During practice round days at nearly every PGA Tour event, equipment reps, expert fitters, and club builders from various OEMs are on-site to help competitors with their golf equipment needs. The reps conduct club fittings, provide equipment for players to test, and they help build and repair golf clubs for players to use.

To house all of the product inventory, tools and repair equipment for each manufacturer, large “tour trucks” travel in fleets to each event. These trucks are like traveling pro shops and club repair facilities that provide the space and tools (such as loft and lie machines, grinding wheels, etc.) that club fitters and builders need to make any equipment changes necessary.

The newly emerging LIV Golf tour, however, doesn’t have the same structure. With only 48 golfers competing in each event, fleets of tour trucks aren’t traveling to each event to help competitors with their equipment wants and needs.

There will be one tour truck, though.

Ben Giunta, golf industry veteran and founder of The Tour Van, has confirmed that he will be traveling to each LIV tour event, alongside his partner Jason Werner, to help LIV players get what they need equipment-wise

Giunta is currently a club fitter based in Portland, Oregon, and has spent his professional career fitting and repairing golf equipment. He started at TaylorMade Golf working with customers, then transitioned to Nike Golf, where he worked for years on the company’s PGA Tour Truck. While at Nike, he helped fit, repair and build golf clubs for the game’s top athletes at PGA Tour events.

Following Nike’s exit from the hard goods business in 2016, Giunta acquired the Nike Tour Truck and started his own club repair and fitting business, called The Tour Van. Currently, The Tour Van is located at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, which is the upcoming venue for LIV’s next golf event (The Tour Van is located at The Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Arizona, during winter months).

Since the company’s inception, The Tour Van has also expanded to Nashville, where Werner – a club fitter and company partner – fits and repairs golf clubs out of a former TaylorMade Tour Truck that once serviced the Web.com/Korn Ferry Tour. The second Tour Van is currently located at Hermitage Golf Club in Nashville.

As GolfWRX has confirmed, Giunta and Werner will be on-site at Pumpkin Ridge ahead of the upcoming LIV event on June 30, working out of the The Tour Van’s original truck. There, the duo will be working with manufacturers to supply product, and helping LIV competitors with their equipment needs (club builds, club repairs, re-grips, wedge grinding, etc.).

Following the Portland event, Giunta and Werner will also be traveling to Bedminster, Boston, and Chicago as contractors for the remaining LIV events in 2022. Giunta says there are plans for a “larger trailer” in the events following Pumpkin Ridge.

“I am going to be responsible for managing the equipment trailer on the LIV tour, and making sure that we have all of the resources in place to service the athletes that will be playing on the tour from week-to-week,” Giunta told GolfWRX. “Whether it’s lofts and lies and regrips, or doing some testing, whatever the player needs as an unbiased position just to help them out. It doesn’t really matter who they represent, as far as a manufacturer standpoint. I’ll help them with whatever they need, and work with their sponsors to make sure we can facilitate their goals with their equipment…

“Right now, in the summer, one of my trailers is setup at Pumpkin Ridge, so it’s conveniently located. We’re going to be using this trailer here on property to service the athletes for the Portland event. Then we’ve got a plan moving forward with a larger trailer that will cover the rest of the domestic events here in the U.S. Jason and I will be working those also.”

While they’re not on the LIV tour servicing equipment needs for the players, Giunta and Werner will continue fitting, repairing and building clubs for customers of The Tour Van.

“If you call us up and you know your specs, we can build up your clubs the same way we can for a Brooks Koepka or an Abe Ancer, or Dustin Johnson, or anybody that’s playing out here, or any of the guys I worked with in the past…at the end of the day, I’m just here to help golfers play better golf. If one of the members comes to see me, that’s what I want to do: help them play better golf. If one of these [LIV] guys comes to see me, I’m here to help them play better golf, too.”

To learn more about The Tour Van and set up a time to work with Giunta or Werner, check out the company’s website.