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PowerBilt moving the way of… Mixed Martial Arts?

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As the age-old question goes: Are golfers considered athletes? Ok, maybe not age-old. John Daly, Craig Stadler and even Jack Nicklaus put kinks in any argument that the stereotypical definition of athleticism is required to be a successful golfer. However, with athletes like Gary Woodland, Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods choosing golf instead of another “more athletic” sport, the argument now has some substantiality. The youth of today is seeing younger, more fit players taking the reigns of professional golf.

PowerBilt is taking the argument a step, a few powerful kicks and a choke-hold farther by signing professional MMA fighter Cub Swanson to their team to promote the company’s new Air Force One DFX driver and other new releases. Swanson is an avid golf who grew up in Palm Springs, Calif., and will help PowerBilt in their marketing campaign with an edgier personality.

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“We’re in the process of signing other extreme sport athletes,” said Ross Kvinge, president of PowerBilt. “Cub is the first because of his passion for golf and his connection to the local community. Cub gives us the opportunity to enhance the future of golf and the idea of golfers as athletes. In signing Cub, other MMA athletes, and additional extreme sports figures, we are reaching younger demographics to entice them to consider PowerBilt for their golf equipment. We are breaking the mold of who golf companies should endorse.”

Not only does the new campaign influence young athletes to take up the game, but it will help develop their bodies to become more powerful, specifically for the needs of a golf swing.

“PowerBilt will announce a power golf fitness program in 2014 that will showcase Cub and other extreme athletes,” Kvinge said. “The program will feature custom fitting instructions and extreme fitness techniques with the theme of ‘get your game power-built’ from the ground up with PowerBilt Golf.”

Golfers like Rickie Fowler, who engages himself in the motocross and extreme sports world, help to expand the horizons of golf and perception of the sport. PowerBilt is moving in a similar direction.

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“We need to get them off the electronic games and out on the course,” Kvinge said. “The youth are following the extreme sports athletes and we feel we can have an impact by reaching out through our athletes and introduce them to golf. PowerBilt will reach out to baseball players, MMA fighters, BMX, Motocross, surfers and snowboarders.”

The newest technology from PowerBilt represents the edgy quality of the company’s marketing direction and philosophy. The Air Force One DFX driver features Nitrogen N7 “Nitrogen Charged” technology, which is a newly patented method that reinforces the club face without adding weight.

The driver also comes equipped with a forged titanium body, titanium cup face technology and what the company calls an “aerodynamic clubhead shape.” It’s available in either a high MOI or Tour Series, with lofts of 8.5 degrees, 9.5 degrees, 10.5 degrees and 12.5 degrees. Both drivers are sold at retail starting at $299.99, with an upcharge for certain shaft models.

Maybe the PGA Tour won’t be stealing its tour pros from the UFC or NBA anytime soon, but the sport of golf is definitely moving in a more athletic direction with the help of PowerBilt, and a generation of younger, in-shape and body-conscious players.

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

16 Comments

16 Comments

  1. Anthony

    Apr 29, 2014 at 10:35 am

    Does anybody remember that Calloway tried something like this? Commercial with tattooed guy hitting a ball out of a trailer. Remember the Diablo?….?…..neither do I. Powerbilt is still Powerbuilt….the club that big box stores sell to people that are new to golf or don’t want to/can’t spend the money on name brand clubs. Good marketing try but I am going to stay with name brands a model year or two old or demo’ed and save some money.

  2. TheLegend

    Apr 26, 2014 at 4:15 pm

    This is why power built is being forgotten. What are they thinking? I could bring powerbuilt to new levels. This direction will only hurt the however.

  3. Dave S

    Apr 23, 2014 at 11:40 am

    I don’t get it… seems like they’re trying too hard. There’s not even a crossover at any point in the commmerical b/w the two sports. It’s just a guy doing MMA with a Powerbilt tee on and then pics of a driver interwoven. This could have been more effetive IMO had at the end the MMA guy changed into athletic golf apparel, pulled the driver, gave a mean look down the fair way and then crushed a drive.

  4. 3 putts

    Apr 22, 2014 at 3:18 pm

    Pay atention to most low handicap golfers. They often are the more than not a pretty good athlete. Comparing NFL players to pro golfers is apples vs oranges. It’s not even fair to compare a defensive back vs an offensive lineman. I think of Olympic athletes that throw javelin or dicus. It requires good form to optimize efficiency and maintain consistency. Are they athletes? Hard to deny if you see there physiques. Golf is like this. Can you do it and not be athletic? Sure, but don’t forget about that unathletic kid that played right field in little league. He played but prob wasn’t very good.

  5. Justin

    Apr 22, 2014 at 11:14 am

    I can’t see any of my buddies that are fans of MMA dropping 300+ bones on a driver with a bunch of tribal graphics.

  6. Elmo

    Apr 22, 2014 at 10:46 am

    Golf is a sport because physical training is will make you better. Those who are physically fit have an advantage over those who are not. You could play soccer while holding a beer and being 340 lb. You just will be out advantaged by those who are in shape. Therefore the difference between a sport and a game is wether physicality makes any difference.

  7. christian

    Apr 22, 2014 at 8:35 am

    Sport it is, just not an athletic one. Hand eye coordination and balance does not make you an athlete. That would be like calling throwing darts an athletic sport, or archery, fly fishing.

  8. Scooter McGavin

    Apr 22, 2014 at 8:22 am

    Are kids still into extreme sports? I thought the extreme sport fad ended a decade ago…

  9. Christian

    Apr 22, 2014 at 12:27 am

    That driver looks like it wants to take me into an alley n kick the s**t out of me..I’m scart.

  10. Miles

    Apr 21, 2014 at 10:08 pm

    Ok I’m sorry but did you proof this before posting? Additionally Rickie Fowler is into Motocross not BMX…

  11. RG

    Apr 21, 2014 at 9:27 pm

    If you can drink beer and smoke cigarettes while your doing it it’s not a sport it’s a game.
    If your waist is 46 and your length is 34, your not an athlete, but you could be a golfer.

    • MHendon

      Apr 21, 2014 at 10:57 pm

      That’s just a stupid statement. You can drink beer and smoke while playing any sport and I’m pretty sure there are some guys in the NFL and maybe even the major leagues with a waistline pretty close to that. If your only definition to what makes a sport running then I guess golfs not. But to me great balance, body coordination and hand eye coordination are very athletic traits. Elite golfers display if nothing else great hand eye coordination so its definitely a sport. Just look how unathletic golf makes some of the so called greatest athletes of other sports look. Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky almost look spastic and don’t even let me get started on Charles Barkley!

      • christian

        Apr 22, 2014 at 8:36 am

        How do you smoke and drink beer WHILE playing soccer, do a high jump, wrestle etc etc?

        • MHendon

          Apr 22, 2014 at 5:09 pm

          How do you do it while swinging a golf club, you don’t! its in the breaks between shots. Not different then a guy sitting on the bench in any other sport between action. Its just the moments of action in golf are shorter followed by longer moments in between.

      • TheLegend

        Apr 26, 2014 at 4:16 pm

        well said.

    • Jlam1127

      Apr 22, 2014 at 12:24 pm

      Well, look up Roy Nelson… he has just about a 46 inch waist and he’s a pretty solid athlete….and also the linemen in the NFL…

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

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With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

 

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OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play? 

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week. 

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

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