It’s all quiet on the equipment front this week but I’ve got a few stories, opinions, and the like to hold you over (or at the least to provide a little distraction time at work).
This week’s Bag Drop takes a look at a new driver spotted, free stuff (with purchase), a major win for equipment manufacturers in the fight against counterfeiting, and a tale of “you just never know what will show up at the patent office.”
Titleist 909 Drivers
The folks at Titleist have created some buzz with the 909 series of drivers that first appeared during the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines a couple of weeks ago. Since then, a few “spy shots” have appeared on various sites as well as the Titleist Tour Blog that features some pictures of several of the new drivers in the hands of Titleist staff players.
Hopefully as these gain popularity among the Titleist staff players, we’ll see a few more up close and personal shots of these beauties. Look for these at your favorite golf shops sometime this fall.
Shaft Upgrade
Speaking of drivers, the folks at Tour Edge are offering a free premium shaft upgrade when you purchase an Exotics XCG or XLD driver (based on premium shafts in their VariableFit interchangeable fitting system).
If you haven’t looked at some of the rocket launchers made by Tour Edge, now is a great time to demo one and perhaps add one to your bag. Getting a premium shaft upgrade is like icing on the cake.
Club Counterfeiting
The counterfeiting trade coming out of China is a huge hit to major golf manufactures and up to this point, while having made some news on seizures of illegals clubs, not much has been done to discourage counterfeiting.
However that might be changing a bit as China is dropping a jail sentence on a 23-year old counterfeiter as it aims to help crack down on this illegal trade. Hopefully this partnership continues to keep counterfeit clubs off the market and to lessen your doubts that the club you are buying is the real deal.
Golf Patents
If you want to find out more on the patent and legal side of golf equipment (and the lawsuits that follow), then I highly recommend you visiting David Dawsey aka the IP Golf Guy. Not only do you get to see the patent applications of some pretty wild golf equipment (and some sneak peaks from the major OEM’s) but you also get some great analysis of some of the court cases going on within the equipment industry (when they’re not cranking out new equipment, they seem to spend the rest of their time suing one another).
Don’t worry about needing a law degree as David breaks down all the “lawyer-speak” so that even I can understand what is going on in the courtroom. A very entertaining must-read to find out some of the inner workings of the equipment industry and a site you must check out.
Final Thoughts
I’m happy to see that China is starting to get serious about cracking down on those who participate in the counterfeiting trade of golf equipment. Hopefully, this a trend that continues.
Finally, it looks like my patience is going to be tested yet again as I’ll have to wait until this fall to demo out the 909 series of drivers from Titleist. Hopefully, I’ll have plenty of golf season left to give them a try.