Behind the Golf Brand Podcast with Paul Liberatore

Ep #40 - JumboMax Grips: John Mazzanoble (President)

March 31, 2021 Paul Liberatore Season 2 Episode 40
Behind the Golf Brand Podcast with Paul Liberatore
Ep #40 - JumboMax Grips: John Mazzanoble (President)
Show Notes Transcript

We made it to Episode 40 of the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast.  In this week's episode, I interview my good friend John Mazzanoble the President of JumboMax Grips.  

They are Bryson Dechambeau go to golf grips to crush the ball down the fairway, and its no doubt that JumboMax Grips are taking the golfing world by storm. As shocking as it might be to hit your first shot with JumboMax, their customers are generally equally as shocked at how they made an immediate improvement in their game.  From novices to the best players on the PGA Tour, all golfers can benefit from a grip that properly fits their hands. And that grip is probably a lot bigger than the one you’re playing. So check out JumboMax, because not only are they cool but they really help your game.

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Paul:

What's up guys, Paul from golfers authority. Welcome to behind the golf ramp podcast. This week. I have a very, very cool guest. I'm really excited about this. I have my friend John from jumbo max had, he is the man. I love jumble max grips. They're fricking bad-ass and it's really revolutionized the game. I feel like, and they're definitely one of the first to start doing this. So I really think it's awesome to have him on the show. Talk about the history of the brand and where they're going and all that. So without further ado, welcome to the show, John. Hey, great. Thanks for having me on Paul. So where are you right now? I am in, um, somewhat sunny West Palm beach near PJ Boulevard. Um, just enjoying the nice view over here at the house. How cold is it is a nice out today.

John:

Uh, cold. I don't know if I'd use the word cold. It's probably about, I hate to say this for all the Midwest people and folks that are out there in the snow, but, uh, probably about 75 so far. It's like a perfect day and a clock right now. So probably get up to around 82 today. Wow. So let me ask this question to you. I always ask this question. I first question, like, how did you get into golf? Like what's your first golf memory? Wow. Got to go back to a lot. A lot of people save and tiger. My dad basically. Um, I would tag along with him and my two brothers. Um, I was the younger brother by 11 years. So two older brothers and a dad who were very competitive and, um, a little kid running around, um, actually with a bulls-eye Potter left-handed because I was left-handed and back in that day, it was very difficult to find left-handed clubs. So I just swatted a bulls-eye around left-hand until I finally got fed up and wanted to hit a real golf clubs. So I picked it up right-handed and um, you know, just fell in love with the game from an early age.

Paul:

So what year was that? Do you think? Like your first time?

John:

Well, you want to leave me here, Paul? I'm going back to 76 hours. Uh, yeah, man. We're probably the same age though. I wouldn't get, yeah, we're going probably 74, 75. I started young.

Paul:

I was a baby man. Like I was born in 77, so like, yeah,

John:

Apart now.

Paul:

So where did you grow up? Just go to Florida.

John:

Uh, yeah, and then I grew up in a sleepy little town called cocoa beach. Florida was, uh, the space coast back in the day when they Apollo was, uh, you know, just getting underway. My dad worked at the Cape and um, we ended up what'd your dad do, is he like an NASA or something? Yeah, he was, uh, he was a, uh, uh, procurement and E engineer. He would buy a lot of the parts and negotiate some of the deals and back in the day

Speaker 3:

When you're a kid,

John:

Right? Yeah. Oh yeah. That was the big event. And, uh, we would go, go up to the, you know, check it out and it was always big events. Still is anybody gets a chance to see a launch. You ought to definitely go check it out.

Speaker 3:

I just watch Apollo 13 with my kids, like two nights ago. And my younger one was like bored out of his mind. My older one who's 11 was like totally glued to the screen. I'm like, this is real. This is really hard.

John:

Yeah. This is, it's pretty intense. When you, when you look back on it with these guys were able to accomplish, going to the moon and all that, you know, it's pretty cool that we've revised it. We just landed on Mars. Um, a lot of cool stuff going on. Yeah, that'd be pretty intense. Huh?

Speaker 3:

That'd be a bad-ass. I would try it, but like, I'd probably get all the views I'd use Jibo max scripts and then I would play golf on Mars. This is do it. We'll get tested.

John:

That's pretty much, we're kind of an out of the box grip out of the box company. So it makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 3:

So did you, when you were at the high school, junior high school wealth then, or

John:

Yeah, yeah, no. I played, uh, high school golf and um, played a little bit of college and then turned a pro were in a club for a few years, giving lessons near the Pentagon. So I gave Dan Quayle, a lesson, a couple of senators and, um, decided I wanted to play. So I, I packed up and came to Florida and wanted to do some mini tour stuff. And just as life happens, a crazy thing happened along the way. I became the mascot for the Miami dolphins and that, uh, 28, 30 years. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

The mascot for the dolphin.

John:

Uh, well not any more, but yeah, I am still, uh, still active. Still go to the game still. You see me?

Speaker 3:

My friend would like idolize you right now. He would freaking freak out.

John:

I would, uh, I blow a conch shell. So it's kind of intense. If anybody watches a dolphin game, you'll hear that cough in the background. Uh, it's funny. Cause Bryson had me doing that at the us open at Shinnecock a few years ago, we had CEO of Cohbar blowing it the whole kind of past

Speaker 3:

You're calm, get it up the loudest. I think I'm going to make sure it says blow the conch baby. Seriously. I'll send it to you. I'll make that right. I'm gonna tell my graphic designers.

John:

Well, let's say they're talking about maybe trading to a for Watson, but if we keep to, uh, uh, expect to see a lot of tikis and Cox coming out of mine,

Speaker 3:

That's fricking funny or. So that's awesome. So how'd you how'd you become a mascot to the dolphins. Is this name like flipper, flippers?

John:

Oh, this is a kind of a crazy story. We were my brother and I had gone, I was a lifelong dolphin fan, but I moved to Virginia when I was seven. So I never got to go to any games. And finally I get to Florida, you know, we're going to go to a game and I go to the game and it was just like a Chardonnay sipping contest. The fans were all sitting on there, but they were quiet. You know, here, we had this storied franchise, Don Shula, Dan Marino.

Speaker 3:

That's right of the dolphins.

John:

Yeah. And it's great. It was awesome. And uh, but the crowd wasn't into it the way I felt like, you know, after going to a few Redskin games and dealing with their obnoxious hail to the Redskin fans, the eighties and they were good. Yeah. Now they were legit. But uh, I hated, I hated going to the games. I hated the passion that they brought. I didn't like they had that song and hail to the Redskins. So I get to Miami and I'm thinking, it's going to be just like that. You know, Miami double, we got our own song and all that. It was lame. So I said, you know, if I go back to this stadium, I'm going back with some passion, I'm going to figure something out. So we were watching Saturday night live. And you remember the Coneheads skits that they used to do. Yeah. So I looked at my brother. I said, what if we were the fin aheads? And we just had a fin protruding off our head instead of cone. And we were these like characters that just showed up and whatever. So put it put an outfit together and I wore it to the playoff game and ended up getting carried out of the stadium and our fans loved it. And then I got on the Miami Herald, did an interview with us, went back the next week with a more elaborate outfit and, uh, NFL films filmed us. And it was just, it was just a lot of fun, completely surreal. Yeah. I mean, people were digging it and we were like, all right, you know, the people really like this. And you know, a lot of the, uh, you know, news agencies were kind of taking pictures and asking questions. So I said, I'm going to call the dolphins and just let them know what kind of stir we made. And back then they had a mascot named dolphin, Danny. He was probably in his late fifties and really wasn't doing a whole lot at that time. He was probably drinking his shear of a Miller light. He was more of a beer guy. I loved that kind of beer look to him, but

Speaker 3:

Banquet. Yeah.

John:

Yeah. So he was kind of the tone and it wasn't really, uh, too exciting at that point. So anyways, long story short, as I walked in, we got a meeting and um, they had a marketing, I thought he's going to throw us out of the, out of the office. We were all dressed up in these outfits and he was like, wow, I didn't expect you guys to come in full Brie, Hailey. I said, well, this is, you know, you know, I'm like,

Speaker 3:

Wow, this was my job. Here we go. Yeah.

John:

What's this guy gonna do? You know? And she's like, Hey, come with me. And we're thinking, all right, that's it, he's taken us out. And he ends up bringing us into an office and the sky spins around in the chair. And it's the owner of the dolphins, Tim Robbie. Tim's like, Tim just started cracking up. He's like, who are these guys, man? He goes, these are the fin heads, man. These are, these are our new mascots. He goes, I love it. We've been waiting for something like this. So, uh, what year was that? 81? Uh, our first year it was 92 donuts. So we were down on the field. We had some skits with the cheerleaders, you know, we were in all the marketing meetings and it was pretty impressive.

Speaker 3:

I had no fricking idea. So that's stories I hear on this show. Like honestly, people like it blows my,

John:

Yeah. We came to talk golf. It's funny. Cause I I'm, uh, I'm out on tour pretty much every week and some of the guys out there know about it and it's like, we don't even talk wrong. As a matter of fact, funny story is, um, we with Bryce and we played a lot of practice rounds with tiger and Godspeed, his recovery. Um, we, uh, were walking down the fairway and, and tiger is a big Raider fan. So he found out I was thin head. He's like, you know, we start talking football and um, we literally talk football for two holes. I mean, it was just surreal walk in the fairway with tiger. And you're not, you're not going to really talk golf with tiger. But um, when he, when we started talking football, he kind of really got engaged and he's like, Oh, you got a kick out of it. Yeah. Now his son Charlie's Denver fan. He's telling me that Charlie gives him a hard time all the time about, uh, the Raiders. And you know, he doesn't know how he became a Denver fan. Probably just become a Denver fan because they played the Raiders. If he's a competitive little guy and I guess he's

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's like all kids with their dads, it's all it is. Right. A hundred percent

John:

You saw him in the father, son, you know, he's a feisty little guy, so yeah. Pretty cool story. I've had some really cool things happen. I got inducted in the hall of fame in 2000 for the fishing. There's a little area for the fans over there. They, they took in, took in some characters. I was lucky enough to be one of those guys.

Speaker 3:

Dude. I had no idea where this conversation's going to go. Like no idea grips, but see, this is what happens though. Honestly, I like the freaking coolest story. I did one time I had, uh, Dean Snell on the show and I'm like, Hey, what's your first memory. And it's him telling me a story about how he got in a fight with some guys who tried to jump his dad on a golf course because it hit him. That was the first, his first memory of fall. I was like, so, I mean, it's fun. I love this though. So dude as from cool. So then when did you stop doing that? Oh, you still do it.

John:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm still, uh, still out there and uh, unfortunately he passed away, but I have another cool story was his best friend stepped in and became thin Peaky. So if you watch it all, if you're going to see myself in this giant Peaky head and uh, that's, that's his best friend he's been doing it with me for the last 10 years. So that's really cool. Yeah. It's been fun. Yeah. Kind of keeps, keeps it going and, you know, carries on the tradition. So,

Speaker 3:

So wow. So, all right, so you doing that, but that wasn't, was that a full-time job or? No, that's the weekends, right? I mean, it wasn't like,

John:

Yeah, that's just basic. I mean, every once in a while we'll get asked to do something, a promo. I, uh, ended up jumping on Jim Plunketts back at a Jim beam, uh, thing. And in Las Vegas after maybe one or two, two shots at Jim beam, they wanted us to, uh, kind of be ourselves. And I asked him if they were sure. And they said, yeah. So Hank Williams comes on with the Monday night football theme and Jim's up on the stage with the mic and I'm seeing he's a pretty cool dude. So as I run up the bar and knock drinks down the bar, I hop off and Jim's on the corner of the stage. So kind of shoved him up on stage and jumped on his back. And the Vegas paper took a picture, Jim doing the Heisman. So fricking he was a good sport about it. We had a lot of fun.

Speaker 3:

So what were you, so during this time though, what, so you still doing, you play mini-tour stuff.

John:

I played, I didn't get to play a whole lot of tournaments because I ended up, um, having my daughter and then, um, I had a mom, so I segwayed back into sales. What I knew I could make some money at and, um, ended up raising the kids. And we started out in Fort Lauderdale and ended up in Ocala, Florida. So

Speaker 3:

I was

John:

A corporate sales for office Depot. So I would go, I would go to business to business colleges, hospitals, things like that. And, uh, it was good. I worked from home and then, um, my brother talked me into joining him in his landscape company. So ended up being a landscaper for about eight or nine years. It was great. Yeah, we did well. And um, you know, unfortunately he passed away and it just wasn't the same for me. And um, I told my buddy in the villages, Hey, you know, I really want to get back into golf. You know, it's, it's something, that's a passion for me. I know I won't make probably quite as much money, but, um, you know, if you see anything available, let me know. So he called me one day and he said, Hey, this guy from Indiana showed up and he's got this giant grip. And I, I started just rolling my eyes. Like, what do you mean, bro? You know, I want to get back into golf, but this almost sounds like a joke. And he goes, yeah, you know, my buddy happened to be from Indiana. So he, he let the guy in the door and if you know anything about the bilges, they do about 3 million and component in retail sales, out of the villages for clubs, components and things like that. So it's a, it's a huge retail operation. They got, uh, 40 golf courses and things like that. So to just to get in there, yeah. Just digging in there is a big deal. So, um, long story short is he, he had spent a couple of weeks with this guy use one and in dine and then, um, decided he was bringing the product in, but he asked me to take a look at it first. So I went out one day and put a few grips on a driver, seven iron and wedge. And I, all I could do is just say

Speaker 3:

I was blown,

John:

Man, because it goes against all conventional golf wisdom. It's too big. It was too heavy, you know, 115 Ram grip. That's twice the size of a standard grip and kind of gets into your Palm a little bit. So, you know, growing up in golf, we were sure that if you put two wraps, a grip on CLA two wraps, a tape on a club, you would fix your hook, you know, back in the day, that's how we thought, you know, this is the right size. There can't be any other size. If you make it too big, you're going to push the ball. Right. You won't be able to release the club. These are all the things that I grew up knowing to be true in the game of golf. And as a pro, you know, you kind of feel like you're the PA you know, the doctor of golf. So you're supposed to have the answers and, you know, in regard to swing weight and size of the grip and, you know, okay, we're going to put two wraps of tape on and that's going to help your hook and so on and so forth. Long story short is I just started ripping the ball as good as I've ever hit it. And I'm like, yeah, I'm intrigued. You know, let's, let's talk about it. So I ended up partnering up and, um, coming a board and we brought on some nice accounts early and found a little money out there on the street to help watch the company. And, um, you know, that's kinda how we got going. So what year was that? 2010. So did you leave your other job or are you doing both? Nah, no. I kept landscaping. I mean, we weren't, uh, you know, we were making a little bit of payroll, but we weren't like rolling in money. We, this was a startup with a giant, crazy big grip with very little, uh, you know, revenue, very little capital. So, you know, we had to kind of start crawling our way until we got a little bit of money in the company. And then, um, I don't know if any of your viewers or listeners out there, remember the pink dress commercial with jumbo max, but in 2011 we wrote a commercial directed it and put it on the golf channel. And it, it was, it launched us basically. We were getting a ridiculous return on it and goofiest commercial ever, but, um, people, yeah, people still ask about it to this day. So

Speaker 3:

You're a good shape, man. I can tell you got some big

John:

Arms, you know, just running around, out there, but stay and act and stay in there, uh, off and on. You know, I've always open in Florida. Florida's, um, floor's pretty much open for business. For the most part. People are still respectful and they wear masks and stuff like that. But, um, for the most part we're our economy is doing well. And thankfully,

Speaker 3:

So all right, sorry, I'm going to side side question. What do you do in your workouts? Oh, geez man. What are you lifting? I mean, it's like serious. If you guys watching the video, you can save it. Like

John:

I'll do a little bit here and there, you know, I've been getting back into it recently, you know, cause COVID kinda, I think took everybody by surprise kind of knock this on our butt a little bit. So, you know, a couple of months of inactivity, I kind of just decided, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I dunno, you know, I'm sure a lot of your viewers, most, all of them know Bryson and you know, the type of work ethic he has. So went over there and worked out with him a couple of times and got inspired,

Speaker 3:

Maybe kicked your probably. And you're like,

John:

Dude, I remember a year and a half ago we went over to the British and um, Bryson had never lifted a weight. We're sitting in the, uh, training room and beautiful weights, beautiful, you know, set up. So I'm like, yeah, I'm going to, you know, grab a little workout while we're waiting here. So Bryson's over there and he's pulling on the bands and he's, you know, doing, I said, Oh yeah, that's good, man. That's gonna, you know, that's good. So I went up

Speaker 3:

Chick,

John:

We got a little badge press and this, this and that. And uh, you know, Bryson started getting a little curious. He was looking over there like, I'm like this isn't something you don't want to do for golf, blah, blah, blah. Well, DJ walks in and then, you know, all of a sudden he starts pumping a little bit iron. Yeah. You know, DJ is Teekay's is athlete man. He's he is, he's just a natural beast. So him and Brooks and those guys, you know, and then Rory, those guys kind of set the trend and you know, just remembering watching Bryce and try to get up 145 pounds on the bench press and to where he is right now. And, and you know, this is, this is, you know, I know folks are gonna say a lot of different things, prices. Yeah. You know, but unfortunately he's an easy target and a lot of people take shots at him and you know, this whole, Oh

Speaker 3:

Yeah. There's always haters out there, man. That's doesn't matter how people always want it to your down. It doesn't matter. It's just, they're such hate their lives. So they're going to be like, Oh blah, blah, blah. It's like, once you get off your and do something,

John:

Exactly, man. It's like, do I know if anybody saw this kid's work at work ethic and they would understand, you know, he, he, he earns everything. He gets through hard work.

Speaker 3:

It happen overnight. That's a hard. I mean, that's like a perfect diet and working out all the time and training for golf. It's like, dude.

John:

Yeah. Th th th the diet, I wouldn't say it's perfect. I could tell you some stories on the diet. He, he likes his, uh, chocolate and things like, but he, nobody in the game works the way this kid works. And he's putting in two, three hours in the gym every day and he's, he's putting his golf work into, so he's, he's committed, you know, I'm an older guy, you know, he's, he's, I can be as dad basically, but he's very inspiring. So he kind of helped inspire me to get it

Speaker 3:

Well, yeah, because now he's bigger than you. And you're like, Oh crap. I know, I know that world. And we're like, Oh crap. I'm the small guy. Now I got to take care of some business.

John:

Yeah, exactly. I got to work on my ping pong skills. He fits my budget. So are you using the bands now? You know, dude, I'm more around, I'm there for the, uh, comic relief,

Speaker 3:

Right? Dude, I'd ever compliment you on your muscles. I could tell, you can tell though he works with these Bryce and works with them because he's in shape too, man. Like, I feel like that's what golf is. I mean, if you think about golf in the last 20 years, there's this old fat dudes, right. I mean, they're in shape kind of, but they're like dad bods. Right? Think about it. Tiger comes. And he's 20, 19, 20. And he's like pretty in shape. But then when he went to like beast mode, I remember when he decided to start like training.

John:

Yeah. You put on 20 pen

Speaker 3:

And then that inspired a whole next generation. Like, Oh, we're athletes. We're not

John:

Ads. Yeah, no, it's, uh, you know, tiger is, um, it's been nothing like in to the game. I mean, as great as Jack was and is an Arnie and the guys that bring different elements of skill and charisma. Ah, yeah, man, he's my favorite. I got three Arnie stories that were just really,

Speaker 3:

Yeah. You should come back. Cause I want to talk about jumbo max, but you're cool as hell, man. I like you. I can hang out with you.

John:

Appreciate it. I appreciate it. We, uh, we've had fallen. We like to have some fun along the way. And as a company, we like to have fun too. We're not, uh, we don't want to be like everybody else. We're, we're different. And we're not shy to tell people that, you know, jumbo max is different. We're not, um, part of that stuff.

Speaker 3:

That's why it's such, it's so cool that Bryson's with you guys because he's different, right? Like he's the same thought, like, you know, I don't know. I just think it's a good match.

John:

It's just, uh, it's. It is. It's like, um, art, once we realized what we had and you know, we, we saw that this group really performs the way it does because after you do enough demo days and shows, and the early years when we started, uh, doing these shows, you know, a lot of people mocked at you and scoffed at it and you know, then people would hit it and it was always like, wow, it was always, I've never hit a ball like that. It was always like, you know, just people were going ham about it. And I'm like, okay, well we're obviously on to something. And then, you know, luckily Bryson came along and Bryson is the same mindset. He wants to change golf and make the game more fun and, and you know, just better for everybody. So he's not scared to innovate. He's not scared to try things. And you know, nobody's tried more stuff and we'll continue to go down rabbit holes like Bryson.

Speaker 3:

So, but he has that mind, which is so cool. Right. Because that's a, it's a, you guys too. It's like, there has to be a better way. Right. Or there's probably what we've been taught is not what is true. It's true. But it's that just barely touching the surface of what

John:

What's happening. Well, what, you know, and then you see something like this and you're like, well, why is it working so well? And what are the physics of it? So Bryson takes that scientific, deep dive into it. You know, you talk to orthopedics and over the years, we've really kind of figured out what's working and why, and it's, it, it makes sense.

Speaker 3:

Not just the word because, Oh, it just works because whatever, you know, like yeah, exactly

John:

Data and there's real reasons why the bigger grip, the heavier grip, the lighter grip, lighter, bigger grip, why they work. And when you look at the hand and the way the hands made and the connections to the bigger muscles, the own, your phone here, um, where our grip that's is a direct connection. Um, if you get the right size to your owner, that leaves for really not a lot of deviation, most golf grips fit here. And there's a lot of ways to deviate from the home. But when you put it in this area here, which is the pad, it's the Pfizer form, there's a bone right here. And our grip, if it's fit properly, it'll fit right in that Pfizer, a form bone, which connects directly to the owner. So, you know, not to get too crazy out there, Paul, but there is a medical orthopedic and science approach.

Speaker 3:

So let's talk about the jumbo max script. So like right now you guys have, was it two types of grips, right? You have the putter grips and the, of the swing grips, right?

John:

Well, we have a variety of swing grips, different textures, different weights, which is really cool. Cause you can have a one grip that was 50 grams and you have another same grip, same size. The weight is 124 Bryson, one seven events with 124 grand grip us amateur in a U S uh, Ana NCA championship. Then you take that same grip. We were able to take the weight out of it, make the ultra light, which only weighs 50 grams. So it's kind of opened up Pandora's box for us and to say, okay, wait a minute. What's the right size. A and what's the right weight B because we've had success and a lot of success over a vast majority of time with a vast majority of players with different variations. So it's just a beginning of an exploration that Ron defined the perfect grip for each individual. So if you're,

Speaker 3:

Let's say a 15 handicap and you know, just normal guy, what would be a good one to start with?

John:

Well, that's again, I'll figure out which one to, to try. Uh, we have a fitting, um, chart, a, uh, you know, we'll ask her, we'll ask some questions. Usually we start with like hand size. Everybody has individual needs. You know, a lot of people have arthritis. They're going to want to go a little bigger than I would normally recommend. You know, some people, uh, need a little more lag in their swing. If they need a little more lag, I would probably go with an ultra light. If you think of an ultra light in terms of like a sledgehammer, no weight, and you take it back, you start down. But that head wants to stay back cause the weights gravity, right? So when you get a, you know, 40, 50 pound grip, our grant grip on the end of a shaft, it kind of gives it that effect. It loads the bottom of the club with most of the weight. Whereas if you take a heavier grip, um, and add some weight, you know, throughout it, it just raises the balance point up the shaft a little bit. So now imagine swinging, you know, a fishing pole or, you know, a baseball bat where you still have the weight out there, but now you've got a little more weight evenly dispersed through the bat. It allows for a really smooth even swing. Now you can still get lag, but everything stays connected a little bit better. So just depends on the swing dynamics of the individual.

Speaker 3:

So if somebody, if someone comes to the site, like, what would you recommend that they do? They just take the, they go through the, where should they look to figure out which one they want?

John:

They're going to click right away. I recommend clicking on the fitting tool because it's going to direct you right into a specific size. And then we're going to give you the tips and get, you know, our goal is just to give the consumer the information

Speaker 3:

They need to make them make the right choice for that.

John:

Or, you know, we are developing fitting centers across the country. It's probably going to take a minute to get all these in place. I'm talking to some different outfits. You know, we fit for driver. We fit for shafts. We fit do all these fittings, but nobody's fitting for grips. It's more, how does it feel? Do your fingers touch? Yeah, we want, it's gotta be B2. If it's not the two, then you're messing up your swing weight. Here's

Speaker 3:

Why.

John:

And they're like, Oh yeah. It's like, it's an irrelevant number that somebody made up because grips have weighed 58 grams. So D two was always the swing weight of choice. So as doctors and experts, we have to have a story. Even if it's not even scientific, we have to have a story. So in my mind, when golf was invented, it was, you know, leather was wrapped around a Hickory stick. It was about a certain size. And then, you know, we got to rubber grips. So it was a certain size and weight. And we haven't varied much from it over 500 years.

Speaker 3:

The thing is too. What I find so interesting is that you Crips, I feel like grips and shafts are kind of the redheaded stepchild of a golf club, right? Like they don't get the respect or anything. Everyone's about to head, Oh, what's the new head model they're already, they're limited to what they can do. So they can just, they just, you know, they have the CCS, they, they know what the max CC is and they paint it something different and put something dumb on it. And they're like, Oh, it's the new head. But like, no one talks about the shaft. No one talks about the grip. And it's like, uh, you can make some pretty big changes in your game by switching that.

John:

Yeah. I'll tell you working on tour. We're always looking at shafts. I mean, the players are always looking to improve their game through shaft performance rice. And in particular, he helped designed some shafts that are specific to him with LA golf and, um, makes a big difference, you know, but again, there's limitations, there's limitations put so much carbon fiber. You can only put so many different things. You can only make it different places. But yeah, it's a, it's a big element. You know, again,

Speaker 3:

I think the, I don't think grips, giving get close to them. I feel if you look at the hiring or a chain of, uh, clubs, it's like head number one, no one cares about the head. Then it goes shafts, and then it goes grips. Cause don't talk about grips that much.

John:

I don't even think it goes great. I think grips were just an afterthought. It's like the OEMs will send out a rubber grip. That's a certain size and 90% of the people just play with what's on it already. So they're not even thinking

Speaker 3:

Until I dry out in the garage for 10 years. And they're like,[inaudible]

John:

Yeah, it's just the most under underlooked overlooked, I guess, part of golf. And, um, that's the only thing that touches your hands. So in my mind, to become more efficient with the golf club, the grip potentially has the biggest impact on your ball striking. So, you know, because we've been able to develop so many different sizes from standard all the way through to what Bryson does with the XL jumbo, max, we've opened up kind of a Pandora's box and we're, we're seeing the results and there's real data that backs up more club, head speed, you know, better dispersion, longer straighter shots is what we say, but it's, it's not a slow.

Speaker 3:

So when it comes to the putter grips, why don't you guys start doing programs? Same time

John:

Originally a putter grip that was kind of a pistol style is heavy. And then, um, and once Bryson got in the mix with us, we said, you know, we, uh, we got to come up, putter, putter grip for him. So his, his methods changed over the years from conventional to sidesaddle to arm. Um, we've developed, you know, three or four grips that kind of fit each style. So we've, uh, been able to lead the market with the arm lock. You know, it's funny, we were in a hotel in a hotel and, you know, Bryson was getting ready to go to this method and, you know, we needed a grip. So basically we a grip at the hotel, you know, in the lobby and hang out and be like, Oh, we should do this. Conceptually. You know, what I thought would be the best would be to make the flat part, the part that lays along your forearm, as opposed to have the round part, you know, most people would just put it like, okay, the flat parts on your thumbs and the round part would run up your arms. And it didn't make sense. Why not have the flat part run through the Palm of your hand all the way up to under your elbow, where the USDA said it could go based on that we decided to make as wide, you know, a flat spot as possible through the rules of golf. So what we've come up with is a light, wider version of an arm lock that really, really helps to stabilize. There's really not room when you're locked in like that for much wrist movement at that point. So you, once you get locked in, it's a matter of just moving the bigger muscles.

Speaker 3:

What I find fascinating is there's not, I don't really know of any companies that do this. You guys are extremely innovative, right? Like, I don't know, like I know all the grip companies and have them all and I don't see the I'm making big strides, grips. I see like, Oh, softness color, stupid like that. But like, not about how can we make this different, it's more like, how do we make this? How can we sell more, I guess.

John:

Yeah. I mean, yeah, not really. I'm not

Speaker 3:

Bashing anybody. I'm just saying you guys very innovative.

John:

We're, we're out of the box. We're looking for way to get better. We're we're looking for ways to be different in a way that helps golfers be better golfers. I mean, the games, a tough game, and a lot of people get discouraged and you know, a lot of people come from other backgrounds, whether it be baseball or, you know, we've all grabbed a rake or we've all, you know, grabbed a shovel or, you know, whatever you've done. If you take a look at it and look back at it, the handle was always bigger. Nobody's imagine a golf grip, a standard golf grip on a shovel, an ax, a fishing pole, a tennis racket, a baseball bat, a rope. If you've got to climb up a rope, would you climb up on a skinny rope or would it be easier to climb up on something that has surface contact with your Palm? So basically we made a grip that would have surface contact in your Palm. Yeah. It gets on that owner, which now you've lost the deviation. When you lose that extra deviation, you're losing the ability to flip it too quick, you know, to, to manipulate it with your hands because the larger grip slows down the club face closure. So if you think of that in terms of a tractor trailer wheel, and you're turning at the tractor trailer turns very slowly and deliberately. If you think of it on a race car or a go-kart, it's very quick and the car reacts very quickly. It's the same thing with the grip, the size of a grip in the club head. So you don't want that club head acting quickly. You don't want your fast Twitch muscles dictating how the club closes. You would rather have a big, you know, what does every teacher tell you? You know, you want to get a full turn and use your bigger muscles. Jumble. Max is the size of that. Grip will allow you to do that without any tension, because most people, if you don't have any surface contact end up having to squeeze with these fingers, which creates tension. So you see a lot of blocks and things like that, based on tension, somebody hits a jumbo. Max, they lose that tension club turns over as it should, but it's, it's not a quick turn. It's a deliberate turn. Now it's going towards a target just a little bit long. So then they see these incredibly straight shots they've never seen before. So they're all, you know, if you look at our reviews anywhere, you're going to hear people talking about longer straighter shots.

Speaker 3:

I think that the hardest thing is just education, right? Like people don't know, that's it, that's what it comes down to. All of us. It's like, you know, people need to be educated as to how your technology works on why it's good for them

John:

Now, you you've, uh, you've hit it on the head all because it's just, that's why we, you know, did a lot of demo days. And you know, the more people we get in front of the more success we seem to have, because if I get 10 people that will hit and I can get the right size in their hand, eight or nine, and we're going to switch. I mean, you know, you'll have a few people that, Oh, it just feels big. Or, you know, they get caught up on a feel when you look at the flight scope though, you start seeing, wait a minute, you just picked up three miles an hour. You're you're hitting it 25% straighter. So, you know, well, it just doesn't feel right. Well, you know, we're more about performance than fields

Speaker 3:

Hit a farther, or do you want it to feel right. To get used to it, right? You're going to use that feeling. It's just not used to it yet.

John:

Well, you, you ask anybody, that's hit a jumbo max and played, you know, uh, with it or just hit a bucket of balls. You could take a jumble, max out, hit a bucket of balls. I promise you when you pick up a regular golf grip, you're going to be like, I don't know how I did this all these years. Cause it feels so funky after you get used to it. And you get used to it in a day. I mean, it's, it's like muscle memory

Speaker 3:

Too. Like your body just knows the,

John:

Yeah, it's just, it's like, wow. Now I've got it in a part of my hand where I can actually control the club face.

Speaker 3:

Well, I I'm about to review them. I know you and I have been talking for awhile, Zack. And so we're, I'm going to review them and I'm excited cause I want to try them out on my, all my, all my clubs, because I wholly agree with the situ like with what you're saying. Um, and I, I don't know. I'm kind of excited actually, but um, I really appreciate you being on the show today. I know you have to take off soon, but you guys to check out jumbo, max, I'm actually gonna have John come back again. I think that way here's one of the stories we could just literally have a show of John telling stories. I think he had a few more Paul. I know you have all kinds stories. I can just tell you right away. Oh, this guy has a story, man.

John:

We're having some fun. There's a lot of cool things behind the scenes that I've been able to experience. I've been, I've been blessed to be part of this whole ride.

Speaker 3:

I love what you guys are doing. Like I'm a, I'm a fan. I'm a far so, um,

John:

Got to get down the team. Paul, we gotta get you gripped up and uh, get you into it.

Speaker 3:

Jumbo, max. So thank you for getting, for being on the show and where can they, where's a good place for people to find jumbo max on the website or can they go to the store?

John:

Oh, definitely the website go to jumbo, max.com. There's a fitting tool there that will really help people get into the right grip. But if they really want to go and touch them and feel them, we've uh, we've just PJ superstores opened the doors for us and they're, uh, they're carrying the grips at all their stores. Now. That's awesome. Kind of featuring the grip. There's actually a stanchion of Bryson in there. So when you go in, ask for jumbo, max, and, um, and there's a lot of, uh, golf galaxies have brought us a board. Roger Don's the worldwide golf's of the world also carry us. So a lot of the big retailers have us. I would call an advanced, make sure they have stock. Cause we've, um, we've definitely seen an increase in the last year dramatic increase. Um,

Speaker 3:

But you have a little prices wins for like, Oh, what is you're using? Especially the tinkers out there. Cause they're always trying to figure it out. Right? Like my dad, my dad's like that. He's always changing his swing and he's like, Oh, we're going to invent it. And I was like, Oh

John:

Exactly. Well, it's kind of fun. You know, you just, it's easy. 10, 12 bucks. You pro grip on it's twice the size of a regular grip that you've been playing. And

Speaker 3:

Then all of a sudden you're like, Oh

John:

Yeah. I mean, listen, you're going to go out and get lunch somewhere. And chances are you're in a hurry. And you, you get out there and you grab one of those sausage sandwiches from the sausage stand and he ended up getting a stomach ache. And then you ended up getting the and then, you know, you ruined your day. So why not take that$12 by a golf grip, improve your golf game potentially and have a little fun along the way,

Speaker 3:

Full set of them for like what it costs us to get like nine one, one club.

John:

Exactly. And if it doesn't work, you cut the grip off. You w you know, you're down. Yeah. But the key is you won't get the.

Speaker 3:

Oh, there you go. And you saved$12 and your wife will let you sleep in the bed with her at night. So There should be a commercial, like a guy eating a sandwich,

John:

Got with the combo, max,

Speaker 3:

You guys look at a jumbo magnet and be like, this,

John:

I should be here now.

Speaker 3:

Like, like go the sausage store.

John:

Exactly. You just have a big mustard on down the side of your mouth. No, that's

Speaker 3:

A, that was always our line at the golf shows. You know, a guy would come up and he'd have a hot dog in his hand. I'm like, Hey, bud. You're like, I bro, you know what that's going to do for you? Why don't you try grip? You're here for golf. This is what's free swag. The buzzers. I have to call them the buzzards. Like after the show tutors like circling around, looking for free stuff. I was like, uh, hell yeah. Oh yeah. They're out there. There's, that's a whole, that's a whole different, but the whole thing gets started on that. But thanks for being on the show is he's cool. As how I knew him, he cool, man. He start telling me he started out like, Oh, is this cool? Yeah. Sometimes where people are asking, they're like, you know, inner Valley, CEO's all these founders. Like, what's it like, I'm like, it's just the little people I'm like, I'll know within the first 10 seconds, if they're going to be, if it's gonna be a fun, a fun interview or like, Oh guys, any one of these, but um, your coolest house, uh, you know, we come to Arizona, let me know. So we could hell yeah. Where are you at? Scottsdale area. Tempe. Yeah. That's, I'm always up there for different tournaments and stuff. So Pat Perez and actually got Charles Barkley on the grips when I was there. Really? Yeah. Charles Barkley, listen to the intro. My show, my intro, my show. I have all these like outtakes and like Barclays about is that it? And he's like talking about, he goes, why play golf? You can't bet money. It's really sad or something. Really. That's cool. This guy's cool, man. Do you guys eat out jumbo? Max? It's legit. I mean, think it's legit. Try got nothing to lose. And if you don't have diarrhea, so like by sausage sandwich, right. You won't get the craps. Hey, that's a benefit in itself right there, man. Start any diet out. Be like Bryson, you know, be like pricing wise, you guys shirt. Just be like Bryson down the hot dogs, pick up, you know, the health and then grab a jumbo max, the way you go, that's be like pricing and then have like, like, you know, there's all Michael Jordan commercials like Mike. Oh yeah. Let's see. We got some things up our sleeve only going to get better. Well, thanks for being on the show. I know you got some appointments, so I will talk to you again. I really want you back on this show and anytime Paul, thank you so much for your time today. It's been great. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to another episode of behind the golf brand podcast, you're going to beat me like stay connected on and off the show by visiting golfers authority.com. Don't forget to like subscribe and leave a comment. Golf is always more fun when you're with stay out of the beach and see you on the green.