Off Course – Srixon RKT is Here

Um, w- when it comes to your experience with, uh, Srixon Cleveland, how long have you been with the company, and have, has your role shifted much while you've been there?

Yeah, so I've been here about 15 years.

Um, started just as a research engineer.

I was mostly focused on wedges.

Obviously, our company has kind of evolved quite a bit s- in those 15 years.

When I was, when I started, we still had the Cleveland and Srixon, like, kind of two different staffs out on tour.

People were carrying Cleveland bags and Cleveland hats, and, um, we kind of went away from even doing, like, Cleveland long irons for a bit and focused on Srixon.

So it's been a big change, but yeah, started with the wedges.

Um, got involved with tour that way, and then, um, mostly as we started to bring the Srixon brand over to be the main club line of the PGA Tour or, and the US Tours and just all tours overall, it was, uh, but most of those PGA Tour players that hadn't seen and worked with the, the Srixon stuff as much, was trying to really evolve what Srixon products were for, and meeting the needs of these kind of US players and a bit kind of faster players, bigger, stronger players that the PGA Tour has been producing.

And, um, yeah, just trying to kind of make the, make the best products we can to, to fit their needs and then bring those out to the, to the US market as our, our Srixon brand has kind of, uh, has grown quite a bit in this, in this market as well.

Well, it sounds like a pretty good ride thus far.

Yeah.

And, and I think the, the interesting part about the way you're describing things is there's been a real evolution, especially on the ZX side of things and the iron side, as well as, like, really establishing yourself from a metalwood perspective.

Uh, I think wedges is always the obvious, uh, standalone, longstanding, h- highly structured product that, that people really, uh, seek out when they're looking at new wedges.

And then, um, you know, some of the other ca- categories have had more of an opportunity to sort of re-identify or fully identify themselves as people go and try them and are, are typically quite surprised by that.

I think the, uh, irons are the one that usually catches me.

People say, go out and hit it, like, "Holy, these, these are actually pretty impressive." Um, and, and, and I'd love to know, 'cause you talk a lot about the wedge side, and it sounds like that is sort of your origin story there, but when it comes to, um, this progression over time, first of all, I'd love to know what's in your bag, and then, uh, second of all, uh, how much you've seen this evolution change and, and how much you've enjoyed it, being a part of the company.

Uh, yeah, I mean, it's been amazing, the ride we've been on and just all of our brands coming here, and, uh, it's, it's been a bit difficult at times.

We've had so much product out there, but I think where we are right now with ZXR being a mainstream brand in the US and really have it, has its own demographic, and then having Srixon be our main club and ball brand out in the US, and then Cleveland being that short game authority, I, I think we're positioned really well right now.

So it's been, it's been a blast, and, um, just being able to kind of grow the Srixon products, and we, we kind of caught a lot of fire with our players' irons, and now, how do we take that momentum and kind of make a bigger splash within the, the, all the clubs in, in, in the retail side? And, uh, yeah, it's been the exciting part is kind of designing some new, new categories with the Z- ZX IR and the ZX I5 Plus and really, like, emphasizing what we do well on the players' irons and bringing it to a, a wider audience has been, has been huge for us.

And then on the wood side, it's, it's just a blast to, to really push the limits here, and kind of we've formed our own tour engineering team in this US market, um, and that's just allowed us to really dig into woods on the, on the Srixon side and kind of have different problems we're trying to solve that we weren't doing with Cleveland or that's a bit different than what ZXR focuses on.

So it's been a, been a blast, and we're kind of just getting going in terms of our, our team here and, uh, what we're, what we're pushing out there on tour and into the market with, with this Rocket Driver being the, the first one that you kind of see our, our fingerprints on.

And, um, yeah, just a, a big focus on improving the woods to, to get to where the, the irons are right now.

Um, w- when it comes to your experience with, uh, Srixon Cleveland, how long have you been with the company, and have, has your role shifted much while you've been there?

Yeah, so I've been here about 15 years.

Um, started just as a research engineer.

I was mostly focused on wedges.

Obviously, our company has kind of evolved quite a bit s- in those 15 years.

When I was, when I started, we still had the Cleveland and Srixon, like, kind of two different staffs out on tour.

People were carrying Cleveland bags and Cleveland hats, and, um, we kind of went away from even doing, like, Cleveland long irons for a bit and focused on Srixon.

So it's been a big change, but yeah, started with the wedges.

Um, got involved with tour that way, and then, um, mostly as we started to bring the Srixon brand over to be the main club line of the PGA Tour or, and the US Tours and just all tours overall, it was, uh, but most of those PGA Tour players that hadn't seen and worked with the, the Srixon stuff as much, was trying to really evolve what Srixon products were for, and meeting the needs of these kind of US players and a bit kind of faster players, bigger, stronger players that the PGA Tour has been producing.

And, um, yeah, just trying to kind of make the, make the best products we can to, to fit their needs and then bring those out to the, to the US market as our, our Srixon brand has kind of, uh, has grown quite a bit in this, in this market as well.

Well, it sounds like a pretty good ride thus far.

Yeah.

And, and I think the, the interesting part about the way you're describing things is there's been a real evolution, especially on the ZX side of things and the iron side, as well as, like, really establishing yourself from a metalwood perspective.

Uh, I think wedges is always the obvious, uh, standalone, longstanding, h- highly structured product that, that people really, uh, seek out when they're looking at new wedges.

And then, um, you know, some of the other ca- categories have had more of an opportunity to sort of re-identify or fully identify themselves as people go and try them and are, are typically quite surprised by that.

I think the, uh, irons are the one that usually catches me.

People say, go out and hit it, like, "Holy, these, these are actually pretty impressive." Um, and, and, and I'd love to know, 'cause you talk a lot about the wedge side, and it sounds like that is sort of your origin story there, but when it comes to, um, this progression over time, first of all, I'd love to know what's in your bag, and then, uh, second of all, uh, how much you've seen this evolution change and, and how much you've enjoyed it, being a part of the company.

Uh, yeah, I mean, it's been amazing, the ride we've been on and just all of our brands coming here, and, uh, it's, it's been a bit difficult at times.

We've had so much product out there, but I think where we are right now with ZXR being a mainstream brand in the US and really have it, has its own demographic, and then having Srixon be our main club and ball brand out in the US, and then Cleveland being that short game authority, I, I think we're positioned really well right now.

So it's been, it's been a blast, and, um, just being able to kind of grow the Srixon products, and we, we kind of caught a lot of fire with our players' irons, and now, how do we take that momentum and kind of make a bigger splash within the, the, all the clubs in, in, in the retail side? And, uh, yeah, it's been the exciting part is kind of designing some new, new categories with the Z- ZX IR and the ZX I5 Plus and really, like, emphasizing what we do well on the players' irons and bringing it to a, a wider audience has been, has been huge for us.

And then on the wood side, it's, it's just a blast to, to really push the limits here, and kind of we've formed our own tour engineering team in this US market, um, and that's just allowed us to really dig into woods on the, on the Srixon side and kind of have different problems we're trying to solve that we weren't doing with Cleveland or that's a bit different than what ZXR focuses on.

So it's been a, been a blast, and we're kind of just getting going in terms of our, our team here and, uh, what we're, what we're pushing out there on tour and into the market with, with this Rocket Driver being the, the first one that you kind of see our, our fingerprints on.

And, um, yeah, just a, a big focus on improving the woods to, to get to where the, the irons are right now.