Ed Travis Equipment blog

By ED TRAVIS Bryson DeChambeau’s performance with a driver during the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club was an

By ED TRAVIS Those of us who play golf for the fun of it sometimes wish we could use our

By ED TRAVIS Retailing has taken an unprecedented hit. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the Sporting Goods/Hobby/Musical category had

By ED TRAVIS In a move that surprised no one, the PGA of America and Reed Exhibitions have canceled the

By ED TRAVIS Long iron substitutes from Ben Hogan Golf, the UiHi Utility Irons and VKTR+ Hybrids, designed for combo

By ED TRAVIS The Garmin Approach Z82 rangefinder gives lasered distances to 450 yards and the display shows a two-dimensional

Wilson reenters the premium category with the Staff Model, a four-piece cast urethane cover ball. Fast Facts: Four-piece construction Cover

By ED TRAVIS One of the reasonable things to do while watching the dog destroy pillows on the couch (he’s

By ED TRAVIS ICON forged muscle back blade-style irons for better players by Ben Hogan Golf have progressive weighting with

By ED TRAVIS Dean Knuth and partner Steve Trattner started Knuth Golf with the simple idea of making high quality

By ED TRAVIS According to the recently released USGA and R&A Distance Insights Report (DIR) golfers (including you) hit the

By ED TRAVIS Acushnet Holdings Corp. (GOLF: NYSE) has two franchise brands, Titleist and FootJoy, that dominate in their respective

By ED TRAVIS Each January we attend the PGA Merchandise Show to find interesting and significant products among those being

By Ed Travis The golf industry kicks off the new year in Orlando with the PGA Merchandise Show, promoted as

By Ed Travis Bridgestone Golf has unveiled the 2020 TOUR B family of golf balls and promoting what they are

By Ed Travis Honma Golf is making a significant effort to capture a bigger portion of the golf equipment business

By Ed Travis Callaway Golf’s latest line of clubs is called Mavrik and clearly builds on the success of last

By Ed Travis Two new irons have been introduced by Tour Edge Golf, a game-improvement category model EXS 220 and

By Ed Travis TaylorMade Golf’s entry in the ‘metalwood wars’ for 2020 is the SIM model which seems to be

By ED TRAVIS XXIO is pushing to increase its share of the equipment market in the U.S. with an aggressive

  By Ed Travis Golf rangefinders using the ubiquitous GPS technology have become commonplace and almost every golfer in the

By Ed Travis Every player knows (or should know) the key to hitting scoring shots, the ones critical to posting

By Ed Travis For more than 30 years Tour Edge Golf has built clubs for recreational players with two important

By Ed Travis Most muscle back iron designs owe a debt at least in part to Mizuno Golf engineers who

By Ed Travis Cobra Golf has introduced a super game-improvement category iron called the T-RAIL that fulfills the needs of

By Ed Travis Miura Golf’s founder Katsuhiro Miura began forging irons in 1957 and since been responsible for some of

  By Ed Travis First offered in 2017 the P790s have been the best-selling iron model in TaylorMade Golf’s history

By Ed Travis The 2018-2019 PGA Tour season is over and it’s time for our annual compilation of which manufacturers

By Ed Travis Titleist recently introduced the 620 CB and MB irons basically “pro-only” models and for recreational players the

By Ed Travis The topic of slow play leapt into focus on social media when the number one and number

By Ed Travis Rain. Fog. Sunshine. Wind. Tucked pins. Fescue. Gorse. Rough. Humpy, bumpy, firm fairways. Texas wedges. Raised greens.

By Ed Travis The original Callaway Golf Epic irons released in the spring of 2017 had something of a “concept

By ED TRAVIS One of the basic truths about golf is even when a putt is hit online with the

By ED TRAVIS Titleist decided in order to be major factor in the driver business they would have to make

By Ed Travis Cobra likes to stress the sophistication and ingenuity of their club design process and can point to

By Ed Travis According to Joe Jung, one of the founders of New Ground Golf, the company was formed in

By Ed Travis The superlatives applied to Tiger Woods particularly after winning the Masters in April, his 15th major chasing

By Ed Travis Scotty Cameron is one of the most respected putter designers in the industry and when he comes

By Ed Travis Bridgestone Golf for the 2019 season has introduced a new line of wedges, the XM-1s, that can

By ED TRAVIS More than 95 percent of golfers will not only never play at the professional level but will

By ED TRAVIS The past year was a good one for golf equipment companies lead by the two largest Acushnet

By Ed Travis There’s always a risk when a company tries to improve on a popular product. However, Dean Snell

By Ed Travis Wilson made a statement about their view of the club business with the introduction of the Cortex

By Ed Travis You can pardon a clubmaker boasting a little when for 10 years they have made one of

By Ed Travis Rumors and hyperbole are as much a part of the annual PGA Merchandise Show as the lines

By Ed Travis After TaylorMade Golf made the announcement of a pair of drivers with a feature not seen since

By Ed Travis Callaway Golf’s announcement of the Epic Flash driver and fairway woods was accompanied by the introduction of

By Ed Travis Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) is the largest seller of golf clubs with a dominant position in drivers

By Ed Travis As TaylorMade Golf fights to regain the top spot in driver sales it’s sometimes overlooked that their

By ED TRAVIS PING had a lot of success with the G700 a game-improvement category iron model last year, so

Year of the Tiger Perhaps Ben Hogan’s come back to win six majors after a head-on collision with a bus

Perplexed what to buy for a golfer on your gift list? Here are a few suggestions of items we like

By Ed Travis In the view of some it took courage for Wilson Golf to subject themselves to another round

By Ed Travis Since Callaway Golf came out with the first Big Bertha irons back in the mid-90s the name

By Ed Travis Some observers forget there’s a danger in reading too much into the financial results of a company

By Ed Travis Played golf the other day with a good friend who brought along a gentleman I had never

By ED TRAVIS Designing golf clubs always involves compromises but the two attributes every manufacturer is looking to build into

By ED TRAVIS Titleist is the number one ball company and will remain in the top spot for the foreseeable

By Ed Travis The other day it occurred to me that like lots of others I didn’t know as much

By ED TRAVIS Justin Rose won the FedExCup bonus of $10 million on points though his three over par effort

By ED TRAVIS Tour Edge Golf is upping their ante in the driver market with the Exotics EXS model which

Ok, the real hype can begin now U.S. Ryder Cup team Captain Jim Furyk has made three selections leaving one

By ED TRAVIS Michael Breed on his Sirius XM PGA Tour radio show A New Breed of Golf has proposed

By ED TRAVIS Brooks Koepka beating Tiger Woods for the Wanamaker Trophy and the 100th PGA Championship gave us some

At this writing it’s still two months until the Ryder Cup will be played at Le Golf National outside Paris.

By ED TRAVIS Truth time. My favorite majors are the Masters and the British Open and that’s not saying anything

By ED TRAVIS It was interesting the revamped PGA Tour schedule for the 2018-2019 season received so little play by

We took the Titleist AVX to the course and had golfers try it, giving each two sleeves so they could

By ED TRAVIS The buildup to September’s Ryder Cup has begun and over the summer as it always does will

By ED TRAVIS The chance to play the latest drivers, irons and putters is a great part of writing about

Potentially forgotten in all the coverage given the introduction of the AVX, its latest premium golf ball, is the fact

By ED TRAVIS Ah, the rite of spring called the Masters. Each April for much of the nation it marks

  Publisher’s note: For a dissenting opinion to the below, from the superintendent at one of the great traditional courses

By Ed Travis One of the best ways to hit better shots is to play with clubs that help to

By ED TRAVIS One of the more interesting introductions at this year’s PGA Merchandise Show was a family of clubs

By ED TRAVIS Annually the golf industry gathers in Orlando for what some call the “Disney World for golf nuts,”

One of the pleasures that least in part compensates for having to tread the miles of aisles at each year’s

Callaway Golf had a banner season last year with the Epic club family, especially the driver, and hopes to do

By ED TRAVIS Tiger Woods comes back . . . again: A WD in Dubai in February. Another back surgery in

By ED TRAVIS Having a few days pass since Tiger Wood’s competitive comeback at the Hero World Challenge, a few

The golf world is all aflutter with the impending return of Tiger Woods and that’s a good thing. Heaven knows

By Ed Travis Observers are applauding the European Tour’s renaming the 2018 Austrian Open as the Shot Clock Masters. Putting

By ED TRAVIS “Whilst delighted for all the players, it’s quite sad to see The Old Course of St Andrews

By ED TRAVIS Without dusting off my crystal ball—it’s got a big crack in it anyway—I see two trends worth

A quick nine after work. Taking the kids for a few holes on a Sunday afternoon. A bucket of balls

Fifteen years ago I had a set of Steelhead X-14 irons from Callaway Golf. They were actually released in 2000

Golf clubs, and putters especially, get their names for lots of reasons—some having to do with their performance, some for

In the past there have been a number of times I have been critical of golf’s rules givers, the United

The Great Big Bertha Epic driver from Callaway Golf caused a flurry of comment on the Internet and in club

By ED TRAVIS Leupold makes great laser rangefinders and so the opportunity to test out two of their newest models,

An old friend was on the phone the other day talking about his golf game and asked if I knew

Right out of the box the new Ping i200 irons make a positive impression. They look great, like an iron

Tour Edge Golf doesn’t spend millions on television advertising campaigns nor do they dole out money for toursters to play

In 2013 Tom Olsavsky joined Cobra Puma Golf as Vice President of Research and Development after a long stint with

For a lot of reasons besides the thrill of watching him play this madding game we need a healthy Tiger

By ED TRAVIS The new book “Back On Course” has the subtitle “Drive Business Performance Through Golf” and it discusses

By ED TRAVIS After covering the PGA Merchandise Show for more than 20 years the variety of products still amazes

By ED TRAVIS Each year Jim Koppenhaver, President of the industry consulting firm Pellucid Corp., and Stuart Lindsay also from

There lots of gift guides for golfers but this year rather than the usual approach we thought it would be

At this writing we are just over two months to the opening of the 2017 PGA Merchandise Show – in

By ED TRAVIS The trials and tribulations of golf equipment manufacturers and retailers have been well reported with Dicks Sporting

Club makers use words like NEW, AMAZING, THE LATEST, etc. to promote their clubs and putters are no exception. When

Now that a few days have passed since the USA Ryder Cup victory a couple of points should be raised.

Tour Edge Golf rolled out the Exotics brand in 2008 with the express purpose of utilizing technologies and materials that

Some may think “Virginia Is For Lovers” is just another marketing slogan but at least in the case of Virginia’s

Olympic golf was a smash hit but will that success help to accomplish the goal of those who believe the

There are lots of reasons to pick a particular putter from “it looks good” to of course, “it works… at

By Ed Travis The golf equipment industry is evaluating the potential effects of Nike Golf announcing Aug. 3 it would

Two years ago the PGA of America realizing how much interest there had been in the long drive competition formerly

There have been few startup manufacturers whose clubs have received as much attention and praise as the High Heat driver

At one time or another most of us have played golf in a business situation often with customers or potential

After more than a century golf is again an Olympic sport and perhaps it would be a good idea to

Stand around the first tee on any given Saturday morning and several things are obvious. For the purposes of this

He doesn’t play any longer and perhaps his step has slowed some but Arnold Palmer is still The King and

Time flies and if you’re of the age to remember Cobra’s Baffler has been around since 1975. Granted the Baffler

Last weekend a buddy invited me to play golf at a nearby course we both enjoy. It’s not especially long

Sam Snead – Slammin’ Sammy – golfing legend, multiple major winner, Hall of Fame member and holder of the record

Every golfer knows the Pro V1 and Prov1x are flagships for the Titleist brand. Because of their performance they are

We put recycled 2016 model Titleist Pro V1x golf balls from LostGolfBalls.com head to head with those fresh from Acushnet

Customization in golf is all the rage. Drivers have ability to reposition weight and adjust the loft so ball launch

Slow play is killing the game. Golf takes too long and there’s no doubt the five-hour round is pushing people

Retiring last July after 16 years with TaylorMade Golf, his most recent position being Executive Vice President of Product Creation,

“Growing the Game.” A fine slogan and more players are needed to keep golf healthy as both a sport and

The reaction upon first seeing the DV8 golf clubs was, “Right… a set of clubs in a backpack.” But it’s

By Ed Travis The PGA of America is 100 this year and the recently completed 63rd PGA Merchandise Show in

One of the benefits of the annual PGA Merchandise Show is having the chance to find unique golf products, ones

By ED TRAVIS “The Major of the Golf Business” is not an exaggeration as it applies to the PGA Merchandise

The Golf Skate Caddy is a practical single rider golf cart that makes sense even for the less nimble and

Hybrids and fairway woods from Tour Edge Golf built their reputation as a first class manufacturer and though they make

By Ed Travis December is the time for media outlets to roll out their list of noteworthy events during the