Since becoming a member on Golfwrx the Equipment Forums seem to receive an overwhelming amount of interest. As we are currently working on a proposal for a weekly video show. We wanted to poll the masses here to see what the interest would be for a Weekly Equipment show on possibly the Golf Channel.

We understand that they air a "What's In The Bag" show, but this show would be much more in depth. Though club tests would be part of the show, although in Golf Channel's position we could not expect "Winners" to be chosen. There are many ways to test the clubs, show results, but not have to be in the position to “pick the best.” Beyond showing results club test results, the one hour weekly show could be full of segments such as:

Segment One - Profile of an OEM, much as GC has done.

• In depth look at the product, almost a Video Buyer’s Guide.
• Include a Club Fitting for the average player by the OEM each week.
• In later sows, update that person’s progress.
• Pro Players “What’s in the Bag”, maybe a Staff player from the weekly OEM.

Segment Two - Look at multiple OEM equipment during the same show.

• Segment of Club Tests by type; Drivers, Wedges, Putters, utilizing Trackman and with two to three guests, player, amateur, and columnist. No “winner” award, just discussion and hard data provided.
• Each show would have an accompanying video link on Golf Channel.com, so test results could be viewed longer. Should get “Hits” galore.
• Weekly “What’s New?”
• A look at current accessories, clothing, footwear.

Segment Three – Business News and Commentary

• Multiple subjects such as;An experts take on current equipment rules that affect the game. The fight against Counterfeit and Clone Clubs.

All of this could be done without showing favoritism of one brand over the other. I would think OEMs would jump at the chance to display their wares in such a fashion. 20-26 shows would give them the opportunity to cover all Major OEMS with a few shows peppered with a group of smaller Manufacturers.

Again, considering the interest in equipment on this board and others and in golf magazines, I personally think a show like this with a web tie in is a home run.

Thanks in advance for votes, input, and comments.

I agree it would be a home run. I would be interested in the latest and greatest equipment...most notably shafts and what shafts the pros are playing. It would be an excellent venue to showcase new clubs, clothing, accessories, shafts, etc. The what's in the bag is limited... I think you could present a ton of good information about large, small and new golf companies. Not to mention it could be done in an un-biased format. I would watch it. And I think companies would be lining up, especially given the fact that several new product offerings occur after the PGA merchandising show.

I like the concept.

I think, to keep it fair, I'd want to see product displayed each week from different OEM.....for example in week one you might showcase:

Driver - Taylor Made
Fairway/Hybrid - Nike
Irons - Adams
Wedges - Cleveland
Putters - Yes!
Accessories - Some fancy gadget
Apparel/Shoes - adidas

Then keep rotating so it doesn't become a "branded" show. TGC could shoot all the products from each OEM at one time, obviously. I would wish that smaller companies (Innovex, Chikara, etc.) or companies that have fallen out of favor (Wilson, MacGregor, etc) would get some airtime as well.

My .02.

Woo

Thanks for comments, more would be greatly appreciated. I would think there are some strong opinions on this out there. Hey gang, in the time it takes to open the thread, please vote!

I think that something like this would be awesome! It would be cool to include some WRXers to demo the equipment for some of the segments to....

I would love to see this come to fruition.... I think you HAVE to feature brands like Chikara, Scratch, turfsurfer, and all the other non BIG name OEM's that would make it even better for folks that like to look at alternative manufacturers.


Eric / Fish

I think it would be great, but...

I'm trying to cure my obsession with new golf equipment. I "believe" my bag is all set for the next few years, but a show like this would be like taking an alcoholic to a distillery.

Good idea, but I'm sure that TGC would take the idea and mess with it so that there would be no viable information coming out of it. (I'm thinking about the Nike proprganda show they had at Pt. St. Lucie w/ Tiger.)

Sounded like a great show..... then went nowhere.... then it was over! (I watched the entire 1/2 hour!)

Also...
They would have to keep Adam Barr off the show to make it more relevent! I'm not sure who to get in his place for a business angle, but...... just not him! (It's sort of like a non-golfer faking his way through talking about golf! I know it's not, but it seems like it sometimes!)

I would also hope that they would gear this type of a show format to more than a 1st grade education level in golf, too!

If they concentrate on the GD Hotlist, then NO, I would not be interested. If it was far reaching, broad and represented a huge cross section of equipment, including JDM offerings, I would at the very least, Tivo it.

I would watch a show like that, as long as it doesn't turn into a infomercial for a company like TGC has done with "What's in the bag".

I seriously hate when instead of hearing honest info, it turns into an half hour long commercial for a company with nothing but the company line.

And I DO NOT want to hear one word from some one who's title involves "Marketing" or "Sales", if you're going to talk to some one make it an engineer, product designer, or professional player.

If I have to watch one more Nike or Callaway show spouting the company lines I'll go nuts

I wouldn't miss a single episode!

Where do I sign up for the "average player fitting?"

It would be a show i would watch provided it does not come across as "Golf 101" like the golf channel.
The format you have suggested looks very interesting. I would like to see the staff player go into depth as to why he (or she) uses the club combination they do.

I actually voted "Not Interested."

I'm not going to pretend to be psyched about something that I know I'm not going to be psyched about. (I'm not implying that anyone here is pretending, so please take no offense)

The Callaway shows are terrible, that Nike show with TW and KT was pretty beat as well. These shows tend to be watered down versions of what we are hoping for, and they basically boil down to something slightly better than an infomercial.

Also- The smaller "boutique" or specialty companies, the Chikara's and Scratch's and CL's and Byron's of the world- they probably WON'T be a part of something like this. If they wanted to get into aggressive marketing and branding they would probably already be doing so. Also- part of the attraction is the fact that these items aren't available OTR, and they're exclusive, high-end, and expensive.

I don't know. If I could change my vote, maybe I'd vote "Somewhat interested" but only if they would play this in lieu of commercials for magnetic footpads.

I contacted them several times about airing a WITB show that would air every two weeks (1/2 hr.) The politely commented that they have a 5 sec WITB from that weeks winner. I replied I was thinking more along the lines of prototype eq. and what changes the players made that week pertaining to how the course is set up. Kinda like GolfwrxTV....

God Bless
Jer

I like the idea. I would watch each week.

I believe that a show like this would have some appeal to people on this site. But we are a very small minority of the golf world, and sadly enough only rate websites like this not expensive media outlets like television.

One other big problem would be that as soon as the truth that all of this stuff that we are so preoccupied with- Like Diamana Blue Board 53x vs. Diamama White Board 83s- makes absolutely no difference to the number we write in the box on the score card, we will all have to find new hobbies.

I saw that someone wrote "it would be cool to have GolfWRX'rs come out and hit some shots", I also saw somone who said "where do I sign up for the averager player fitting"- What is hilaraious is that when these things happened, an educated fitter- which no one on this site is- would reccomend equipment built much closer to the major manufacturers specs with a soft, 65 gram, low kick, hight torque value shaft, in a clubhead with maximum perimeter wieghting, the lowest center of gravity possible and a ton of loft.

And also- the reason that all we ever get from TGC looks like an infomercial- Callaway, Nike, Taylor Made are paying the bills along with Golfsmith and Edwin Watts and they don't carry products like- Nakashima, mitsushiba or scratch.

That is a very uneducated statement. There are more than a few very qualified PGA fitters here from every major OEM on this site not including some of our Sponsors as well. Also, you really don't know the player profile of who's posting as some are very accomplished players as well. Your general gist of your statement has some merit but, your general comment is not even close.

I have to agree with Ryan here, I was fitted by Cleveland for 8.5* Launcher 460 Ti with a Pro Force V2 65X, and I'm sure there are guys here far, far, far more accomplished than I am.

Do take into consideration, most guys that are this into golf spend lots of time studying not only equipment, but swing mechanics, so they're a rather educated lot when it comes to equipment.

I'm some times even shocked at how some people on here know the various intricacies of how various golf balls spin from one brand to another, it's pretty damn impressive.

You have to remember, stock shafts are chosen because the fit the most wide variety of golfers, it's a shaft that will work for most, but not the best for everyone.

We like Woo's idea of letting the smaller companies share some time with the Big 5

Great idea and I'd love to see it happen but meaningful data would be a deal breaker; comparisons between rival OEM products and possibly old and new products from the same OEM would cause endless concern.

Make it meaningful by 1. showing what each OEM's technology is designed to accomplish and how it meets the needs of golfers with weakness in that area and 2. allot time demographically, not democratically. Don't evenly divide 12 hours/year of programming into 3 hours each for low, med and high male h/c and women. 3. Court women. Give them real help and increase viewership. At least split them into athletic and recreational groupings.

Show a golfer's normal slice then show results with a bunch of closed-faced drivers
how an 80mph swing benefits from 12* or 14* drivers or a senior flex
how different GI or Super Game Improvement irons improve trajectory vs blades or players clubs.

People don't need winners, they need answers. OEMs are providing those answwers but they need an unbiased, non-critical format to demostrate that their products can and do make a difference.

If done right, there won't be time for accessories. Clothes? OEMs can provide wardrobes in return for logo exposure and a slow-scroll credit.

I'd dump Business News ... boring and outside the scope. Let the WSJ announce ELI's down 3 points
I'd also dump commentary... somebody's take on equipment rules is useless speculation and counterfeit clubs are the OEMs' problems. Solve viewers have problems with their game. If you have that much time, discuss golf shoes, which is likely to provide more comfort to the average golfer than any diatribe about excessive spin.

Good luck!

When dviding up time segments for each show, there are some repeating spots, and at the same token we are looking at the spread over 20 to 26 shows. Each OEM covered once, small manufacturers grouped in two or three shows. Different features. Different club tests. In the beginning there will be topics of interest not covered, but we hope by displaying a program schedule on-line for an entire season, people can see where their subject will be covered.

There are some restrictions. We would want to make the product in each show relevant, therefore you can't tape 25 shows before you begin aring the first show. You have a few in the can and keep taping. Due to travel this would require some groupings. Meaning when featuring OEMs, if you start on the west coast, you need to throughly cover the OEMs large and small that are based in Southern Cal. You can fly personalities back and forth, but crews need to stay put until their done. This might make some people impatient waiting for say a Georgia based OEM to be featured. But again, if this is coordinated with the on-line web-site, hopefully knowing what is coming up, will help. Another benefit of airing before all shows are taped is the ability to change features and segments that are not working or well received. Also increasing other spots that people ask for more time.

It is understood that there have been equipment and product show in the past that have been dissappointing, but we are still convinced that there is interest and a market for this. For those who have been let down and might indicate "Somewhat or No Interest" isn't best to keep trying out formats until one succeeds as opposed to giving up on the idea entirely? Thanks

I'm one of those who voted No Interest - why? Because I get more information from GolfWRX when I want it and months ahead of time.

You've clearly put time into the logistics of it. But what about the content and target market? That's what I'm curious to hear about. In a 30 minute show with a 20 minute "news hole" how are you going to cram all this information in? You have an ambitious plan. However, even if it was an hour, you're trying to cover so much in so little time. I can't see it being much more than a cursory glance. It sounds like you have three individual shows under the umbrella of one. A clubfitting show, an OEM perspective, and a club testing one. Also, Golf Channel has really seemed to avoid serialized shows - such as the clubfitting one would be prior, fitting, and results. How would you overcome this?

Secondly, how interested are folks really in equipment. GolfWRX represents a minority of the golf obsessed, how do you obtain main stream appeal? How will it be entertaining? 30 minutes of technical jargon is just going to put average Joe to sleep. Golf Channel in itself is in a pretty severe niche market. Further subdividing it is risky.

Just out of curiosity, why do you think "What's in the Bag" is hardly ever aired on Golf Channel? To me it really seems they want to focus more on Tour coverage than anything else these days.

Just some questions you'll likely face from prospective sponsors and program managers.

Like watch as long as Adam Barr isn't the host. That guy is a tool.

Great questions and comments. The very reason that we are bringing the idea to this web-site. There is greater detail, but we can only share so much as much of it is copyrighted so of course we need to keep much of the information confidential. Such items as Detailed Program slots and Storyboards.

We fully understand how many will feel that this is a pipe dream. I agree. We are new, and out of approximately twenty or so ideas (related to golf retail), we have had exactly one great success and one mild success. Kind of like golf itself. Just enough good shots to keep one trying and pumped up.

Of course we do have confidence in the basis of the proposal, otherwise why would we even try and have gone this far? Again, thanks for all comments and keep 'em coming!