Equipment
Nike signs Japan Golf Tour star Shunsuke Sonoda
Nike Golf announced earlier this week the signing of another young gun to join the likes of Rory Mcilroy, Seung-Yul Noh and Thorbjorn Olesen. The newest pro to don the Nike swoosh is 24-year-old Japanese pro Shunsuke Sonoda. The winner of two Japan PGA titles, Sonoda will make his Nike debut at the Japan Golf Fair in Tokyo on Feb. 17.
Sonoda turned pro in 2009 at the age of 19 and has since collected two titles on the Japanese tour, as well as eight other top-five finishes. Nike’s global director of sports marketing Mark Thaxton described Sonoda as, “an incredibly talented athlete who has a very promising career ahead of him.” Sonoda is currently ranked No. 209 in the Official World Golf Rankings and will look to better this ranking with his new gear.
“I grew up with the Swoosh and I have always known Nike as the brand that leads in innovation,” Sonoda said. “Competing in tournaments this year with Nike Golf gear in my bag will allow me to take my career to the next level.”
Sonoda’s bag will consist of Nike equipment from top to bottom with:
- Nike VRS Covert 2.0 Tour Driver
- Nike VRS Covert 2.0 3 wood
- Nike VRS Covert 2.0 5 wood
- Nike VR Pro Blades (3-PW)
- Nike VR Forged Wedges 52 and 60 degree
- Nike Method 001 Putter
- Ball: Nike RZN Platinum
Away from equipment, Sonoda will don Nike clothing with pieces from the Tour Performance Collection as well as Nike TW 14 shoes.
Neal Shipley was the first to admit that he enjoyed his food while in college. But since his days at Ohio State, he’s slimmed down and earned a PGA Tour Card.
That hasn’t stopped him from having fun with his wedge stampings, though it’s led to some misunderstandings.
On the 54 (degree), we have ‘Big Fudge,'” Shipley told GolfWRX. “It was supposed to be ‘Big Fridge,’ so this happened a little while ago. ‘Big Fridge’ was a nickname between my college teammates and I, with ‘fridge’ meaning stomach, a big stomach.
“We told the Ping guys to put … ‘Big Fridge’ on it, and I think maybe some bad cell service or something, and they thought I said ‘fudge,’ so they put fudge on it.”
On Shipley’s 50-degree he also continues the food theme, this time with his go-to order at the “Golden Arches,” and his stamping “DONS 7.”
“The number 7 meal, the two cheeseburger meal, that was my McDonald’s order, back when I would have McDonald’s frequently,” Shipley shared.
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @raw10628 has a L.A.B. DF3 putter and Masters putter cover up for grabs.
From the listing: “Some great items here today, time to thin out and make room for next set of gear. All prices include shipping.
LAB DF3 Purple 33.5” 68° lie with TPT – $725. LAB Masters release DF3 cover – $150.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
5-wood: Ping G440 Max (19 degrees @18)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
Hybrid: Ping G440 (23 degrees)
Shaft: Oban Isawa Red Hybrid Shaft 04 Flex 70 Gms
Irons: Srixon ZXi7 (5-P)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i80
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50-MID, 54-FULL, 58-MID)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i105
Putter: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i
Shaft: ACCRA Putter Shaft
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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Maria Torres WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4 3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4 5-wood: Ping G440...
Eric Cole WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: PXG Lightning Tour Max (9 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees) Shaft:...
Si Woo Kim WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (8.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X Mini driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Mini...
Wyndham Clark’s winning WITB: 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (15 degrees) Shaft: Project...
AME
Feb 18, 2014 at 9:35 pm
He is two year older at the same high school as Ryo Ishikawa.
Mike
Feb 18, 2014 at 11:16 am
Congrats to Sonoda. Not sure if he is in The Masters field, but would like to see how he does on golf’s biggest stage. As for Nike, 13 of 14 sticks in my bag are Nike. Since switching from TM I’ve lowered my handicap to single digits. Tired of ignorant fools saying they won’t play Nike. March 14 Golf Digest Results: Covert 2.0 Driver-Silver, Covert Hybrid-Gold, VRS Covert Forged Iron-Gold, VR X3X Wedge-Silver, Mallet and blade Method MOD putters-Gold. Out of five categories three Gold two Silver. Someone can say Titleist has all gold, whatever. Buy it then because at the end of the day it’s not the clubs, it’s the swing that matters. Another reason I play Nike is because Nike continues to be a leader with promoting diversity in sport. Compare the stable of athletes to say Titleist et cetera look no further than Sonoda to emphasize this point. Keep up the good work Nike!
Martin V.
Feb 18, 2014 at 2:31 am
And where is Anthony Kim? Is he back from the medical recovery?
Nick Boyd
Feb 18, 2014 at 1:53 pm
He is expected to come back later this season!
paul
Feb 17, 2014 at 3:06 pm
Definitely own some of their clothes, covert tour was almost enough to convince me. If they had a few different shaft options I might have reconsidered.
Billy
Feb 17, 2014 at 4:02 pm
They have tons of shaft options. They can (Nike) can get any shaft you want. Just ask them.
Peter Fenton
Feb 17, 2014 at 10:42 am
nike taking over the golf world one player at a time
Gurj
Feb 17, 2014 at 2:10 pm
I still wont buy their golf clubs… Shoes and clothing on the other hand.