Wishon Golf... a recent interaction.

[cloran]

Why do I believe Wishon Golf to be the best OEM in the industry?

Here's why:

A few months ago I picked up a "new" 515grt 5 wood from a guy selling some old stock. It was a spur of the moment type purchase and I wasn't even planning on building a new 5 wood for myself, but I must have been bored because the same day I grabbed a cheap Graphite Design shaft from the Golfsmith clearance rack and slapped everything together that night.

The result was an amazing club, the best fairway wood I've hit to date. I mean this thing is ridiculously solid and HOT. The GRT face (graduated roll technology, think of a flat face with bulge but no roll) is fantastic as I can hit it low on the face, high on the face, anywhere on the face, and still get the same trajectory.... and I've never hit a 5 wood straighter or farther. 240 carry all day long, legit.... and nice roll out too, this isn't a high spinner. I'm no Sadlowski so getting 250-260 with a 5 wood is fun.

I did some research and come to find out the 515grt was Tom Wishon's first fairway wood design to meet the max COR limit... actually, the first fairway wood EVER to meet the max COR limit. Yet another in a long line of OEM "firsts" that Tom has designed.

BUT THAT'S NOT WHY I LOVE THE COMPANY... keep reading.

I then spent the better part of 4 months searching for the matching 3 wood. They are hard to find and only pop up on ebay a few times per year, if that. I asked around to my friends in the club building world and no one had any... and they hadn't had any for years. The design is almost a decade old already! Did you know that almost 10 years ago there were fairway woods available with faces so hot that they met (and exceeded in some prototypes) the COR limit? The big OEMs are finally catching up.

As a last ditch effort to find the matching 3 wood head I decided to email Wishon Golf directly. I was hoping that there was perhaps a leftover head lying around on a shelf somewhere being ignored. I sent the email to the generic inbox at Wishon Golf and didn't expect to hear anything anytime soon, if ever. I mentioned in the message that I loved the 5 wood, that I couldn't find the matching 3 wood anywhere, and that I would pay handsomely for the head if they were able to find one. What transpired next is exactly why I love this company.

Before the end of the day I received a reply, and it was from Tom Wishon himself:

"As a matter of fact, I do have two of the old 515GRT #3 wood heads laying around here in my workshop. They are both only slightly used, no damage though and definitely playable. I think I would like to keep one of these myself for posterity sake since this was my first high COR fwy wood design, but I can part with the other one for you. They're used and had just been sitting around here gathering dust so we won't charge you for the head. Just need an address from you to send it.

TOM"

I had to re-read Tom's email a few times because I just couldn't believe it. Not only did Tom take the time out of his day to reply personally, take time out of his day to actually look around his shop for the 3 wood head, offer one of his only two remaining heads to me, and offer to give it to me for FREE, but he also shipped it to me for free and asked for literally NOTHING in return!

That is how life-long, evangelical, raving fan customers are made.

I would not have thought any less about Wishon Golf had someone in the service dept replied and said "sorry, all out." I like their products and I have been satisfied with their service in the past. This interaction went soooo far beyond my wildest expectations.

Just having Tom take the time to reply personally was a nice touch. But going to the lengths he did get me that 3 wood head ... all without the benefit of being paid ANYTHING for his effort or for the product, and in fact LOSING money because of the shipping costs, etc... well, I was blown away.

The head came in the mail two days after Tom and I exchanged emails... in 9/10 condition no less. Tom's definition of "used" is not the industry standard (go figure, when has Tom ever simply met an industry standard?) A quick wipe with a warm towel and soapy water and it's damn near indistinguishable from 10/10. Heck, it's closer to a Cloran 12/10.

When I sat down to reply to Tom's original email I was still in a bit of shock and at a loss for words (unique for me). The only thing I could offer up was:

"Thank you Tom. You don't know how happy you have made me. I am a customer for life."

I wasn't sure if I should share this story with everyone here, or if I should include Tom's actual email; but the story was just way too cool to keep to myself.

My bag isn't 100% Wishon, and might never be, but somehow I feel that Tom would understand and be ok with that... he just gets it, all of it.

Hopefully, after making this post Tom won't be inundated with requests for free gear, lol... but I actually think he would be ok with that too.

He (and the company bearing his name) gets it.

In case he ever see this post: Thanks again Tom. You have a customer for life.

-Cloran

[Richie3Jack]

That’s a great story.

I know that the recent research done by Tom on the adjustable drivers is rather off-putting to some. I remember when I first heard that the Convert driver could change lofts as dramatically as it claimed, I just didn’t believe it.

Obviously, Tom is a competitor on some level to the OEM’s. But, we have to remember that he designed the first adjustable metal wood years ago. Furthermore, if he felt that the adjustable hosels were really onto something, he could always create an adjustable design. In fact, he felt that the weight screws on OEM drivers were legitimate and that’s why he designed the 739CCG driver with practically the ultimate in Weight Screw adjustability. It would not take him an inordinate amount of time, effort or money to create a new design with the adjustability options that the OEM drivers have. But, the claims that OEM’s make are just not there according to Wishon’s research.

So to me, while Tom is a competitor…if there was a design that was really onto something he would simply make his own design because he has the means to doing so. Instead, he’s paying more attention now to the softer hosel design with the woods so it is easier to change the lie and face angles.

***

My experience with Wishon is that I was interested in his clubs, but didn’t know anybody who sold them. I had kept hearing great reviews about them and really liked the looks of the product.

Back in 2011 I was looking for new equipment. I went to a very expensive club fitting and came away underwhelmed. However, I got to try virtually every OEM equipment out there. I really liked the new Taylor Made MB irons. But, the clubfitter wanted $1,500 for the set when I could go to GolfSmith and get them for $850 and then with the customization, probably another $200 or so.

That’s when I decided to give Wishon a shot since that was literally the only company that I had yet to try their equipment. I ended up trying out a 7-iron. I liked the looks of it and it felt great. Then I compared it against my Titleist 690MB 7-iron that I hit a long ways (for me) and found that the 555M 7-iron I could about 1 club further and much more precise. I assembled the full set for me and never looked back.

When I got the 919THI driver, I initially didn’t like it. I liked the looks, feel and sound. But couldn’t hit it worth a lick. I switched out the shafts to a Wishon shaft and couldn’t hit it a lick.

Eventually I bought into the MOI matching. I was told that MOI matching would improve 2 things….impact dispersion and ball flight.

When I started MOI fitting my irons, I saw the impact dispersion improve. But, the ball flight didn’t really change. It was good, but nothing really different.

Then I tried the Wishon 919THI driver…that I had not used in about 9 months because I hit it dick-high to a grasshopper. As I added more weight in the MOI fitting, the ball started to fly higher and higher. And then when I found my optimal MOI, the ball flight was certainly high enough for good golf.

I then went home and measured the rest of my sets of irons. I would write down *before* I would measure the MOI’s as to what particular clubs I would hit well and what ones I hit poorly. And for each set I would find that the clubs I hit well were the ones had an MOI very close to my optimal MOI. And the ones that I hit poorly were far away from my optimal MOI.

That’s when I knew this MOI stuff was onto something.

***

From there I decided to buy more and more Wishon equipment. I bought the 929HS 3-wood. When I got it, it didn’t come with a medallion that you use to cap the weight port. I e-mailed them back and they sent me another me medallion. The first medallion didn’t stick after a round and they sent me another one. The second one didn’t stick and they sent me another one. Finding out the problem was that the Tour Van Epoxy doesn’t have enough sheer strength. But, they sent me another one immediately…no questions asked.

And I hit the 929HS very long. I sold it to a friend and now I am going to buy another one since I regret that sale.

I bought a 949MC 3-wood. Super long off the tee.

I bought a 775HS hybrid….really a great club and I still use it.

I have the 919THI driver and after Wishon told me that I needed one with a higher loft (10°) and a shorter shaft length…I finally caved in and now the driver is becoming one of the strengths of my game. Unfortunately, I waited until after the Mid-Am qualifier to do so.

I liked the initial looks of the 575MMC irons. I bought a 3-iron and a 6-iron of that model. I wanted to see if I hit the 3-iron better. But, at the time I was right in the midst of playing tournaments and didn’t feel comfortable switching.

Back in February I decided to try the 3-iron again and I’m glad I did because I have never hit a 3-iron that well in my life. And I tried the 6-iron that was a demo club and had a Wishon Stepless shaft in it and I fell in love with that as well. I can’t wait to make the 575MMC’s my entire set and I think my game will improve because of it.

I also have tried the Wishon shafts and love the Stepless Steel. But more importantly, the Bend Profile software (available to the public) I find to be invaluable. No more mysteries to why certain shafts perform well and others don’t.

The only clubs in my bag that are not Wishon are my Edel wedges and my Edel putter. The only other irons I would even consider over Wishon would be Edel’s. But, the price is too much for my tastes (I understand the price, they put 20 hours of labor into each set).

I would simply say that every step of the way Wishon Golf has never let me down. If you can really get rid of your pre-conceived notions about equipment, you’ll be quite pleased with Wishon’s equipment. That was the most difficult obstacle for me, but once I’ve learned to trust them I begrudge myself for not listening in the first place.





3JACK

[Richie3Jack]

I will also say that I don't know if I would call Wishon a 'genius' or 'brilliant', but he is so incredibly smart when it comes to club designs. He essentially pinpoints the weaknesses and pitfalls of clubhead designs and works to come up with a design that eliminates those weaknesses.

Like the Graduated Roll Technology. All of these OEM's are claiming a 'hot spot' towards the crown of the driver, but what is really happening is the face roll of the driver is making the loft higher towards the crown. And essentially the golfers are not playing to their optimal loft. So Tom creates an almost flat face (there's a little bit of loft increase towards the crown, nothing you can do, but much smaller increase than the OEM drivers). And now the golfer can play to their true loft and in my case....hit the driver off the deck like nobody's business.

Golfers often like to play combo sets, but the CB irons look to different from the MB irons. So, Tom creates a 555 combo set where the faces look identical.

The titanium head and faces didn't work for fairway woods so companies went to a steel head in the fairway woods. One problem was the COR went down. So Tom found a steel alloy that could provide the same COR as the titanium drivers. Taylor Made and Tour Edge were just late to the game. He did the same with the hybrids.

The high MOI drivers were disliked because of the square head design. Tom created a 919THI with a high MOI that has a traditional pear shape look to it.








3JACK

[secondary]

Thanks Cloran, great post. Went to the golf show in Spokane last month just to meet the only fitter/builder within a 150 miles of me who uses Wishon. Nice guy. Hope to build a whole new set with him next year.