Equipment

When OEM Finishes just aren’t good enough…PART 2

Published

17 years ago

Feb 11, 2009

R Hetzel

Last month I sent in a few Nike Tiger Woods forged sand wedges for a spa treatment. Spas for golf equipment? Absolutely! Slap it up, flip it, rub it down, oil can style. Since it is right in the middle of winter time here in Ohio, and I cannot play any golf, I decided that I could be without my trusty sticks for a few short weeks. Just like many of you, I love certain golf clubs and how they play, but don’t like the OEM finish that they originally came with. I never even knew that there are many options should you find yourself in this dilemma. If you spend any time here on this website, I am am sure you are faced with these same decisions as well. It’s actually quite simple, send it of to BOS? BOS you say? Yes, an acronym for Black Oxide Service in sunny California. Just to refresh your memories, here is a picture of my Tiger Woods’ sand wedges just prior to sending them in to Black Oxide Service for a complete chrome stripping and customized oil can refinish.

I am sure many golfers are pretty hesitant to send off their prized and expensive golf clubs across the country, and wonder if they will return as nice or in even better condition. Rest assured, just like Tiger Woods will soon be back to destroy his (lack of) competition, your putter or forged club will come back much, much better than it was when the mailman picked it up! Seriously, I was very impressed with BOS’s level of service and attention to detail. I drew some pictures of my wedges delineating exactly what I wanted done and they did it exactly to perfection. Just in case you were wondering, removing the chrome does subtract from the overall club swingweight a little bit. These wedges were swingweight checked at D-6 prior to shipping and once reassembled, came in at a hair under D-5. Not a lot, but a little.

Check the sweet patina on this BOS oil can finish. This is how Nike should have finished these wedges to begin with! I decided to not bead blast the back side like Nike did on the chrome OEM finish.

Bead blasted face with nice orange, green and purple oil can hues alongside for the ride. Impressive to say the very least. I almost don’t want to game these!

My Nike TW lob wedge now looks like I envisioned it to be. Sorry Tiger, no Sunday Victory Red on this bad boy.

My advice to you should you be contemplating an iron, putter or wedge refinish, drop BOS a line and you will see that they will do a first class job (they will even send you a sweet slide show showing many of the clubs that they have refinished) with whatever you decide to send them. I thought I would ask Monica Slivnik a few questions about the BOS golf refinishing (and finishing) operation to see where the company has been and how involved they are in the golf side of the house. Read on…

How long have customers been able to send in golf clubs for custom finishes?

Since 2002, when we no longer had an exclusivity contract with Titleist.

Approximately how many golf pieces do you see in a month?

It varies, between 200 to 300 per month. This does not include OEM and custom club maker’s orders.

Approximately how many pieces do you finish for OEM and custom clubmakers per month? You dont have to name names if you need to keep that private. Obviously if you are refinishing Cameron’s putters you may need to keep that private for contractual reasons…I know you do the C&L putters, because I know one of the owners, Lee, and I have purchased 3 of their oil can putters!

150 to 250 for OEM and Custom, Club makers. You have C & L’s and I can name a couple more that have not required us to keep their names under wraps such as Taylor made and Byron Golf, the others have to remain private due to the contractual agreements.

Please elaborate about EPA regulations concerning chemicals and or the chemical processes involved in these finishes. Can you tell me, in simple form, how chrome is applied and how it is stripped? Are there special restrictions on chrome now in 2009, I seem to see a lot less of it across all applications…not just golf…

Some of the chemicals are proprietary and I can’t disclose the detailed steps or chemicals as it would give away our formulas & trade secrets. I can tell you that all the finishes we do in house are monitored very closely by all agencies and we are a “zero discharge” facility which is environmentally friendly. The Chrome, Nickel, Anodizing and Copper Finishes are outsourced because those finishes are highly caustic and as you mentioned the restrictions & permits etc are becoming so expensive to operate that it is putting a lot of companies out of business. Per our vendor regarding the chrome process he states “Here in California Hex-Chrome Finish is regulated by the Air Pollution control Agency and Tri-Chrome on the other hand is more environmentally friendly & has fewer regulations. The process to strip chrome requires Hydrochloric acid and if there is Nickel underneath the chrome needs to be stripped with an electrical current. The metal is then prepped either by polishing or sandblasting or a combination of both. The club is then ready for the application for the Nickel plating which gives the metal it’s for brightness & then chrome plating is applied for the color.”

How large a chunk of your total business is golf related?

Approx 40%, the remainder is still Industrial, Aerospace and Commercial.

How many and what types of finshes can be applied to carbon steel?

Black Oxide, Satin Black, 2x Black, III Black, Matte Black, Matte Patina, Patina Oil Can Finish, 2x Patina, III Patina, Matte Chocolate, Chocolate Patina, 2x Chocolate, Satin Chocolate, III Chocolate, Nickel Finish, 2x Nickel, Satin Nickel, III Nickel, Copper, Satin Copper Finish, III Copper, Blue Torch Finish, Misted Blue Torch, Chrome, Satin Chrome.

Obviously Stainless Steel has a few less finish options, what types of finishes can be applied to stainless steel items?

Satin Black, Matte black, Torched Finish, Misted Torch, Bead blasted Finish, High Buff Polish Finish, Nickel Finish, 2x Nickel, III Nickel, Copper Finish, Satin Copper, III Copper, Chrome, Satin Chrome.

Are your custom services from word of mouth or through internet web forums (which is how I learned about your work)?

Both. It started out as strictly word of mouth and that is our primary focus but I am aware of numerous clients informing me that they found us through forums, eBay or referrals.

Do you see yourself as a direct competitor for custom refinishing of putters with the Cameron Custom Shop? Obviously, if you do their finishes and cannot answer this I understand.

Yes and No. It all depends on what our customer wants. What sets us apart from the Cameron Studio is that we will customize the customer’s putter, iron or wedge any way they want it done. Sometimes it as simple as just completing paintfills. We feel that our customers should have the options to apply whatever finish and paintfill that suits their personality and preference. They shouldn’t be forced to go with only the “original” finish they should be able to customize there item however they see fit I know that since we’ve been providing this service I have seen the studio start to offer some of the special services that we offer.

However, the Cameron Custom Shop remains picky on certain color paintfills on certain putters and they will refuse to paint the color you requested or they will use a different color than you asked for. Be sure and save yourself some shipping money and find out in advance. Of course, if you are looking to COA your putter, you are at Scotty’s mercy there…

Who does the paintfill for you? Do they like all the cool stuff they get to do to other peoples’ club heads?

We do all our paint fills in house and yes our guys like doing it especially when they get the honor of picking out colors and asked to just be creative and have carte blanch on a clients order. They have a good eye for what colors look best on finishes and like to come up with color schemes etc. Usually prior to being asked to just pick colors and do something “nice”, I like to find out what our customer’s tastes are whether they are conservative or a little on the wild side as well as I’ll ask what their favorite colors may be so that I can match up their personality with my suggestions on finishes and color choices. This also helps me determine and explain to our technicians what the customer’s likes and dislikes are and then our guys can work their magic. It’s fun for both us and it leaves a little mystery for the customer as the anticipation of what we’re going to come up with is exciting for them.

Do you offer repainting of fairway woods and drivers?

No we do not.

Tell me about your putter racks….they look pretty cool…

We designed the original putter rack for Scotty and we have the prototype displayed in our lobby. Because of customer’s commenting on the rack and asking if we’d consider making and designing one for them we decided to improve upon the original and came up with a 5, 8 and 10 rack putter system. Our website, www.caddy-royale.com goes into detail about the material used etc. We are now currently designing a headcover rack which will also be available in 20, 40 and 60 denominations.

How did you (BOS) get into refinishing golf clubs? Who recognized the need for this?

We recognized the need for this service and felt we shouldn’t just offer it to the pro tour players as the average golfer should also be given the opportunity to customize his/her putter, wedge or iron as well. Many times a customer has expressed they don’t want to part with the gamer and they just simply want “The Spa Treatment” and either get it back to original or change it up a bit so that it looks like a new putter with a unique finish.

How long have you been in business and is it a family business?

This is a Family owned business and Founded by my Father, Leo Slivnik, now deceased. My Dad left his kids a legacy that we value deeply. Because we helped build both companies from the ground up there were many sacrifices made along the way which makes us truly appreciate and value what we have today. My business philosophy in running these companies is the same business philosophy that my Father instilled in me. #1 being Customer Service, #2 is Quality and #3 being Customer Service. The reason why Customer Service is in there twice is because companies that are service oriented I believe should value their Customers above all else and “Bend over Backwards” to make sure they’re happy.

The reason why my Dad started the Black Oxide company was that our quality control had to keep rejecting parts that just were not done to our satisfaction or to our customer’s satisfaction. Frustrated with the lack of concern that our vendor had he had finally had his fill and decided to research and start up his own plating service that would work hand in hand with our Machine Shop. Back then we did not offer golf club refinishing; we were in the business and still are in the business of manufacturing aerospace, industrial and commercial parts. These parts as well as golf putters require black oxide finishes. My Dad was a perfectionist and Quality was something he didn’t skimp on. We’ve been in business since 1979 and his good name and experience as well as his eagerness to tackle projects that most people found too challenging was something he thrived on. As an example what got us started in putters was my Dad in the late 80’s was approached by Ely Callaway to black oxide his Billy Baroo’s and his Bobby Jones Commemorative putters. He too was having a problem with quality issues with his then current vendor. From there we were approached by Ray Cook Golf for manufacturing of their entire aluminum putter line as they had just relocated from Texas to California and nobody wanted to tackle the project. That was our first meeting with Scotty Cameron when he worked for Ray Cook as a putter designer. The rest is as they say “history” That is why we were sought out by many golf companies to develop finishes and work on special projects for them. Because we have the Machine Shop at this location it’s a “one stop shop”. Pretty much everything gets done here at our facility. You may find it interesting to know that we used to host tours for the putter studio that was located next door to us. They would bring in tourists visiting the putter studio from the Far East and they’d get to see the in house process starting with the manufacturing of a golf putter and see it through all the stages it went through before it became the finished product. We still offer tours upon request to our out of town clients as well as our walk-ins. Our clients have the opportunity to speak to our Golf Pro either by phone or in person. We really enjoy what we do and really take pride in our service.

Are you guys golfers?

We pretend to be, lol. Yes.

And so do I! Black Oxide Service is a first class operation, and if you are contemplating a refinish because your OEM finish isnt’ cutting it any longer (or never was to begin with), look up BOS, ask Monica for a quote and you’ll be glad that you did! Thanks Monica, you guys are great! A special thanks to the Eastgate Golf Galaxy in Cincinnati for professional disassembly and reassembly at a lightning pace, you guys rock.

Equipment

Why Rickie Fowler is switching to a shorter driver at the PGA Championship

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2026

Alistair Cameron

In a golf world where players are looking to eke out every yard possible, usually by lengthening their drivers to add clubhead speed, there’s one player at the PGA Championship who’s going in the opposite direction. In fact, for Rickie Fowler, his goal off the tee is not about gaining extra distance or yards north to south, but rather about shrinking the misses from east to west.

Ahead of the PGA Championship and the week prior at the Truist Championship. Fowler mentioned to Cobra Tour Rep Ben Schomin that the driver didn’t quite swing feel the same as everything in the bag. As a result, and with Schomin’s suggestion to try and sync everything up with the big stick, Fowler decided to test out a shorter length shaft.

“He’s been at 45 (inches), and he’d been at 45 for a few weeks, 44 1/8 (inches) is really is where he is been living really for the most part, for the last couple of years, and is where he is been comfortable,” Schomin told GolfWRX. “It just felt like it was a little long and loose on him.”

Interestingly, Fowler ranks 40th in Driving Accuracy this year on the PGA Tour. It’s his most accurate season with the driver since the start of the decade. But sometimes for players, feel is more important than statistics.

“It was really more of a trying to get the swing to feel the fluidness from club to club to club to try to get it to feel the same,” Schomin added. “And so we took it down to 43 and a quarter, and it was a touch of a ball speed loss, just based on that overall club head speed. But honestly, he squared it up probably a little better. The right miss wasn’t nearly as far. So really, overall down-range dispersion tightened up a fair amount, and he felt confident in swinging it.”

The change in length had Fowler’s caddie, Ricky Romano, beaming at how well he had driven during Tuesday’s practice round at Aronimink. So much so, he was asking Schomin not to suggest changes anymore.

Fowler’s shaft-shortening is one of a few driver adjustments he’s made this season, and to Schomin’s credit, it’s thanks to the fact that he and the rest of the Cobra team had Fowler fit very well into three of the four heads in the Cobra OPTM lineup.

“He had three distinct drivers and the biggest decision was trying to decide which worked best at that time,” Schomin told GolfWRX previously. “He’s played the majority of the season with OPTM X, but has also played a couple of tournaments with OPTM LS. His overall driving stats have been good.”

At the RBC Heritage earlier this spring, Fowler switched drivers, changing from his Cobra OPTM X and into the Tour, low-loft Max K model that Gary Woodland used to win just a few weeks prior.

Now for the PGA Championship, Fowler’s back in the X head, but still using the UST Mamiya LIN-Q PowerCore White 6TX shaft, just a little bit shorter.

“Will he stay there? I’m not sure,” Schomin added. “Could we end up say at like 43 and 7.5 (of an inch). If it’s giving him the same feel of consistency through the bag, then I think we might end up just a touch longer. But if he likes where he is at, he’s confident where he is at, that’s really all that matters.”

If there’s more testing, though, just don’t tell his caddie.

Equipment

GolfWRX Launch Report: 2026 Titleist GTS drivers

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

What you need to know: As is customary for the Fairhaven-based company, Titleist officially announced today that its GTS drivers are headed to retail, following a successful tour release. The GTS2, GTS3, and GTS4 drivers will be available in golf shops June 11.

Since debuting at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, the new GTS lineup has quickly gained traction on the PGA Tour, with more than 50 players already making the switch to a GTS2, GTS3, or GTS4 driver. Among them are Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.

Justin Thomas’ Titleist GTS2 driver (Greg Moore, GolfWRX)

According to Titleist, the GTS series builds upon the performance foundation established by the GT Series, while introducing several major technological advancements, including a new Split Mass Frame construction, refined aerodynamics, and an updated Speed Sync face design.

2026 Titleist GTS drivers: What’s new, key technology

Split Mass Frame and thermoform body

At the center of the new GTS lineup is a redesigned internal structure: the Split Mass Frame. This technology works with a full-thermoform body made from Titleist’s Proprietary Matrix Polymer (PMP), a lightweight composite that enables engineers to reposition mass more efficiently throughout the head. Compared to the previous GT generation, GTS drivers feature nearly double the PMP material, increasing from 13 grams to 26 grams, while maintaining the sound and feel preferred by better players.

The weight savings from the thermoform construction allowed Titleist engineers to strategically separate mass placement inside the head. Specifically, more weight is pushed rearward to improve stability and forgiveness, while additional mass is positioned low and forward to optimize speed, launch, and spin.

In short, golfers are able to maintain ball speed and consistency across both centered and off-center strikes.

Faster aerodynamics

Titleist also refined the aerodynamic shaping of the GTS heads to help players generate more clubhead speed.

The tails of the new GTS2 and GTS3 heads have been raised compared to previous models, helping airflow stay attached to the crown and sole longer during the swing. According to Titleist, the improved airflow reduces drag and increases speed without affecting launch conditions or center of gravity placement.

Typically, aerodynamic gains can compromise forgiveness or launch characteristics, but the weight savings from the Split Mass Frame allowed engineers to preserve preferred CG locations.

New Speed Sync face

The new Speed Sync Face design is engineered to improve ball speed retention across a larger portion of the face. A reinforced perimeter structure helps maximize face deflection and COR on centered strikes, while the upper portion of the support ring is opened up to increase speed on high-face impacts, a common strike location for many golfers. The face also features a variable thickness design to preserve speed and performance across a wider impact area.

Expanded adjustability

Each GTS model includes a dual-weighting system to fine-tune launch, spin, and shot shape more precisely than previous generations. GTS2 uses interchangeable forward and aft weights, while GTS3 and GTS4 combine a rear weight with an adjustable forward track weight system.

Tour-inspired face graphics

The new lineup features redesigned high-contrast face graphics to improve alignment and framing at address, according to Titleist. Sharp visual lines are designed to make it easier to center the golf ball and to perceive loft more easily at setup.

Additional model details

GTS2

The GTS2 is the most forgiving model, designed for golfers seeking maximum stability and consistent speed across the face.
It produces high launch with mid spin and features a larger, confidence-inspiring profile behind the ball.
Standard weighting includes an 11-gram forward weight and a 5-gram rear weight, with additional fitting configurations available.

GTS3

The GTS3 is aimed at players who want more control over launch, spin, and shot shaping.
Compared to GTS2, the GTS3 offers lower launch and spin while featuring a more compact profile and deeper face design preferred by many stronger players.
The head features an adjustable forward-track weight system to further fine-tune center of gravity placement.

GTS4

The lowest-spinning option in the lineup, GTS4 is built for golfers looking to reduce excessive spin and maximize total distance.
Unlike previous “4” models from Titleist, the new GTS4 features a full 460cc profile that improves forgiveness and stability while retaining its low-spin DNA.
Like GTS3, it includes a forward track weighting system for precise fitting adjustments.

What Titleist says

“When we talk about driver design, it’s never about the one feature or benefit — it’s about all of them,” said Stephanie Luttrell, Titleist’s Senior Director of Metalwood R&D. “Ball speed, forgiveness, spin stability, adjustability, exceptional sound and feel… these are all attributes that golfers care about. It’s our job to design a lineup that elevates performance across the board without sacrificing in key areas, and we feel we’ve done that with GTS.”

“We know that forward CGs drive speed with great launch and spin characteristics, but you need to be able to do that with an inertial stability that still preserves ball speed, launch and spin consistency on off-center hits,” Luttrell said. “We’ve never before been able to hit these CG positions and inertia properties at the same time, and we’re achieving that because of GTS’ construction.”

Club Junkie’s take

I feel like every time there is a new Titleist wood release, I figure they can’t outdo their previous driver. And every year, I am wrong and impressed with the performance. The GTS fits right into that narrative again, as I didn’t know where Titleist could go from GT, but they pushed the limits again, and my fitting proved the smart people there found ways to improve.

My past four Titleist drivers have been a 2 series as my swing typically requires a little height, spin, and forgiveness so I figured I would just get a new GTS2 and be on my way. During the fitting, I was impressed by the new GTS construction, its added PMP material, and the advanced adjustability on each model. My fitter, Joey, got to work putting together a GTS2 and we started there. The launch and spin were great, and the consistency on misses was very tight. My average ball speed with the GTS went up a little bit as the new Speed Sync face creates more speed away from the center.

Joey then built up a GTS3 in 11 degrees, but I figured this wouldn’t have the stability I needed for tight dispersion on my miss hits. That thought was quickly erased after a few shots, and I really liked the more center start line and reduced draw on the misses I was seeing. We tried a few different settings and shafts to dial in the details in order to get the best fit. Having a forward and rear weight in the head allowed Joey to set up the GTS3 with a heavier rear weight to keep the launch and spin up, while the Sure Fit hosel set flat created a more center start line for me. My misses were not nearly as far left, and I was really impressed with the consistency on the spin and launch when I didn’t hit it in the center.

Titleist again created a wood line in GTS that delivers improvements over previous drivers while keeping the traditional look and feel you expect. More adjustability, better off-center speed, and 3 drivers that are playable over a wider range of players should make these extremely successful in fittings.

Pricing, specs, availability

GTS2 lofts: 8, 9, 10, 11 degrees (RH/LH)

GTS3 lofts: 8, 9, 10, 11 degrees (RH/LH)

GTS4 lofts: 8, 9, 10 (RH/LH)

Featured shafts

Project X Titan Black
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue
Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Red

Premium shafts

Graphite Design Tour AD DI
Graphite Design Tour AD VF
Graphite Design Tour AD FI

Available for fittings and pre-sale now.

In golf shops worldwide beginning June 11.

Price: $699 (standard), $899 (premium)

Equipment

Titleist launches new GTS2 and GTS3 fairways

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Titleist has today introduced its new GTS2 and GTS3 fairways.

Lower and deeper center of gravity (CG) positions, new adjustable heel-toe weights and advanced clubface innovations drive total performance in the two tour-proven models.

New GTS fairway technology:

Wraparound composite crowns: Unlock lower CG positions for higher launch and lower spin as well as more CG depth for added forgiveness.

Refined shapes and profiles: With two distinct setups, with GTS2 featuring a shallower face height and larger address profile compared to GTS3’s deeper face and more compact profile. Both models feature flatter sole designs for better performance off the turf.

Dual-weighting systems: The dual-weighting systems allows for personalized performance, with interchangeable heel-toe flat weights helping to fine-tune CG location across the face.

A forged L-Cup face design: The new face design is optimized for GTS and works to preserve ball speed, maintain launch conditions and enhance sound and feel on low-face impacts.

Tour-inspired polished clubfaces: To help players see more of the clubface at address.

GTS2 Fairway

The new GTS2 fairway is designed with a shallower face and a larger profile than GTS3, ideal for players with more sweeping deliveries with their fairway metals.

GTS2’s new face height, inspired by tour feedback, was designed shallower than the prior generation GT2 model and more in line with the GT1 fairway. Each loft in GTS2 leverages a shallower profile except for the 13.5-degree, which maintains a slightly taller face.

With its new dual-weighting system, the ‘2’ model now has heel-toe CG adjustability.

Lofts: 13.5, 15.0, 16.5, 18.0, 21.0

Dual-weight system: 11-gram weight in heel, 5-gram weight in toe (standard)

GTS3 Fairway

The new GTS3 fairway is designed with a deeper face and a more compact profile, ideal for players who hit down on the golf ball more with their fairway metals.

New to the GTS3 family is a 21-degree offering, giving players two distinct profiles in Titleist’s 7-wood loft.

Instead of the track weight system featured in prior generation ‘3’ models, GTS3 now benefits from adjustable heel-toe flat weights.

Lofts: 15.0, 16.5, 18.0, 21.0

Dual-weight system: 11-gram weight in heel, 5-gram weight in toe (standard)

Price & Availability

The new GTS fairways are available for fittings and pre-sale now and will be in golf shops worldwide beginning June 11 priced at $399 (standard) and $599 (premium).