x
Skip to main content
Golf Logo
InsideGolf Join Now  / Log In
Nick Dunlap’s U.S. Amateur win put 1 grateful gear brand in the spotlight
SHARE
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share by Email
Golf Logo
  • News
    • Latest
      • News
      • Features
      • Shows
      • PGA Tour Schedule
    • Series
      • Tour Confidential
      • Monday Finish
      • Hot Mic
      • Rogers Report
    • Shows
      • The Scoop
      • Subpar
      • Seen & Heard
  • Instruction
    • Game Improvement
      • Driving
      • Approach Shots
      • Bunker Shots
      • Short Game
      • Putting
      • Rules
      • Fitness
    • Series
      • Top 100 Teachers
      • Rules Guy
      • The Etiquetteist
      • Emergency 9
    • Shows
      • Warming Up
      • Play Smart
      • Short Game Chef
      • Pros Teaching Joes
  • Gear
    • Clubs
      • Drivers
      • Irons
      • Hybrids
      • Fairway Woods
      • Wedges
      • Putters
    • Other Gear
      • Balls
      • Shoes
      • Apparel
      • Golf Accessories
    • Series
      • ClubTest
      • Winner’s Bag
    • Shows
      • Fully Equipped
  • Travel & Lifestyle
    • Travel
      • Course Finder
      • Courses
      • Resorts
    • Lifestyle
      • Accessories
      • Celebrities
      • Food
      • Style
      • Betting Advice
    • Shows
      • Super Secrets
      • Destination Golf
  • Shop
    • Shop
      • Clubs
      • Shafts
      • Training Aids
      • Balls
      • Bags
      • Technology
      • Apparel
      • Accessories
      • Our Picks
      • Shop All
    • Collections
      • The GOLF Collection
      • The Birdie Juice Collection
      • The Fully Equipped Collection
      • Shop All
  • Newsletters
    • Sign Up for GOLF’s Newsletters
      • Hot Mic
      • Monday Finish
      • Play Smart
      • Our Picks
      • Top Stories
      • Sign Up for All
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Features
    • Shows
    • PGA Tour Schedule
  • Instruction
    • All Instruction
    • Driving
    • Approach Shots
    • Bunker Shots
    • Short Game
    • Putting
    • Rules
    • Fitness
  • Gear
    • All Gear
    • Drivers
    • Irons
    • Hybrids
    • Fairway Woods
    • Wedges
    • Putters
    • Balls
    • Shoes
    • Apparel
    • Golf Accessories
  • Travel & Lifestyle
    • All Travel
    • All Lifestyle
    • Course Finder
    • Courses
    • Resorts
    • Accessories
    • Celebrities
    • Food
    • Style
    • Betting Advice
  • Series
    • Tour Confidential
    • Monday Finish
    • Hot Mic
    • Rogers Report
    • Rules Guy
    • The Etiquetteist
    • Emergency 9
    • ClubTest
    • Winner’s Bag
  • Shows
    • The Scoop
    • Subpar
    • Seen & Heard
    • Warming Up
    • Play Smart
    • Short Game Chef
    • Pros Teaching Joes
    • Fully Equipped
    • Super Secrets
    • Destination Golf
  • Shop
    • Clubs
    • Shafts
    • Training Aids
    • Balls
    • Bags
    • Technology
    • Apparel
    • Accessories
    • The GOLF Collection
    • The Birdie Juice Collection
    • The Fully Equipped Collection
  • Newsletters
    • Hot Mic
    • Monday Finish
    • Play Smart
    • Top Stories
    • Our Picks
    • Sign Up for All
InsideGolf Join Now  / Log In
InsideGolf

Great for yourself...or your Dad

InsideGOLF
Gear

Nick Dunlap’s U.S. Amateur win put 1 grateful gear brand in the spotlight

By: Jonathan Wall
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Instagram
August 24, 2023
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share by Email
nick dunlap true temper

Dunlap sported a True Temper hat all week at Cherry Hill Country Club.

Getty Images

Victories on the PGA Tour are tricky business for shaft manufacturers. If you need an example, go take a look at True Temper Golf’s recent social media post from the Open Championship. Brian Harman came out on top at Royal Liverpool with the company’s Dynamic Gold Tour Issue shafts in his Titleist irons and wedges — but there’s no mention of his name in the post. Only “Open champion.”

In a sea of equipment brands jockeying for position to ink the biggest names in the sport to promote their wares, shaft manufacturers rarely, if ever, enter the fray. For starters, deals are expensive and shaft manufacturers can’t guarantee a player will stay in their product all season. And in True Temper’s case, there’s really no need to compensate the best players in the world when they’re willing to play your product for free — even if it requires you to get creative with the marketing message when you’re unable to use a player’s name, image and likeness.

If sponsoring a player to use the product isn’t in the cards, then getting them to sport the brand’s logo on the front of the hat is a pipedream. Long considered the most visible piece of real estate on a tour pro, the front of the hat can run anywhere from $250,000 to $3 million per year, depending on the player.

But what about on the amateur side? With the rise in popularity of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals, True Temper waded into the waters this season and aligned themselves with recent U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap to sport a logoed hat. Yes, the shaft behemoth has quietly entered the apparel space with gear sporting the True Temper and Project X logos.

True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Iron Shaft

True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Iron Shaft

The True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue is ideal for the player looking for a low launch, low spin shaft designed for optimum control and accuracy. You can buy the True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue built to your required specifications. The True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue is the Gold Standard by which all other irons shafts are measured. It is the most successful shaft in the history of golf and still continues to dominate on professional tours each and every year. The Tour Issue shafts hold the industries tightest weight tolerances for exacting performance demanded by the best players. You can purchase the True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue in the following flexes: S400, and X100.
$44.99 from Fairway Jockey
View Product

It’s easy to look at the blue True Temper hat Dunlap wore throughout the week at Cherry Hills Country Club and assume the brand approached the University of Alabama product. But according to Keenan Phillips, True Temper’s manager for product marketing and developmental tours, the deal was anything but transactional.

Dunlap’s connection to True Temper — he currently plays True Temper product in every club, minus the 3-wood — goes back to his caddie, Jeff Curl, who previously played on the Korn Ferry Tour. It was during his time on Tour that he started to work closely with True Temper Tour rep Tom Bill to help optimize Dunlap’s shaft setup as he grew up.

From that point forward, Bill started sending sporadic shipments of True Temper hats and apparel to both Curl and Dunlap — and something stuck. Dunlap became partial to a True Temper American Steel camo hat that came his way. He liked the hat so much, that he wound up wearing it during his triumph two years ago at the U.S. Junior Amateur.

Dunlap didn’t need to wear the hat, but he liked the look and kept supporting True Temper when he wasn’t playing in collegiate events. It was around this time that True Temper started putting more of an emphasis on the elite amateur game and Phillips began seeing Dunlap at events.

“Our goal was to be a resource to support our OEM partners and aspiring players to make sure they had whatever they needed from a knowledge or product support standpoint, they were taken care of,” Phillips told GOLF.com via e-mail. “From there on, I started seeing Nick at more and more events, over the past few years and we just hit it off.”

nick dunlap true temper camo hat
Dunlap became partial to a True Temper American Steel camo hat that he wound wearing during his 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur win. USGA

True Temper hadn’t considered the idea of doing a NIL deal or any sort until Dunlap approached True Temper to inquire about partnering to wear their hats during amateur events. Considering the organic connection, they figured it made too much sense to ink Dunlap to the company’s first and only NIL for the hat.

“[H]e had an attachment to our company and appreciated the support we had given him throughout his career,” said Phillips. “He also liked the idea of wearing a different hat than all other players he was playing against as wearing a True Temper hat had become unique to him.

“We care about Nick as a person and player and we never wanted to force him to play any of our products — our contract is strictly stipend-based to wear our hat. We are fortunate that he has long played all our products.”

In fact, Dunlap’s True Temper shaft setup he used to win the U.S. Amateur was the exact same one he used during the U.S. Junior Amateur, outside of a custom cosmetic Project X HZRDUS driver shaft that was made for him earlier in the year.

While having the lion’s share of the shafts for both of Dunlap’s biggest amateur wins is nice, Phillips admitted having the True Temper logo front-and-center on the hat at the U.S. Amateur made the moment extra special.

“This doesn’t really happen for shaft companies, so this win was super cool for us to witness,” Phillips said. “Nick is one of the most driven, talented and kindhearted individuals you can meet. He means a lot to us and we are extremely happy for him and his accomplishments.”

Want to overhaul your bag for 2023? Find a fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

Latest In Gear

1 day ago

This club was a U.S. Open staple. This week it's nearly gone | Gear notes from Oakmont

2 days ago

Odyssey Ai-ONE Giraffe-Beam putters | 3 things to know

2 days ago

What Oakmont's beastly setup can teach you about building your bag

3 days ago

Ranking the 4 limited edition 2025 U.S. Open staff bags

JWall

Jonathan Wall

Golf.com Editor

Jonathan Wall is GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com’s Managing Editor for Equipment. Prior to joining the staff at the end of 2018, he spent 6 years covering equipment for the PGA Tour. He can be reached at jonathan.wall@golf.com.

  • Author Twitter Account
  • Author Instagram Account

Related Articles

News
Nick Dunlap of the United States reacts after a putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the 2025 Masters Tournament

Nick Dunlap opened this Masters disastrously. Then he opened his soul

By: Michael Bamberger
Approach Shots
nick dunlap rehearses drill on driving range

This Tour winner's drill will have you hitting your irons pure as ever

By: Zephyr Melton
News
PGA Tour pro Nick Dunlap speaks to the media during a press conference prior to the 2024 Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Course.

Pro details 'whirlwind' ride from college golf to Tiger's tourney in 8 months

By: Kevin Cunningham
News
Jose Luis Ballester celebrates his U.S. Amateur win.

The advice Sergio Garcia gave the latest U.S. Amateur champion

By: Josh Berhow
News
U.S. Amateur competitors Luke Clanton, Jose Luis Ballester and Christian Brand at the 2024 U.S. Amateur.

U.S. Amateur notebook: 12 things I loved from a week at Hazeltine

By: Josh Berhow
News
Noah Kent watches a shot at the U.S. Amateur

This teen lost the U.S. Amateur final. But he gained something invaluable

By: Josh Berhow
News
Jose Luis Ballester after winning the U.S. Amateur

Ole! Newly crowned U.S. Amateur champ Jose Luis Ballester is just getting started

By: Josh Berhow
News
Nick Dunlap of the United States walks off the seventh tee during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind on August 17, 2024 in Memphis, Tennessee.

He hit a shot so bad, it missed a lake. He's still in second place

By: Jack Hirsh
News
Split image of Noah Kent and Jose Luis Ballester hitting shots at 2024 U.S. Amateur

2024 U.S. Amateur final: How to watch Noah Kent vs. Jose Luis Ballester on Sunday

By: Josh Berhow
Sign up for GOLF's Newsletters
Get the latest news, the hottest instruction tips, new product releases, golf media insider reports and more delivered directly to your inbox. Choose your favorites now.
Sign Up
Categories
  • News
  • Instruction
  • Gear
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
Services
  • Masthead
  • GOLF Media Kit
  • GOLF Magazine Customer Service
  • TERMS OF SERVICE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • Opt-out of Ads/Sharing
  • Your Privacy Choices
Social
  • facebook
  • x
  • instagram
  • youtube
Membership
InsideGOLF Logo
More than $140 Value for JUST $39.99

INCLUDES 12 SRIXON Z-STAR XV GOLF BALLS, 1 YR OF GOLF MAGAZINE, $20 FAIRWAY JOCKEY CREDIT - AND MUCH MORE!

LEARN MORE

© 2025 EB Golf Media LLC. An 8AM Golf Affiliated Brand. All Rights Reserved. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy a linked product, GOLF.COM may earn a fee. Pricing may vary.

Go to mobile version