You’d be forgiven for thinking people with access to the latest golf clubs would take up the offer of putting them in the bag.
Brands are constantly looking to deliver that extra bit of performance. Whether that be more forgiveness, increased ball and club head speed, or greater accuracy, the latest drivers, irons and wedges try to do exactly that.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean a professional is going to put them into play from the get-go.
In fact, according to Srixon and Cleveland Golf’s European Product Manager Joe Miller, tour players can be reluctant to make equipment changes – particularly during the season – preferring to continue with something with which they are familiar and comfortable.
“Oh, definitely yes,” he replied when asked, on the Your Golf Podcast, if players wait until the end of the season to alter their set-up.
“There’s some who wouldn’t even dream of replacing a club, even if it performed better. It even gets to a point with some of them that they wouldn’t even change a grip or a head cover, and I get that. If I was doing well and succeeding, I’m not sure I’d want to change.”
One tour player who is seemingly more receptive to change is Open Champion Ryan Fox. The New Zealander has been one of Srixon’s first staffers to put the new ZXi5+ iron in his bag as a utility option.
“He’s not afraid, as you can see, to put products in the bag mid season, which can be a challenge at times,” Miller added. “If someone’s having a successful season and they’re familiar with the products, they know it, they trust it, they know the distances. It’s not something they want to do.”
Tour schedules make equipment changes a challenge
For equipment manufacturers, getting players to put new clubs in the bag is only half of the challenge. It’s also relies on those golfers finding the time in a busy season to test them out.
“They don’t really want to break schedules to do testing,” said Miller. “I understand that if they’re three or four weeks on tour and they come home, product testing is not really top of the list. There’s families, there’s things they’ve got to do.
“We’ve seen some great success already on tour, and I think next year will probably be our best year with regards to players putting products into bag.”
This is in part what Srixon’s new range aims to offer. The ZXi+ line-up gives golfers the opportunity to assess several parts of their bag at the same time rather than testing individual clubs throughout the year.
“I’m definite in the fact that it’s been received better than any of our products previously, Miller said. “What’s great for our tour players is that it all (the whole product line) comes together.
“They really think to themselves, ‘I can enhance and improve the bag here and make major steps, not just with one club’. They can look at maybe changing three, four, five, six, ten, or even 13 clubs and can make some real gains and have it all done and dusted in one go, not having to do multiple testings through the year on different products.”
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