Connect with us

News

Mitchell Golf Equipment Company seeking a buyer

Published

on

Mitchell Golf Equipment Company, industry leader in loft and lie machines and other golf club bending equipment, is seeking a buyer in hopes of absorption into a larger company. Reached by phone, company founder Ed Mitchell said consolidation would allow the Ohio-based company to reduce overhead and capitalize on efficiencies amid market contraction.

Michell, whose 1988 Steelclub Angle Machine was a custom club fitting game-changer, feels seeking a buyer is the best move for the immediate future, in light of larger industry trends.

“The golf industry has taken some hits and shrunk,” Mitchell said. “There’s still no growth in the industry. There’s consolidation still taking place. I feel at this point in time that Mitchell golf should be absorbed into some other entity to share expenses and overhead to maintain market share. That’s where I think a lot of other small golf companies are going to end up before it’s said and done.”

“With today’s economy in general and the lack of expansion in the golf market, it is time to merge Mitchell Golf products with another golf-related company….to continue to be competitive.”

Mitchell indicated that the decision isn’t a referendum on company performance, but rather, an acknowledgement of the reality of the marketplace: Increased operational costs, a shrinking market, and even with constant market share, the volume of sales is necessarily in decline. Add to that decreased markups industry wide, and it isn’t difficult to see why smaller companies in the golf space are suffering.   

If/when a buyer is found, sale will include the Mitchell name and its brands of Steelclub and TourGauge, as well as all trademarks, proprietary designs, intellectual property, inventory, equipment, fixtures, etc.

Your Reaction?
  • 48
  • LEGIT7
  • WOW9
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK4

GolfWRX Editor-in-Chief

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Chuck

    Jul 20, 2016 at 9:45 pm

    I’ve met Ed Mitchell. He is one of the most intense, earnest, honest, hardworking people in the industry. Check that — IN THE HISTORY of the industry. His business is a golf equipment treasure.

  2. George

    Jul 20, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    this is what happens when the middle class has to work more for less

    • Zachary Jurich

      Jul 22, 2016 at 10:24 pm

      Couldn’t have said it any better myself sir

  3. tlmck

    Jul 20, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    Dick’s could buy it and absorb it into Golfworks. It could be a good compliment to Maltby’s stuff.

  4. Tom

    Jul 20, 2016 at 3:22 pm

    Great products. Hope a competent buyer comes threw.

  5. Dennis Beach

    Jul 20, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    What Grizz said is true, but you could see it was coming. How many people do you know that play golf have Golfsmith clubs? I have played a set of irons(P2’s) and still play Golfsmith hybrids(Viper). I play Callaway woods and irons now. Everybody wants name recognition clubs and accessories in their bag. Golfsmith and small component outfits have a tough time selling and marketing their wares in the marketplace today.

  6. Grizz01

    Jul 20, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    The OME’s have one. They have taken out the little componet clubmaker and Mitchel is taking the hit. When Golfsmith stop selling, designing and making componets. The end was coming. Unfortunately now all that stands in the way of absolute domination is Golfworks. It’s a shame too, golf is once again becoming the rich man’s sport.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Equipment

Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

Published

on

Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

Your Reaction?
  • 2
  • LEGIT1
  • WOW1
  • LOL1
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK0

Continue Reading

Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

Published

on

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 Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

Your Reaction?
  • 27
  • LEGIT6
  • WOW2
  • LOL3
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP2
  • OB0
  • SHANK5

Continue Reading

Equipment

Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship

Published

on

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. 

So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.

After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.

Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.

According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.

“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…

“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

 

Your Reaction?
  • 18
  • LEGIT1
  • WOW1
  • LOL2
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK8

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending