Tour Only?!

[gaussman1]

I'm going to answer the original question as best I can. In my opinion the Tour Only designation is mostly about $$. The OEMs will make anything that a playing professional wants, but at the same time they will not make anything for the consumer that they don't think they can sell in mass numbers. So they'll show us stuff we can't have all the time.

You also have another $$ factor, and that is tolerance. Anything in the Tour Van is manufactured with a much tighter tolerance that what is available to consumers. Everything from weight sorting to CPMs to internal weight balance is much closer to spec than what we can get. Tour pro stuff is made to spec and consumer stuff is made to sell. That's why Cameron Circle T stuff costs so much- because SC allegedly built it himself. OEMs won't spend the extra time and effort to sort consumer goods so tightly.

I think that's the primary reason that fitting is both so important and such a waste of time for the consumer. If your order has to be custom built for you, then the chances that you are actually getting what you were fit for are a total crapshoot.

This has wandered a little off topic and I'm not going to get into the back and forth above. IMO Tour Only exists so that they can show you their absolute best and get you to purchase their everyday stock. Dollar dollar bills y'all

[null]

I'm going to answer the original question as best I can. In my opinion the Tour Only designation is mostly about $$. The OEMs will make anything that a playing professional wants, but at the same time they will not make anything for the consumer that they don't think they can sell in mass numbers. So they'll show us stuff we can't have all the time.

You also have another $$ factor, and that is tolerance. Anything in the Tour Van is manufactured with a much tighter tolerance that what is available to consumers. Everything from weight sorting to CPMs to internal weight balance is much closer to spec than what we can get. Tour pro stuff is made to spec and consumer stuff is made to sell. That's why Cameron Circle T stuff costs so much- because SC allegedly built it himself. OEMs won't spend the extra time and effort to sort consumer goods so tightly.

I think that's the primary reason that fitting is both so important and such a waste of time for the consumer. If your order has to be custom built for you, then the chances that you are actually getting what you were fit for are a total crapshoot.

This has wandered a little off topic and I'm not going to get into the back and forth above. IMO Tour Only exists so that they can show you their absolute best and get you to purchase their everyday stock. Dollar dollar bills y'all

I agree with much of what you say here. What I disagree with is the thought that there is a difference in manufacturing from most tour equipment. I think there Tour heads come off the same assembly line as our gear, it's just that before the heads make it on the Tour truck the exact specs are measured and recorded so the tour fitters and builders know exactly what they're looking for.

 

I don't think an amateur would be any better if he got his hands on a tour head vs a standard head. Heck, I doubt he'd even notice the difference. I doubt I would.

[RookieBlue7]

I agree with much of what you say here. What I disagree with is the thought that there is a difference in manufacturing from most tour equipment. I think there Tour heads come off the same assembly line as our gear, it's just that before the heads make it on the Tour truck the exact specs are measured and recorded so the tour fitters and builders know exactly what they're looking for.

 

I don't think an amateur would be any better if he got his hands on a tour head vs a standard head. Heck, I doubt he'd even notice the difference. I doubt I would.

For the most part, spec'd our heads are all there are these days. There's occasional exceptions (smaller driver heads or a fixed hosel model). The UDi I have came off the tour van and it's a little different than retail. Not much, mostly graphics and the markings on it. It's from when they were prototyping them. But mostly it's spec checked and marked for speed of building on the van.

[DiscipleofPenick]

I would love to get my hands on some tour models. I actually have a tour players proV around somewhere. I've always wondered if its a different ball than what I can buy. I guarantee there's a difference. Yea they're on a completely different level from us, but I have to imagine the tour only equipment helps them too. I'd at least like to see more mention of this during telecasts or something. "Wow, DJ really got a hold of that. Btw his driver costs 4 grand and has a special shaft you've never even heard of."

 

Driver: Titleist 915 D3 w/ Diamana X 70g B4 setting

Irons: TaylorMade R7 TP 4-PW S300 shafts 1* upright

Titleist Vokey Wedges 50-54-58

Cobra Fly-z 16.5 FW

Adams Pro Boxer hybrid 18*

6.5 index, RH, Cleveland, OH

[revkev]

I have a funny story about the golf balls - yes lots of pros use balls that we can't buy but chances are we would be shorter with them, not longer - generally they are for ball flight, greenside spin or feel preferences. Distance is not a factor.

 

So we had a guy in my league when I first started, he is a local legend whose handicap vacillates between plus 4 and 5. But this guy had never played golf outside of the Southeast.

 

He only played in our league because he had friends in it and nothing else to do on Tuesday afternoon.

 

When he turned 50 about twelve years ago or so he turned pro and was going to be a star on the Champions tour. Never made it through qualifying, but he did qualify for the Senior Open.

 

So off he goes to the Midwest and misses the cut. But when he gets back he's telling us all about how the balls that Titleist supplied were 20 yards longer than the ones we bought in the store.

 

I had just recently moved from the Midwest and watched my 250 go to 235 over night so I asked if he still had any of those balls. He did! I said let's go out on the course here and try them. We did.

 

Guess what? The ball goes farther in Wisconsin in the summer than it does in Florida. It wasn't the ball, it was the place! We both were hitting those so called souped up balls the same distances we usually would. He was his customary 30 yards longer than me.

 

Equipment is not the difference between the guys on tour and those of us who aren't. No magic bullet there.

 

Meantime because Dave turned pro he couldn't hustle guys at the local muni anymore - I wonder what ever happened to him.

 

 

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[gaussman1]

I agree with much of what you say here. What I disagree with is the thought that there is a difference in manufacturing from most tour equipment. I think there Tour heads come off the same assembly line as our gear, it's just that before the heads make it on the Tour truck the exact specs are measured and recorded so the tour fitters and builders know exactly what they're looking for.

 

I don't think an amateur would be any better if he got his hands on a tour head vs a standard head. Heck, I doubt he'd even notice the difference. I doubt I would.

That's kind of my point. Lofts, shaft, lie angles, we all know the consumer version is all over the map

[ole gray]

All I got to say is stick around Shankster!  You are a valued member IMO and keep on doing what you do.  Disagreements are going to happen in a forum environment however they should never be meant to run folks off.  Disagree and move on to the next topic. 

[JAGolfore]

I will say Shankster is great on here.

 

As for the tour only items I know a lot of them will not fit my game. Will some of them fit my game, yes probably. And man would I love to try them out and see what would but that's not gonna happen.

 

 

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[PMookie]

Pretty much everything we see in stores has a Tour Only model, from what my teacher has told me (he's had four guys on Tour). The driver heads look like ours, but they're actually quite different in some instances. Tolerances would be one way: in order to supply stores with drivers, and this can be found in numerous articles, there are accepted tolerances with differences in loft vs what drivers are stamped. They're mass produced, but a Tour Pro can't play an 11* driver, stamped 9*. Heck, my KZG is 8.3* of loft because my fitter called them and told them what I needed and they checked all of the lofts on what they had to send me what I needed. They found ONE in the 20 they had at HQ that day.

Anyway, point being, there is no way they can mass produce and supply stores with EXACTLY 9* lofted drivers that are stamped 9*. Goes back to $, as was said.

Wedge grinds, putter weighting, SHAFTS, shoes, grips, gloves, BALLS, they're ALL different for pros if they want them...

 

That's why I started the thread I did “Tour Pro for a week”. When you arrived day one, what Tour Only stuff would you go try and put in your bag? It's all FREE!!!!

 

 

 

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[djahubes]

This got a little crazy! If you want some of that tour only stuff there are a couple Facebook groups that trade and sell equipment. Be prepared to pay, but I'm sure someone on there can get what you are looking for. Lots of club pros, distributors, and reps.

 

I used to play a lynx 2 iron circa 1977 ish from my fathers old set. That's when I was an actual decent player. If you are looking for a challenge, forget the iblade and pick up an old 1 or 2 iron on eBay. Pull it out on the first tee and stripe it down the middle. Everyone watching will be in awe.

 

 

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[808nation]

Tour Only? Heck yeah, but would I or could I afford a putter or club 3, 4 times the cost probably not, costs more because some of it is different materials or tweaked. I have a Tour Only Titleist hat and I the only difference is the material, little better, but for me at the end of the day it shades me from the sun and keeps sweat out of my eyes.

 

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[RookieBlue7]

Thing about tour players clubs, they're not going to be over the ct limits(some retail are over). They are all tested for conformity (and marked). The heads are identical just spec checked and tested for conformity. There are very few that differ from retail in their make or design. The Nike Dymo 380, R11 DOT, Superfast 2.0 LCG, Superfast Long hosel are a few drivers I've owned that come to mind that we're truly different than retail.

[downlowkey]

Now that things have cooled off a bit in here, I'll chime in with my experience. I'm a bit of a tour van build hunter and can confidently state that you better be prepared to pay through the nose for the privilege and 9 times out of 10 you're purchasing used product. From there I'll break down the biggest difference in rack vs tour clubs by category without straying into shaft minutiae.

 

Driver/fairway/hybrid: Off the rack, almost all clubs in this category set up a couple degrees closed. Tour players don't have problems returning a square face at impact. Their club heads are subsequently set up somewhere between dead nuts square and a few degrees open. Translation: if your miss is on the push side, put a tour wood head in your hands and it's probably going to be a rough day.

 

Irons: Unless you are a player with a HOF career trajectory, OEMs don't forge club heads for specific players. Rather, clubs are given a finishing treatment to specifically benefit the end user. A lot of times grind and swing weight are the only player constants. Trying to get the swing weight dialed in post personal grind often results in what most amateurs would consider ugly clubs, either drilled out or covered in lead tape.

 

Wedges: Same as the irons with perhaps some additional finish options to reduce glare. In my opinion, the versatility that tour wedge grinds offer actually introduce unnecessary variables for the average amateur that doesn't devote 15 hours a week to short game practice.

 

Putters: This is the only category offering something akin to magic beans. The quality and variety of milled putter heads in the tour van inventory is pretty special. Loft, weight, toe hang, hosel and finish are all factors taken into account to suit the end users' preference for feel and appearance. But trying to match up a putter head built for a specific tour player with your own personal preference seems like an unnecessarily circuitous and expensive journey when numerous boutique shops can fit and produce the same thing on the first go round.

 

All that said, I'm super stoked with my current setup and 9 of my 14 gamers got their initial reps in the hands of PGA tour winners.

 

 

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