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TaylorMade makes big investment in its golf balls

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TaylorMade will invest $13 million in building a new 120,000-square-foot ball manufacturing plant in Liberty, S.C.

With the investment, TaylorMade is making its push to become a major player in the golf ball industry; an industry that is already saturated with products from many other manufacturers. While Titleist has a stranglehold on the top spot on the PGA Tour with its Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls, this move from TaylorMade could be the first move toward closing its gap to Titleist.

Already known to have an extremely advanced Research & Development department, the new plant will include a state-of-the-art R&D lab, which will look to take an already quality product even further.

The release of its new Lethal golf ball, one of the few five-layer golfs ball on the market, was received with overwhelmingly positive reviews among TaylorMade staffers. According to a company press release, Lethal sales have been higher than any Tour ball in company history through the first two months of the year, and its is currently the No. 2 golf ball played on the PGA Tour.

The move to a new plant will also improve the company’s profit margins by streamlining the ball-making process with new energy-efficient and eco-friendly machines. TaylorMade is also expecting much lower costs of maintenance.

“We are getting a new building in a booming area that will improve our unit production, quality and margin position,” said John Kawaja, TaylorMade’s executive vice president, in a press release. “Most important, we are committed to keeping jobs in South Carolina.”

The company currently manufactures its golf balls 26 miles away from the new site in Westminster, S.C. The new plant will replace the 52 year-old facility, but the company hopes to retain and add to the 90 workers currently employed at the plant.

The plant will serve as TaylorMade’s North American ball production headquarters. It is expected to manufacture 2.5 to 3 million dozen balls per year, compared to the 2 million dozen currently being produced.

Construction will break ground in May with an expected opening of the plant in January 2014 and a complete transition to the new building by July 2014.

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Grant Shafranski is the Program Director for the First Tee of Minneapolis and Head Teaching Professional at Hiawatha Golf Club in Minneapolis, MN. He is a Level 2 PGA Apprentice following a successful amateur career where he played collegiately at Division III University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN).

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Billie Canuck

    Mar 27, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    At least get your years right…! 2014? Wasn’t that last year? Good job proof reading folks

  2. Joe Golfer

    Apr 15, 2013 at 12:08 am

    Good ideas in the comments section.
    The name “Lethal” makes it sound like a purely distance ball, despite it being a multi-layered high end ball.

  3. J

    Apr 13, 2013 at 12:51 am

    TM TourS

    TM TourX

    Just a thought… Improve the performance year after year

  4. Jack

    Apr 11, 2013 at 11:54 pm

    True. I get confused and think none of them are top of the line. Like Callaway calls them Hex … I just checked and they have a million different Hexs. NVM.

  5. DJ Golf

    Apr 11, 2013 at 8:38 pm

    They need to choose a name for their top-of-the-line golf ball, something similar to “PRO V1”. A singular, recognizable name for that specific ball. Every year it’s a new ball with a new name. Wanna catch Titleist?
    Mimic them.

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Whats in the Bag

Wesley Bryan WITB 2024 (May)

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  • Wesley Bryan what’s in the bag accurate as of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana GT 50 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana GT 60 X

Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus Rescue (19.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Blue 8 X

Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Takomo 101U (4), Takomo 101T (5), Takomo 301 CB (6-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 52-08F, 56-14F), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (58-A)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: L.A.B. Golf DF3

Grips: SuperStroke, Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

More photos of Wesley Bryan’s WITB in the forums.

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Why Wesley Bryan is playing two 4-irons this week

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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. 

…Flash forward to THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson 2024 at TPC Craig Ranch in Texas, and Bryan is still playing with a mixed Takomo set, except he’s added a new 101 U 4-iron, plus a Titleist T200 4-iron, and he’s dropping his 5-iron.

That bears repeating: Bryan is switching to an iron setup that consists of two 4-irons and no 5-iron.

On paper, that looks wrong, but when you look at yardage gapping instead of the number on the sole of the iron, things start to make more sense.

As Bryan explained to GolfWRX.com on Tuesday in Texas, his Takomo 301 CB 6-iron goes about 195-200 yards. Then, his new hollow-bodied Takomo 101U Driving Iron, which he recently started testing “a couple weeks ago” and bent about 2 degrees weak, goes about 220 yards, and the Titleist T200 4-iron goes about 235 yards.

Speaking on his new Takomo 101U Driving Iron, which sells for $119, Bryan had this to say:

“It’s super forgiving and launches high, and it has a bit longer of a profile to where it looks really good,” said Bryan. “If people are willing to play something that doesn’t have an expensive price tag on their club…[I started testing it] in the last couple weeks and it’s in the bag.

“I just made it like 2 degrees weaker. Basically that gap from 205 to 225 I was in a little bit of a dead space, so I’m going to try and fill that gap better.”

Check out Wesley Bryan’s full WITB here.

Read the rest of the article at PGATour.com. 

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Most forgiving players irons? – GolfWRXers discuss

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In our forums, our members have been discussing players irons. WRXer ‘NorthTXGolf’ is on the hunt for some new irons but is putting a priority on forgiveness, and has reached out to fellow members who have been sharing their thoughts and advice on the subject in our forum.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

  • Sam217: “i230 has got to be one of the most forgiving players irons available. Cobra King Tour another. Don’t sleep on the New Level 480 DB coming out soon.”
  • RangeBaller: “ZX5/ZX7 and i230 should definitely be in your testing pool.”
  • YAMS49: “Another I210 homie here… Very highly recommended if you want/need spin and a consistent yardage.”
  • golf-RN: “I second the Cobra King Tour irons. I am not the greatest ballstriker by any stretch of the imagination and I find the King Tours very forgiving. Toe strikes might lose 5 or 6 yards with no directional loss. You definitely feel the miss though lol but mishits from the center aren’t punished too hard regarding distance.”

Entire Thread: “Most forgiving Players irons? – GolfWRXers discuss”

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