We’ve worked tirelessly to create this line of Woods that proves to the golf world that we can contend with the other options on the market- and we’re not about to get it wrong. Through rounds and rounds of iterations, taking feedback and revising, we’re confident we got it right. But we are acutely aware of what we’re up against - decades of performance and millions of marketing dollars from the brands golfers have grown to trust and love and the pros that use them.
Part of devaluing this ethos begins with concrete evidence that when compared to the trusted products on the market, our woods quite literally go the distance. In order to do this, we headed to San Diego, California to Golf Laboratories, where we met industry vet Gene Parente and his colleague, the golf robot. Since 1990, Gene and his computer-controlled robot have tested thousands of golf clubs from the world’s leading golf manufacturers. The results are independent, and unbiased and capture all swing and flight data with precision repeatability and consistency.
We began this experiment with the following clubs:
Drivers
3 Woods
Hybrids
Beginning with the Drivers, each club performed dozens of strikes on center, ¾ toe and ¾ heel. To capture and record the data, a Trackman and a GC Quad were utilized. Both launch monitors offer in-depth data analysis, but they perform in different ways - the TrackMan uses Doppler Radar technology to capture ball flights. It measures a host of ball and club data including club speed, ball flight, carry distance, launch angle, and many more. This gives you comprehensive detail on all your shots with a high level of accuracy. The GC Quad, on the other hand, uses Foresight Sports’ proprietary Quadroscopic Camera Technology. The imaging technique has a large ball capture area and delivers a high-quality image resulting in highly accurate data. In order to account for discrepancies in the data, we ensured the use of both launch monitors simultaneously. We then averaged the data from both monitors to provide us with the most accurate number.
Our goal, as intimidating as it was, was to create a lineup that performed comparably to other major OEMs. Taking feedback from our supporters (and skeptics), we knew that if we could closely match performance and beat on cost, we’d be able to turn some of our critics into customers. Fortunately for us, we’re in an advantageous position. Utilizing the knowledge from years of R&D by the most trusted and performant brands, access to the same factories, and ex-in-house engineers have enabled us to design and manufacture a lineup of woods that meet our lofty expectations.
The Driver Data:
Data collected for the 3 Woods and Hybrids are equally representative of performance, showing minimal differences between all three brands. Based on our findings from robot testing, we wanted to put our newly developed Woods and Hybrid through the paces with human testing. There, we received transformative feedback about how the clubs felt and sound, and of course how they performed.
The new product cadence that consumers have grown to expect from the major OEMs won’t include us. We’re not in the business of making incremental changes to existing products and touting them as ‘revolutionary’ or claiming to get you 10 extra yards. Our goal is to create products that not only look timeless, but withstand time, utilizing high quality, durable, and performant materials, tried and tested construction, and modern, minimalistic aesthetics.
We’re excited to have you try them.
]]>Golfers around the world aspire to play rounds on courses hosting tournaments with the greats and Instagram photos of themselves at holes they've seen on TV. The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, the 18th at Pebble Beach, the fear-inducing 10th at Riviera. Some accessible to the average folk such as Hawaii's Kapalua, others, like the Golden Bell at Augusta, where even the sale of your firstborn could not buy you the opportunity to navigate the challenging winds and ultimately bogey it.
We've rounded up the top 20 on our dream Golf Trip list. A few we've played, but most we'll spend our lives dreaming of playing.
My grandparents had a house on Shuswap Lake, which is about five hours northeast of Vancouver. That memorable July, our family-owned resort, Scotch Creek Cottages opened for business, so I spent Saturdays cleaning cabins. It was one day out of the 92 summer days when my Grandma asked, "Do you want to go play pitch & putt?" I said yes that day, and haven't stopped saying yes to golf since.
In April of '97, Tiger won his first Masters by 12 strokes. My mind gravitates to that moment when I'm asked when I fell in love with golf. In 2000 I received a used set of Ben Hogan Apex muscle back's and a $200 all-you-can-play membership to Shuswap Lake Estates. I recall getting dropped off in the mornings and 36 holes later getting picked up. This routine became a religion. Now, a fairweather golfer, then, wind nor rain could stop me from practicing my pursuit.
Fast forward to 2018, gone are the days of double rounds and gifted golf clubs. I needed a new set of wedges, but after searching, and feeling both baffled by the price, and uninspired by the selection, I thought the golf industry needs to do better. In the months that followed my revelation, I wrestled with my admiration of the sport and what it was. The companies and their historical influences, the players, the essence of the sport. The dichotomy of the past versus the present, and how I could make my mark.
The learning curve, not for the agnostic of golfers. It was and still is a 24/hr, 365-day commitment. The untangling of decades-old Marketing, re-fashioning it to its purest form, where a swoosh or an extra gleam doesn't influence the price or the play.
It would be too simple to say I started haywoodgolf because I wanted an inexpensive alternative for people when choosing their clubs. I could throw around sentiments like changing the world and leaving something behind, and while all these things ring true, the best way to articulate why haywoodgolf exists is that everyone has a story, so why shouldn’t this be mine?
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