I learned the game of golf on a pair of cut down clubs: a Mizuno pitching wedge and an Orlimar 3-wood, so both brands have always had a place in my heart.
Orlimar, a fairway metal giant back in the 1990s, has fallen off the map after head designer, and the driving force behind the company’s greatness, Jesse Ortiz left in 2003. Ortiz has long been one of the game’s most recognizable club designers, dating back to the days of permission woods. Though maybe not the best businessman, Ortiz had proven himself to be among the most innovative club designers in golf since joining Bobby Jones Golf a little less than a decade ago.
Ortiz and the higher-ups at Bobby Jones Golf have purposely limited the company’s scope to avoid stretching it thin, focusing on drivers, fairway woods, and hybrids. Bobby Jones, with input from Dave Pelz, also formerly sold wedges with a firm, wear-resistant face backed by a polymer membrane, but those are no longer being made. A short-lived lineup of irons has met the same fate.
If you’re going to review a Jesse Ortiz club though, it’s got to be a fairway metal. Let’s get into it.
Continue reading “Bobby Jones Blackbird By Jesse Ortiz Fairway Woods Review”
Ah, Fall golf. When watching the tour wrap up show will leave you wondering, “Who the heck is Ben Martin?” 
While some golf companies go the route of bombarding the customer with release after release, Titleist takes the opposite approach and sticks to a two year product cycle with woods and irons alternating years. While that means that there is often a product from a competitor with more current technology, it gives Titleist the opportunity to do its due diligence and figure out what technologies work, which don’t and then bring debut a lineup that will hold its own for a couple years. It wasn’t until the 910 line of clubs that Titleist added an adjustable hosel, which was quite a while after competitors such as TaylorMade and Callaway had done so; however, Titleist took the time to do it right and the hosel they created is regarded by many to be the best of the bunch; an opinion which is further supported by the fact that four years later the company is still using the same one and is no essentially being used by Callaway (just a minor tweak to their version).
Something has to change. Heck, if nothing changes the Ryder Cup might not even be worth watching anymore because the U.S. is not competitive. The U.S. has now lost eight of the last ten. That is a whooping of biblical proportions.