Exciting Times - New Equipment & Endorsement Deals

I've been in the need of new equipment for quite a long time.  My irons are 4 years old.  My Driver and 3-wood are 3 years old.  Here's a picture of my 7-iron, with a significant wear pattern on the clubface:

At least the wear pattern is in the sweet spot.

There are a few reasons why I haven't changed equipment, but the main 2 are money and fitting.  Money, because I've been loyal to Mizuno irons and Titleist for a while, but haven't had luck getting equipment from those companies.  They offer me equipment at a discount, but that's where the 2nd reason comes in.  Fitting - I can't just buy equipment off the rack.  My game is at a point where getting a shaft that fits my swing can make the game easier.  In the 4 years since I last ordered irons, technology has improved and a lot of new shaft options are out there.  Before putting new equipment in my bag, I want to test a variety of shafts (lighter, heavier, stiffer) to see what can help my game.  And that brings me back to the money issue where the equipment companies won't give me a fitting unless I pay for it.  It's like a vicious cycle where I won't buy equipment without a fitting, but won't pay for a fitting.  #firstworldproblems

All of these things changed when I earned my Web.com card.  Every club company is on site at each tournament and there is an equipment truck that will build, repair, and tweak whatever I have or need.

The really exciting aspect comes from the endorsement deals I've been offered.  Titleist/FootJoy offered me a ball/shoe/glove deal, which is great because I play the Pro-v1x ball (have since college).  I've been offered an equipment deal from Adams Golf and they flew me out to Dallas to their headquarters to get a tour quality fitting.  I spent 2 days in Dallas.  The first day was experimenting with different shafts and comparing the results.  Day 2 was an on the course test to see how the clubs react on the golf course.  It's exciting to see what I came out of Dallas with, but it will take some time to get comfortable with the new equipment.  The person who built my equipment and fitted me for the clubs is the Web.com Tour representative for Adams, which means he will be on-site for the tournaments.  It's great to know that I have a guy I can go to if I have a problem with my clubs.

In addition to the equipment deal with Adams is an additional endorsement from Southwest Airlines.  Adams and Southwest are partners and will be helping me out with some frequent flier miles, which will come in handy for this year:

Approx. 48,000 miles of travel this year with @WebDotComTour #frequentfliermiles pic.twitter.com/4NCWSuSqSX
— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) February 1, 2014

Neil

What's Next?

The Web.com season begins in a week with an event in Bogota, Columbia.  Here is a link to the entire schedule.  After one event in Columbia we have two weeks off before 4 straight tournaments in Chile, Brasil, Panama, and Louisiana.  The first 4 events are international, which helps my chances of getting into the fields, but also makes the travel much more expensive.  My conditional status puts me on the bubble for each of the first 4 events.  As of Monday, Feb. 3rd here are my numbers vs the players in field:

1. Columbia - 159/144 (15 players out)
2. Chile - 153/144 (9 out)
3. Brasil - 151/144 (7 out)
4. Panama - 151/144 (7 out)

I've been checking these numbers everyday for a few weeks try to get a sense of which way I might be trending.  The best thing about the Chile event is that I have 20 PGA Tour members ahead of me and there are 2 PGA Tour events that week (WGC Cadillac and Puerto Rico).  That means most of those 20 members will get into one of the PGA Tour events and I'll move inside the field list.

Follow me on Twitter to see day-to-day updates if my number changes.

I have a few other exciting things to talk about so check back throughout the week for more updates on new equipment, endorsement deals, and perhaps a surprise that will be launching in the coming weeks.

Neil