One of the things I was most excited to partake in when I accepted the Callaway gig was launching a new product on Tour. What’s not to be excited about? I mean you get to watch the eyes of the best payers in the world when the legend Roger Cleveland hands them his newest invention.
The wedge category is an emotional one, more than most other clubs. The look, feel, and most importantly the launch has to be dead nuts on or it’s getting tossed….quickly. That’s why you’ll see players stay with a certain shape and grind for years. Believe it or not technology in the wedge category had evolved in the past 10 years. We now understand CG placement, groove technology, and even the role of the shaft better than ever. However, in many cases we can offer a player a better performing wedge than what they have…but that still doesn’t matter. Remember. It’s an emotional category. Hard to battle with an emotional connection.
This was all going thru my head when I stepped onto the range with Mr. Cleveland at the Detroit Golf Club to begin seeding out the Jaws Full Toe.
On day one we met with Chase Seiffert (who as you’ll see in the video was test subject #1), Alex Noren, Dylan Frittelli, and Si Woo Kim. The reaction was VERY positive, to say the least. Seiffert, Noren, and Si Woo put them in play either that week or shortly after and Dylan who I figured would do the test simply for the ceremony found himself puzzled as to whether he was now a Full Toe guy. To be fair to the situation, the first 3 players will try anything new with quite a bit of enthusiasm, it’s just their DNA to give it a go but Dylan is one of those emotional category guys. The fact that he sat by the chipping green for 45 minutes just hitting shots and thinking spoke to what Callaway did here. He’s not a big in-season switcher but ill be surprised if the 60 isn’t in play after the holidays. Just my hunch.
The most fascinating thing I witnessed was when Phil who has his own version (the PM grind) found himself just admiring what Callaway did. You could see his eyes tracing the lines and every once in while opening the face and skipping the back area off the turf. He was listening to the grind and its harmony with the turf. It had that sound you want, and you could see that Phil knew it as well. That was cool. I’m such a fanboy LOL.
Enjoy the photo gallery!!
Keep in mind we were launching a niche club in the wedge category so it didn’t have the splash and weight that a driver or new iron might get but DAMN was it fun to watch Roger work. When a player liked 85% of the new wedge, Roger would go in the truck and grind it to make that 15% go away. Roger is a “service first” person and even after all these years the respect he gets walking up and down a PGA Tour range is something to behold.
Will every player put them in play? NO. But did our staff acknowledge that what Roger was showing them was something more than just some new wedge? Hell Yes.
The Jaws Full Toe is real y’all
LFG
JDub
