Inside the Cleveland Tour Van!

I visited the driving range and putting green yesterday at Disney’s Palm and Magnolia courses to snap some pictures and peer into a few golf bags to see what’s new and hot out on tour. The resort is hosting the tour’s final event – the Children’s Miracle Network Classic. I also stopped by the Cleveland Tour Van to snoop around a bit. Cleveland has been very generous in sending us clubs to test out and has granted me a level of access to their products that is normally reserved for tour players and staff and the benefit is passed on to our readers! Let’s take a rare look inside the tour van and see what’s going on…

The Cleveland tour van is equipped with everything one would need to build and repair clubs, including a bending machine, grinders and gripping station and much more. The trailer is shows up early in the week and leaves before the first round on Thursday. While on site, it is powered by a generator, and along with the other manufacturer’s vans combines to make the area smell like a bus station.

In the photo below, you can see a small sample of the clubs they have to build for their tour players. On the far left is the new Launcher DST Tour driver, which has garnered lots of attention and buzz, and several Cleveland staff players have already switched. The next two clubs are tour-only versions of the new CG15 Wedges which differ from the consumer level product in two main ways: The tour wedge has the new USGA conforming grooves, and it has a raw finish which will rust over time rather than the chrome finish. For a closer view, visit the photo gallery. On the far right is a similar tour-only wedge with raw finish, but it’s the popular GC14 model.

The photo at the right shows an open drawer filled with wedge heads of different models and lofts. There is something for everyone, and if not, the bending machine can be used to quickly make adjustments. The staff in the tour van can assemble a playable wedge in a matter of minutes, and the fast set epoxy they use sets fully in about an hour. There are several other drawers like this one that hold iron heads also. The CG7 Tour heads I saw are similar to the current offerings available to the public, but they have a different color scheme and smaller blade profile combined with less offset and a thinner top line, and of course the new USGA conforming grooves. Check out the pic of the CG7 Tour irons from the bag of PGA Tour star and major winner David Toms below:

I want to quickly disclose that intothegrain.com is in no way affiliated with or being paid to promote Cleveland/Srixon Golf and its products. We strive to provide unbiased and accurate information and reviews, and we always send back all the demo clubs we receive, as required by the manufacturers.

Don’t forget to enter our New Year’s Resolution Cleveland CG15 Wedge Giveaway! Entries close Dec 31, 2009 so enter now!

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