Jonathan Wall / Golf
Welcome to Wall-to-Wall Gear, the wrap-up of GOLF’s Gear Editor’s Monday morning gear Jonathan Wall It takes you through the latest trends, rumors and new breakoutss.
double-edged sword
Equipment success on the PGA Tour can be a double-edged sword. In one vein, Keegan Bradley’s Sunday win at the Travelers’ Championship set him back-to-back victories for the Odyssey Versa Jailbird. This is the good news. The not-so-great news is that the Jailbird was initially released a decade ago when the Versa’s black-and-white alignment system exploded onto the scene.
In “equipment years,” a decade can sometimes feel like a century, depending on technological developments. Thankfully, with a lot of help from world-renowned fetch coach Phil Kenyon, the Versa made its return to the gear space earlier this year—but the shape of the Jailbird head just didn’t work out.
While Bradley maintained proper head shape on the tour, the popularity of the seven and twelve hammer made Jailbird a casualty in the lineup.
It’s common practice for equipment reps to keep the old product on board for some pro, but with limited space on the truck to house the cargo, there’s usually a point where even old racket models—like the Jailbird—get on the hook.
It almost happened in January when Joe Toulon, Callaway’s PGA Tour manager and former Odyssey representative, was sifting through the racket drawers on the truck and happened upon the head of a single Versa Jailbird.
“The trip through the truck was more to figure out what we needed and didn’t need to start the year [at the American Express]Toulon told GOLF.com. “I remember finding Jailbeard’s head and thinking to myself, Oh man, this has never been this popular off the head, especially lately. But with Versa back, I just decided to leave her in the van.”
One week later in La Quinta, California, Toulon received a text from Ricky Fowler with a request for an Odyssey Versa Jailbird built to match Ricky Romano’s stick—down to its 17-inch SuperStroke grip and A sheet of lead tape On the sole that helped her achieve a distinct feel.
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Fowler soon found his session on the greens and requests began coming in from other pros for a “Rickie Fowler bat”. One such build request came from Windham Clark, who had rolled with Fowler’s Jailbird just months before he bested his friend with nearly the same racket build at the US Open.
If Fowler’s success got things moving for the Jailbeard’s resurgence, Clark’s first big win broke the dam.
It was just fate [Fowler’s putter request] “It just happens randomly like that,” Toulon said. “Orders have been coming in since then at an incredible pace. If you add up all the orders we got for this racket, it would be at least 100.”
To put the number into perspective, Toulon asked Barry Leda, Johnny Thompson and Steve Matta, three of Callaway’s longest-running tour reps, to recall the last time the company received many orders to build a particular putter. The general consensus was Rocco Mediate’s White Hot XG Sabertooth in Odyssey after a stunning showdown with Tiger Woods during the 2008 US Open.
The difference is that the Mediate bat was part of Odyssey’s current lineup at the time – and the Jailbird certainly isn’t. Which brings us to the conundrum Odyssey is currently dealing with after Bradley’s win in Connecticut: supply and demand.
“The difficult thing is that we don’t have heads now,” Toulon said. “There are a few examples where we’ve been able to highlight the benefits of our Versa technology and get a player in a different head shape. But for players who want exactly Copy of racket, it was a sham. I think there’s only one left on the truck after Travelers.”
In addition to the head, the Microhinge attachment found in the Jailbird used by Fowler and Clark is not as common as the Jailbird with the famous White Hot Odyssey accessory. In other words, the racquet everyone wants is a certified unicorn.
To meet demand, Toulon confirmed that Odyssey is actively working with its suppliers to build more Versa Jailbirds, but when you’re dealing with players who need something right now, creativity is key.
“Right now, we’re trying to redirect them to something different from the Versa line or some other balanced option. It’s a rip-off and run. When players see something that works, they’ll ask questions about why it works — and ask for it.”
While the putter’s putter design has been hot on the tour, it’s also having a moment in the secondary market as a Jailbird putter recently sold for over $3K with the same 17-inch SuperStroke grip that plays into producing well-balanced players. gravitate toward.
The good news for weekend golfers is that Odyssey has an answer to the scarcity of Jailbird clubs. A tweet from their social media account Pre-orders confirmed They’re coming this week — a sign that Toulon and her crew may not have to deal with supply headaches for much longer than necessary.
When you own the hottest club in golf it is important to give people what they want.
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