GolfSpy Barbajo

My guess is they're in the 130 to 150 million, but that's just a guess based on 2014 #'s of around 125 million. Tim Clarke did tell me they're seeing considerable success this year with the D7 and they've far exceeded what they expected to sell with the Staff Model blades. They've already outsold projections...

Hogan can customize your irons to your specs - swingweight, lie, length, etc. Their shaft options cover a pretty wide range - you would probably be able to see which of their offerings best fits you in a fitting. You can also try a couple of irons, bent to your specs, for two weeks for about $20. It's a little different, but if you're confident in the fitting, it's an option.

Wilson moved from an office complex near OHare to One Prudential Plaza right in downtown Chicago. Got to visit this afternoon to interview Tim Clarke for an upcoming blog piece. The new digs are first class and very new-age corporate. There are a ton of meeting rooms and very few private offices to promote interaction. And there’s a real “sports” vibe to the whole place that was lacking in their former long time office space. That last picture is typical of some of the artwork. It was made out of red golf tees. There was another one that said Game On that was made out of red and white painted whistles. Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Fun stuff! Hard to remember and narrow it down, but here's the first blush in no particular order... 1. Pebble Beach 2. Torrey Pines - South 3. Deacon's Lodge - MN 4. Tehama - CA 5. Harding Park 6. North Berwick 7. Carnoustie 8. St. Andrews - New Course 9. Red Tail - MA 10. Rhode Island CC Notes: Pasatiempo was hard to leave off, it's probably #11; North Berwick may be the most fun golf course I've ever played anywhere; played Carnoustie the week after last year's Open - stands were still up, it was cool; Tehama is Clint Eastwood's course in the mountains overlooking Monterrey - the nicest, coolest and best-conditioned course/club-house/lounge I've ever experienced; Pebble was everything you would have hoped for, including an up-and-down from the front bunker on 18 for a par (20 foot downhill-sidehill) in front of about 50 people; played and loved Wolf Creek, so it's probably #12 - others include TPC Vegas, Stow Acres (MA), PGA National, Orange County National, Lake Nona, The Wilds (MN), Troy Burne (WI), Erin Hills (WI), Sea Pines (SC), Westchester CC (NY). Kingsbarn, St. Andrews Jubilee, St. Andrews Old Course (fingers crossed!) are on tap in a couple of weeks, may be able to play Firestone later this year.

Blog post drops at 9 - some interesting insight from Scott White.

Not sure if this helps -- that's Adam Rehberg of Bridgestone. Video was shot by me in the Bridgestone Tour Van in January - he took the Tiger bin out of a closet - it was sitting next to bins for Kuchar and DeChambeau. I get healthy skepticism, but in this case, Tiger plays the OTR Tour B XS - only difference is the stamping and they're all #1's.

Looks like I lose the ranch! Thanks for chiming in - that head-shaft combo seemed to work well for me. Can't wait to give it a whack or two for real...

Never gamed them but have tried them on several occasions - really, really liked them. Forgiving but still compact and I really dug the black and blue look. Nike got those right. We had a Forum Review all set to go on these just when Nike pulled the plug on golf equipment....

Blog post is live... https://mygolfspy.com/first-look-ben-hogan-ptx-pro-irons/ Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

It wasn't easy keeping these under wraps. Saw them when I was in Texas last year. We have a blog post on these going live tomorrow. These are replacing the old PTx - which are about three years old. The differences appear to be very slight, with the aesthetics being the biggest upgrade. You'll be seeing more of this kid of stuff from Hogan as the weeks go by....

We wrote a blog post about that - spoke with both Hireko and Lynx about that specifically. Here's a link: https://mygolfspy.com/behind-the-curtain-just-who-is-designing-your-golf-clubs/ In a nutshell, the Lynx Prowler CB iron - NOT the VT Prowler - is the iron in question. Lynx asserted that it was an open mold/open model from their Chinese manufacturer and anyone could sell it. It was pretty much identical to the DynaCraft Prophet...which Hireko discontinued in 2017. Hireko says it was their own design and mold, and their factory asserts it did not make the Prowler iron for Lynx. As the article suggests, it's a fair bet to say that somehow that design hopped from one factory to another and maybe even another, and THAT factory considered it an open mold and sold it to Lynx. The more we learned about the nature of 2nd tier Chinese manufacturing (meaning factories not directly associated with a leading OEM), the ore plausible this scenario became. In the article, Steve Elford - Lynx CEO - says they chose not to spend the money to create their own mold for the Prowler CB forged, simply because they didn't want to spend the money to make their own unique mold for an iron they knew they weren't going to sell tons of. According to Lynx, the VT irons are their own patent, co-designed by their R&D director Kevin Woolgar and the R&D department of their Chinese manufacturer. It's a hollow-body iron, so there's nothing crazy unique about it, but it's a pretty good stick. As far as I can tell, Lynx features two unique products - the VT irons and the new VT driver with Switch Face. Lynx did dump the Prowler CB forged for 2019 and replaced it with a new iron - I have some pictures and will upload them later. You'll smile when you see them.... The new Black Cat irons - as pointed out earlier in this thread - bear a striking resemblance to the new Sub70 699 irons. I showed them to Jason Hilland of Sub70, and he pointed out that while they do look similar, they are not, in fact, the same. They may even have come from the same factory, but there are enough differences from what he could see in pictures to know. Jason told me - and I have no reason to doubt him - that he owns the mold for his specific irons, but they were co-designed with the factory, which is a very common practice for small brands that simply don't have their own R&D muscle. The small brand comes up with the general idea of what they want - be it a drawing or a set of performance characteristics - and then they work with the engineers at their Chinese supplier to come up with the design. In the case of the 699 irons, Jason says the internal technology - including the polymer filling and internal design - is owned by his factory and they can sell it to anyone - but the specific iron design and the specific mold for the 699 irons belongs to him. He adds there's nothing to stop the supplier - in fact, there's nothing wrong whatsoever with the supplier - providing that internal technology to anyone of its customers that may want it. In this case, yeah, the two irons look pretty similar but technically they are not, in fact, the same. The differences may be minor, but Jason was able to pick them out pretty quickly to the point where he was certain the irons did not come from his mold.

Finally got the change to play 18 today - bagged the VT Prowler irons for the first time (I think it may be the first time a new Lynx iron has ever actually hit the turf in New England, but that's just conjecture). Some impressions: - They definitely have a distinctive sound/feel that will take some getting used to - it's a metallic clink with anything other than a dead center strike. - Like any iron, the further on the toe you hit it, the more distance you lose. I've played irons that are more forgiving with that type of strike, but these are first-wife level forgiving on a toe hit - the ball goes nowhere. - Nail it, and these things fly - had a handful of the kind of swings that make you want to play more golf, and was more than pleased with the distance, flight and spin. - 4 and 5 irons are exceptionally easy to launch - the combination of the low CG due to the hollow body and the relatively light weight/stiff tip of the KBS Tour V led to some good results - better than hybrids (I think I hate hybrids - that is all) - Damn near holed a PW from 130 or so (this was after hitting one off the toe and into the drink!) - since it was on 18 and the last hole of the day, I left feeling happier than if the shot in the drink was the lasting memory. Verdict - I'll play them again. I enjoy the novelty of playing them and they're fine irons. Are they up there with the Srixon's I've been gaming? Don't think so, but for the price (if we can ever get them here) they're not a bad option and they look seriously badass. Playing again Sunday - thinking of taking the Wilson D7's out for a spin - put some KBS C-Tapers in them, so we'll see... And not for nothing, played the front 9 with the Tour Edge EXS driver and the back 9 with the Wilson Cortex. I liked both drivers, but I liked the Cortex a little more, but I think I like my old Mizuno JPX 900 better than both.

First round of the season booked - This Saturday morning at Red Tail. Cannot wait!! Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Hadn't heard that they weren't comforting - don't see why they wouldn't be.They may not have bothered to submit, but I'm just guessing...