Behind the scenes at TaylorMade HQ

Tomo Bystedt, Senior Director of Product Creation – irons, and the man behind TaylorMade’s latest irons, gives us a guided tour of his office

Everywhere you look, there’s a Tour bag over flowing with TaylorMade clubs. The latest range is within arm’s reach of Tomo Bystedt’s desk, which on any other day would be scattered with sketches and 3D prints. For confidentiality purposes, these have been hidden among a collection of prototypes and half-finished sets.

As the self-confessed irons guy, Bystedt has been the brains behind some of the firm’s best irons – all of which were approved right here in his office. We were given an exclusive tour to find out where he gets his inspiration from and why he’s still hoarding clubs from the early 2000s.

#1: I have about 15 bags full of golf clubs. Most of the ones I keep are for inspiration and referencing. When I’m working on a new product, there may be a small detail on an old model – like a blast finish, number or badge – which I want to go back to and adapt.

#2: I actually have a set of Dustin Johnson’s muscle-back irons which he hit about 50 shots with. They’re just sitting pristine in a cardboard box.

#3: I collect scorecards from every place I’ve played. I’ve grouped them by country so I’ve got separate boards for the US, Asia, Japan, Europe and Australia. As I’m on the road for 10 weeks of the year. I get to visit some cool places and try to squeeze a round in when I can.

#4: This is where I store all the clubheads. I’ve worked at TaylorMade for more than 10 years so I’ve got hundreds which I’ve inherited or been heavily involved in. I’ve also got a pretty nice putter collection in there.

#5: I’m a big Formula 1 fan and I’ve got a replica of Kimi Raikkonen’s helmet. I had it custom-made so that’s a pretty cool keepsake.

#6: I’ve framed a thank you note from Jason Day after we made a commemorative putter for him. To the right of that is a peg board that lists the top 100 courses in the US. I’ve played very few so that’s why I got the board so I can tick o as many as possible.

#7: These are all TaylorMade Masters commemorative hats, dating back from 2003 to 2011. On the wall, I have a flag from The Open at St Andrews in 2015 and a bunch of bag panels belonging to players like Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose and Retief Goosen.

#8: I work with Justin Rose a lot to get his take on a prototype or new iron. He’s extremely accurate and analytical in his feedback. We then incorporate what he says into the product. He’s my main go-to guy for that stuff .

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