Did Bridgestone stop selling clubs in the USA?

[theothertwo]

Can't find anything new, their catalog in the website features clubs from last year's JGR series?

[J. Breeze]

I guess its safe to say that they have completely abandoned/ghosted the US market club wise.  One would think with the success and cult like following  of the J15's, J40's and several others, they would entertain the idea of reviving such classics.  However, with the stiff competition of established house hold names that most people in the US gravitate towards, I would imagine it would be nearly impossible for a name like bridgestone to stay afloat and stay relevant.   

 

In contrast, Bstone seems to thrive and be in much more demand in the Asia market.  Last couple trips to Seoul, I seen plenty of people bagging various sets of Bstones. 

 

I personally have a set of Tour b CB's in rotation that I love and must say are some of the most buttery feeling irons Ive gamed.

[wobgon]

4 hours ago, theothertwo said:

Can't find anything new, their catalog in the website features clubs from last year's JGR series?

Yes.

[RogerinNewZealand]

Plenty of in the closet Bridgestone/Tourstage fans. Just got to keep looking for as new or old stock.

Got more J33cb january last year. One owner barely used 3...pw.😊

[coops]

They never seemed to bother marketing or selling their clubs in the USA even in the 'old' days when Tourstage was a very, very well respected and admired brand in Asia - whenever I popped over to the US (or UK) it was pretty  much impossible to find any of their clubs in any retail shop... whereas in Thailand they were well loved and plenty of excellent irons and drivers.

 

Then Bridgestone decided to kill their flagship Tourstage brand worldwide... and carry on not selling their irons or drivers in the West anyway even after lumping everything under the Bridgestone brand.

 

The clubs I saw in Thailand after the switch were also going down some kind of fugly rabbit hole... and they've even got more elusive over here in Bangkok. Perhaps they still have some presence in Japan but i fear they've butchered their club brand for good.

 

Great balls still - and that fits in well with their expertise in rubber and polymer sciences, so they're probaly ok with selling the consumables like balls...

 

If you're curious you can go to their Japan website to see what you're missing (there isn't even one now for the Thailand market)

 

https://www.bs-golf.com

 

 

 

[Ger21]

I think it goes back to around 2017 with their Tour B line, which they decided to market only through custom fitters. That didn't work out for them, and they basically abandoned the "players" market, and only offered their game improvement lines after that.

I played the Tour B woods and hybrids back then, as they were available brand new for next to nothing at the time.

[cgasucks]

I live in Vancouver, Canada and if you think you guys in the States got it bad, I've never seen a Bridgestone club sold retail in my 23 years of playing this game.   I've seen their balls for sale with no issues going back to their Precept days.  The only time I've actually seen a Bridgestone club in person was looking at Stuart Appleby's blades at the 2005 Canadian Open.

 

They could have sold a lot of their clubs if they just took the North American market a little more seriously.

Edited October 9, 2023 by cgasucks

[Drewhill44]

9 hours ago, Ger21 said:

I think it goes back to around 2017 with their Tour B line, which they decided to market only through custom fitters. That didn't work out for them, and they basically abandoned the "players" market, and only offered their game improvement lines after that.

I played the Tour B woods and hybrids back then, as they were available brand new for next to nothing at the time.

 

I believe this is correct.  I remember reading about Bridgestone abandoning the US market for their clubs because their Asian & Japanese Market is so strong, and the US market having a lot of variety.  They make great irons, but basically it's a cult following here in the US for the J33, J40, J15 iron lines(I played the J15 CB's for the last 4 years before switching this year). They decided to only focus on Golf Balls in the US and have a ball plant in Georgia.  Bridgestone did release new series of irons and wedges in 2022, but only in Asia and Japan.  There are a few reviews out there on those 2022 irons and you can find some for sale on the Bay.  

[Christen_The_Sloop]

I bet none of you have seen there recent Precept irons... They made a pretty nice mb last year I think it was too. I still use MR23 CBs. Looking at another set of Tourstage.

 

Totally agree about losing direction. The woods they put out now barely register. I don't think they are in the club biz to make money.

[subrew]

I'm up to four sets of Tourstage, Bridgestone and BIIM irons, and love them all.  I'm currently playing an odd-ball "motorsports" themed set of irons this week, and love the J33.

 

 

[theothertwo]

On 10/6/2023 at 12:10 AM, RogerinNewZealand said:

Plenty of in the closet Bridgestone/Tourstage fans. Just got to keep looking for as new or old stock.

Got more J33cb january last year. One owner barely used 3...pw.😊

I am one of them, I played J33CBs from their release date to last year, I still have them along with a 2011?  TourStage X-Drive 705 455 driver and an even older TourStage X-Drive 365 driver.  Great quality clubs.

[alpineto]

thinking of buying a set of there new CB's look really nice .

[dmeeksDC]

On 10/6/2023 at 5:57 PM, subrew said:

I'm up to four sets of Tourstage, Bridgestone and BIIM irons, and love them all.  I'm currently playing an odd-ball "motorsports" themed set of irons this week, and love the J33.

 

 

Great selection there and a cool old Bobby Grace putter too!

 

Which PRGR iron head is that? It looks good. Only have hit one of their irons and it was nice, one of the RS Forged irons from around 2015. 

[Retrop1]

On 10/6/2023 at 10:46 AM, cgasucks said:

They could have sold a lot of their clubs if they just took the North American market a little more seriously.

I don't know if a company the size of Bridgestone really wants to throw a ton of resources at a relatively small market, in which there are tons of great products already with virtually no market share. I think they did make a nice push at one point with the J15 and J33 lines and they were fantastic clubs, but it is a rough market to break into without a tour presence. Look at Srixon currently. They have a high quality ball, phenomenal lineup right now with irons, and a very good line of woods, but there market share is still quite small in those spaces and they have the funding of Dunlop behind them. 

[JungleJimbo]

On 10/7/2023 at 5:57 AM, subrew said:

I'm up to four sets of Tourstage, Bridgestone and BIIM irons, and love them all.  I'm currently playing an odd-ball "motorsports" themed set of irons this week, and love the J33.

 

 

That Yamaha catches my eye (albeit this is a "beauty parade' of JDMs). 

[WillyL]

Didn’t Kuchar play Bridgestone cavities for years?

[wobgon]

2 hours ago, WillyL said:

Didn’t Kuchar play Bridgestone cavities for years?

Yes.

[subrew]

7 hours ago, dmeeksDC said:

Great selection there and a cool old Bobby Grace putter too!

 

Which PRGR iron head is that? It looks good. Only have hit one of their irons and it was nice, one of the RS Forged irons from around 2015. 

 

Data 801.  I didn't choose that specific model for any reason, just wanted to try a PRGR set, and at the time these were fairly cheap from a ebay shop I've had success buying from.  Just a nice full cavity back.   

 

https://www.prgr-golf.com/archive_clubs/I-60-data-801-iron.html

 

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by subrew

[dmeeksDC]

19 minutes ago, subrew said:

 

Data 801.  I didn't choose that specific model for any reason, just wanted to try a PRGR set, and at the time these were fairly cheap from a ebay shop I've had success buying from.  Just a nice full cavity back.   

 

https://www.prgr-golf.com/archive_clubs/I-60-data-801-iron.html

 

 

Nice. I know that club. I like a lot of their heads. Some are pure forged, some are chromoly faces (they did it before Mizuno) for speed. They make quality clubs. I always liked the RS Forged lineup and I like the Tune 02 and the PRGR 02 iron they came out with in 2020 and just refreshed this year. It is high tech but it looks good:

 

 

 

[NicholasP]

Best irons I’ve ever played, and I’ve gone through plenty.  Have a brand new set of heads for when these have had enough.  Love the shape, feel, and flight off of them.