GolfWRX Catches Up With True Temper Sports!
GolfWRX had a chance to catch up with Chad Hall from True Temper Sports. Here's a brief intro about True Temper.
True Temper Sports is the leading manufacturer of golf shafts in the world and is consistently the number one shaft on all professional tours globally. The Company markets a complete line of shafts under the True Temper ®, Grafalloy ® and Royal Precision ® shaft brands, and sells these brands in over thirty countries throughout the world. True Temper Sports is proudly represented by over 1000 individuals in ten facilities located in the United States, Europe, Japan, China and Australia.
G.WRX- Hi Chad, Welcome to GolfWRX.com. How did True Temper fair this week on the Tours?
Chad Hall - Thanks for having me Ryan. Each week there is a good chance that a True Temper shaft will end up in the winner’s circle. Between the True Temper and Rifle / Project X shaft brands, we have virtually all of the iron shafts in play. At the end of the year, our iron shafts will claim over 95% of the tournaments contested on the PGA Tour.
G.WRX - Do you have the latest market share numbers for True Temper in retail and on Tour?
Chad Hall - Retail market share information is tough to substantiate in the golf industry, but we estimate our worldwide steel shaft market share at approximately 82%. Tour usage in iron shafts is at 98%. The wood shaft category on tour is much more highly fragmented with the leader averaging around 25% each week.
G.WRX - How is the acquisition of Royal Precision going? Will there be any delays in shipment of Project X shafts to OEMs?
Chad Hall - The acquisition has been going smoothly. Any time you bring together two separate companies there will be minor issues that must be addressed. However, we have not experienced any surprises and foresee no considerable delays of Rifle or Project X shafts to our customers.
G.WRX- Will any RP products go away?
Chad Hall - No different than our annual evaluation of the True Temper product line, we must make sure we are offering RP products that make sense to the consumer and company. However, there will be no significant drops to the Rifle and Project X product lines
G.WRX - How is the Bi-Matrix Proto different than the previous versions from years ago?
Chad Hall - We took everything we have learned over the past 5 years about launch angle and spin rates and put it into the new Prototype. One significant finding is that this technology dramatically reduces spin rates over graphite. This requires the player to maximize their launch angle (our recommendation is to increase driver loft) to capture the full benefits of the technology.
G.WRX - How has Black Gold fared? Is there as much buzz around it like Project X?
Chad Hall -There is certainly more buzz around the Project X franchise than Black Gold, but consideration must be given that Black Gold has been on the market for a very short period of time (9 months) while Project X is in its 4th year. We have seen over a dozen different PGA Tour players put Black Gold into play throughout the 2006 season. This is a strong usage number in year one because iron shafts are much more difficult to switch than wood shafts. As I’m sure you and your readers can appreciate, we all have a trust and comfort level with our iron shafts that goes much deeper than our wood shafts. Tour players are no different. This makes the task of switching them into a new iron shaft a difficult process that takes substantial time. In the end, we are very pleased with the sales of the shaft and will continue to promote on tour and in the marketplace.
G.WRX - Does TT have anything on the horizon for graphite shafts?
Chad Hall -
In the past TT developed graphite shafts (i.e. EI-70), but in recent years we have eliminated all graphite shafts under the TT brand to focus solely on the innovation of steel shafts. All graphite shafts are developed and marketed separately under the Grafalloy brand.
G.WRX - In TT's view, what will be big in 07?
Chad Hall - Grafalloy. Grafalloy. Grafalloy. I can’t give away my secrets, but keep your eyes open for something big.
Thanks for spending some time with us Chad. We will be checking back with you soon.
-G.WRX
Photo/Image Credits: © TrueTemper Sports
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