Old Tom RA91 Driver - new company / start-up

[Grant85]

I like the look of it and the price even now at £155 seems a decent amount

However the putter at £135 was it? Seems excessive when for a couple quid more can get an odyssey which imo make the best selection of putters for average golfers

Don't know if you'll see too many new putters from Odyssey at that kind of price.

The putter has only been on for a few days and he doesn't even have a prototype in his hands. I'd guess there is a minimum threshold of cost in order to get these manufactured and shipped.

A company like Odyssey are buying tens of thousands of units at a big discount, but given my experience with the Driver I'd reckon you are getting a very similar quality product - probably from the same factory that a a big manufacturer are using. So at £135 I doubt you are getting ripped off.

However if you are going to buy stuff from Old Tom (or similar cottage companies), you are buying into the ethos and the brand imo. It's pretty narrow to compare every aspect to a huge company with hundreds of products and millions in development and marketing budgets. What the guy has done is seriously impressive in my opinion.

 

[PJ87]

Don't know if you'll see too many new putters from Odyssey at that kind of price.

The putter has only been on for a few days and he doesn't even have a prototype in his hands. I'd guess there is a minimum threshold of cost in order to get these manufactured and shipped.

A company like Odyssey are buying tens of thousands of units at a big discount, but given my experience with the Driver I'd reckon you are getting a very similar quality product - probably from the same factory that a a big manufacturer are using. So at £135 I doubt you are getting ripped off.

However if you are going to buy stuff from Old Tom (or similar cottage companies), you are buying into the ethos and the brand imo. It's pretty narrow to compare every aspect to a huge company with hundreds of products and millions in development and marketing budgets. What the guy has done is seriously impressive in my opinion.

It is very impressive yes

But as a selling point he has put his driver at £155 which is a fraction of current drivers on the market.. makes people consider even more

However when the putter is similar price to the big boys it’s going to be harder imo

 

[Grant85]

It is very impressive yes

But as a selling point he has put his driver at £155 which is a fraction of current drivers on the market.. makes people consider even more

However when the putter is similar price to the big boys it’s going to be harder imo

Personal view is that a putter and a driver cost much the same to develop and manufacture - which is probably reflected in the Old Tom pricing. Big companies sell Drivers for £449 because people buy them at the price. If folk were more inclined to pay even more for putters and change them every year or two, then the price of those would increase as well.

Guy I play with has a Callaway Epic driver. Got it second hand for £210 and sold his previous Driver for £90. The same club is still selling for £449, so someone has probably bought it for around that price less than a year ago and traded it in, probably losing close to £300 on it. Absolute madness in terms of consumer behaviour that companies are obviously quite happy to take advantage of.

 

[PJ87]

Personal view is that a putter and a driver cost much the same to develop and manufacture - which is probably reflected in the Old Tom pricing. Big companies sell Drivers for £449 because people buy them at the price. If folk were more inclined to pay even more for putters and change them every year or two, then the price of those would increase as well.

Guy I play with has a Callaway Epic driver. Got it second hand for £210 and sold his previous Driver for £90. The same club is still selling for £449, so someone has probably bought it for around that price less than a year ago and traded it in, probably losing close to £300 on it. Absolute madness in terms of consumer behaviour that companies are obviously quite happy to take advantage of.

Your right the driver prices are mad

I got an m2 when they first came out but only because I took advantage of the double trade in deal at AG so cost me £179 instead of 279

Then changed this year to cobra f7.. brand new just 2 models out of date .. £165, with £60 given for my m2 so paid £105 for a brand new driver!

 

[Sats]

First impressions are looks; not bad, I personally don't like the OLD TOM script on the crown but that's my own opinion. I definitely want to try it out, price is hard to beat - mind you Benross do decent clubs at decent prices. Though I'd never buy a club with it's resale value in my mind, I buy it because I like the looks, feel and it performs the way I want it to.

 

[Slime]

Is the driver loft adjustable?

 

[Sats]

Is the driver loft adjustable?

Looks like it is from the pictures.

 

[Slime]

Looks like it is from the pictures.

I know, but there's no mention on the website.

 

[Sats]

I know, but there's no mention on the website.

I know, very little information on the website, which I think is a mistake by the company. If their product is that good speak about it get your audience intrigued.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I know very little information on the website, which I think is a mistake by the company. If there product is that good speak about it get your audience intrigued.

Indeed. As a new company you need a centralised pool of information and plenty of details on what you are selling including specifications, positive feedback/reviews. Make a good website, and you can go onto social media and make sure customers are fed back.

 

[Grant85]

Is the driver loft adjustable?

Driver is loft adjustable via the shaft. Looks to be options for 10.5 (std), 10.5 upright, 12.5 and 9.0.

 

[Grant85]

Indeed. As a new company you need a centralised pool of information and plenty of details on what you are selling including specifications, positive feedback/reviews. Make a good website, and you can go onto social media and make sure customers are fed back.

They do have quite a bit of detail on the website and reviews.

Does seem strange that he isn't making a big feature of the adjustable loft. May be that it's meant to be a 10.5 degree and adjusting will not necessarily lead to the best performance. I've never actually understood how adjustable drivers work given the Driver head is the same - you must surely open or close the face when adjusting the loft.

Also, I've seen on his facebook page that he only has about 7 drivers left from his initial factory run. Not sure of his intention if he will re-order the same Drivers again, or tweak the design to a Mk ii. Given that he has ordered the putters, he must have sold enough to make it worthwhile, but in this day and age he will lose a lot of customers if he doesn't carry much stock for immediate delivery as people obviously expect this in every industry.

 

[Scozzy]

Time will tell if he can find a place in the market and still be around in a few years,I'm more interested in the chat on here about not buying it for loss of resale value?? Really? Surely if you buy a big boys new model whether it's ping/TM whoever for 400£ ish and sell on eBay 18mths later for 140£ that's the same loss as old tom at 155£ new and flogging it for 40£ later on is it not? The loss of value is pretty much the same scale %wise so what's the difference? New driver prices are a joke in any case and I'm an expert in justifying golf purchases 😎

 

[MendieGK]

They do have quite a bit of detail on the website and reviews.

Does seem strange that he isn't making a big feature of the adjustable loft. May be that it's meant to be a 10.5 degree and adjusting will not necessarily lead to the best performance. I've never actually understood how adjustable drivers work given the Driver head is the same - you must surely open or close the face when adjusting the loft.

Also, I've seen on his facebook page that he only has about 7 drivers left from his initial factory run. Not sure of his intention if he will re-order the same Drivers again, or tweak the design to a Mk ii. Given that he has ordered the putters, he must have sold enough to make it worthwhile, but in this day and age he will lose a lot of customers if he doesn't carry much stock for immediate delivery as people obviously expect this in every industry.

Adjustable loft drivers are a fad, moving the shaft means moving the spine of the shaft which is important.

Oh wait, these ‘main’ brands don’t spine align. Never mind

 

[Jacko_G]

Adjustable loft drivers are a fad, moving the shaft means moving the spine of the shaft which is important.

Oh wait, these ‘main’ brands don’t spine align. Never mind

Spine alignment and FLO ing shafts is a pretty taboo subject, lots of different thoughts and opinions on whether it's beneficial or not, from shafts having "multiple spines" to where is the optimum position for the spine to be positioned.

There doesn't seem to be a universally accepted "yeah" or "nah" in this field. Lots of noise from both camps.

 

[Slime]

Spine alignment and FLO ing shafts is a pretty taboo subject, lots of different thoughts and opinions on whether it's beneficial or not, from shafts having "multiple spines" to where is the optimum position for the spine to be positioned.

There doesn't seem to be a universally accepted "yeah" or "nah" in this field. Lots of noise from both camps.

A bit like Brexit, then!

 

[Parsaregood]

Spining or puring shafts makes no difference to performance and if it did every pro would have it done. Relatively few pros actually do this and tests have been done and no difference can be felt or seen with clubs where one is pured and the other is not. It's really not a necessary thing to do and will make zero difference, if if makes you feel better great do it but you ain't going to play any better because of it