CRAZY times at Colonial following just days after Xander Schauffele won his first Major Championship at Valhalla. The X-Man was not in the field, but #teamcallaway has plenty of firepower in the field with the likes of Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia, Nicolai Hojgaard, Thomas Detry, and defending champion Emiliano Grillo.
On-site for the Tour Performance crew was Tour Manager Joe Toulon, performance reps Kellen Watson and Dean Teykl, Tour Techs Gerrit Pon, Travis Murphy, Anthony Taranto, and Oddyseys Cody Hale.
A few notes before we get into it…
YES, we have some prototype wedges that are being tested. All I’m going to tell you is they are a completely new direction for us and the TOUR feedback has been incredible.
However we did announce the Ai-Smoke TD MAX will come available for purchase on May 28th!!!
Quick notes on TD Max
-Its a 460CC Smashed down version of the Ai-Smoke TD
-It has a higher MOI IE its more forgiving
-It has a neutral CG IE start line
-It’s easier to turn over
-It spins a hair more
-It’s ideal for players that love the TD platform but want a hair more forgivness and a straighter start line.
-It should launch a bit higher apples to apples
-In my testing the ball speed is apples to apples
They will sell out…QUICKLY
X-Forged JPN integration
We have two new sets of these in play this week. To be clear this was a Japan offering that was seeded out on the US LPGA and DP World Tour originally and slowly in the US. They will not be offered in any menaingful way in the US. Sorry guys, just how it is. I can’t even get them lol.
This week it was KH Lee (PGA Championship) and Chris Kirk who had them in play. Thus far we have had 4 sets (Rasmus, Kirk, Lee and Kraft *XF Star) go in play with Nico Hojgaard now testing as well.
Kirk and Nico Hojgaard have PX LZ 6.5 and KH Lee with DG Mid X100 115
Nico Hojgaard puts a new Ai-Smoke Max Tour 3 HL in the bag
Although he had some history (although short) with his Ai-Smoke TD T HL, Nico hated the toe miss he was getting with it which is common for that head shape. The goal was to maintain EVERYTHING but add a touch of spin and forgivness. The Ai-Smoke Max Bonded Tour head has caught some steam recently due to its head stability, ball speed but most importantly spin robustness. Expect to see a similar idea next year. The full face scoring lines is a cool touch as well.
The new stick was built to the exact spec as his TD T and the results were immediate. 174MPH, 3800RPM Spin, 274yds Carry AND he can draw it with ease.
Spec: Ai-Smoke Max HL 16.5@15.7 (59 lie, D3.5) w/ MCA Tensei White 1k 70TX (Tipped 1.75, 42.5)
Akshay potentially bounces 3-wood for a heater UW (In progress)
Truth be told the 3-wood is BY FAR the most finicky piece we deal with on TOUR. For one it has to be a versatile club (off the floor and the tee) and has to be efficient curving the ball both ways. With as shallow (and fast) as some of these players are getting, it becomes even harder to get perfect.
In Akshays case he ahs been playing 3-wood whack-a-mole since i’ve met him years ago. Most of them have a miss that floats to far left and are almost impossible to turn over.
On Tuesday Kellen Watson had an idea, if Shay hits his OG UW 19 almost perfectly ALL the time, why dont we just make a cannon UW and see if that solves the problem. It did. BUT there is still work to do.
Here is what might be at some point soon the new fairway metal…
Spec: Apex UW 17@16 (58.5 lie, D3.5) w/ Fuji Ventus Black 8X (Tipped 1.5, 42.5EOG) Current Numbers: Ball Speed 163MPH, 3600RPM, 265yds Carry
*Optimal is high 160’s ball speed at 270 Carry. They are close.
Misc. cool pics from Colonial…
The Chefs new putter:)
Spec: Ai-Milled 6T with Crank Joint and Ai-One face (35 EOG, 3 loft, 70 lie, 549G)
Min is also looking to add some spin to his irons so the shaft testing is begining…Nippon NSPro3 TOUR 125X this go around.
I’ll keep you posted if this is a thing.
Fresh sets of Raw TCBs and XF JPN
Hogan
Max V TD V TD Max
Rain delays…
