Of all the many Callaway tour professionals you’ve dealt with over the past 29 years, who comes to mind first?
Seve Ballesteros is always high up on that list – he was a great guy, when I got to know him, He was a down-to-earth family man with a great sense of humour. Just a top, top guy.
Who has been the biggest tinkerer of their equipment?
Alvaro Quiros by a mile, I remember him saying he never wanted to be one of those players who hung around the tour truck, but ended up being that pro. His tinkering was very difficult to manage and he worked on his own shaft vibration.
Obviously you played a big part in Colin Montgomerie’s success in capturing the eight European Order of Merits. What was he like to worth with?
Monty was great to work with, although he never practied much. I remember giving him the latest set of irons and he took a couple of swishes with a 6-iron and off he went.
How excited are you with the new Paradym range?
Paradym is incredible. We’ve been talking about it with my team, genuinely we feel it’s the best driver we’ve had for a long, long time, it’s so easy to fit. Stick the right shaft in for the player and it’s ready to go if you have the right loft. It’s been that easy. Paradym has been tremendously well accepted by the players so far.
What players are you seeing the biggest gains with Paradym?
Gains is just the ease of hit. It’s an easy driver to use, the dispersion rate is incredible. It’s much tighter down range and the gain in
ball speed, which is very difficult to do now with the restrictions imposed by the R&A and USGA, are incredible. It’s by far and away our most forgiving driver.
Are you seeing gains with the Paradym fairway woods?
Yes, in fact the 3-wood is one of the most difficult clubs to fit these days, as they go so far and the tour pros don’t want them to go that far, so you have to throttle back or find something that gives it a little more spin to take a little bit distance off. Once they find one it’s in the bag for a long time, but the Paradym fairways have gone straight in the bag for most of our tour players.
What are you hearing regarding the new Chrome Soft golf ball?
The Chomre Soft has to be the most consistent ball in play today and the tolerances we work with makes us industry leaders. You can tell that by the amount of wins it has had. We have non-contract players put it in play, which says everything about the ball.
What new signings are you excited about for the 2023 season?
The Højgaard twins, Rasmus and Nicolai, are very exciting signings. They are undoubtedly both superstars of the future and already proving they are born winners, and their victories in the recent years are just the beginning of their potential.