Earlier today on the THP Forum we broke a story about Justin Rose testing new equipment, despite being under contract with Honma Golf. Throughout the day, we spoke to many around Rose that confirmed our story.
Rose, who earlier this year switched out his driver, is now testing the rest of the clubs in his bag. While he is not a free agent, the different tour vans were building a plethora of options for the former #1 to test.
Updates came in the THP Forum and will continue over the next few days and you can follow along with all of them as they happen here. Jump into the conversation and give us your thoughts on what he will put in the bag.
Maybe Mars has the answer.
I think Phil went from Titleist to Yonex. Then he went to Callaway.
Other way. Yonex, Titleist, Callaway.
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I know I suck and the new clubs aren’t going to help but you’d be hard pressed to find me with the same 14 in the bag for more than say…… 3 rounds without something changing
Then I guess I would say don’t sign a contract to get paid to do that, right?
With that said, the reason that this one is so interesting is it reminds me a bit about a kid signing on to play for a school and then the coach leaving before he gets there.
The flip side being that he is a professional and charges a lot to use his likeness. He pimps grips, clubs, and everything else under the sun for a fee and there is nothing wrong with that. But if you sign on the dotted line, barring them violating that somehow, play it or give them the money back.
Kind of reminds me of this…
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i’m sure there are some financial penalties for breach, and that’s fine. but if you’re saying he should give ALL the money back, i’m not sure that’s fair. his likeness gave honma the ability to grow and market themselves to be a larger force in the western and maybe European markets. there was mutual benefit. maybe a prorated penalty.
Absolutely. To play devil’s advocate, let’s say you sign a player and you are working with in a slow build towards the big climax of a launch. He is working wearing the logo during that time, but the payoff hasn’t come yet. What do you do?
The damage from walking could be much larger than any logo wearing and minor appearances that have been done to date, right?
I want to note I am speaking hypothetically.
He is not playing their clubs, but is rocking their logo. I have no idea what that means.
That is something that my instructor is getting me to do with the driver to make sure the face isn’t wide open…..I am going to have to stop doing it before my game falls completely off a cliff
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(Photo courtesy of theplayerschamp on Instagram)
Means things are likely being tidied up in court I would guess.
Now i see the problem (his top button is buttoned). Gotta let the neck breathe, JR!
I believe JB and others have suggested that there will be a press release at some point in the near future.
No idea where he ends up but if he’s looking, PXG just lost a few names with their restructuring….
It seems to me just about every player that switched to PXG took quite awhile to adjust to them and play well. I can’t remember any of them winning almost immediately when they switched the way Rose did with Honma.
That said this just can’t be good for Honma andRose’s reputation takes a hit too in my book
an exit. Bubba signed with Volvik and took an exit and went back ti the Titleist ball. Normally you see guys
changing at the end if the year, but I’m sure their are other cases where guys quit mid season, not just
currently come to mind other then the example mentioned regarding Bubba.
It may or may not. Can’t really tell at this point. These guys play at such precise margins of error that the equipment could really affect their results.
It is annoying to watch. You would think they could do it on their practice swing before they set up over the ball.
My XP-1’s are a full club longer than my Mizuno Hot Metals BTW. I got to believe that the clubs they designed for him were a perfect fit for him.
Or maybe they find it works better like that, and aren’t that concerned about how their swing looks to others ?????
Doesn’t seem to be working better …
Honma Golf Limited ("Honma") announces that, following a successful partnership with the former No. 1 player in the world, Honma and Justin Rose have agreed that Justin will no longer be one of Honma’s brand ambassadors. We are proud to have been a key part of Justin’s journey to regain his position as World Number 1 in early 2019, including a win at the Farmers Insurance Open in his second event with Honma equipment in play.
"For over a year, Justin worked closely with our team to help develop innovative and top performing lines of Honma woods and irons. His pursuit of perfection, approach to product testing and feedback has produced great value to Honma. Justin’s expert input and desire for maximum ball speed inspired our team to make the Honma TR20 460 and 440 drivers among the fastest drivers in the game. Consistently, and excitingly, our nationwide team of fitters are seeing the new TR20 460 and TR20 440 drivers produce some of the fastest speeds on the market. We wish him the very best in his pursuit of more majors and career success," said John Kawaja, President Honma Golf North America.
"I have enjoyed working with the Honma team and collaborating closely with them to design and develop excellent golf equipment. I was able to see firsthand the innovations that the craftsmen at Honma bring to their clubs. I am hopeful that during our time of partnership, we have laid the groundwork for Honma to continue to expand their brand. We both feel it is the right time to pursue our own paths," said Justin Rose.
But I don’t think even they know what the Hell theyre doing right now.
Yes Mark King came in, and Rose signed.
The company moved offices from Huntington Beach to Carlsbad, hired some different people and resumed.
It will be very interesting to see what the next move is, because their main player leaving and the way he did is a poor look. The flip side is, in the US at least, does anybody care what Justin Rose in current form plays?
Now if he goes somewhere and immediately shows success, there is marketing material gold there. But his dumping and going back to Taylormade gear in the short term did little.
I believe he works for Taco Bell now.
I have no idea if Justin Rose tries and resigns with Taylormade or if he does the free agent thing for awhile. Being able to play a putter of his choosing was one of his cited reasons for going to Honma. Will be interesting to see what happens but the main thing Rose needs to do is regain some form.
do we have any comparative sales data before and during justin rose’s time with them?
It went up. It would be hard to say because when he came they also started advertising and brought new equipment.
To me their biggest issue isn’t the equipment, but their marketing. The core golfer has no reason to try Honma because they aren’t talking to them.
Well that is just about the nicest breakup announcement I’ve ever seen.