Equipment

Q&A: IonLoop co-founders Bob and Melissa Gotfredson

Published

9 years ago

Jan 29, 2015

If you’ve ever wondered about the rubber bracelets world No. 1 Rory McIlroy wears on his right wrist, you can stop now. Bob Gotfredson, founder of IonLoop told me:

[quote_box_center]Rory McIlroy wears the Ion Thins. He wears a David Yurman bracelet, and he puts our Thins on either side of it. We don’t have any kind of agreement with Rory, he just likes our product.[/quote_box_center]

It’s a ringing endorsement for the five-year old brand, which Gotfredson—a co-founder of Trion-Z—started with his wife Melissa five years ago out of a desire for a U.S.-based and focused ion technology company.

I spoke with the pair about the company, its products, and what we can expect in the future.

How it started

Bob Gotfredson: We started this company because we’re entrepreneurs, and we wanted a U.S.-owned company.

IonLoop vs. the competitors

BG: The biggest difference is a design philosophy. The Trion-Z product is designed and developed in Osaka for the U.S. market as well as Japan. Our products are designed and developed here in Texas for the U.S. market. The technology is similar, but it just comes down to: It’s got to be fashionable … as well as functional. I think we bring a different fashion viewpoint.

We’ve developed bracelets for Adidas globally, and also TaylorMade and Adams. We do a lot of corporate business, and we have a very active web presence.

Best-selling items

BG: Original IonLoop bracelet: Silicon band with two magnets. It was the original bracelet we started with and it remains very popular. I think our most popular bracelet is the braided black. It’s a silicone bracelet that looks like a braided bracelet, but it has the durability that you can wear it in the water.

Newest items

BG: We have Ion Thins, which are just small, thin negative ion bands with no magnets that you can mix and match. Those come in 14 colors. You can pick out your four favorite colors to match your team or country. They’re very comfortable to wear. People wear them with other bracelets as well.

The biggest step we made outside of the bracelet area was the Ion Time watches, which just have been really well received.

Melissa Gotfredson: They’re silicon with infused tourmaline in the backplate, and we are patent pending on that technology. We’re excited about that. We’re the only ones who have a watch that offers that technology. It’s a unisex watch. It’s very lightweight. And I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface with it.

IonLoop-watches

BG: And it’s fashionable. Comes in five colors. We’ve been advertising on Morning Drive and have had great response on the watch.

This past week we introduced leather bracelets, which have negative ions and a magnet clasp. The negative ions … are infused in the band. It’s an eight-strand leather design. Most leather bracelets in the market place are four-strand. And they’re thicker and kind of bulky. This is a fine gauge bracelet that looks like it might cost $200. We retail them for $45. Again, a fashion element using our technology.

ionloop-braided-

Negative ion technology

BG: Negative ions are found in nature as well as positive ions. Positive ions are the bad ions, so it’s counter-intuitive. Positive ions come from the sun in the form of UV rays and they fatigue your body.

A number of years ago in Japan, golfers found that if they wore negative ion bracelets …they would have more energy and focus as they turned the back nine after being out in the sun all day. So they became popular in that marketplace and transitioned over to the rest of the world.

What’s also interesting is that negative ions counteract the effects of positive ions that come out of your computer screen. If you’re in front of a computer screen, you’re getting bombarded … sitting in front of that thing all day just fatigues the hell out of you.

Hewlett-Packard, in England, is doing a great deal of research into trying to find a way to block the positive ions from these computer screens. They haven’t come up with it yet, and until they do, everybody at a computer should have something on that produces negative ions. Cell phones, computers, anything electronic is giving off positive ions.

Why not?

BG: Really, when you think about it, for $20 or $45 on the leather bracelet, they look good anyway. Hundreds of millions of people wear bracelets. The bracelet business in the U.S. is estimated to be $400 million a year.

So, there are a lot of bracelets out there…the ones that have technology, why not try them? It’s a small investment and it might be helpful. They really don’t wear out either. The magnets don’t wear out. We’re coming on six years here and the original bracelets are still running at about 90 percent output.

On Tour

BG: We do not have endorsement deals with any players on the PGA Tour because they like to wear our bracelets anyway. The TaylorMade bracelets are in the tour trailer every week.

Zach Johnson, we were involved with him and his charity, so he wears our bracelets from time to time. Ryan Palmer wears them every week. Butch Harmon, we sent him some of our leather bracelets and he loved them. Lexi Thompson loves the bracelets.

We do them for the U.S. Open every year and they go in the players’ bags and the wives’ gift bags. We do them at the PGA Championship as well.

What’s next

BG: From a bracelet standpoint, we’re going to continue to innovate and come up with new and unique products similar to the leather bracelet. We’re going to have some more watch offerings coming out in 2015.

We’re always developing new products. There’s three or four new bracelets that are in the works. We’re constantly looking to innovate.

You can check out IonLoop’s website here.

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Ben Alberstadt

GolfWRX Editor-in-Chief

17 Comments

Aexis

Nov 6, 2016 at 5:35 pm

Found this IONTIME.COM

Reply Report comment
George

Mar 6, 2015 at 12:49 pm

Magnet therapy has been around for many decades. The people leaving negative comments need to do some research instead of giving uninformed bias opinions. Even the FDA has acknowledged the benefits of magnet therapy. Two recent devices approved by the FDA that use magnetic therapy for health.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004658/fda-approves-magnetic-helmet-treating-depression

http://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/news/20131215/fda-approves-new-magnet-device-to-treat-migraines

Reply Report comment
TS

Feb 1, 2015 at 10:38 am

Lydia Ko just became the youngest woman ever on LPGA to be #1 in the world…no articles on that, but hey we’ve got this.

Reply Report comment
Bob

Jan 31, 2015 at 2:52 pm

GolfWRX, sponsored by SnakeOil Co.

Reply Report comment
Rodger Maltbee

Jan 30, 2015 at 7:42 pm

I think urine has negative ions in it. Peeing on yourself is more effective at battling positive ions than this product.

Reply Report comment
SM

Jan 30, 2015 at 2:59 am

Copy, copy copy. All these monkeys can do is copy the amazing stuff that comes out of Japan, as usual.

Reply Report comment
Marc

Jan 30, 2015 at 12:33 am

GolfWRX should be ashamed for their part in promoting trash like this. You just spent some goodwill earned from your readers. Seriously,Mifsud you continue down this path, you’re going to damage your credibility and reputation. Wake up and make good decisions, people.

Reply Report comment
Rodders

Jan 29, 2015 at 2:25 pm

So a mum and dad company headed by Bob and Melissa can discover how to counteract these positive ions but Hewellet-Packard can’t. Right, that makes sense.

Why don’t hp stick half a dozen of these bracelets to the screens then?

The only positive thing these bracelets destroy is your bank balance!

Shame golfwrx.

Reply Report comment
Zac

Jan 29, 2015 at 1:01 pm

GolfWRX has really hit a new low now, shilling for companies that engage in blatant misleading claims. I’m actually shocked the scam artists purveying this junk aren’t afraid of suffering the same legal fate as PowerBalance, who had to write an apology letter in Austrailia that read:

In our advertising we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility.
We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund.

If people actually “swear by these items” claiming some kind of “benefit”, they need to be openly mocked so as to prevent the proliferation of this age-old scam.

Reply Report comment
ParHunter

Jan 29, 2015 at 12:41 pm

If this isn’t a paid for article then I don’t know. The article should have a big ‘Advertisement’ sign at the top. What’s the next article, Voodoo dolls for golf?

Reply Report comment
ER

Jan 29, 2015 at 12:39 pm

What a terrible interview. Go ahead and don’t ask real questions. This company, like all other predecessors, is selling snake oil. Shame on GolfWRX for giving a sham company publicity.

Reply Report comment
Alex

Jan 29, 2015 at 12:32 pm

These companies get sued into bankruptcy whenever they get big enough to attract attention in the first place. (see, e.g., Power Balance, Q-whatever, http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/balance_bracelet_settlement.html)

As stated previously, there’s no evidence that this stuff has any benefit beyond a potential placebo effect. Your site’s representations to the contrary (“IonLoop products allow you to enjoy all the natural benefits of magnets and negative ions: quicker sports recovery, better sleep, stress management, natural energy, better concentration and focus, less stiffness and soreness…more!”), even coupled with poorly worded disclaimers about the “user experience” open you up to liability for deceptive advertising charges.

Reply Report comment
Scientist Golfer

Jan 29, 2015 at 11:57 am

Please listen to frendy. Many people swear by these bracelets but there is no, I repeat NO (NADA, ZILCH, ZIP), scientific evidence suggesting that these things actually do anything. If they “work” for you it’s entirely due to the placebo effect.

If you are going to wear these things, do it because they look cool, not because of their effect.

Reply Report comment
- frendy
  
  Jan 29, 2015 at 2:39 pm
  
  Yes and no. Sure, there is no evidence to back up the claims of these wonder bracelets, but let’s not discount the placebo effect. What people think about the potential benefits/medicinal properties of accessories like these can have a marked effect on how they physically feel, and therefore *potentially* how they might play golf.
  
  So I say if you feel like these things are helping you feel better, by all means wear them. However, don’t make the claim that they are anything else than mind-body woo woo.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - ca1879
    
    Feb 2, 2015 at 2:50 pm
    
    Ben – you’ve really dragged your credibility through the dirt with this one. Hope you’re proud of shilling for such a transparent pile of nonsense.
    
    Reply Report comment
Jafar

Jan 29, 2015 at 11:15 am

There are ions out to get you.

Reply Report comment
frendy

Jan 29, 2015 at 10:47 am

Placebo effect very strong here. If that works for ya, great, but let’s not pretend that these bracelets and watches do anything more than look nice.

Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/30/24): Custom-Built Titleist T150s

Published

2 hours ago

Apr 30, 2024

Gianni Magliocco

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a set of Custom-Built Titleist T150s.

From the seller: (@boff2guy): “Custom T150s 4-PW built by People’s golf, w/Dynamic Golf Tour Issue X100 Black Onyx shafts. MCC Plus 4 Midsize. Only a few irons have been hit off the mat. Specs and Pics below. $1,150 shipped

4) 39.25 21 61
5) 38.75 24 61.5
6) 38.25 28 62
7) 37.75 32 62.5
8. 37.25 36 63
9) 36.75 40 63.5
PW) 36.25 45 64″

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Custom-Built Titleist T150s

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Streelman WITB 2024 (April)

Published

22 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Kevin Streelman what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X

3-wood: Titleist TSR3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

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

5-wood: Ping G (17.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 X

Irons: Wilson Staff Model CB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5

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

Wedges: Wilson Staff Model (48-08, 54-08), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-L @59)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (48), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (54, 58)

Putter: Scotty Cameron TourType SSS TG6

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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

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Equipment

Choose Your Driver: Which 2012 driver was your favorite?

Published

22 hours ago

Apr 29, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

The year was 2012. Gangnam Style ruled supreme, its infectious beats and ludicrous horse-riding dance moves hypnotizing us with their stupidity. Everyone was talking about the Mayan calendar, convinced that the end of days was near. Superheroes soared on the silver screen, with the Avengers assembling in epic fashion. Katniss Everdeen survived The Hunger Games. And the memes! The memes abounded. Grumpy Cat triumphed. We kept calm and carried on.

In much the same way that automotive enthusiasts love classic cars, we at GolfWRX love taking a backward glance at some of the iconic designs of years past. Heck, we love taking iconic designs to the tee box in the present!

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Check out some of the standout combatants of 2012 below.

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A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

Nike VRS

Often harshly critiqued during its years releasing golf equipment (right, Phil Mickelson?), Nike’s tenure in the club-and-ball business gets a gloss of nostalgic varnish, with many of its iron and putter designs continuing to attract admirers. Among the company’s driver offerings, the 2012 VRS — or VR_S, if you will — drew high marks for its shaping and toned-down appearance. The multi-thickness, NexCOR face was no joke either.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Callaway RAZR Fit

Callaway’s first foray into moveable weight technology (married with its OptiFit hosel) did not disappoint. With a carbon fiber crown, aerodynamic attention to detail, and variable and hyperbolic face technologies, this club foreshadowed the tech-loaded, “story in every surface” Callaway drivers of the present, AI-informed design age.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Cleveland Classic 310

Truly a design that came out of left field. Cleveland said, “Give me a persimmon driver, but make it titanium…in 460cc.” Our 2012 reviewer, JokerUsn wrote, “I don’t need to elaborate on all the aesthetics of this club. You’ve seen tons of pics. You’ve all probably seen a bunch in the store and held them up close and gotten drool on them. From a playing perspective, the color is not distracting. It’s dark enough to stay unobtrusive in bright sunlight…Even my playing partners, who aren’t into clubs at all…commented on it saying it looks cool.” Long live!

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Titleist 910

While there’s no disputing Titleist’s “Titleist Speed” era of drivers perform better than its 2010s offerings, sentimentality abounds, and there was something classically Titleist about these clubs, right down to the alignment aid, and the look is somewhere between 983 times and the present TS age. Representing a resurgence after a disappointing stretch of offerings (907, 909), The 910D2 was a fairly broadly appealing driver with its classic look at address and classic Titleist face shape.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

TaylorMade RocketBallz

The white crown. The name. You either loved ‘em or you hated ‘em. TaylorMade’s 2012 offering from its RocketBallz Period boasted speed-enhancing aerodynamics and an Inverted Cone Technology in the club’s titanium face. Technology aside, it’s impossible to overstate what a departure from the norm a white-headed driver was in the world of golf equipment.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.

Ping i20

Long a quietly assertive player in the driver space, Ping’s i20 was more broadly appealing than the G20, despite being a lower-launch, lower-spin club. Ping drivers didn’t always have looks that golfer’s considered traditional or classic, but the i20 driver bucked that trend. Combining the classic look with Ping’s engineering created a driver that better players really gravitated toward. The i20 offered players lower launch and lower spin for more penetrating ball flight while the rear 20g tungsten weights kept the head stable. Sound and feel were great also, being one of the more muted driver sounds Ping had created up to that time.

Check out our coverage from 2012 here.