If there is one thing about this job that I genuinely LOVE, it’s prototype testing. Whether off-site, at ECPC, at a player’s home track, or on TOUR, it never gets old. To be a fly on the wall as the best players in the world put the latest and greatest to the test is always profoundly exciting, and this week at TPC River Highlands was no exception.
Now, while I CANNOT give you any specific details on the irons in question, I can tell you that a good portion of our staff did test the product (in their exact spec), and the feedback thus far has been remarkable. These are authentic TOUR irons that were developed with and for the best players in the world. Not a stone was unturned in their development, and at some point, I’ll share pics of the first iteration I saw late last summer.
Why now?
This soft TOUR launch is a bit different than how we have done this in the past. In this case, our TOUR performance team and R&D knew they had something substantial to share. These irons are a 2+ year project with heavy feedback from our TOUR staff, and when something is this dialed, it just makes sense to get them on-site and into circulation. If we know something will perform and the testing has backed it up every step of the way, WHY WOULDNT WE? It’s a commentary on the dedication to performance our TOUR team has, and this process has proven successful in recent launches IE Paradym. We all know how that’s going:)
The main goal of this recon mission is to answer these questions
- Does it pass the eye test?
- Does it get through the turf properly?
- Is the launch data apples to apples with current gamers, and if there is a change, where and what is it?
- Overall feedback.
Our performance team focuses on listening more than anything, trying to pick out “feel” words specific to each player to find the nuance and the story that the data doesn’t always provide. It’s a fascinating exercise.
The goal is not to get sets in play immediately. If it happens, great. Regardless, this information-gathering exercise will continue into the fall.
List of staff that tested on site that I was present for (some players will test at home)
Erik Van Rooyen
Emiliano Grillo
Si Woo Kim (Will Put in play)
Adam Svensson
Robby Shelton
Kelly Kraft
Francesco Molinari
Carl Yuan
Harry Hall
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
More info will follow as I can share; they are MINT, and this isn’t all of them:)
Let’s call this chapter one of the story of these irons; a ton more is coming in the coming week/months, and I assure when the whole story takes full shape, you will all be chomping at the bit to get your hands on them.
Quick note, the weighting system should be familiar to previous irons; that system has been a remarkable benefit to TOUR reps and players, allowing for precise CG location and dialing in swing weight without needing weight in the hosel. This gives our Callaway TOUR team the tightest tolerances to work with in the industry.
LFG
JDub
