Speaker 1: Hi, mister Jonathan Steinman, and I grew up in Marine County,
where Fred lives. Currently, I spend most of my time
between Bridgeton and Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and I'm a member
of Lake Cheeser Country Club in Level, Maine. A Donald
Rossporus celebrated gets one hundred and second year. This is
Golf Smarter episode number one thousand and four.
Speaker 2: A lot of people haven't experienced, Hey, let's try a
little lighter, let's try a little heavier, let's try a
little longer, let's try a little shorter, and they're surprised
sometimes to go it's interesting. I actually like a lighter
swingweight and a shorter iron feels more consistent and I
don't lose any speed. So more than anything, sitting so
important because you can just try different things and tinker
and get to understand all the things that can be
changed in the equipment and what they're doing. Whether it's
so look the wildcast out like we said, it makes
golf easier.
Speaker 3: Unlocking the secrets of PXG's new Wildcats set for beginners
with Kayleb Crowloff is Golf Smarter sharing stories, tips and
insights from great golf minds. To help you lower your
score and raise your golf IQ.
Speaker 2: Here's your host, Fred Green.
Speaker 4: Welcome to the Golf Smarter podcast. Caleb, Hello, Fred, You
doing well today?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well. How are you?
Speaker 4: I'm fine? Thank you.
Speaker 3: Wanting to talk about this? So I have recently in
the audience is well aware of this. I've recently become
a PXG fan playing the full set, and well not
the full set. I'm still waiting on wedges and I'm
curious about the wedges. I haven't gotten there yet, but.
Speaker 4: We can do that.
Speaker 3: But now, PXG what we're going to talk about today
is introducing a new set for a whole different breed
of golfer, which I find absolutely fascinating and want to
talk about that. It's the wild Cat Set. Can you
explain what the Wildcat PXG or the PXG Wildcat Set is?
Speaker 2: Absolutely so. The Wildcat Set is a set of PXG
clubs designed more for entry level beginner players or players
with more geared towards slower swing speeds. So the whole
idea behind the Wildcat Set is to make golf fun,
make it easy. Golfs plenty hard as it is, but
we want, we want players, especially those who struggle more
because it's you know, whether they're just don't hit it
quite as far or quite as high, or new to
the game in the proper setup. Traditionally, those players don't
don't get fit, don't get the right set up for them.
So we want to do everything we can to make
golf enjoyable and make it fun.
Speaker 4: Do you need to be fit for this set?
Speaker 2: No, you don't need to be fit. We recommend alwayskind
of going through it at least a phone call. We're
able to you know, get through to our fitters on
our team that work well over the phone, are able
to walk through even if it's someone who doesn't know
a lot about golf, is new to the game, and
say you're this tall, you know, you're around this age range,
and make a pretty good recommendation. So you don't need
to go in and get fit. You can, and I
always highly recommend it. We design golf clubs to be
fit around here. It's it's you know, to the player's
benefit always. But if you if you aren't able to
make it in or for some reason you know, aren't
comfortable doing that, we're able to help over the phone
quite a bit. Or you can go through online and
order as well.
Speaker 3: In my many conversations with listeners throughout the years, a
lot of people are.
Speaker 4: Like, yeah, I'm kind of new to the game.
Speaker 3: And I just don't feel like I'm ready to get
fit because my swing isn't there yet. And I have
to remind them that. But you're no matter how good
you get, your swing may never be what you wanted
to be, right, So they're resistant to get fit. And
we've advocated for years to get fit for clubs because
it's just going to make you better immediately.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah, that's one of those things. You know, I
hear it all the time. I get a lot of
people talking to me at social gatherings who you know,
who go, oh, like, you have an interesting job work
in the golf industry, and then they'll say, yeah, I
don't need to get fit, I'm not that good, or
I don't play enough. And you know, every tour player
gets fit. And the thing is the tour players they
could pick up a box set and go shoot sixty
five on any given day. They can adjust to it.
You know, I have played my whole life and nowhere
near that level. But even you know, as a single
digit it's harder for me to adjust to equipment when
it's not fit right for me. And it's if it's
you know, too long or the wrongly angle or the
wrong fluck shafts, wrong weight, it's just making it harder.
Like there's no reason not to get fit.
Speaker 4: Right right.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and usually fittings, Well, let me ask you this way,
is there a cost to be fit for this set? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yes, So the way our fitting system works are generally
are there's a cost to get fit, but it'll get
applied towards purchases, so oh great. So yeah, I mean
if you're if you're gonna buy a set, I think
it's absolutely the way to do it.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. There.
Speaker 3: The set itself is unique in the sense that, again
you're looking at new golfers, golfers that are struggling buying
youth clubs. What about the senior golfer that is just
and you hear it all the time. I'm just not
hitting it as far as I used to.
Speaker 4: I just can't.
Speaker 3: You know, I can't carry the bag anymore. It's getting
too heavy. You know, there's a lot of senior golfers
who still love to play, have been playing, have had
you know, at various levels of their game, but now
the swing speed, the body is just not holding up.
Is this the kind of set that would work for
senior golfers as well?
Speaker 2: Certainly for some I used. My dad is a good example.
He's played golf my whole life. He you know, got
more into it when my brothers and I started playing.
But you know, he he used to hit it really far,
and he's gotten up there in age and has slowed
down and had to go to lighter shafts. You know,
graph fight with lighter flexes and he needs more loft
and you know, a lot of even game improvement irons
these days are geared towards distance, and you know, for
players who struggle to hit it higher, this is a
great option. So it's not necessarily just I'm a new
entrant to the game or I had don't play very much.
But you know, if it's the right fit for you,
it's the right fit. And you know, it just mainly
for players who struggle to hit it high, and a
lot of the times that is slower swingers at the
golf club.
Speaker 3: Why do I think that I'm older and your dad do?
Speaker 2: Do?
Speaker 4: Has he played this set?
Speaker 2: Has your dad yet? But we'll see. Is a birthday
coming up?
Speaker 4: So have you talked to him about it? Is he
open time a little bit?
Speaker 2: We talk. He likes to talk shop every once in
a while, and he knows talking about golf clubs is
my favorite subject. So certainly whenever he has a question,
comes to me and we talk through specs and options,
and you know, I think sometimes it's kind of fun too.
Has more of a like my kind of connect to
the outside world of more of a a lay person
when it comes to golf equipment. I think sometimes my
understanding of what the general public knows about golf clubs
can get skewed by being surrounded by people who are
very passionate and have an in depth knowledge of golf equipment. So,
you know, whether it's my parents, my in laws, my brothers,
my friends, it's fun to hear from them and talk
through like what they know, what they don't know? Should
I get fit? Can I adjust things? All that sort
of stuff. But it's fun to talk to him about
that kind of stuff. And I think he's definitely always
excited to try the latest and greatest.
Speaker 4: And is he playing any PXG clubs? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's playing PXG stuff.
Speaker 4: He and your brothers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, both my brothers are. I've been here for about
coming up on ten years now, so.
Speaker 4: Oh is that right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think at this point it'd be I'd
be a little consulted, weren't Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that happened to me once. I was doing
work with Anheuser Busch for years back.
Speaker 4: In the eighties and nineties.
Speaker 3: But I got a call from Saint Louis one day
with my contact and he goes, so, what are you
up to? And I said, I'm just sitting here drinking
a beer. He said what are you drinking? And I
said a corona dead silence on the phone.
Speaker 4: It was like, oops, that was the wrong answer.
Speaker 3: Well, we're going to get more into your journey too
about how you got there. But there is competition kind
of for what this Wildcat set is. Styx has an
entry level set of clubs that's very good looking, nice bag,
you know, for people who are just getting started, and
one something that looks a little bit nicer than just
normal set of clubs. Even Costco has a phenomenal set
that is not expensive. But I don't see that happening
with a lot of the major brands like PXG, is
what made you guys decide that this is a portion
of the market you wanted to attack.
Speaker 2: Well, I think a lot of it comes from mister
Parsons and is kind of experience in the game. He
sees people struggle, and you know, it's funny when he
comes in, whether it's some new blade or a new driver,
he's we're we're working on something in engineering, and you know,
he's trying to get prototypes out to his buddies the
next day and telling tour players you have to try this,
and we're like, slow down, we need to do some
testing first. So he's he wants to get help people
and enjoy golf, and I think it's something that he
cares quite a bit about. And then just our customer base.
You know, we have the advantage of interfacing with our
customers quite a bit because of our retail locations. You know,
our fitters talk one on one with them and we
get to hear that feedback of what they're looking for.
And a lot of the times our customers are saying, hey,
this is great, but do you have anything for my
you know, high school age kid or my you know,
retired parent who is trying to pick up golf or
my wife or my husband or whatever it is. So
I think I think, you know, all of that feedback
is so valuable, and that connection and relationship with our
customer allows us to kind of hear and understand and
you know, do a more entry level set, but do
it in our way that that is custom fit and
that is filled with technology. And you know, I think
the Irons and the Wildcats that are a great example
of a lot of that technology exists in our mainline
flagship products. You know, it's our hollow body filled technology.
So it's a very very high performance, technology packed product
for entry level players, which I think is really cool
and really unique.
Speaker 3: A minute ago you mentioned that it's filled with technology.
How is it that you're able to deliver a set
like this that has all that PSG technology behind and
make it affordable one person who's not necessarily into it
just yet, or you know, they're not sure of their commitment.
Speaker 2: Well, I think part of it is. So it's a
nine piece set, and that's something that for beginners. You know,
the first thing my mom picked up golf in the
last couple of years. The first thing she calls me
all the time just to ask questions about when do
I use this club here, when do I use this
club here? And it's confusing, and if anything, the beginners
really don't need that many clubs. You know, fourteen clubs
is great if you are very serious golfer looking to
take advantage of and play better golf, but realistically your
gaps are smaller. If you're a slower swinger, you don't
necessarily use multiple wedges in the same way a more
avid golfer would. So first of all, nine pieces really
is a great way to get into it at a
more reasonable price point. And then the other part is
just kind of deciding what technologies, uh make sense for
this player and not adding things in that don't help. So,
you know, we have certain technologies that at an advanced
level are really important, and you know, add to the
fine tuning adjustment like our weighting system and our flagship
products is great. It adds a lot of value to
that player. At an entry level, it's an expensive technology
to add into clubs, and you know, isn't really going
to be as important to that player as getting the
right length, getting the right club head, and getting an
overall performing quality product. So I mean choosing the technology
and then also the trickle down of that where the
R and D costs. The development is already done in
previous generations, and it's something we can then apply in
to to all models.
Speaker 3: I think it's a fascinating idea using a nine piece
set because you know the goal for every golfer, and
one of the things they are the first things you
have to learn when you're starting to play golf is
how far you hit each club. But if you're new
to it and you're not really sure, you don't need
you know accuracy in that sense.
Speaker 2: We all know the person that pulls their seven iron
from everywhere and they hit the only right.
Speaker 4: Yes, we do. We play with them regularly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then there's the people who are like, I'm
allergic to my seven iron.
Speaker 4: Oh god, what am I going to do?
Speaker 2: So what.
Speaker 3: Is the nine piece set? Let's break it down piece
by piece.
Speaker 2: So it's available as a full set or individual clubs
as well.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, let's talk about the nine piece set.
Speaker 2: So it's a driver a fairway would which is a
five W And then.
Speaker 3: Let's let's stop a driver first, cause we're going to
go over each club. What's unique about this driver for
the nine piece set.
Speaker 2: I would say this driver compared to any anything else
available in our line, it is significantly more loft. So
it is sixteen degrees aloft, whoa players hit it high.
And it also has a large face. So the design
is you know, we talk a lot about forgiveness in golf,
and when you're early on in golf, you know, it
doesn't matter how high the MOI is if you don't
catch it on the face. So you know, we try
to maximize the face size to the best of our ability.
So it is a really large faced driver.
Speaker 3: That's interesting because I know that people struggle more with
the ball that may just trickle off and you know,
like bowling ball just roll down the fairway. But if
they get it in the air, it really doesn't matter
how far they hit it. If they get it in
the air and their new golf they're very excited. So
after sixteen degrees of loft, we'll get the ball in
the air. Absolutely interesting. Interesting, all right, And when you
said it's got a very large face, it does meet
the specifications.
Speaker 2: It is according to the USGA rules, so it is
it is.
Speaker 4: Not the size of a fry pan, no, but it.
Speaker 2: Is within the rules. Relative to other drivers. A lot
of the times we you know, manipulate that shape, whether
it's for aerodynamics for you know, adjusting the characteristics for
launch and spin, doing things to make it, uh, you know,
for aesthetics, to make it look. What a better player
prefers this is it is a bigger hitting surface, which
I think most players at this level appreciate.
Speaker 4: I agree with you one.
Speaker 3: All right, now let's move on pastifer and what's next.
Speaker 2: No fairy wood. So again with the nine piece set,
you're not going to have multiple fairy woods. Our experience
has been you know, we have customers, even people who've
played golf for a long time that are you say,
a fifteen handicap, come in fit or ask them when
do you hit your fariywood? Do you tend to hit
it off the deck? Do you tend to hit it
off the tee? And they say, I don't. It's scary club,
So you just don't hit it. Just they just don't
hit it. They sip in the bag because you're supposed
to have a fairy wood and usually three three with
are hard to hit, so we went straight to a
five wood again. Part of that is the more loft
aspect of it. It's easier to hit in the air.
A little shorter just overall a little more comfortable to hit.
And it's again kind of that bigger profile, bigger design.
Weight is far back and low. The whole goal is
make it easy to make contact and to hit it high.
Speaker 5: Yeah, when you say it's shorter, the overall length of
the club on our on all the woods are actually
a little bit shorter than our standard.
Speaker 2: Uh, it's back talking about the shaft for talking about
shaft length.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: That's and that's where when it comes to woods especially,
you know, drivers have gotten longer over time, and it's
so that people can hit them farther, and you know,
shaft technologies come a long way. Those things allow us
to do that. Uh. But also you know, when it
comes to a beginner or or someone who maybe doesn't
hit it that far, they're not going to pick up
a whole lot of distance by having an extra inch
on the long length of their driver half into the
length of their driver. They'll pick up a decent amount
of consistency by going shorter. So we want to kind
of push people in the proper direction or guide them
to to what's best for them in terms of maybe
not max distance when you hit it perfectly, but your
average distance and enjoyment to the game.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: So I've talked to many club fitters and club builders
and they talk about, you know, we're going to put
you in a shaft that's about an inch shorter than
what is the standard for a driver, let's say, because
you're going to have more control. You know, Yeah, a
longer driver the standard size is going to get you
more distance but less control. So your dispersion with a
shorter shaft is going to be less and that's what
you want, absolutely, and that's what you're doing here, a
little bit shorter on the shaft.
Speaker 4: But again, what's the loft on the five wood?
Speaker 2: The five wood is at oh testing me on my
specs here?
Speaker 4: Oh oh, through them a curveball you did?
Speaker 2: The driver.
Speaker 4: Is sixteen degrees?
Speaker 2: Is sixteen and then the fairway would so compared to
a standard five wood, we have at eighteen. This I
believe is a little bit more. It is at a.
Speaker 4: Two. Should we be playing the Jeopardy theme.
Speaker 2: I'd be out of time already. Huh So it's at nineteen, uh,
nineteen degrees. Sorry to do that to you, no, that's
all right. Job and the kind of things that I
try to keep track of and and sometimes it's, you know,
too many numbers running through my head all at once.
But so nineteen degrees aloft designed to again be higher.
It's not a uh like crazy high loft for a
fairy wood, but uh it is kind of for the
being the only fairway in the bag. We want to
make sure, you know, if a beginner shows up with
a three wood that's you know, fifteen degrees, it's going
to be so hard to hit, it so hard to
hit in the air, and they'll just never be comfortable
with it. So it's certainly designed to go up in
the air.
Speaker 3: Are you familiar with the name Jesse Ortiz from the
club fitter from it was originally or Lamar had started
or Lamar. So he's a great club fitter, worked for
many different companies. I had a fitting with him and
I told him I wanted a three wood, and he goes.
Speaker 4: All right, what we're gonna do.
Speaker 3: So we're going to give you a four wood and
you can tell people it's a three wood because so
many people struggle to get a three wood off the
deck YEP and a four wood's going to help. So
a five wood's going to definitely make it.
Speaker 4: A bit easier.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And some people, you know, tour players carry five
woods and three woods because they're looking to hit specific
distance gaps, and you know, they find fairy wood's easier
to hit high in the air than some hybrids that
are overofted. And you know, it's it's a common club
to be used. And again, just like we said earlier
with the nine piece set, players who are new to
the game generally don't have a big enough discrepancy and
distance from one to another fill that gap so or
to need that extra club to fill a gap. So
I think five wood sets them up as something that
they can use as a t club and be comfortable
hitting off the deck as well.
Speaker 3: Okay, out of that nine piece set, we've gone through
driver in a fair way, would I'm guessing our next
stop is a hybrid?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 4: So you guess.
Speaker 2: So there's one hybrid in the set. It's a twenty
eight degree six hybrid.
Speaker 4: So it replaces a six iron, yes.
Speaker 2: So, and this is something that going back to you know,
the questions beginners ask and how complicated golf clubs can
be when you've been playing them forever. It seems straightforward,
but explaining to a beginner the idea that you're you know, hey,
as the number on your irons go down, it's a
longer club. It's going to go farther. Okay, we got that.
When you start adding in you know, faaraway woods and
hybrids that have different sets of numbers, and the farawoods
go higher than the irons and the hybrids are in between,
it can be complicated. So that's one of those things
we wanted to do to keep it simple.
Speaker 3: So we've been through the driver and the faraway wood.
My next guess is we're going to a hybrid in
the set.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's correct. So the next club in the set
is going to be a six hybrid at twenty eight
degrees aloft. So the idea of going directly to a
six hybrid we really wanted to. It goes back to
the idea of set compositions kind of complicated. If you're
new to the nomenclature and all of the verbiage of
the Gulf world, you know that, Okay, as your irons
go down in number, they go farther, they get longer,
all right, And then hybrids fit between there, and then
there's fairy woods, and you know, having a three wood,
a three hybrid and a three iron, or I guess
you could say a five wood of five hybrid and
a five iron. People get confused. So we wanted to
go directly from your five wood and then use your
six hybrid and it goes to a seven iron. So
keep it as simple as possible, you know, straightforward. People
understand kind of sticks with that idea of as the
number goes down, that's going to be a longer club
that goes farther, so twenty eight degrees of loft. It's
a sort of a six iron replacement, a little longer
than a six iron to help promote get up in
the air, high lofted club and then just an overall
bigger head than an iron. So it's going to produce
more forgiveness, more speed across the face, just sort of
more friendly than a long iron.
Speaker 3: Is yeah, absolutely, you know. It's what's sounding really interesting
about this is my wife really doesn't play golf. She
has a set that we bought years ago that a
full set is an inexpensive set, and she just it's
too frustrating for her. This is the kind of set
that would make her go, oh, I can do this.
I'll play nine holes with you.
Speaker 2: That was absolutely our goal. So I hope that is
the case.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, great, great, No, she doesn't have a birthday coming,
all right, So now I guess that hybrid cuts through
the rough like butter too, right, Yeah, that's the point
of That's why they called it a rescue club initially,
but that was a patent in name.
Speaker 2: But it's a hybrid, yeah, a little bit bigger of
a club, easier to get kind of down on the ball.
I think so much of golf equipment is when it
comes to designing product is sort of shaping and know
how on our end to help make sure that stuff,
you know, turf interaction the ball, or how the club
goes through the rough. Those are sort of not the
front and center technologies these days because you know, it's
it's something that's been around and it's not maybe the
sexiest thing to talk about, but it's so important to
making sure clubs, souls and designs are created in a
way that make it easy for a player to get
through that it doesn't dig into the ground that it,
you know, gets through the rough. Okay, So I think
that's one of the key features of you know, we
make product for players on tour at you know, high
level amateurs, for everyday golfers, for beginners. You know, we're
we're putting that same level of detail into you know,
all of the shaping. It's not just you know, hey,
let's get this design quick out the door, you know,
made by someone who's maybe never designed a set of
clubs before, and just scale them down based on a picture.
I mean, it's it's really more than you know, the
box sets that are out there. It's it's designed to
perform in that way.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if we've learned anything over the years and watching
golf on television especially, that really dictates sales what we
see on TV. And I do see a lot of
players on the tour that are wearing PXG clothing and
even carrying PXG bags. But you do are they also
playing are they just as PXG just marketing you know,
the logo for these guys to wear it on tour?
Speaker 4: Are they playing these clubs?
Speaker 2: They're they're playing our clubs. So you know, we have
nine players on the PGA Tour right now that play,
you know, wear our hat carra Bag and Carrie. I
believe all of them are at least eight clubs, so
generally irons and wedges, and then a mix of some potters,
some drivers, some fairy woods. Uh, you know, some of
them play all fourteen clubs, some of them don't. There's
there's a mix in there. But but we've you know,
it's a resource for us. We get a lot of
great feedback from them in terms of our ability to
work with them design and improve, So I think that's
really helpful. It is important to mention the players. You know,
the equipment that they play is not it's not different
than what's available for consumers necessarily, but it's not necessarily
what's best for your average player. You know, Jake Knapp
is our tour staff and he can swing a driver
one hundred and thirty miles an hour, and what he
needs in his clubs is very, very different than what
I need, than what you know, my wife needs and
what our parents need. It's just, you know, it's not
the same thing. Most players on tour are using blades
because they like the way they go through the rough,
they like the look of it from top down, and
they like the player because they can hit them because
they can hit them. They hit you know, it's not time. Yeah,
So I mean those are the kind of things where
those guys are so good they can play all sorts
of different things. You know, there's a lot of players
playing a lot of different clubs and the PGA Tour.
Speaker 3: Do you know that if you guys sign a player
for the PGA Tour, if there's a verbiage in the
contract that says you have to play at least X
amount of PHG clubs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, generally, generally there's It's not I Do'm not intimately
familiar with you know, how our contracts are written. Sure,
not my area, but generally yeah, I think you know,
anyone wearing our hat and our carrying our bag is
is asked to play at least a min own number
as part of the contract. But most of our players
are playing more than that. So it's it's something where
you know, it's a it's you know, a partnership in
a way where part of it is when we work
with them. You know, we have our guys that are
on our staff or our reps for that go out
there on tour and work with our players and our
our fitters for the tour players effectively and they build
great relationship with the players. You know, they do an
amazing job. They know their games sometimes better than the
tour players do. But uh, you know, they're they're there
to help them through. Hey we have this coming that
I think would help you, or if we have a
new you know, product that's coming to go that that
one's not for you to stick with. What you're doing
is working good. So I think a lot of it
is the relationship as well, but they you know, there
it's fun to have our Sometimes our tour players are
excited when they see new products, and I'm excited to
go watch them test, and you know, it certainly helps
us to design at a higher level and just to learn.
You know, the way they evaluated and decide if equipment
is good is different than you know, our robot testing
or how we evaluate it. They're they're looking at shots
I've never thought about. So it's it's kind of cool
to to pick their brains and see how they think
when they are evaluating if something's you know, or for them.
Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely so we mentioned hitting blades. I got to
believe that this wildcat set the irons, which are assuming
you're seven eight nine on your irons, those are probably
cavity back clubs.
Speaker 2: So yes and no. So it's an interesting thing. Where
So because of our product, the way our products designed,
it's a hollow body, so we're creating a hollow body
and then we weld on a face. So what it
is is it's a cast body without a face on it.
We weld on the face and it creates this large
hollow club and then we fill it with material with
We call it our x Core two, something we had
in our flagship irons and previous generations, and it is
basically allowing the face to flex, but also a lot
lighter so it moves weight to the perimeter and supporting
the face so that it doesn't break. So it's kind
of our key technology, and I think what we're best
known for is that filled hollow body design. We have
what I would call cavity back in the Wildcat irons,
but it's actually filled with a an insert that's a
lightweight insert there, so it kind of has a more flush,
kind of sleek design, and I think it looks really
really good, provides really great feel compared to you know,
with cavity backs and bigger clubs. A lot of the times,
our concern is we want to make sure it looks good.
We want to make sure it feels good because especially
beginner sets, larger oversized clubs, they can you know, have
a bad feel to them, you know, like that's what
some players like about blades or smaller clubs is they
feel more solid when you hit them good. And you know,
we we take so much pride in kind of PXG
having its own specific feel and it being different than
what's out there in the industry that you know, we
want to make sure even on the Wildcat set, you know,
it is considered like reaching our level a minimum of
a you know, great feel and sound. Uh so it
it isn't. It isn't to cavity back. It's a little
bit more different to a construction.
Speaker 4: Interesting, that's unique.
Speaker 2: Hmmm.
Speaker 3: And I'm playing the three eleven's three eleven Yeah right
XB And is that the filled hollow body design as well,
or so it's our same design as your main clubs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so are our flagship Uh you know Gen seven
irons are a forged body. We have a face that's
weeled on and then it's filled with a polymer as well,
and so it's a very at the overall construction is
the same. So that's that's where I'm saying. The Wildcats
have a lot more technology in them than any other
beginner set out there that I know of. They're they're
really designed to to promote that great sound and feel
as well as a lot of forgiveness and just you know,
be a really high performing product for that player.
Speaker 3: Now this set, there's three clubs left in this nine
piece set. We've been through driver, Fairaway, Wood Hybrid, the
three iron, seven, eight, nine, and some wedge makers consider
a nine like a wedge that you have two wedges
and the putter left.
Speaker 2: Yes, so we have a so a pitching wedge and
a sand wedge, and those are the same constructions as
the irons, So you know, I personally consider them part
of the iron set. Okay, but where wedges have just
just like the hybrid faraway would concept, wedges have gotten complicated,
especially two players who are new to the game, you know,
having a lob wedge of sand wedge and a gap
wedge and a pitching wedge, it's confusing when when do
I hit what from where? You know, they probably don't
have distance gapping issues around their wedge is.
Speaker 3: And for beginners, the lob wedge is probably the hardest
club to hit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean beginners are hitting high soft shots and
they're not trying to open faces. They're you know, trying
to pitch and chip it onto the green and you know,
are are happy with that. So I think that's where
I try to get it to stop exactly. So, you know,
the the wedges have the same technology as the irons,
So for full swings with your wedges, you get that
same level of forgiveness. Uh, the same you know, wide
soul for great turf interaction to prevent uh you know,
at the club from digging into the ground. But then
kind of simplicity and you pitching wedge, you know, and
then you have your sand wedge that you can use
for your you know, high soft pitch shots.
Speaker 3: Yeah that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. And is
there a lot of bounce on that sandwich?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a there's a bounce. Is one of those
funny things where when you when you get into it
with with people who are too in the know about it,
we all have our thoughts on how the world sees bounce.
So it's a really wide soul.
Speaker 3: So is that is that a big debate going on
when you guys are sitting around a table.
Speaker 2: The designer is going it's more a frustration of people's
understanding of bounce because clubs are clubs are listed with
effective bounce generally, so you know, there's bounce angle, which
is truly the angle the soul like the leading edge
is making with the ground as like the soul is
going to you know, the contact point and the soul
and so on. Some clubs it's listed as you know,
a really low number, and you can look at a
wedge and go, I can tell you there's more bounce
on there than that. And then you can look at
one that's listed as a really low number because that
angle is low, but because the soul is so wide,
it plays effectively like there is more bounce, So we
like we talk about it in effective bounce of it's
a combination of multiple aspects of fact, how high off
the ground the leading edge gets and so on. This set,
it's designed to be very playable, more bounced, which is
going to lead to, you know, more forgiveness when it
comes to you know, you're not when you're chiping, not
putting the leading edge in the ground helpful in the bunker,
and that wide soul kind of protects you that beginners
aren't looking for the versatility generally that you know, better
players are opening up the face and don't want the
leading edge to rise up too much, and they're they're
looking to, you know, try to hit all sorts of
different shots. Well, most people that would be you know,
the set is geared towards are looking to make solid
contact consistently when they chip the ball. So it's designed
in a kind of a significant amount of bounce, but
not too much that the leading edges are raising up
too high that you kind of are going to scoll
the ball, but with ideal for making consistent contact.
Speaker 4: I would say, great, Great, that's the whole idea.
Speaker 2: Yeah, consistency and making it easy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So go back to your chart on your screen.
The degrees of loft between the seven and the eight,
the eight and the nine. Is it consistent when we
get to the pitching in the.
Speaker 2: Sage, Let's see here, So there's about it spreads out
a little more in the sand and lob wedge, so
it's five degrees between uh from the seven through nine,
and then on the wedges it goes to six degree gaps,
so okay, so not not a huge difference. And it's
they're designed to be used as full swing clubs as well.
You know, that's not just these are short game specific
and so that's for gapping purposes to kind of make
sure you're covered at all distances and you can learn
those distances, and then also you know, to make sure
that they are relatively high. I would say these lofts
are much more traditional and loft for what I'd say
compared to you know, a lot of sets these days,
especially you know, distance geared irons are a lot stronger lofted,
but these are these lofts are a lot weaker, more
traditional to help players hit it high in the air.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: And then uh, you guys have recently come out with
the Allen putter, named after mister Parson's brother, and that
is to put your entry into this zero torque revolution
that's going on started by lab Golf and having a
tremendous amount of success, and you guys were one of
the first companies to come out publicly and say, yeah,
we've got a zero torque putter, the Allan putter, And
we can talk more about that, but let's finish off
this Wildcat set and the putter that you have in
that bag.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the putter that comes with the Wildcat set,
it's called the black Hawk. It is a mallet style putter,
has a long alignment line, has a lot of perimeter waiting.
So whenever we talk about perimeter waiting and golf, we're
talking about adding forgiveness and that means on mishits, the
club wants to stay straight or it doesn't want to
rotate as much and it doesn't lose as much speed
off the face, so more consistent on mishits, which as
a beginner on putting is generally something that's more common
than with more seasoned players. So it's a very high
forgiveness model. And then the alignment line is very long
from front to back. The idea, everything we've done, all
of our research says longer the alignment line, the easier
it is to line up. It's really simple. So really
for that that player type who you know a lot
of players, there's a lot of blades out there on
the PGA tour. Certain players just like to look at
different things. Certain lighter players like small putters, like like
putters without alignment lines all sorts of things. I guess
the alignment line that fits your eye, that is the
longest is the best for you, would be my mind
or my comment. But for players who don't necessarily have
a preference yet, who haven't used a blade for years,
I think the easiest thing to line up is going
to be a nice, big, long line. So there's a
lot of perimeter waving. And then the other nice feature
on the bottom of these there's a ball pickup pocket,
which is kind of nice for a mallet to the pails.
Now they pick it right up, move on. So uh,
it's a it's a fun thing that I personally really enjoy.
There's a lot of players who who don't want a
putter that can't pick up a ball, and there's it's
it's something that that's certainly nice to have. And it's
right in the center of the club where we're trying
to remove mass from anyway, so it's a great spot
to you know, take mass out and provide that as well.
Speaker 3: All right, Caleb, Uh, just love the concept that you
guys got going with the Wildcat set and who it's
for and who it's directed to. But I want to
I want to make a little bit of a left
turn here, because there's another new club that you guys
have recently announced that really has my interest.
Speaker 4: Not that I don't love my p XG Driver, I
do like it.
Speaker 3: I still get my friends going WHOA when I when
I hit one nicely off t But you have joined again.
We talked about a revolution earlier. More and more people
are bringing back a mini driver. I guess that would
be a two would in the old days. But you
guys have just introduced one, the secret Weapon mini Driver,
And I'm sure that name didn't come out of your office,
But tell me about your involvement with that and why
we need to seriously consider a mini driver these days.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I mean my role here at PXG, I'm
the director of our Metal Woods R and D, so
I do club design, I do the majority of our
driver design, and then my team works through all the
Faarawoods and hybrids as well. So, so we were responsible
for the secret Weapon, and you know, it's something that
we we jumped on that we weren't really sure. It
was more of a research project at the time, based
on seeing kind of a couple of tour players that
were playing them and interested in them of hey, maybe
this is something to look at, and and the idea
came as you know, we there have been two woods,
we've had two woods before, but true mini driver that's
almost I think of it as a fairwywood, like a
three wood replacement that is more geared towards hitting off
the teeth. You know, a lot, Like I said, when
it comes to Wildcats set, a lot of players come
in for fittings and we go, hey, how do you
use your fairwaywood? Do you hit your three with more
off the tee? Do you hit off the deck? And
they go, oh, I never hit it off the deck.
So in that case, it's like, hey, here's something that's
more designed for being used off the deck. And I
think the way we fit customers and reach customers with
fitters can kind of talk you through the advantages and
disadvantages and how you would use it in your game.
It lends itself well to things that aren't as traditionally
part of a golf bag. It's a little different. We've
seen a ton of them the PGA Tour, and part
of that is, you know, again, PGA Tour players are
built differently. They hit it so far that you know,
We have Jake Napp who plays our secret weaponon tour,
and he he hits his secret weapon three hundred yards plus,
so it's like he's like, oh, yeah, I hit it.
He hits it ten times around sometimes and it's off
of tea and it's like he's he hasn't had a
fairwywood into a green and I don't know, since I
don't know if he turned fifteen, Like it's it's not.
He doesn't need a three wood that he can hit
off the deck, so he wants something that is designed
for off the tee that he feels comfortable, and the
kind of the bigger head of the mini driver provides
more distance off the tee at deeper face and then
just more forgiveness on miss its too.
Speaker 3: Okay, So for the recreational golfer who doesn't hit anything
three hundred yards except two shots, why would I want
to consider having a mini driver to replace my three wood?
Speaker 2: I would say it's for players who who like to
use a fairywood or something other than a driver off
a tee. It's shorter than a driver, so we again
it's custom fit so you can adjust length, but we
have its stock at forty three and three quarters inches.
It's kind of a low lofted fairy wood at thirteen degrees.
It's just you know, when you're going, ooh, this is
the type part four, but I still kind of have
to hit it a decent ways. I think it's a
great option to have something a little shorter in terms
of the club length with a little more loft to
be able to say I can be confident in hitting
this fairway. And it is something you know, we worked
with our tour players to make sure it was something
in a pinch they can hit off the deck too,
So it's not like a club that's it's not like
hitting driver off the deck. It's you know, fairwoods in general,
three woods can be hard to hit from fairway, and
you know, this is I would say significantly easier to
hit off the tee than a three wood, but maybe
similar off the fairway. So for players who maybe struggle
with the fairway, would maybe who who want to, you know,
try something different to improve their their driving game and
have something they hit a little farther off the tee
than a three wood, but more a little more consistent
than a driver. It's a great option.
Speaker 4: What's the degree of loft on the mini driver.
Speaker 2: So it's thirteen degrees and it's adjust so you can
go up or down a degree and a half, So
eleven and a half to fourteen and a half.
Speaker 4: Adjustable. And do you.
Speaker 3: I've never wanted a mess with my clubs. It's like,
oh adjusted because today I'm hitting the It's like that.
That to me is a recipe for disaster. Do you
recommend that once you have your fitting and you guys say,
you know what, this is adjustable, but we're going to
put you in fourteen degrees, leave it alone. If you're
having a bad day, just come back tomorrow. How do
you what do you suggest to people who want to
make those.
Speaker 4: Adjustments on their own?
Speaker 2: It depends on the person. I know. People like me,
I could say leave it, but I tinker with mine
all the time.
Speaker 4: So you're a club maker man, yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean you get it if you know what's going on.
If you have like an understanding of hey, I think
I need more spin or I need less spin, or
I'm hitting it too high or too low. Absolutely different areas.
Maybe you're going to play at altitude you can use
a little more loft. Things like that are absolutely reasons
to adjust them. You know, we try to make it
very simple, so worst case, you can adjust it right back.
But the other benefit is you can always just you know,
call your fitter. Talk to your fitter, they'll work through it.
So you know, call it PXG, talk to our player
support team. They can talk you through. You know what
you're dealing with, and you're going if you're going, hey,
i'm hitting it too low, here's a couple of options
in terms of adjustability. We can try to help. You
can go into a store, they can get you on
a monitor. We can kind of help get you sorted out,
so that adjustability is helpful. If you don't know how
to adjust it. We have resources in terms of calling
in or you know, some of the content we release
on YouTube and things like that will help walk you
through it if you want to educate yourself on it.
I mean, I think it's fun to toy around with personally,
and some people say, hey, I am a golf nerd.
Absolutely there are some people out there who you know,
the benefit, like the adjustability is still a benefit, but
it's a benefit in the fitting environment and once it's set,
leave it. And if that's you, that's fine too. But
I think it's still provides a lot of a lot
of value for that player because they are able to
dial in exactly you know, loft and CG location that
they wouldn't be able to get with a driver that
didn't have that adjustability.
Speaker 4: But fascinating, fascinating.
Speaker 3: Tell me about the fitting process that goes on for
the average consumer and whether whether it's for you know,
we're not determining if they want to get the the
Wildcat set or a full set. What is the fitting
process and how is it determined what would be best
for that person?
Speaker 2: So, I mean, yeah, fittings can be very different depending
on who you at, your ability. You know, it's going
to start with the same kind of static measurement on set,
not a firm like not it We're not measuring your
actual height, but talking through it, Hey, how tall are you?
You know, how long you've been playing? How often do
you play? You know, it's a it's a conversation with
the fitter as you get warmed up. They're trying to
figure out what you're looking for, what you struggle with,
what areas you know you are looking for improvement in
what you've been playing. Things like that to kind of
get to know you better as a player. Uh, they'll
they'll take a look. If you bring in your old set, great,
If not, that's fine too, but kind of get you
started if you're you know, we do full back fittings
that are quite a while, but in terms of you know,
they can. It's a lot of swings, so be ready
to for a little bit of a workout and not
a lot of us are used to hitting that many balls.
But our goal is really too our fitter is going
to try to get you into the proper model, proper
chef length, li angle weight as few swings as possible,
because is I think a lot of people don't have
enough swings that we all. You know, it takes a
while to warm up. Once you are in that warm zone,
you have so many good swings before you start going downhill.
So our goal is always to get the proper club
to you as quickly as possible. Process. We do that
in a few ways. One way is we have a
you know, an internal fitting tool we use, which is
how our phone team operates. If you call in and
want to get fit, they'll they'll walk through some questions
and it'll based on all the fittings we've done. In
the past, all that data, we use that to come
up with a recommendation, and then we'll use that in
our if you come in this person as well, to
get to a starting point, so to go, Hey, here's
three shafts in a model club and a length and
a lie. It recommends we can adjust from that. That
isn't gospel, but it's a good starting point. It's usually
pretty close. So we'll do that and then we can
kind of talk through and try a few different things. So,
you know, a lot of people have experienced the hey,
let's try a little lighter, let's try a little heavier,
let's try a little longer, let's try a little shorter,
and they're surprised sometimes to go. You know, I've played
stock stock stock my whole life. It's interesting. I actually
like a lighter swingweight and a you know, a shorter
iron feels more consistent and I don't lose any speed
or you know whatever. The configuration is so more than anything.
Fitting so important because you can just try different things
and tinker and get to understand, you know, what all
the things that can be changed in your equipment and
what they're doing, and just whether it's so like the
wildcats out like we said, or up to tour players.
It makes golf easier. It's just being the proper ly
angle and the proper length makes it easier and mix
all of contact and those things are just so important.
Speaker 3: Absolutely well. And that's what we just heard from the
director of Metal Woods R and D kale Kalb cral Off.
Thank you so much much for your time, for your
explanation and the introduction to this fascinating set. If somebody
is looking to get somebody into golf, this is you
can you know, direct them towards these clubs.
Speaker 4: If there's you know, if you're senior and you're.
Speaker 3: Looking to you don't need to carry that many clubs
because you're not that accurate. You might want to look
into this as well. There's lots of reasons to look
into it. And again I've been enjoying my Okay, I'm
not gonna make this.
Speaker 4: That just made it the infomercial, but.
Speaker 3: Caleb, thanks so much for your time and your information.
Speaker 4: It's fascinating.
Speaker 2: I really appreciate it absolutely Thanks for having me