The digital media space has become a massive playing ground for all different kinds of golf content. Bryson is obviously leading the charge from the professional side of the game, while Grant Horvat,The Bryan Bros, Bob Does Sports, and Good Good continue to grow the game with an audience size that just seems to keep expanding.
YouTube golf is a real difference-maker in our sport at the moment, and with the PGA Tour continuing to grow its acceptance of the content atmosphere, it seems like it’s only going to grow in importance. GOLF’s own Josh Sens also recently did a great piece with ‘Fat Perez’ and his journey in the game.
What seems to be the latest trend, though? Gear content. Needless to say, I’m very excited. So let’s talk about some content I saw over the last few weeks that gear dorks NEED to watch.
I obviously work in golf equipment media, and we hope you watch everything from our Fully Equipped channel, but I also quite enjoy watching the content from some of my friends in the space and others that do a great job with their content and the different audiences that they serve.
Our friends at True Spec do a great job of breaking products down in the fitting bay, and I think 2nd Swing is probably doing the best job as an in-store retail environment goes, while Brian Knudson continues to hold down the legacy of tinkering and niche exploration for his Club Junkie audience.
We’ve unfortunately been missing Ian Fraser and his TXG platform for the last few years while he waits for his “metaphorical ankle bracelet” to be taken off by a former employer, but his team at TFG in Hong Kong has produced a couple of great videos as well. But could we possibly live in a world where the content gets more direct?
The OEMs themselves are starting to display their content chops recently. It’s not to say that they haven’t made great content over the years, but it’s usually infrequent, to put it nicely. Lately, it seems like the OEMs are considering the YouTube space as part of their strategy to connect with the audience rather than creating content solely to push product.
There’s nobody else that has better access to their athletes, unless the athlete starts their own channel, so it’s a massive opportunity for them to create content that they can control and can limit access to others getting. They’re sitting on their own personal gold mines of content.
TaylorMade has always arguably been the best at this. Maybe it’s because they have always had such an insanely stacked staff with the likes of Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Sergio Garcia and Jon Rahm as classic names, with the insane modern lineup that includes ScottieScheffler, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood (who has his own YouTube channel now), Collin Morikawa, Nelly Korda, Charley Hull and Brooke Henderson amongst plenty of others.
It’s certainly safe to say that TaylorMade has always led the way here, with Callaway’s amazing ambassador and pro staff coming in a very, very close second, but now we’re starting to see other brands take notice and want a piece of the action as well. Titleist and Cobra in particular have really stepped up their content game this season, and we’re going to kick the list off with Titleist’s Cameron Young WITB from the first playoff event of the year.
1.) Titleist’s Cameron Young WITB
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There are a couple of things in here that really stand out, and most of them revolve around Cam not really being a gear guy. He definitely pays more attention to the window his ball comes out of, the way it flies, and what control he has throughout the entire bag rather than focusing on what all the details of the gear are or what the numbers on a launch monitor might be.
The video starts off with a bang right away while he talks about his CPO (Custom Product Offering) Pro V1x Double Dot golf ball that has helped him secure multiple victories this season. He mentions that the golf ball gives him a better feeling of control throughout the entire bag, but there was one quote in there that really got to me.
“I hit down on it a lot and create a lot of spin, so having a ball that doesn’t climb quite as much has made a really big difference to me in distance control in particular,” he said
He did also mention that the Double Dot may have a lower spin floor than something like the regular Pro V1x does. When he’s talking about his new prototype GTS 3-Wood (which he switched out for a GTS3 4-wood this week in St. Louis), he talks about making sure that his secondary tee option can still provide enough spin to keep the big draw he wants to hit in the air.
There’s been a lot of talk about this new ball, and I think the public is eagerly awaiting its arrival. A Pro V1x platform that might have a little bit more speed and a little bit more of a penetrating flight could be really useful for the higher swing speed crowd.
The second detail from this video that got to me, outside of all Cam’s wonderful anecdotes, including his “it has no numbers on it” Diamana Black Prototype driver shaft, is his putter shaft. I have no idea what the shaft is.
I assume it’s one of those Scotty Cameron graphite prototypes that has been floating around for a bit, but what’s interesting to me and should be interesting to you is that it’s a straight graphite shaft that is installed on a slant neck. This is a question I get all the time in my DMs on Instagram. Yes, it is possible to install a graphite shaft on a slant or flow neck style hosel.
There are a couple of ways to do it, and Titleist, being Titleist, they sure made this one a clean build.
It appears that they used a segment of shaft to connect the spud of the hosel to the shaft itself. It’s a detail I’ve missed watching Cam bring home trophies this year, but thanks to this new content, we get a cool insight into the beautiful work that the tour guys do week in and week out.
2.) Tommy Fleetwood tests the new TaylorMade Hi-Toe 5 Forged Wedges
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Tommy Fleetwood has played a Hi-Toe wedge for a few years now. He’s one of the few guys on the PGA Tour who plays a wedge design like this.
“I always like the visual of a Hi-Toe, but I’d never really used one before,” Fleetwood said. “There’s certain aspects of how I envision the club going through the turf, different shots I could play with it, the versatility of it, the forgiveness of it, and once you get used to something and see success with it, you just stick with it.”
The one part of this video that really stuck out to me was when he was testing the Hi-Toe 5 out of the rough. In the video, Fleetwood states that the most important thing to him is making sure he retains control.
“You’re not hitting the golf ball,” he explained. “I’m not going to contact the golf ball in a shot like this… the club going through the rough as consistently as possible gives you a good feel of the pace of the shot you will get and any added spin that you can get out of the rough is like gold dust.”
He then puts on an absolute clinic in the rough, talking about different types of lies and how judging the speed on each one of them is really the key to performance out of the rough.
PREMIUM FORGED FEEL
Hi-Toe 5 wedges are fully forged from soft carbon steel and designed with precision geometry to deliver world-class feel and feedback out of all lies and conditions.
MAXIMUM SPIN FROM ANY LIE
Hi-Toe 5 wedges employ aggressive saw-milled grooves with ultra-tight tolerances. The result is a groove with steeper walls and razor-sharp radii that maximize spin from any lie.
CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE IN ALL CONDITIONS
Hi-Toe 5 wedges utilize a RAW face and Spin Tread Technology to channel away moisture and retain spin. The same way tire treads help keep your car connected to the road, laser-etched channels redirect water away from the face and create added friction at impact.
CONFIDENCE-INSPIRING DESIGN
Hi-Toe 5 wedges allow golfers to execute shots from any lie, with a larger overall profile, expanded toe area and full-face grooves. Plus, our highest CG wedge produces a low, penetrating flight with high spin for enhanced control.
ALL-TERRAIN VERSATILITY
Hi-Toe 5 wedges are offered in five different grind options to satisfy a wide range of playing conditions and swing types. As a family, the grinds offer golfers versatility, forgiveness, and consistent all-around performance.
What impressed me and my biggest takeaway was when he talked about using speed to judge different lies. He likes how the Hi-Toe 5 gets through cleanly, and he sets up to the ball the same regardless of the lie. He trusts the wedge to do its job getting through the rough, and he increases speed to battle the lie the worse it gets. The balls landed incredibly soft on the green, even ones he had to hack out from a bad lie.
Insane stuff even if it’s from a world-class player.
3.) Cobra’s chaotic club-building session with Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland
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A lot of people don’t know that Rickie is a bit of a club dork. He frequently works on his own clubs in the truck, so having him be “Gary’s Builder” in this video is great. He really does know what he’s doing and it’s entertaining to watch him get Woodland through the process.
There’s plenty to learn here in this video, but I’ll let you go and learn for yourself. I’m simply going to list my favorite out-of-context quotes from what will 100 percent be the funniest video you watch this week. It’s mostly Woodland being an absolutely lovable jester the entire video while Rickie genuinely tries to work.
Rickie: “Assistant”
Gary: “I’ve been told I’m not allowed to use power tools.”
Gary: “I took the wrapper off, so I’m definitely helping.”
Gary (chuckling): “Which one?” (in response to Rickie “starting with the tip”)
Gary: “Where did it go?”
Rickie: *mixes epoxy using the shaft itself*
Rickie: “Oh, your lights out.”
Rickie: *3 minutes of fart noises using the air gun*
Gary: “It wasn’t straight.”
Gary: “I’ve seen ’em do this before.”
Rickie: “We gotta close up the rear.”
Rickie: “That’s one way to do it.”
*Quick interruption here to make sure you watch what happens at 9:30. Probably watch it a couple of times.
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Gary: “You gotta do it. I’m done. What is wrong with this thing?”
Gary: “Yeah, that’s 190 ball speed, 325 (yards) down the middle right there.”
Gary: “Oh yeah, I did it all.”
Golf content can feel crowded, but it’s a giant benefit to the consumer
I’m no stranger to this market feeling crowded, but that’s our problem to solve as members of the golf media landscape. We’re all trying to figure out a way to reach you in a more engaging and entertaining way. That being said, that battle continues to influence the consumer’s love for golf, their purchasing decisions, and their opinion on different aspects of the game.
Just like the club companies coming out with more and more product, there’s nothing but positive things to say about more content being created, especially for us gear geeks. As long as you can determine the right voices for your game and can trust the content you’re viewing, it will only help to lower your scores out there.
For more from me and the Fully Equipped team, make sure to check out our YouTube channel. We’ve got some fall product launches coming up that you’re certainly not going to want to miss!
