A custom-fit club's journey can be quite extensive.
Ben Mounsey-Wood
There’s no joy quite like the joy of a set of custom-fitted golf clubs being delivered to your front door. (Consider springing for rush delivery. If ever anything merited one- or two-day service, it’s this.)
While this may be the most exciting moment in the undertaking, it’s only the last step of a complex logistical journey that spans the globe.
GOLF’s sister company, True Spec Golf, has 26 locations nationwide where, with a clubfitting, you become part of a dizzying international movement of various makes and models of clubheads, shafts, grips, packing materials, etc. The hub of all this action is TSG’s corporate headquarters and manufacturing center in Scottsdale, Ariz., where the many components converge.
Think routing a golf course over mountainous terrain is complicated? Consider a (simplified) map of how your TSG bespoke sticks come into being — and into your hands, where their next journey begins.
How custom clubs are born
(*See map above*)
1. CHINA TO LOS ANGELES The clubheads, shafts and grips for most major manufacturers arrive from China via cargo ship at the Port of Los Angeles, where they’re rerouted to top clubmakers (Callaway, PING, TaylorMade, et al.) in, among other places, Carlsbad, Calif., and Phoenix, Ariz.
2. SOUTH KOREA TO SCOTTSDALE The trending shaft brand AutoFlex arrives direct via air.
3. VIETNAM TO LOS ANGELES China isn’t the only hub of club part production. Vietnam and other Far East countries get in on the action too. Generally, their wares also arrive via freighter at the Port of Los Angeles before continuing on to stateside equipment company headquarters.
4. JAPAN TO LOS ANGELES Clubheads from Miura Golf — about two pallets of 60 to 80 boxes per shipment every six to eight weeks — arrive by ship at the Port of Los Angeles. From there, a freight forwarder trucks it to TSG HQ. Epon clubheads travel the same route.
5. ONTARIO, CANADA, TO SCOTTSDALE True Sports — supplier of True Temper, Project X, Accra, Aerotech and other shaft brands — sends product to TSG via air.
6. ROSEBURG, ORE., TO SCOTTSDALE Custom ferrules from niche maker BB&F arrive via ground.
7. SPARKS, NEV., TO SCOTTSDALE 3M epoxy used to connect club components arrives via ground from its supplier.
8. LOS ANGELES TO SCOTTSDALE Approximately 15,000 custom-made foam blocks and brackets to protect finished clubs against shipping damage arrive annually at TSG via ground.
9. IRVINE, CALIF., TO SCOTTSDALE Iomic brand grips come via ground to TSG.
10. CARLSBAD, CALIF., TO SCOTTSDALE Most leading clubmakers are in and around Carlsbad, from where their clubheads go via ground to TSG.
11. PHOENIX TO SCOTTSDALE PING HQ is about a half-hour drive to True Spec HQ. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
12. CHICAGO TO SCOTTSDALE Some Nippon shafts arrive at TSG via ground.
13. CHICAGO TO SCOTTSDALE Approximately 30,000 raw golf club boxes arrive at TSG annually via ground.
14. GRIFFITH, IND., TO SCOTTSDALE Various grip brands come via ground from J&M Golf to TSG.
15. NEWARK, OHIO, TO SCOTTSDALE Standard build supplies, including ferrules and tip weights, arrive via ground from The GolfWorks.
16. ATLANTA TO SCOTTSDALE Mizuno clubheads arrive via ground at TSG.
17. COOPER CITY, FLA., TO SCOTTSDALE Various grip brands come via ground from Global Golf Sales to TSG.
Scottsdale to everywhere: True Spec by the numbers
Total 2021 shipments: 22,444*
Total 2021 clubs built and shipped: 72,978
Total 2021 soft goods items picked and shipped: 18,312
70/30: Seventy percent of customer shipments go out via plane and 30 percent via ground
A former executive editor of GOLF Magazine, Rothman is now a remote contract freelancer. His primary role centers around custom publishing, which entails writing, editing and procuring client approval on travel advertorial sections. Since 2016, he has also written, pseudonymously, the popular “Rules Guy” monthly column, and often pens the recurring “How It Works” page. Rothman’s freelance work for both GOLF and GOLF.com runs the gamut from equipment, instruction, travel and feature-writing, to editing major-championship previews and service packages.
