Equipment

When OEM finishes just aren’t good enough…part 1

Published

16 years ago

Jan 9, 2009

Nike Golf has really improved upon their golf products since entering the OEM golf equipment realm. I like my Nike wedges so much, except for the chrome finish, I decided a change to their looks was in order. This past season I gamed a set of forged Nike Pro Combo Tours with a somewhat matching set of Nike Forged Tiger Woods 56 and 60 degree sand wedges. They fit right in with my iron set, and from inside 100 yards I was deadly (well for me anyway) accurate with these wedges. Yet, something was missing in the aesthetics department. For me, a chromed sand wedge is akin to golf fashion faux pas.

I was now in search of a properly finished wedge so I wandered over to the SV wedge lineup (the Victory Red line wasn’t even a rumor at the time, and even now they are the wrong finish for me), I liked the SV’s more subdued finishes, but I liked the performance of my Tiger Woods wedges more. In short, I couldn’t stand the chrome finish on these wedges. Many times this summer the bright sunlight bounced off the wedge face and right into my eyes. I don’t wear sunglasses while paying so this became quite a problem. In my mind there were two possible solutions. The first, and least attractive solution was to switch to a different brand of sand wedge. A wedge with an oil can finish more to my liking, no thank you, I really like my Nike Tiger Woods wedge line up. The second solution was to figure out a way to change the finish on my wedges. Sure, we all see the guys on the forums who bust out the blowtorch in the garage and change the finish. What I really wanted OEM looking, or better because these wedges (and me) deserve it. The finish that Nike (and other OEMs on their stuff as well) had neglected to put on there in the first place. Spend some time on the Golfwrx forums and you’ll see a ton of refinished putters, wedges and even irons, all with aftermarket finishes better than what came on the golf club originally.

Here are my wedges, removed from the shafts and ready for shipping to Black Oxide Service.

You could also get in contact with Monica at Black Oxide Service, or also known by the acronym, “BOS”. BOS can do all types of refinishes to golf clubs. They offer options for carbon steel and stainless steel as well. Just ask via e-mail and Monica will send out a super neat power point with a ton of pictures showing new finishes and various paint fill options they have completed for their discriminating customers. The possibilities are almost endless. For me it was pretty straight forward and simple, wait until winter sets in, send of fthe Nike wedge heads to BOS for a refinish more to my personal liking, have them re-do the paintfill to my specs (this was the toughest part, deciding on paint fill colors) and then wait for them to arrive back in Ohio. Stay tuned for part two of this story, we’ll see the wedges up close and refinished and then go more in depth with Black Oxide Service and what they have to offer as well. Stay tuned!

Your Reaction?

LIKE0
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

Whats in the Bag

Maverick McNealy WITB 2024 (July)

Published

17 hours ago

Jul 26, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Maverick McNealy WITB accurate as of the 3M Open. More photos from the event here.

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 “Dot” (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD XC 6 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

7-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 8 X

Check out more in-hand photos of McNealy’s clubs here.

Irons: TaylorMade “Proto” (4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-08F, 54-08M), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-L @59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Check out more in-hand photos of McNealy’s clubs here.

Putters: Toulon Design Prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Check out more in-hand photos of McNealy’s clubs here.

Your Reaction?

LIKE1
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

Whats in the Bag

Sam Burns WITB 2024 (July)

Published

20 hours ago

Jul 26, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Sam Burns’ what’s in the bag accurate as of the 3M Open. More photos from the event here.

Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond S (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 TX

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond T (15 degrees @16)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 75 TX

Check out more in-hand photos of Sam Burns’ WITB in the forums.

Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Irons: Callaway Apex TCB ’24 (4-PW)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (50-12F, 56-14F @55, 60-08M)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 Tour Issue (56, 60)

Check out more in-hand photos of Sam Burns’ WITB in the forums.

Putter: Odyssey Ai-One #7SB

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align

Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour X

Check out more in-hand photos of Sam Burns’ WITB in the forums.

Your Reaction?

LIKE0
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

Equipment

Wesley Bryan on using 2 drivers last week and his “oopsie” hybrid

Published

20 hours ago

Jul 26, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from an article our Andrew Tursky filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over to PGATour.com to read the full piece.

It’s been well-documented that Bryan uses two 4-irons in his golf bag – including a Takomo 101U Driving Iron, and a Titleist T200 – but that’s not the only notable oddity throughout his bag.

As Bryan revealed on Wednesday, he actually played in last week’s Barracuda Championship with two drivers: a Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max, which has been his gamer throughout 2024, and a new Titleist GT2 driver. According to Bryan, the dual-driver setup allowed him to work the ball both ways off the tee more easily.

“One was a little more friendly to draw, and one was a little more friendly to fade,” Bryan said.

This week at the 3M Open, however, Bryan says he’s sticking with just one driver: the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max, which he enjoys for its forgiveness, especially on shots that he misses on the toe of the face.

“The reason I like this driver so much is… a lot of guys hit the ball in the middle of the club face; and, yes, that’s probably the way you’re supposed to hit driver. I try to utilize a lot of the face,” Bryan said jokingly. “You see…my tee marks go anywhere from (the center of the face) all the way to over here (on the toe of the face). So I like to utilize about an inch and a half of the club face here. The forgiveness on the toe of this driver is second to none, and again, I hit it pretty poor, as you guys know, off the tee most of the time, although it’s getting a lot better. This driver offers a lot of forgiveness.”

In addition to the driver movement at the top end of his setup, Bryan has also introduced a new Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max 3-wood into his lineup to match up with his driver.

“I had a (TaylorMade) Stealth 3-wood in there for a while, but I enjoyed the Ai Smoke driver so much that I got Johnny Thompson (a Callaway Tour rep) out here to build up a 3-wood as similar as possible,” Bryan explained. “This club was used just yesterday in a round to take some money off of Tom Whitney and Zach Johnson on the final hole. I drove it in the hazard, which is obviously not uncommon. Dropped it on a side hill in the rough from 265 yards, hit it to 10 feet… and made birdie the hard way. So this club, I’ve really been enjoying it; it’s been in the bag for about three weeks now.”

Bryan also uses a TaylorMade Stealth 2 hybrid, which interestingly ended up in his bag by accident last year.

“[My hybrid] was built just as a backup while I was waiting for my clubs to arrive [at the John Deere Classic last year], and I needed stuff I could go play the pro-am with, so this was just kind of an ‘oopsie’ hybrid… it turns out I love it. It’s been in the bag ever since.”