News
True Sports (True Temper) acquires Canadian-based Accra Golf
Big equipment news in the world of custom fitting and golf shafts: True Temper (via parent company True Sports) is acquiring Canadian based Accra Golf and its parent company Premium Golf Management Co. (PGMC).
Accra joins True Temper and Project X in True Sports’ reorganized portfolio, which now consists of specific divisions for baseball, hockey, ice skating, and lacrosse.
For those less familiar with Accra, let’s quickly catch you up to speed. Accra Golf, based out of Kingston Ontario (also the birthplace of The Tragically Hip) designs and sells shafts exclusively for the aftermarket, which includes its large network of registered fitters.
It is the number one custom-fit only shaft on the PGA Tour. Accra offers products that work for players at EVERY end of the spectrum from recreational juniors and ladies, all the way to PGA Tour professionals. People in the custom fitting world should be familiar with PGMC since they operate the True Temper Plus network which helps deliver shaft orders to custom fitters around North America. This arrangement has been in place already for a few years now.
From Don Brown Sr. Director of Marketing and Innovation of True Temper
“We are thrilled to add ACCRA to our performance-enhancing line of shaft brands. The wide range of ACCRA products increases the options we make available within the custom club fitting environment”
This deal greatly benefits the Canadian-based Accra team thanks to greater access to R&D thanks to now being part of the team under the True Sports umbrella.
Gawain Robertson, co-founder of Accra said this
“Having access to TRUE Sports’ vast R&D capabilities, including their Center for Sports Testing and Research, will enhance the sophistication of our design and prototyping process. Being able to take advantage of TRUE’s global marketing, logistics and operations capabilities will strengthen the ACCRA product and brand.”
As someone that has worked with Gawain and the entire Accra team for many years as a custom fitter and builder, this is a big step for a company that started with a simple mission: Creating the best possible innovative products with the primary focus on custom club fitting. They have never wavered from that philosophy, they are 100 percent committed to sticking to that mission, and clearly it’s paying off.
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Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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SuperStroke acquires Lamkin Grips
SuperStroke announced today its purchase of 100-year-old grip maker Lamkin Grips, citing the company’s “heritage of innovation and quality.”
“It is with pride and great gratitude that we announce Lamkin, a golf club grip brand with a 100-year history of breakthrough design and trusted products, is now a part of the SuperStroke brand,” says SuperStroke CEO Dean Dingman. “We have always had the utmost respect for how the Lamkin family has put the needs and benefits of the golfer first in their grip designs. If there is a grip company that is most aligned with SuperStroke’s commitment to uncompromised research, design, and development to put the most useful performance tools in the hands of golfers, Lamkin has been that brand. It is an honor to bring Lamkin’s wealth of product innovation into the SuperStroke family.”
Elver B. Lamkin founded the company in 1925 and produced golf’s first leather grips. The company had been family-owned and operated since that point, producing a wide array of styles, such as the iconic Crossline.
According to a press release, “The acquisition of Lamkin grows and diversifies SuperStroke’s proven and popular array of grip offerings with technology grounded in providing golfers optimal feel and performance through cutting-edge design and use of materials, surface texture and shape.”
CEO Bob Lamkin will stay on as a board member and will continue to be involved with the company.
“SuperStroke has become one of the most proven, well-operated, and pioneering brands in golf grips and we could not be more confident that the Lamkin legacy, brand, and technology is in the best of hands to continue to innovate and lead under the guidance of Dean Dingman and his remarkably capable team,” Lamkin said.
Related: Check out our 2014 conversation with Bob Lamkin, here: Bob Lamkin on the wrap grip reborn, 90 years of history
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Tour Rundown: Pendrith, Otaegui, Longbella, and Dunlap soar
Take it from a fellow who coaches high school golf in metro Toronto: there’s plenty of great golf played in the land of the maple leaf. All the greats have designed courses over the USA border: Colt, Whitman, Ross, Coore, Mackenzie, Doak, as well as the greatest of the land, Stanley Thompson. I’m partial to him, because he wore my middle name with grandeur. Enough about the architecture, because this week’s Tour Rundown begins with a newly-minted, Canadian champion on the PGA Tour. Something else that the great white north is known for, is weather. It impacted play on three of the world’s tours, forcing final-round cancellations on two of them.
It was an odd week in the golf world. The LPGA and the Korn Ferry were on a break, and only 13/15 of the rounds slated, were played. In the end, we have four champions to recognize, so let’s not delay any longer with minutiae about the game that we love. Let’s run it all down with this week’s Tour Rundown.
PGA Tour: TP takes TS at Byron’s place
The 1980s was a decade when a Canadian emergence was anticipated on the PGA Tour. It failed to materialize, but a path was carved for the next generation. Mike Weir captured the Masters in 2003, but no other countrymen joined him in his quest for PGA Tour conquest. 2024 may herald the long-awaited arrival of a Canadian squad of tour winners. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Nick Taylor break the fifty-plus year dearth of homebred champions at the Canadian Open, and players like Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, Adam Svennson, and Mackenzie Hughes have etched their names into the PGA Tour’s annals of winners.
This week, Taylor Pendrith joined his mates with a one-shot win at TPC Craig Ranch, the home of the Byron Nelson Classic. Pendrith took a lead into the final round and, while the USA’s Jake Knapp faltered, held on for the slimmest of victories. Sweden’s Alex Noren posted six-under 65 on Sunday to move into third position, at 21-under par. Ben Kohles, a Texan, looked to break through for his first win in his home state. He took the lead from Pendrith at the 71st hole, on the strength of a second-consecutive birdie.
With victory in site, Kohles found a way to make bogey at the last, without submerging in the fronting water. His second shot was greenside, but he could not move his third to the putting surface. His fourth was five feet from par and a playoff, but his fifth failed to drop. Meanwhile, Pendrith was on the froghair in two, and calmly took two putts from 40 feet, for birdie. When Kohles missed for par, Pendrith had, at last, a PGA Tour title.
360° and in!
A nervy par save by @TaylorPendrith to remain one back as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory @CJByronNelson. pic.twitter.com/LVFXUSidSg
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 5, 2024
DP World Tour: China Open in Otaegui’s hands after canceled day four
It wasn’t the fourth round that was canceled in Shenzhen, but the third. Rains came on Saturday to Hidden Grace Golf Club, ensuring that momentum would cease. Sunday would instead be akin to a motorsports restart, with no sense of who might claim victory. Sebastian Soderberg, the hottest golfer on the Asian Swing, held the lead, but he would slip to a 72 on Sunday, and tie for third with Paul Waring and Joel Girrbach. Italy’s Guido Migliozzi completed play in 67 strokes on day three, moving one shot past the triumvirate, to 17-under par.
It was Spain’s Adrian Otaegui who persevered the best and played the purest. Otaegui was clean on the day, with seven birdies for 65. Even when Migliozzi ceased the lead at the 10th, Otaegui remained calm. With everything on the line, Migliozzi made bogey at the par-five 17th, as his principal competitor finished in birdie. To the Italian’s credit, he bounced back with birdie at the last, to claim solo second. The victory was Otaegui’s fifth on the DP World Tour, and first since October of 2022.
.@adrianotaegui birdies the 16th to tie the lead at -17 ?#VolvoChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/p4tfE5DRJa
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 5, 2024
PGA Tour Americas: Quito’s rains gift title to Longbella
Across the world, superintendents and their staffs will do anything to prepare a course for play. Even after fierce, nightime rains, the Quito TG Club greeted the first four groups on Sunday. The rains worsened after 7 am, however, and the tour was forced to abort the final round of play. With scores reverting to Saturday’s numbers, Thomas Longbella’s one-shot advantage over Gunn Yang turned into a Tour Americas victory.
64 held the opening-day lead, and Longbella was not far off, with 66. Yang jumped to the top on day two, following a67 with 66. He posted 68 on day three, and anticipated a fierce, final-round duel for the title. As for Longbella, he fought off a ninth-hole bogey on Saturday with six birdies and a 17th-hole eagle. That rare bird proved to be the winning stroke, allowing Longbella to edge past Yang, and secure ultimate victory.
.@TBalla21 eagles 17, shoots 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KIA Open. pic.twitter.com/TTOL2LxSdh
— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) May 4, 2024
PGA Tour Champions: Dunlap survives Saturday stumble for win
Scott Dunlap did not finish Saturday as well as he might have liked. After beginning play near Houston with 65, Dunlap made two bogeys in his final found holes on day two, to finish at nine-under par. Hot on his heels was Joe Durant, owner of a March 2024 win on PGA Tour Champions. Just behind Durant was Stuart Appleby, perhaps vibing from his Sunday 59 at Greenbrier on this day in 2010. Neither would have a chance to track Dunlap down.
The rains that have forced emergency responders into action, to save hundreds of lives in the metro Houston area, ended hopes for a third day of play at The Woodlands. Dunlap had won once previously on Tour Champions, in 2014 in Washington state. Ten years later, Dunlap was the fortunate recipient of a canceled final round, and his two days of play were enough to earn him TC victory number two.
Off the green? No worries for @ScottDu12500063
8-under solo leader @InsperityInvtnl pic.twitter.com/hoj5OujL5C
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) May 4, 2024
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Mitchell
Jul 25, 2019 at 2:33 pm
I think they’ll be a great addition for Accra’s iron shafts. They offer weights not traditionally matched in other companies’ line ups. As for their wood/hybrid shafts, they’re a fantastic addition. Yes pricier, but if you look at any aftermarket (or OEM offering, ex. small batch HZRDUS) shaft producer, you’ll find comparable pricing.
bob
Jul 25, 2019 at 11:58 am
sorry to hear that, accra was a quality shaft. true temper will end that.
matt
Jul 25, 2019 at 10:47 am
Curious to know if some of the Accra line will be made in Japan still or if TT will move production. If its the latter they’ll just be a hzrdus with new paint.
Michael
Jul 24, 2019 at 6:38 pm
Bet they bought them so they could bury the brand. Happens all the time. Buy your relatively small competitor and then kill the line. Too much R &D invested in HZRDUS brand
dat
Jul 24, 2019 at 3:03 pm
I think this will really bring TT up a notch in terms of their graphite offerings and overall tour presence.
Dave Bryce
Jul 24, 2019 at 8:43 pm
Great shafts but price point makes them not attractive for the average golfer!
tbowles411
Jul 24, 2019 at 12:45 pm
Accra shafts are the truth. In our shop, they’re the top selling shafts we sell out of all of the companies. Yonex is #2. I hope this can only mean good things for them. I have them in my woods and hybrids, and they’re outstanding.
DukeOfChinoHills
Jul 24, 2019 at 11:39 pm
Who buys Yonex anymore? People stuck in 1998?
tbowles411
Jul 25, 2019 at 10:27 am
Yonex is still around and pros are using their re-designed and tour shafts. They’d even tell you they lost their way for a while, but they have a PGA Tour presence.
P Triple
Jul 24, 2019 at 12:33 pm
I have ACCRA shafts in my woods and hybrid. They make EXCELLENT products. I moved to ACCRA from Project x so it is interesting to see them joining “the enemy” lol. I just hope being part of the TT machine doesn’t mean significant price increases on ACCRA products.
Carl
Jul 24, 2019 at 1:16 pm
Most Accra was already $300-500 per shaft, so I doubt they can get an pricier and expect to sell any.