NEWS Justin Rose Removing Honma Clubs

My personal take is not in this situation. He was with a company for a long time. The CEO of TaylorMade left years ago and went to adidas North America. Rose was up for renewal. At the same time, that same CEO was brought into Honma as a consultant and the rest is history. Rose signs with Honma, King leaves for Taco Bell. Kawaja put in charge. Next couple of launches don’t go all that well (In my opinion).

Now here he is looking at some new equipment.

This is what I was thinking as well. Its political, not necessarily equipment based.
 
This is what I was thinking as well. Its political, not necessarily equipment based.
Either way, if he switches brands and suddenly starts performing better, that's not going to look good for Honma at all from a marketing perspective. Ouch.
 
Either way, if he switches brands and suddenly starts performing better, that's not going to look good for Honma at all from a marketing perspective. Ouch.

Agreed. (y)
 
This is what I was thinking as well. Its political, not necessarily equipment based.
Eh. I have several reasons to say debatable there. They've made some decisions on equipment designs that are questionable at best.
 
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Eh. I have several reasons to say debatable there. They've made some decisions on equipment designs that are questionable at best.

Sure, every company does. Remember, all equipment fits someone. Every company will miss once in a while in an attempt to gain market share and reach the end user. If they had stuck to their guns of high priced, super GI, Asian market driven equipment Rose may have never signed with them to begin with.

I cant think any of the questionable decisions they made affected him at all.
 
Interesting that the personal relationships have changed. People make deals with people. But still to make a change right now, abruptly at this point in a season, is surprising. The optics on this for Honma are brutal. Rose was the tour face of their equipment.
 
Sure, every company does. Remember, all equipment fits someone. Every company will miss once in a while in an attempt to gain market share and reach the end user. If they had stuck to their guns of high priced, super GI, Asian market driven equipment Rose may have never signed with them to begin with.

I cant think any of the questionable decisions they made affected him at all.

He is speaking of a rumor that their last driver was nothing more than a catalogue driver available to a number of different small companies. I can say Honma has denied this as patently false to me personally.
 
He is speaking of a rumor that their last driver was nothing more than a catalogue driver available to a number of different small companies. I can say Honma has denied this as patently false to me personally.

Fair enough, why not just say that then? No need to be cryptic. Plus I still guessing that had zero effect on Rose.
 
Sure, every company does. Remember, all equipment fits someone. Every company will miss once in a while in an attempt to gain market share and reach the end user. If they had stuck to their guns of high priced, super GI, Asian market driven equipment Rose may have never signed with them to begin with.

I cant think any of the questionable decisions they made affected him at all.
Oh, there are. Very much so.
 
Fair enough, why not just say that then? No need to be cryptic. Plus I still guessing that had zero effect on Rose.
Because I chose not to, isn't that enough of a reason?
 
Interesting. He has fallen off quite a bit since changing. Coincidence or not, will be interesting to see what happens with new sticks.
 
I guess so......
LOL, well I'll be sure to ask permission to stay vague from now on :LOL:

As to the clubs, its a big deal, and its a bad look for a company trying to establish themselves stateside who otherwise had no history of such questionable decisions and have put impressive emphasis on their designs within lines, theoretically.
 
I guess i'm of the opinion that this is a performance slump more than the equipment. But if he needs a switch to clear his head, so be it. It sucks for Honma because they seemed to have some really good juice, now they will slink away into oblivion, at least outside of the Asian markets.
 
Haha while that image is hysterical, I was speaking to a previous Honma driver.

I mean we saw it.
 
Surprised, but not surprised.
 
He is playing pretty standard blades and as often said here and about, there is not much of a difference in blades from any oem and they made them to his ideas allegedly.
Woods are a different world, but still has to do the same job and in his league again it is said if you hit it in the center not much difference. So to me it is all either between the ears or in the wallet.
 
He is playing pretty standard blades and as often said here and about, there is not much of a difference in blades from any oem and they made them to his ideas allegedly.
Woods are a different world, but still has to do the same job and in his league again it is said if you hit it in the center not much difference. So to me it is all either between the ears or in the wallet.

Maybe the ears affecting the wallet.
 
I have always loved the look of the Honma TW irons. The Rose Protos were beautiful. Whether they resembled other MB's out there or not. I haven't hit them, so I cannot speak to their quality in that regard. Woods are a tough business. If they aren't pushing the envelope like other OEM's would be hard pressed to get a guy to keep them in the bag if big paydays are on the line. And, if he's underwhelmed by their design or quality, even harder.
 
UPDATE

Spoke to someone at a shaft company that is out there currently. He said “it’s a feeding frenzy right now with clubs getting built for JR”.

I believe that we will see a complete change in some time. It could happen as early as Thursday.
 
UPDATE

Spoke to someone at a shaft company that is out there currently. He said “it’s a feeding frenzy right now with clubs getting built for JR”.

I believe that we will see a complete change in some time. It could happen as early as Thursday.

That is kinda fun. I bet there is some serious stress to try and get stuff in his bag.

If I was a betting man. I would say TM is the front runner here.

I don't really see Titleist, or Ping. Cobra does not seem like a match although I think he would make for a great pick up. Mizuno irons..... Maybe. He is good makes with Paul Casey and that is what he plays in his irons.

There is also the possibility of a mixed bag.

TM woods.
Mizuno irons
Vokey wedges
 
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