Justin Rose leaving Honma ???

[SUMM1T]

I posted this earlier, but will post again in response to this comment. I heard rumors that a little while back Rose flew in 5-6 coaches while in the Bahamas and gave them each a few hours with him to see who "worked best" with him. I don't remember who the coaches were. I'm not a huge fan of Foley. Though he's incredibly intelligent and great with TrackMan, I think a lot of his players end up getting too caught up in numbers and lose feel. Just my opinion.

[boulAAYYY]

if its true, I think its a good move from him. You're totally right, trackman number is not everything

[SUMM1T]

It would have been so awkward to be sitting there with 5 other coaches basically competing like they are on The Voice to get Justin's approval. Tiger tried the TrackMan thing for a little bit, but it messed him up so much. I'd love to see Justin get his game back, he seems like a good guy.

[adeangelis]

This whole thing with Rose and guys with entire bag deals sparked something in my head. A guy like Brooks, arguably the hottest player on tour the last couple years, hasn’t had a bag deal, but he has a clothing deal with Nike. I have to imagine that he gets more money for wearing their clothing than he would get from say, TaylorMade for playing their clubs, right? The obvious thought is “well do both.” However, if that Nike deal pays enough(I’m sure it does), why not just stick to clothing deals and play clubs you’re comfortable with? This goes for most guys. Maybe I’m wildly off base.

[QuigleyDU]

Part of the reason for not signing is when Nike got out of the hard goods business. They promised their staff they would pay out their contracts. Unless they signed a deal with another OEM. So Brooks is not being as altruistic as you may think. He is just getting to have his cake and eat it too.

he is getting the deal signed with Nike, but gets to play whatever he wants.

[adeangelis]

Ah, so you’re saying if Nike still made hard goods, Brooks and all those Nike guys would be forced to play Nike clubs? Or am I getting that wrong? My thinking was, these guys should sign clothing deals(I.e. with Nike, Adidas, UA), etc) and play whatever clubs they desire. Like Spieth, for example, because those clothing deals are with companies who probably play significantly more than TaylorMade or whoever else.

[GoGoErky]

Yes Brooks, Tiger, Rory and the other that had Nike deals would still be using Nike equipment per their contract. For some brands like TM their full staff members were signed to clubs and apparel. They had adidas apparel and TM clubs. For brands like UA it allowed Spieth to keep playing and sign with titleist because UA doesn’t make clubs.

When Adidas and TM split there were guys that were then able to sign other apparel deal like Day going to Nike.

 

[QuigleyDU]

Yes. They would depending on the length of their contract.

 

Jason Day was just a clothing deal. But Rory, Tiger, Tony Finau all had club deals.

Tony signed with ping, Tiger and Rory both signed with Taylormade. Now I think they are a bit different because Tiger and Rorys contracts were huge.

So I don’t know that signing with Taylormade really affected them.

[broth518]

As of even yesterday Rose was still sporting his hats with Honma logo's on them so I guess they worked out their issues?

[EricWGolf]

Probably hanging on until the season starts up again. It’s easy to honor the contractual commitment (to clubs he doesn’t like?) when there are no tournaments being played. Why breach the contract if he’s not competing?

[iNeedMoreGolf]

Ok this has just been confirmed. He wil be using driving burrito to sand taco wedge. Cinnamon twist face putter. Mountain dew ball. All in a cardboard cupholder bag. All seriousness i just bought honma tw 747p irons. Havent got to hit them yet as far as a course. They seem really nice. They seem soft for cast club. They are a touch loud i think but im not sure. If im noticing it then it must be something becuase i usually dont notice that. They are a game improvment iron that is much smaller then the rest. Basically a players distance iron with a tad more forgiveness. We shall see though. Ill know after a round. Good news is i have 90day play guarentee or i can pick another set.

[iNeedMoreGolf]

You know this has to be said more. The sooner you just play golf and stop tinkering and trying to find better the sooner your scores will be where you want. I think this applys to pros and weekend players. Im playing the best i ever have the past few years and thats since ive stop trying get "more lag" and "ball first" no matter what and "200 yard" sand wedge lol. The sooner you take out all of that and just replace it with logical thoughts that you can actually do the ball just starts flying how you intend. Basic things like squaring the clubface. Knowing your distances and what club to pull in what situation. Understanding different lies and how they will effect your shots. Sand shots. These are some of the normal things we should only focused on. The golf swing is pretty basic and easy if you make it easy. Its like baseball but on the floor and just take smooth cuts. Watching the pros makes you think you have to slam everyshot. Not true. Its very finesse kind of game. My longest drives are on some of the smoothest swings you wouldnt think would go more then 220 and thats because of better contact. Seeback in 1902 when i was 10... ok ok jk i will stop rambling now.

[JonnyKrasnodar]

It really does. Mark Crossfield did a lot of videos during his time under contract to Titleist with tour pros which showed how many of them are messing around with one little thing on their clubs.

It's so easy to focus all your time and energy on something trivial to the detriment of the rest of your game.

Rose looked shattered the last few events he played. He's worked to get where he is so there's an element of rigidity in him, not as natural a swing as most others. When the pressure is on you subconsciously become more deliberate, more rigid. I think that's why the more he searches the less flow he'll have.

Anyway it'll be interesting to see what irons he ends up using if he is indeed released from his Honma contract.

[dacatalyst41]

After seeing this, I just wanna know when Zach Johnson is moving back to Titleist.

[BCC1898]

If the contract is nullified, I can’t imagine he’d go anywhere BUT TM.

 

[adeangelis]

If Rose is really leaving Honma, I wonder if there is more to it than just poor play due to equipment. I feel like there has been a number of examples of players changing brands and struggling at first. I know when Rory first moved to either Nike or TM (I forget which, time just blends together at this point), he struggled really bad. Obviously, not all situations are the same, but I wonder if it could be a similar situation with JR. It's really only been just over a year...

[grm24]

Rose won quickly in 2019 using Honma irons and played pretty well with his Honma gear throughout 2019 though not near his level of play in 2017 and 2018. Started off 2020 well with 2nd place start in his first event but had 3 M/C and a T56 in his next 4 starts. One of those starts was with TM gear.

[Barracuda]

He also finished close to last with TM gear on the first round of the players, which was suspended...

[iNeedMoreGolf]

Either rose or someone around himself is jacking his game up.

[Jvoom30]

Definitely is not the irons haven’t tried Honmas other stuff but their irons and wedges are very good and when you put your name on a club you should stand behind it. This is in regards to the Rose protos. I would think the driver performs as I am not sure anyone really makes a bad driver nowadays. Especially in the hands of a major winner.

[endy]

The irons are VERY GOOD. Knocked my Z Forged out of the bag and that wasn’t easy to do.

[the bishop]

Has there been any statement from either side? According to bdmac79 in this post on March 5th: https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/comment/19383550/#Comment_19383550 Jonathan Wall reported that both sides would have statements but not till after the API out of respect for Arnold and his event.

[larciel]

Has he left yet?????!!!

[iNeedMoreGolf]

I am about to play with brand new honma tw 747p irons. First time playing honma irons. We shall see.. or else i have to fly out 7 8 pga coaches to interview and trash these irons.. because it sure wouldnt me as the fault. I am faultless as a golfer.

[Jimjam651]

We've known this has been coming for a long time but Honma have officially announced Justin Rose & Honma have parted ways!

 

Edit - statement attached

[grm24]

It's over. Justin Rose splits with Honma Golf, ends golf club endorsement deal

[titleistforged]

Everyone saw this coming, now finally official.

TM will prob jump on him and re-sign him, I bet

[Valtiel]

I dunno, its a weird position. Justin would need to be at the top of his game for anyone to want to pounce on him. Plus with the economic ramifications of COVID-19, I imagine most companies are going to tighten their purse strings for awhile.

[Barracuda]

He will be a free agent. He left TM because he didn't wanted to play their putter, he might play his clubs again, but I don't see him committing to anything right now.

Also, with the virus, I'm sure Honma is glad he doesn't need to pay him anymore.

[RedWings1]

Totally, agree that he'll stay a Free Agent for probably the rest of this year. With his Bank he doesn't need to jump to another OEM.

I'm sure Honma is glad they are not paying JR but this hurts their PR non the less. Bad PR is really hard to recover from. Fortunately their irons and wedges are awesome and they will be fine in the JDM market. Probably disappear in the NA market once all the stock is sold off. That's a bummer because their sticks are great!