WYBob

I heard from an extremely reliable source w/i the golf industry 2 months ago that Nike was selling or licensing it's golf soft goods business to Dunlop Sports (Srixon/Cleveland/XXIO/etc.) starting in 2024. Allowing Tiger's contract to expire would seem to add credence to that given he was the face of the brand. Regarding several other comments in this string- Nike never made anything, it's a marketing company. It subcontracted for the production of all its products. The balls were designed by Rock Ishii and mostly made by Bridgestone for example. Ishii san was at Callaway last I heard. Golf clubs were designed by Tom Stites and the guys at the Oven in Fort Worth and farmed out to manufacturers in China (and Japan for the really good forgings). Most of those guys were former Ben Hogan employees and now several are behind Artisan Golf also in Fort Worth. Mike Forsey was the principle architect behind the TW brand of shoes and is now the co-founder of Payntr Golf. There are too many excellent options to mourn the demise of Nike Golf.

Dean Snell was one of the primary men behind the original Titleist Pro V1, and later worked at TaylorMade. At TaylorMade he developed many of their initial tour quality balls including the 5 piece Penta (precursor to the TP5). In 2015 he started Snell Golf where he designs his own Snell golf balls (MTB, MTBx) but outsourced the manufacturing to Nassau in S. Korea (now owned by TaylorMade). Last year he felt that he would be allowed to continue the manufacturing relationship with Nassau given his history with TaylorMade. He has an enhanced MTB/MTBx line of golf balls that will be officially announced within the next several weeks (early April). I guess we'll find out if he will be allowed to continue the manufacturing relationship with TaylorMade Nassau or if he had to find a new manufacturer. That said, one of the key difference between Snell Golf and other DTC companies is that he does all the ball engineering himself and has Snell employees in the ball plants overseeing the manufacturing and quality control. I have played bot the MTB and the MTBx and find them to be excellent and comparable to previous generations of Pro V1 and Pro V1x. We'll all learn more in the next several weeks. Hope that helps...

Several weeks ago I received an email from LA Golf announcing a new golf ball offering from the company. It was a pretty detailed marketing piece with design imagery and spec's. It also included a trial offer. I responded to the trial as instructed but the LA Golf website did not provide the trial application and there was no information about a new ball offering. I made a follow on inquiry to the company but have not heard back. It was not a spoof because the website provided was LA Golf's actual US website address. Does anyone have any information about a new ball offering from LA Golf, and/or receive a similar email? Curious minds want to know!

The "Plugged In Golf" has reviews on the PXG Gen 5 0311 Driver, the Gen 5 0311 XF Driver as well as the Gen 5 Fairway Woods and Hybrids. On a personal note, I purchased a Callaway Rogue ST Max LS earlier this year, and recently purchased a PXG Gen 5 0311 Driver when the price dropped to $299. Both drivers have a Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue shaft installed and both are 10.5*. Each one is longer than my previous driver, but the PXG is far more forgiving than the Rogue ST Max LS. I normally use Pro V1 balls but switched to the Pro V1X for the Rogue ST to get a better launch and trajectory. Testing both drivers side by side "on course" utilizing both balls, The PXG Gen 5 is marginally longer and noticeably more forgiving for me. The PXG Gen 5 0311 Driver is now my gamer and I am back to using the Pro V1. That said, I add the usual caveat- your milage may vary!