I chat with Wake Forest and Georgia Golf Hall of Famer Joe Inman and TaylorMade’s President & CEO David Abeles.
Joe Inman was a walk-on at Wake Forest in 1967. In 1969 he won the Arnold Palmer Award as Wake’s Top Athlete. Twenty-six years after arriving on campus, he was inducted into their Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, after living in the state for several years and amid an 11-year run as Head Coach of the Georgia State Men’s Golf Team, Joe was inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. We start by discussing his time at Wake Forest playing alongside guys like Lanny Wadkins and Leonard Thompson. From there we move to how he went from an alternate on the victorious 1969 Walker Cup team to going 2-0 in those matches. His play there earned him an invite to the 1970 Masters Tournament. Wait til you hear who he got paired with in the first two rounds. We finish by discussing his first PGA Tour win at the 1976 Kemper Open at Quail Hollow and then his years coaching at Georgia State.
I am grateful to David Abeles and the TaylorMade brand because they have been supporters of this show for nearly a decade. From the first time I met David, I learned he is one of the most upbeat guys you’ll ever meet. He shares the brand’s excitement over what Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda have achieved over the last few months. Their players on all Tours have had remarkable success this year. We transition to talking about the science behind their new Qi10 driver and how they were able to reach a 10K moment of inertia, something no brand had achieved until this year. We also hear what’s new with their TP5 and TP5X golf balls which has gotten David and me a 1/2 club longer. We round out the segment talking about their R&D team who are working on things well into the future.