Is TMs insistance on the Rombax

[bjrapper]

hurting the use of the 425 on the tour?

Recently saw on another forum the driver stats for a recent tourney that showed 56 TM drivers were used, of which 27 were the 425. I was quite surprised that less than half of TM drivers were the latest/greatest and I asked if people thought that TMs insistance on the use of the Rombax shaft was causing a lot of players to stick with other models. The thread seems to have been deleted so I don't know what the general thoughts were so I'd like to ask the same question here.
I'm really not much of a TM guy anymore but I have tried the 425 and I was very impressed with the performance of the Rombax. It would definitely be on my short list of drivers to consider.

[Oaks]

Could certainley be a factor as some players are very comfortable with certain shafts. Not sure though!

[nikemike]

TM could be trying to force a Diamana killer, but who knows for sure.

 

Thread deleted over that topic?? No doubt where that happened.

[bjrapper]

What I don't understand is why they would force a shaft at the risk of losing players using their latest club. Why wouldn't they simply have other shafts produced with the same color scheme as the Rombax. They have done this with previous clubhead models?

[sigmamason]

Bj,

 

tm has spent a ton of money on developing that head in conjunction with that shaft to match and unless you are under a shaft contract (Paula Creamer), they want you to play that shaft.

Now is it a case of starting to read their own press clippings, could be...

however, I would hope that common sense prevails and they allow players to play what works for their game and not tm's wallet...

 

Time will tell...

[Onebulldogs]

It is not stupid. New models do not exist for the sole purpose of keeping pros happy, they exist as part of a strategy to sell more equipment to people like you and I. They want to sell the $400 425 for $800 b/c of the Rombax shaft. They cannot do that if the pros are playing Diamanas.

 

As for having "other" shafts painted to look like the Rombax, why would other mfgs allow TM to pass off their prestige shafts as Rombax? If I ran Mitsubishi, I guarantee you would never see a Diamana like that.

[justinq721]

well bulldog said it great but its also true that many of TMs older drivers such as the tour r510 and r540 are simply great clubs, imo as good as the latest/greatest

[bjrapper]

But how does it affect TMs sales when the golfing public sees that more than half of their players aren't using the 425? Would the public not assume that the older models are just as good/better because they can't get the tour guys to use it and therefore lose potential sales?

With the original R7, the vast majority of all sales were the TP colored 757 yet the pros were using any number of different shafts with the TP paint scheme. The public saw that head/shaft (color) combo and had to have it.

[mngopher]

Absolutely right.....given the nature of a potential 425 TP buyer (someone who is knowledgeable), having tour pros using Diamanas, V2s, and Grafalloys, would diminsh the retail premium placed on the Rombax. If they change the policy for tour pros, they ought to bring different shafts to the retail 425 TP. Probably won't happen based on the $$ spent co-engineering the Rombax.

[hungrymarine]

At the Tavistock Cup, it looked like both Retief and Sergio were using the 425 with Rombax. I guess they are coming around.

[obagain]

The guys I talk to all are not happy with it. The same thing happened with callaway last year. They wanted all the players to use the FT-3 but most did not like it.

It will hurt in the end but if they can get the the top couple of players on camera for a few rounds, especially during the masters they will be able to get away with it.

[TightenUpROOKIE]

not only have the spent a ton of loot to produce this shaft with Fuji but when asked my rep about this a while back he stated that this shaft performed best out of all the testing they did. he said they have yet to find a shaft that is better in the 425 than the Rombax. although i didn't agree with it at 1st i have to say i really like the shafts, SOLID. there are so much they can do to customize the shafts, i told my rep i wanted it to play just like the V2 i was playing & they did a profile of both shafts, my Rombax plays the same after seeing the CPMS of each part of the shaft in the profile except the tip is a tad weaker but the gain in flight is un-noticable.

[dan360]

TM staff is required to use the Rombax in the R7 425, but non-TM staff players who tee up the R7 425 can fire away with any shaft their heart desires. The way TM sees it is anyone who isn't staff isn't seen by the masses---99% of the golf consumers relate to what the brand logo the pro wears not-so-much as to what he's actually playing. so a player using a 425 who isn't on TM staff doesn't help their cause much, in an advertising sense, because he/she could very well be bagging that driver under a Mizuno, Titleist, Cleveland, or Callaway headcover.....etc etc etc.

 

It's on another thread on this site--there are pics of 425's with different shafts being played by non-TM staff.

 

Dan-

[bogeyk]

You would think they would offer any shaft with that paint job. That way the non staff players would stand out. That's a feather in their cap to have a Cleveland guy using a Taylor Made driver. They could also only offer tee up money if the player uses the Rombax if they wanted to.

[myurick2]

I don't have any inside infromation, but from what I understand the Rombax comes in a lot of different weights. Doesn't this mean taht we are really not talking about 1 shaft, but several. I know that the NV in 55 grams might look the same as an 85 gram NV, but I don't think they have the same playing characteristics. Rombax, if I am not mistaken, goes from around 60 grams up to around 105 grams. that's a huge difference.

[Triple-Double]

The Rombax is a solid shaft no doubt, but TM will eventually have to produce all top shafts models in the TP graphics to keep their top staffers happy. The usage of the 425 on Tour is certainly being hurt by TM's seemingly stubborn attitude toward their shaft options.

[VTHOKIES]

Here is my 2 cents worth for what it means. I bought the new R7 425TP with the 75 gram Rombax RE*AX to compare with my R7 400TP with the 757 Speeder. The new shaft su*ks. The head is hot but the shaft is soooo inconsistent. I would hit one dead nut which was great but then the shaft would react totally different with the same swing. It was totally unpredictable and therefore I sold it on ebay as fast as I could. In my opinion, the new shaft su*ks and I would not reccomend it.

 

The reason, I feel, why most pros have not changed to it is because of the unpredictable nature of the shaft.

 

No matter what HoMStYLz says this shaft, no matter what TM invested, is terrible. The first time I played it I hit some very good shots but the more I played around with it the results spoke for themselves.

 

Just my 2 cents worth.

[TightenUpROOKIE]

Why is the 425 Rombax combo still in your bag. Was the driver fit for you? After talking to Chad at Fuji the 757 & RE*AX Rombax 75 are pretty similar in characteristics, weight, kick point, & torque. You should have taken it to your clubmaker to profile the 2 shafts & go from there. Every shaft doesn't work for everyone, I wouldn't use the Rombax at 1st but after testing & getting it right I like it. But I've seen a ton of guys using it in both driver & 3wood on every tour, so obviously it doesn't suck. It just doesn't work for you.