Off To Bridgestone!

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

 

Good Morning y'all! Boarding in Milwaukee shortly for the flight to Atlanta and then on to Bridgestone!

 

I'll be tweeting on the official MuGolfSpy account as well as my own, and will broadcast a portion of the event on Periscope. Follow me @golfspybarbajo.

 

Last call for questions - let me know what you'd like to know!

 

 

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[Dieselsdad]

John Like to know where the clubs are made and assembled. No Stickers on their clubs.

[oaks]

Find me a new J33R in the basement and I'll be happy

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Arrived!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[fozcycle]

Wanna know the logic behind the weird lofts for the JGR irons

 

 

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[hckymeyer]

Do they have plans to expand their top tier tour staff?

 

 

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[oaks]

Most importantly - Have Fun

[hckymeyer]

Also any guess around what time you will periscope?

 

 

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[Kenny B]

Wanna know the logic behind the weird lofts for the JGR irons

 

 

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Ditto

 

Enjoy the trip!!

[Kenny B]

Other than the 5i and wedge, why can't individual JGR hybrid irons be purchased?  

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Just finished the factory tour - incredibly impressive process. No pix allowed, but some tidbits --

 

Over 100 quality checkpoints from start to finish

 

EVERY SINGLE BALL is visually inspected before being sent to the boxing area

 

Unique injection molding process creates a seamless ball - others are seamed and are thermo-bonded.

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

John Like to know where the clubs are made and assembled. No Stickers on their clubs.

Clubs are made overseas but are assembled in Georgia - not at this facility tho.

 

 

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[Chris O.]

Did I miss the periscope? I need something to watch during class....

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

 

You won't see these anytime soon. Or ever - Japan only!

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Periscope co

Ing when we hit the test range

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Other than the 5i and wedge, why can't individual JGR hybrid irons be purchased?

Has to do with size and inventory Kenny. Can't stress enough how small their club business is - and they bring in only full sets for the most part - so it's inventory disaster for them to split sets up. They'd have a ton of useless inventory.

 

If they were bigger it would be different - but they're not, so that's the reality.

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Do they have plans to expand their top tier tour staff?

 

 

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Short answer is yes - they're always looking to add young up and comers to staff. Key is they're after "good guys and gals."

 

You'll see them

Focusing on getting pros to play heir balls more so than clubs - but that's not hard and fast.

 

And you won't see them getting into the bidding for Spieth when his Titleist deal is up.

 

 

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[oaks]

Are they looking to go more towards the "Players" Market or the Game Improvement market going forward or are they just planning on trying to be great at both?

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Wanna know the logic behind the weird lofts for the JGR irons

 

 

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Has to do with maintaining traditional flight characteristics - shaft

Length and head design, etc.

 

You can get a 6 iron to go longer by basically making it a 4-iron, but the ball flight, peak height and angle of descent won't be optimal. Essentially the lofts,

Combined with shaft length and design, keep a consistent ball flight - so a 6 iron flight looks like a 6-iron flight and the gaps would be consistent throughout the set, for the intended golfer

 

 

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[Dieselsdad]

Clubs are made overseas but are assembled in Georgia - not at this facility tho.

 

 

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Thanks!

[Dieselsdad]

Can you ask if the Yellow Tour Velvet Bridgestone Grip is available somewhere after mine wear?

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

It's periscope time!!

 

 

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[MmmmmmBuddy]

Can you ask if the Yellow Tour Velvet Bridgestone Grip is available somewhere after mine wear?

 

We have had these grips at our shop in the past.  HMU via PM for details.. Hate to threadjack.

[Aotearoa_Brad]

John, loved the periscope coverage. Looks like a beaut day there. The team looked very knowledgeable and able to answer all of the questions fired at them

 

 

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[Dieselsdad]

John, I saw the last one and it was outstanding! "Tankie"

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

I'll see if I can figure out how to post those videos here.

 

I was a pretty cool day. The factory tour was awesome - I'll have a full write up later - but was particularly impressed by the fact that they work very hard not to landfill any waste. The entire process is set to catch anything out of Alex before it goes to the next step in production.

 

The seamless injection molding was cool to watch too, and then see the affect it has on ball flight.

 

The JGR driver didn't work for me, but it did for MGoBlue100 - he was fit for a 10.5* with an X-stiff Graphite Design AD I6 shaft. He was bombing it!

 

For me we found the JGR could not outperform the Cally BBDBD I brought with me. The J715 might have, but the JGR didn't.

 

MGoBlue was fit into the B330Rx ball - the ball and driver combo cut spin from around 3800 to around 2500 - and he gained about 15 yards over his Big Bertha.

 

I was fit into the B330 - got my launch angle down to around 15* (I hit the ball way, way too high) - and picked up some distance with lower soon.

 

We hit the JGR Hybrid irons and say what you want about the look, those things are stupid, stupid, stupid easy to hit. I thought the Ping G was the most forgiving iron I had hit in a long time, but these things make the G look like a 1971 Forged blade with the sweet spot the size of a gnats hind-quarters. Guys - if you want forgiving, these things are as forgiving as a litter of puppies, with a nice forged feel.

 

For me the crazy surprise were the J15 wedges. Ermagawd!!! Great

Forged feel and versatile as hell - flop shots, spinners, full shots - absolutely loved them and I wound up ordering a set - unbelievable.

 

Will share more later tonite - and MGoBlue will have a lot of info as well.

 

 

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[Dieselsdad]

John, I watched all of the videos and they were FANTASTIC! I learned so much! As one of the earlier adopters of JGR Irons, I have going on about them. Are those things the "Bomb" or what?

[The Dansome]

Holy lobby culture shock having been to TaylorMade HQ. That looks like some mom & pop import business lobby where someone had some old chairs in storage and someone else grabbed an old side table from great aunt Mary's basement.

 

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Holy lobby culture shock having been to TaylorMade HQ. That looks like some mom & pop import business lobby where someone had some old chairs in storage and someone else grabbed an old side table from great aunt Mary's basement.

 

Yea, it's pretty modest. And it's a working factory - they crank out a ton of balls! They run the plant 24-7 making B series balls - the E series and other Bridgestone balls are made overseas

 

 

 

 

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[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Here's MGoBlue100's Driver and ball fitting video --- the JGR driver with the Graphite Design shaft wound up cutting over 1000 RPM spin off his driver shots vs. the Cally Big Bertha Alpha 815...

 

And when coupled with a proper ball fitting, the spin went down even further and he found another 15 yards worth distance with the right set up.  He had never gone through either a driver fitting or a ball fitting...

 

 

Watch on #Periscope: Untitled https://t.co/EArqaeobLO

— John Barba (@golfspybarbajo) March 17, 2016