Inside the Mizuno Tour Van workshop
Golfmagic joins Andy Kikidas to learn more about what they do week-to-week
Golfmagic was asked to climb aboard the brand new Mizuno Tour Van last week when it made a welcome visit to Burhill Golf Club for the official launch of the new Mizuno National Fitting Centre.
The latest incarnation of Mizuno’s Official European Tour Workshop, which was unveiled down the road at Wentworth in time for the 2010 BMW PGA Championship, has serviced the clubs of its staff players, including World No.1 Luke Donald, since its introduction in 1986.
Mizuno’s original workshop heralded a new level of professionalism on the European Tour. The project started in 1984 when Neil Coles and St Georges Hill clubmaker, the late Barry Willett, set up a temporary workshop at The Open Championship in The Home of Golf, St Andrews.
Previously, competitors were restricted to the services offered by local professionals. Most would choose to visit Willett and his clubmaking team at St Georges Hill pre-season to fine tune their equipment.
Having proved so successful, Coles was persuaded that a mobile facility to follow the players on the PGA European Tour would help to close the gap in standards between European and the US.
And it’s been moving through the gears ever since; now travelling to 24 European Tour events during the course of a season under the watchful eye of Mizuno’s tour manager Andy Kikidas.
“The workshop is a fantastic facility for Europe’s professional golfers,” Andy told us.
“As the official workshop to the tour, the players know we are there for them regardless of their equipment affiliations. The technicians sent each year fromJapanare second to none and often players prefer their work to that of their sponsors.
“Plus, they know the Mizuno workshop will be first to arrive and last to leave at every event which makes it an indispensable service.”
The third version of Mizuno’s workshop is 16 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and four metres high, in the brand’s sleek white and blue livery. The larger vehicle has been designed to accommodate increased storage capacity for up to 4,500 shafts, 7,000 grips and 100 different sets of iron heads as soon as it arrives for an event, meaning the vehicle can service every possible tweak or club request for the Mizuno staffer.
The pimped-up Tour Van also features enhanced wireless communications to allow faster feedback information to Mizuno’s R&D facilities. Swing DNA data of Mizuno’s contracted players can be studied in comfort on either of the 40” LCD screens.
Mizuno staff players can then kick back and watch their tournament live in HD on the workshop’s satellite connection, watch films on Blu-ray or use the built in PS3 to play Tiger Woods PGA Tour while their clubs are being built.
After being wowed by the Tour van, we joined Burhill pro and two-time European Tour champion Gary Orr on the bays at Mizuno’s new National Fitting Centre, which Golfmagic’s Andy Roberts reviewed on a recent visit.
