a golf shirt you put a p the place I’ve ever seen the easiest way to think about it for the consumer and a FootJoy shirt the classic foot Joy shirt that everyone has worn used to be

$49.99 how much is a foot Joy shirt now they 99 they started 79 and then like then like a fancy piece that has you know which fancies I think have become more popular than standard stripes and solids prints prints they’re going to be they’re $90 that’s for a FootJoy shirt

Yeah I mean it’s just gotten insane one way I’ve always kind of gauged Golf Apparel and it’s just kind of like the Sho worldhouse flippers is all these guys that go into Marshalls and TJ Maxx right is you can find a lot of Peter marar stuff and Mar you got Dunning

Travis Matthews and pet P Mar all and TJ Maxx all the time mhm so aside from the logo at your country club if someone’s carrying a Peter marar shirt for $129 and then you run across down to TJ Maxx and buy it for $29.99 do you think Peter marar is

Making money on that no they probably wholesaled it out to just try to recoup what money they had in it well yeah those are those are shirts from two previous Seasons so yeah you’re exactly right I mean they already made their money on that well and a lot of what TJ

Maxx and those dealers do is when you do do an online return the return doesn’t actually go back to Grayson or FootJoy or whoever it goes to a wholesaler that distributes it out there yeah so and then you can snatch it up on eBay

Yep my wife when she was at TJ Maxx the other day saw G4 head covers what nice yep I know every now and then I went in there and I found a pair of G4 shoes for Sarah Grace oh wow yeah they didn’t fit but

I it’s it’s just hey I always love a good little F like that it’ll be interesting to See oh y’all can finish I’m done you made it you made it what 10 minutes into the podcast before saying a word try we try it again I’m not gonna try I’m not gonna say it um you I’m sure you you can finish what I was going to

Say I don’t know what you were going to say but uh you were going to say it’s interesting but what is it going to be interesting to see where he goes from there okay nice I helped you out I good luck ever getting tiger on as a guest after saying his

Wardrobe sucks he knows it come on I mean I’ve never seen a pair of pants have so many belt loops I mean I’d wear them for million the thing I remember I do a lot yeah you remember tiger shirts from like 97 98 and how big they were yes why why would

Anybody wear a shirt like look like a parachute Jason day Jason day said hold my beer did you see the stuff he was wearing this week he signed with mob and golf which is a very trendy yeah I guess EV FL yeah I mean it’s a very trendy West

Coast style golf brand um that have always done kind of limited runs with certain companies so Jason day’s out there wearing parachute pants pleated pants you know that say mobin on the leg um and you should see the price of those pants too yeah $225 ain’t cheap no

But he’s bringing all the the Tiger Woods uh US amateur look back yeah oh jeez I honestly think though that’s when tiger dressed the best with the straw hat with the straw hat I like the cotton polos that he used to wear the slightly little oversiz and then the Nike dad hat

That was the best look well I think that’s what’s exciting about this time of year it’s kind of like for us as golf nerds it’s like an NFL draft whether it’s players switching apparel companies switching Club manufacturers and then also too just all the new models coming

Out a lot of new stuff hitting the market right yeah I’m excited about this year so we’ve had uh you know we had some fun with the AI smoke uh you know we uh got to release a video a little bit early and somebody was upset get mad a little

Bit Infamous about it right somebody got a little upset that we posted it before their account could and I’m write a mean blog about you yeah so we ended up uh getting a a big thank you from Callaway for what we did and reposted it and now they’re everybody’s happy so um it’s

Been great so but we have had some good experiences with smoke already I know yesterday the fitting I had was with a 28 handicap which I like to use as an example more than a one handicap is because that’s who they’re selling their clubs to correct and I don’t think we

Found in the middle of face but one time and part of this whole smart face technology is it it they’re not losing that storyline of Paradigm but redesigning the face was that toe strike you know C’s marketing says it’s 12 you know 12 yards further off the toe now

Well the guy yesterday from the previous Paradigm yeah correct from Paradigm so already the successful head um he started we started the fitting at 140 yards total driving distance and he left at 201 um and his driver was not that old it was a 9917 so it was fairly new

Technology compared to some of these 20 30y old drivers we get so to pick up that much yardage without changing swing speed was pretty cool to see that’s pretty awesome they’re hard not to hard not to buy that driver View I was going to say and that’s and like

We say all the time that’s dry numbers yeah and so you’ve played a couple rounds with yours now right yeah um I’ve played a couple rounds well actually I’ve only played I’ve only played 18 holes with it um you didn’t play it at uh at the die Club in Myrtle Beach we

Didn’t have it yet that was that was they mine came in the day after H I thought you took it down there no no that’s why I was joking cuz when I was down there I hit my current Paradigm as good as I could hit oh that’s right yeah

I saying yeah I played 18 holes with it the easiest way I can say is I’m the the marketing is is being followed up by the performance um and I I can’t say anything more about the performance it’s just it’s so forgiving even the Triple Diamond Head I have a

Eight degree head now I mov down in Loft so I can kind of use the shaft a little more to get the ball in the air so I could keep that ball speed up you know so I was part of me was sinking 8° head everyone knows I already hit it low it’s

Like do I just am I going to kind of start hitting low knuckle balls again um but it’s anything but opposite of that case I don’t think I hit even one ball lower than I intended to no you hit you hit a good trajectory yeah um you hit it

Almost as high as what I was hitting I know it’s which that says um there was a few out there where I felt like I didn’t catch and I’m right there with Caleb where he smoked a few cuz his current driver setup is ridiculous UL but um I’m I’m obsessed

With the sound the sound is a thousand so I officially say something’s better than the Paradigm the sound yeah the sound of it is just way better when you get outside it’s no longer like that traditional Callaway thud where like you can’t tell if you hit it good or if you

Just feel like the ball’s going to fall out the sky it kind of actually sounds like like like a can I say it’s got like a crack to it you know yeah so if you’re if you’re acoustic guy you like the way it sounds how’s it feel um I think it

Feels better I think it feels better than uh the Paradigm it feels more similar to a titless driver to me off the face but I think the head shape the head shape provides confidence yeah cuz when I set it down the head looks like it’s 10 degrees open and I’m like hell

Yeah this is not going left this is not going left um there was a few where I kind of snuck the ball a little right um uh uh well actually I had to go back to trying to move the ball right because uh we all know this is the year of ball

Striking so and then I’ll tie it up because Chris Kirk kind of put some belief back in um we got to make draws great again slinging hooks again we got to make draws great again so I tried drawing the ball a few times may have

Snapped a few left was not good hey whoa whoa whoa I was it was a new shaft I haven’t felt the shaft I probably should have hit a few cuts at first since it’s the first time I was swinging that shaft um but uh um it’s always different when

You step from the rain to the I put the uh Vanquish 5x oh yeah um which in the video I’m I’m I’m like like I said in the video where I went with the 70 TX Denali that’s probably what I’ll end up doing I just feel like the overall swing

Weight was just way too light so like I really had to wait on it at the top and like slow down I mean my Tempo got really good I was say but to be honest uh from cuz we started on the back nine so from 17 18 and then a whole front

Nine I would have to say to me watching you hit the golf ball your Tempo with the driver may have been the best I’ve ever seen you yeah and I think and that yeah and I would say it definitely slowed me down in the areas that I need

To work on in my swing yeah cuz we all know what my trusty move is which is short pull the handle left and hit that bleeder cut yeah The Shard a fade the Chardon a fade and um if I if I slowed down at the top and like you were saying

Where my Tempo felt great I felt like I was high Decking at the top of my swing in order to hit that draw yeah um which if I want to draw the ball if I want to work ball both ways this year year of ball striking can’t say it enough um

Allegedly um putting doesn’t matter um wow um I I got to be able to feel that pause yeah and kind of go at it so we’ll give it another shot I mean I say to me and it’s just a couple this time of year

Is tough to figure it out too it it is you’re wearing you’re wearing the layers and I mean here at the coast it’s always windy oh it was 50 Dees but blowing 25 miles per hour off the inter Coastal so it’s like I said those last three holes

Were brutal 78 n at the die course into a 15 yeah a 15 20 mph wind I snap hooked one on 18 slung a six iron in there to 10 feet bam missed a putt missed a putt putting doesn’t matter I say to finish up on cuz that 10

Foot putt I really only had a 40 40% chance of making it why we know your chances were probably lower crap I uh finish up on the AI smoke to me a couple of the subtle changes that I think have really improved uh this generation of the of the Paradigm over

Last generation and if you were kind of hesitant on it I think you may like this one number one the color way M I think looks a lot more attractive with that kind of like graphite grayish kind of color but then also too that transition from the titanium face to to the carbon

Fiber Crown they kind of reshaped that a little bit no no more hurly logo yeah it’s got It’s a little straighter looks a little more Square to even slightly open to the player’s eye so if you kind of worken too crazy about a blue driver

Or the look of the golf club at a at a dress the the new one looks really good even the max D head looks really good yeah um I had that in a couple fittings yesterday where they were thinking Max um and then that Max dhead it does not

Have a lot of offset now the max fast is going to be that driver which is the bonded huzzle um but a lot of a lot of a lot of our fittings we’ve already seen with it have preferred actually if they need that slightly bit of draw byas the

Max dhead instead of the adjustable weight now the adjustable weight on the new driver they added another 12 yards on top of what they previous previously had of dispersion depending on which way you take that weight right um so it’s and that I would say kind of leads into when we talk about

Forgiveness forgiveness is the route we’re going across the board um I think today is the Embargo on the tailor made right yeah Qi yeah so we can we can talk about a little bit what what the QI is going towards well I think with the smoke too if people are

Kind of confused on what you had to go to we’ve got a great review that me and you had put out last week so it’s a lot um I I kind of wish companies would just pick like three heads I mean Titus technically only has three no Tech four

They four because of TS ts1 ts1 yeah well ts4 fits no one but yeah tsr4 is unless you want to punish yourself yeah don’t get me start everyone wants to hit that driver but they can’t 12200 spin let’s go um sign me up um but we we saw

This week I I think it’s a great validation for Taylor Maid colore col had the new driver in the bag this and it was his best driving week he’s had in a long time yeah quest for 10,000 mois kind of the that’s what the name stands

For that’s what the name kind of stands for so I think everybody’s kind of in that realm right now trying to get to the highest Moi driver which is going to be the most forgiveness to listeners that’s really just what it means are they I say are we going to be able to

Improve on ball speed currently where we’re at today compared to the last two years I I think the companies are ing more towards forgiveness now yeah cuz the center hits yeah they’re kind of maxing out no one none of our customers hit the center of the face very often I

I rarely well I’d say most of them don’t hit the center face often I purposely hit it off of Center toe I mean Knuckles yeah goes far and typically it doesn’t go left yeah yeah what are you excited about with the qi1 um I think one the construction of

It they complet they had to go back to drawing board I you know big tailor made guy been with the company for a long time big supporter but we had some issues with the frame holding up at the higher ball speeds you know we see Club head speeds 100 plus

And we were starting to get some pop outs of the face and with the carbon fiber face and I think they’ve reconstructed and put some weight behind the face it’s kind of holding that in better and I think it sounds better it definitely feels better than like last

Year I felt like uh last year’s driver felt a little firm or hard to me I say it was a little bit harsh I would say yeah yeah it didn’t have a lot of what I would call feedback the center strike was fantastic yeah I don’t hit it in the

Center The Off Center the offc center hit though on the stealth too look at the pot calling a kettle black right I will say my biggest thing with Taylor Made drivers probably in both stealths um so essentially the last three years my biggest thing is I wouldn’t be able

To hit them because of how they set up they’ve knocked it out of the park with the look of this new one the new one looks 10 times better I like that little gray sleeve uh they put right above the face that way you’re not seeing where

The face connects with the crown I think it’s called like the infinity crown or Infinity face or something like that yeah um and ultimately look provides confidence so um but I think that because they just went back it’s not they’re not calling their tour head the

Or the low spin head the plus it’s LS now yeah so we’ll be interest interesting to see what happens in the fitting Bay with it I think it’s kind of we’re going to have to make a blooper reel of every time Nikki has tried to say interesting miles put that on your

Agenda yeah no go ahead write that down I think what’s GNA be can you just BL like beep just just I think what’ll be pivotal though because we’re going to talk about it with another company um you know we we’re all on social media and read a lot

Of golf is this is kind of tailor made’s opportunity to win the trust back yeah so they have to make a Big Splash in with the M series it’s arguably the best series of Driver best families of driver that’s ever came out from any golf brand

Ever I mean M1 M2 second gen M1 M2 M4 M6 I mean there’s still people playing M2 M5 was probably the anomaly yeah ex unless you were BR cuz the M4 was so good I liked the M5 yeah well and we transition into the carbon wood stage

Like H hi knuckle balls um there you go and stealth one was near as bad as stealth 2 was in terms of quality control but sometimes in golf too I mean we’ve seen it with All Brands is when you try to push boundaries sometimes

They flop yeah I I mean Nike had a big flop call had a big flop with the uh the ERC so they were the first ones to actually do a carbon driver so I mean sometimes you have these flops but the downside in modern golf is what’s

Everybody got now a cell phone or access to social media social media so it takes one bad well they’re trying to get the customer to go right to their link to purchase the driver yeah they’re trying to make it as easy as possible to not technically get fit I was just going to

Say is like realistically how much time did they have to R&D you know the construction with the the whole carbon face how long do the tailor made said they’ve been developing this driver the 10 the 10K or it’s been process for years I think they said like 5 years or

Something like they knew this driver was coming out in 2024 I mean at some point I so much testing and then you have to get it approved by the RNA part of me thinks Callaway I was going to say Callaway just used their computer and was like

Hey we can make it what I was going to say to my point with that is when they’re testing the new drivers I’m sure they’re looking at maximum performance and everything so they’re probably using a tour kind of quality golf ball but what most of our amers that are the

Consumers playing what are they using budget ball and on the driving range what are they hitting rocks a pinnacle range ball right and it’s probably been stored outside it’s cold it’s a it’s a literal Frozen rock that I mean I think some of that be beating balls of range balls are kind of

Cracking some of those also this time of year if you’re in the Southeast and we’re having these cold wet mornings please make sure to if you’re going to warm up with drivers put some golf balls in a towel and let those balls warm up a little bit make sure they’re dry before

You hit it a a wet cold range ball will crack your driver yeah you know I can’t say that enough I mean that’s the first thing I kind of noticed at landfall the other day like I picked up a ball the ball was a rock I was like nope not

Hitting that not cracking this new head yeah yeah and that’s a like a one step down from a Prov was oh yeah they NXT tours tour speed tour speed sorry actually no I think the to soft yeah same thing as a tireless ball midrange ball you’ve been playing tailor made drivers

For how long now uh I’ve been with the company for 16 years okay and then you 300 series you kind of like the stealth it’s probably the best You’ hit driver yeah and then you kind of bounce back and forth between your old and new the

Past year I have I I think the original stealth for me was the best when it coming out I I really struggled with the the new one this year uh just knuckling and just consistencies from shot to shot and you know for me I I don’t like to

Brag about my game but driver is one of the best parts of my game and and putting yeah know you’re a good driver at the golf ball you know but I struggle with iron iron play mid iron you’re ball striking D we can fix that I know ball

Striking here but yeah um I’m excited to to kind of have a driver that I have confidence in again so I just got to find the right shaft it’s time for me to change shafts this year and I would say that kind of leads into 50 g xlex Taylor

Made Stealth Iron was their best game improvement iron they’ve ever made the stealth iron has been really good it’s the longest I’ve ever seen Taylor Made keep a club in the lineup I was going to say honestly reason why almost three years it’s done as well as it has is

Because they haven’t refreshed it before it was ready to come out of the line you know um but they do have a new Iron coming out to replace that and it’s the new qi1 Iron which I think Taylor Made is they’re they’re putting a lot of

Money into not just the driver I think they really focused on just the driver and the stealth too now you can see even the new Fairway Woods you’re going to see a lot of players that aren’t tailor made put that new qi1 Fairway Wood it’s really good

It’s really forgiving it’s easy get the air well to me TM M’s always made a good Fairway Wood anyway yeah yeah so it’s I’d be in it would it would be say it you can do it oh my God I would like to see how the how the qi1

Iron has performed with the stealth which we still have the stealth heads so we’re I think when we do our Tech talk we should definitely include the Stealth Iron to the newer one because hopefully it got a little better yeah and then yesterday’s embargo muna’s first pro

Line two years so refreshment with 245 243 241 so not to make it sound boring but mauno iron just they’re Muno Pro Series it’s good I mean that’s why they have a kind of a cult following yeah we just put up a video yesterday of Kyle

Doing the tech talk me hitting them for the first time some initial reactions um the coolest thing was last night Luke Donald is playing the new I said 245 is probably going to you’re going to be surprised how many players go into that iron Luke Donald first first tour pro to

Officially put them in the bag because he says they’re way too easy not to have in the bag yeah when it seems like they they fixed some of the previous generation you could get like knuckle Bots with it and it seems like the St relief and well they didn’t have a grind

On the 225 right um and that’s where the sole on the 225 was kind of weird and I think that’s why you saw a lot of knuckle balls because that that club wasn’t able to get into the turf yeah so you’re hitting everything kind of low on

The face which all these modern irons the CG’s so high that’s it’s just going to kind of knuckle on you um yeah they were able to achieve that and kind of fix the hot spot issue with a variable tungsten weight so it’s free floating inside of the chassis of that hollow

Body construction um the I would say the jury still out on the on the 241 blade for me I think it’s this the grind like I would have to get on the grinding wheel if I played those irons I just think that toe side’s a little too

Squared off but uh that that that two that 241 has a CT following so well the Muno blade has always had a c following I’m sorry this year lefties you don’t get to play the 243 you notice that yeah 245 and 241 yeah lefties the only that cuz last year

It was uh lefties couldn’t get the the 225s or two years ago I should say previous generation yeah but lefties this year they can get that new 245 and 241 yeah I just I think mizuno’s consistency and Innovation and what I also like is that they don’t come out

With a new product every year and they don’t have to I mean the quality they’ve done a few they’ve done quite a few things to kind of refresh the the MP lineup I mean now they’re doing in the what is it the 243 they’re doing the crali crali and the

Two 23 S and again car their their biggest selling point on their carali is is forgiveness off of offc Center strikes faster ball speed faster ball speed it’s a harder medal um b ball speed does matter in irons I mean there’s no reason to give up ball speed

Um because now with all with modern shafts we can control launch and spin with shaft more than we can the head or just about just about the same amount so if you wanted to get into that slightly forgiving iron and I know it’s very easy to be scared

Of that jumpiness factor there’s ways now to counteract it because these heads are so specifically designed yeah I mean Luke Donald been his four degrees week yeah to eliminate that the variability but the reason why he switched was because of ball speed yep I think and

What what was the number one thing Luke Donald said which he was the number one player in the world for a long time sorry Caleb you’re good what was he the best at iron play yeah moving the ball and wedges he’s always been a credible wedge player is from T to Green there’s

Very few players that can work a golf ball like that so you have a former world number one saying that he can work these irons I will say the number one thing that kind of is like a little bit of a it grinds my gears a little bit of

Pet peeve is when I hand somebody a 790 or a 225 and they’re like this isn’t a workable iron I’m like I was like I can sling a Stealth Iron I can hook it with anything I I can also fade it with anything so it’s like that’s just a

Product of kind of yourself a little bit um path and face yeah it’s just path and face just math just math just math at that point I so what I was going to say is with Luke Nell bending his two four FS four degrees week I think that’s

Probably just more of getting him into the same Loft he used to he said he said Windows he said because he just he already hits it low well that’s what I was going to say by bending that Loft weaker he’s probably that head’s already spinning better than what the previous

Generation was but getting him into the same spin Windows is what he was used to seeing with his blade style IR if you go buy him off the shelf you can’t do that you get fit for them we can bend them however you want yeah well then Cobra

Had their refreshment and honestly uh with what testing I’ve seen it’s called Dark speed so they’ve got the three different driver heads and the iron looks awesome I mean it’s not quite a a black finish but it’s also not gray it’s kind of an in between it’s like a copper

It’s dark speed yeah exactly right um cuz honestly and you know just like we’ve done with everybody we’re not afraid to tell the truth last year’s driver was kind of a flop yeah I mean unless you found that Niche person who wanted a firm face that didn’t spin yeah

Um and what’s impressed me most I’ve actually had four ladies fittings where that iron out of every iron we’ve tested was about 8 to n miles hour ball speed faster and traditionally speaking when you get into the ladies Market every iron not to make it sound so boring but

It’s kind of engineered the same way yeah where this one there’s no body with plastic on the back yeah so there’s actually some tech in this iron so a lot of your slower swing speed players at least with fitting I’ve done with it over the last two weeks uh cuz we can

Actually start ordering them today um it’s been really impressive to see the slower swing speed player this year already pick up a lot more ball speed because it’s like what we hit on earlier the faster clip head speed players we’re going to be gearing them for more forgiveness like the the game

Improvement segment they’ve focused on forgiveness for 11 years and they’ve sacrificed ball speed because of and now we’re kind of seeing the flip-flop where the pro irons are getting more forgiving because they’ve maximized the thresh and now game improvement they’re getting more speed without sacrificing forgiveness so it’s kind of a

Interesting time in engineering yeah I mean it’s with and that’s where I think the max head uh with the dark speed especially in the woods as well as the irons um if you need help moving keeping that ball from working away from you U moving right or

Moving left if you’re a lefty um it’s hard to beat that draw byas Cobra head cuz Cobra always has that slight little bit of offset even though they don’t have their actual offset driver actually they do have air new air air ax speed or2 yeah um which is their offset driver

But even their current models that are the more forgiving models they do have a little bit of offset and a lot of weight they use a lot of adjustable weights to kind of help also eliminate that cut spin um one cool little Easter egg is

What you know in a video game like a hidden features called a Easter egg um so it’s obviously they have three heads so confusion right they color coded them yeah so the red which is the most forgiving head red is high launch yeah the blue head is mid launch the

Blackhead the Tor head is low launch yeah and then the shafts that they’re offering this year hazardous red high launch the link Q blue mid launch and then the Ard black hazardous black and Link Q white low launch so they kind of colored kind follow the Sha color so

It’s kind of a I mean I thought that was pretty cool on them yeah yeah so I mean it’s who who else are we missing oh well 10K 10K ping ping has their new driver coming out so 10K embargo I believe is th Thursday is when we can start fitting

It it’s the nth I think’s the date so today actually so we can start fitting 10K cu the g400 Max uh that was kind of a special head I mean Louis was still playing it up until this year cuz he cracked his last one it’s rare to get a

Low spin driver that had over 9,000 mli and with that 10K head it’s you know I think it’s like 10,761 or something crazy so it’s like a LST and a max out a baby yeah I mean again like you said it just a little bit

Ago um this Max head if you’re have a little bit of Club head speed but still wants a little bit of forgiveness um it’s a easy transition to get away from the LST yeah and it’s still got that titanium chassis with the carbon CR and

Then to follow so the fuel the spin is going to be there in the s a nice Crunch and then they’ve got blueprint s and blueprint T which our fitting cart shipped yesterday so you know that blueprint s is already taken the Tour by storm everybody played those

S55 even un you know uncontracted players that iron’s 11 years old well I say the S the S even starting with the s59 it’s been um a popular iron for Ping for for years how many major championships is that that iron w i mean mat Patrick I

Mean I mean Bubba I mean you look at ball Strikers They’re all playing that specific iron so is it interesting that they play it no um hey falo this weekend playing those new irons yeah uh blueprint S’s and blueprint T combo set if anybody can hit the ball like him um

It’d be pretty special so uh it’s definitely a great year to get into to some new irons and probably the biggest surprise this year iron wise and I you can see they’re making a big comeback is Wilson Wilson yeah we got some new irons coming out from them and also a new fitting

Technology which may or may not make our job easier yet to be determined yet to be determined um yes so they’re going back to the Retro Wilson log they’re kind of revamping it this new CEO and VP essentially said uh and they’re not afraid to admit it that they ran their

Own company in America kind of a little bit into the ground by trying to get in every big box store with these starter sets and that’s what Walmart will do to you so they get you about three years ago you saw kind of the big switch it’s like well crap in Europe we’re

Dominating but in America we we we can’t even capture asell yeah um so brought in some new staff clear cleaned house with the uh you know old staff got rid of a lot of Tor pros and Son kiz and a few of these other kind of younger guys making

A comeback but the new iron it looks like a old school Wilson so like the the little bit of decoration right below the feral like uh yeah um they went they redid the logo so they took the Ws off the logo went back to the old school retro

Logo so it looks good it’s a really clean lineup and price point wise they’re coming in about $400 uh under where we are at with most other blades on the market so yeah cuz most blades now um they’re they’re going to be anywhere from 180 to 220 a club um

That’s just kind of where we’re at Market wise with R&D and materials being put into clubs Me performance and fieldwise they’re good yeah man they’re golf ball I think that’s been our biggest surprise is you know we won’t disclose what balls we’ve tested it against but one ball is$ 54.99 retail

The other one’s coming out I think 46 and it’s 9 miles hour faster I honestly the difference the Wilson Staff ball is actually really good how many yards for every mile per hour 2.7 I believe you’re a ball striking right yeah ball striking that’ll be a new

Edition in the shop too um I think we’re going to be the only shop uh in the greater you know strand area right now like around Wilmington down to that’ll actually have the staff Tour golf ball so you don’t have to order them online

So kind of a cool lineup to add into the shop more of a specialty item and uh speaking of comebacks so the fourth time I guess in 12 years uh Ben Hogan got bought out again it’s kind of like Forest comp went the White House again um so golf uh Incorporated golf Brands

Incorporated out of Nevada purchased Ben Hogan MH and what they really did they purchased to me this is still a little bit of like shout out play you they they Bally reopened the they returned on the lights yeah yeah um so they had all the old inventory from the last generation

And they were good clubs like and what we talked about this morning they still look good um it’ll be interesting to see if they try to follow the same models because the last um exactly cu the last two companies that bought Ben Hogan tried to do Direct consumer and they

Both failed so I’ll be curious to see if golf cuz golf brands also bought Ram in the last year McGregor and zebra Potters they’re just collecting all of those retro Brands under one umbrella well I know we we talked about Alys a lot the last couple podcasts with director

Consumer Brands we got of got a lot of little bit of flak from people that are big supporters of uh DTC but it’s interesting every single brand that is directed consumer you’re starting to see them trickle in certain places you can get fit y you can get fit for sub7 at

Some places sub7 is one of the biggest and most profitable director consumer Brands wow why do you think that is because people can actually touch feel and hit it um I don’t see how in today’s world a DTC brand can make it if you can’t have somewhere

To test your Club well I mean now if you technically have somewhere to test and fit your Club you can’t also consider yourself a DTC so it’s like how much do you want to commit to that name cuz I feel like you’re undervaluing your business by throwing that into your

Actual mission statement I should say well I mean a Ben Hogan’s one of the largest names period I mean when you think of a forged iron you think of Ben Hogan first it’s probably the number one old like like past iron that comes into the fitting base that are finally

Getting updated because it’s like I love these for so long they’re traditional apexes I was to say how many how many apexes we still have you know people playing when and when I see a guy that has those those irons in his hand and has for this long longest time I’m like

This guy loves to hit irons and he’s just looking to find something modern that feels like it so when you think of the traditional classic muscle back iron you think Ben Hogan and you think Wilson Staff yep um to me I wouldn’t really call because Hogan has been bought and

Sold so many times the Hogan golf company I should say I don’t know I would call this back yet until we see them release some new designs I agree I I think they lost the chance to say back because they are not the Hogan that came

Out with apexes it’s kind of like Tom Brady retiring twice well I’m just saying they’re not the Hogan that created it’s not the same company that created the apexes which like the current Apex that we talk about in our Bays that come in all the time yeah it’s

Not the same R&D team it’s no so like that’s my that’s my thing and that’s one of those things where it’s like labeling right yeah I mean it’s it’s a brand I mean there’s a reason why when you go to Bel you see Ben Hogan apparel that Ben

Hogan apparel is actually just a wholesaler out of you know somewhere it’s just and that’s just kind of the tough thing for me for them like coming back I would say for me this iteration of the Ben Hogan golf company I wouldn’t consider them back yet until they come

Out with new designs because this is still their New Old Stock this is the golf these are the golf clubs that they were still selling when they closed the last time so I would want to see them come out with some new designs one thing going be curious honestly I kind of if

They are going to be around I’m looking forward to seeing them come out with some new designs because I’ve always liked the Hogan iron since I want to see what that next going to be ex I want to see something new cuz they’ve always been good they’ve always been affordable

Too so it’ll be interesting to see if they follow suit with direct a consumer considering it’s failed twice in a row I think if they do it more boutique style and get b or Boutique man we’re in North Carolina you don’t have any room to talk

It’s very inter thing uh now if they find specialty shops like us that actually care about numbers performance and fitting to actually carry their product I think that’ll kind of set the president for where they can go well and if you think about this current iteration of the Hogan golf company when

They came out they they reopened again I think it was 2015 yeah cuz they had to Fort Worth 15 iron um they were direct to Consumer but their whole idea was that we’re going to give you unlimited amount of options because they had that iron offered in every Loft possible

Remember they didn’t even St stamp the the club numbers on the bottom of the club they stamped The Loft on it yep and that was kind of the first thing that made them like hard to sell is because I don’t know what my 26 iron is you know

Kind of thing but that was where they they started with being very Boutique and offering all of those options so I’d like I’m Hogan always looks good yeah so good job yeah very uh interesting topics today and uh you know we’ll continue to pump out tech reviews over the next few

Weeks as we get the new product in hand because you know we’re still a month early on most of these release dates yeah I mean it’s going to be a big January February yeah exciting time in the golf world um in order to see those videos it helps if you subscribe and

Turn on push Bell notifications because as soon as we post you get that little Ting and it pops up so I’d also like to but in here and say special thank you to miles for all the work you do on the podcast and uh the creative genius

Behind it and uh these guys here that you guys continue to watch they’re they’re phenomenal Great Golf professionals uh provide lots of feedback and uh just thank you for everybody for subscribing to the page so we just reached a milestone a thousand subscribers so thanks for that yeah yeah

We really appreciate it for everyone yeah so turn on push Bell notifications get us 2,000 now big goals big time now miles spch yeah no but we we really appre appreciate it and uh tune in next week for episode 36 and we’ll catch you on the next One