Bridgestone, Srixon and Cleveland: Japan on Tour
When a Japanese golfer wins on the world stage, the clubs in the bag usually come from two corporate families, both built on rubber: Bridgestone, which began with work sandals and tyres, and the Srixon group of Sumitomo Rubber Industries. Neither is a boutique. Both are tour suppliers on a global scale, and both show how Japanese manufacturing logic produces balls, wedges and drivers as readily as it produces forged irons. This chapter of The Atlas of Japanese Golf follows them from the factory to the first tee.
Bridgestone: from tabi to the tour ball
The Bridgestone story begins with footwear. Shōjō Ishibashi moved his family’s tailoring business into tabi work sandals and then added rubber soles. Ishibashi means “stone bridge”, and the company name is its inversion in English. According to a history published by a golf-ball retailer, the company produced Japan’s first rubber tyres in 1931 and, four years later, a first golf ball for the Japanese market.
- 1990. The Precept ball is launched. The company history credits it with a run of championships: Nick Faldo won the 1992 Open Championship with a Precept Tour Double Cover, Nick Price the 1994 Open and PGA Championship with a Precept EV Extra Spin, and Faldo the 1996 Masters with a Precept.
- By 2011. Bridgestone introduces ball fitting, drawing on engineers’ data from nearly three million swings.
- Early 2018. After Nike withdrew from the golf equipment business, Tiger Woods moved to Bridgestone’s Tour B ball. A special-edition Tour B XS carried a “TIGER” marking.
The club side is less often discussed abroad. A 2021 roundup of Japanese drivers included the Bridgestone Tour B JGR, noting a Power Rib sole design intended to keep the head stable while minimising weight.
Srixon: the group behind three names
Srixon is the golf brand of SRI Sports Limited, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Rubber Industries, which also owns the Dunlop sports business. The company, based in Kobe, launched the Srixon golf brand in 1996, and Srixon balls had earlier been supplied to other manufacturers. Two later events shaped the group:
- 2000. The premium XXIO line was launched in Japan, described in XXIO, PRGR and Yonex.
- October 2007. SRI Sports acquired Cleveland Golf, the American wedge maker founded by Roger Cleveland, and announced in June 2008 that the two companies’ operations would be merged.
The result is a group that sells three distinct identities, Srixon for the player, Cleveland for the short game and XXIO for ease, under a common roof. In North America the three are marketed under the Dunlop Sports Americas name, with each keeping its own branding.
Matsuyama and the 2021 Masters
Hideki Matsuyama won the Masters in April 2021, the first Japanese man to win a major championship. The winning bag, as reported by Golf.com, shows both the group’s reach and the fact that a champion’s bag is never one brand:
- Driver: Srixon ZX5, 9.5 degrees, with a Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 8TX shaft.
- Fairway wood and long iron: a TaylorMade SIM2 Titanium 3-wood with a Graphite Design Tour AD-TP 9TX shaft, and a TaylorMade SIM UDI 3-iron.
- Irons: Srixon Z-Forged, 4 iron to pitching wedge, with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts.
- Wedges: Cleveland RTX 4 Forged at 52, 56 and 60 degrees.
- Putter: a Scotty Cameron Tour Only Newport 2 prototype.
- Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV.
The driver, irons, wedges and ball came from the Srixon group, the driver and 3-wood shafts from the Japanese shaft maker Graphite Design (see the shaft chapter), and the 3-wood, long iron, putter and iron shafts from American makers. That mix is typical of the modern tour, and it is a useful corrective to the idea that a nation’s golf equipment can be understood one brand at a time.
What collectors take from this
- Tour-played models. Z-Forged irons, RTX forged wedges and Tour B balls are the models associated with tour play, and so the names buyers recognise first.
- Japan-market variants. Group brands issue domestic models with different heads, lofts and shafts from their global ranges; the markings and shaft flexes identify them, and the Directory of Japanese Golf Brands lists the names.
- Condition. Wedges wear fastest. Check the grooves and the face texture before the finish.
Read next: Onoff, Fourteen and Maruman: The Boutique Houses and JDM Golf Clubs and the Rule Book: What Non-conforming Means.
In the archive
- Browse Srixon / XXIO, Bridgestone Golf and the Japanese Golf shelf.
Continue reading
- The Atlas of Japanese Golf: Makers, Methods and Why the World Collects Them
- Why Japan Became Golf's Great Workshop
- Mizuno and the Chuo Forge: Feel as Engineering
- Miura Golf: A Himeji Family Forge
- Epon and Endo: The Forging House Behind Other Names
- Honma Golf: Stars, Gold and the Sakata Workshop
- XXIO, PRGR and Yonex: Clubs Built for Ease and Speed
- Directory of Japanese Golf Brands
- Buying Golf Equipment from Japan
- All collector guides
After a particular Srixon, Cleveland or Bridgestone piece? Our Hunting Salon™ searches across Japan's private collector circles on your behalf.
Index terms: bridgestone golf history · bridgestone tour b tiger woods · precept golf ball 1990 · srixon history · srixon z forged · cleveland golf rtx wedges · cleveland golf srixon 2007 · hideki matsuyama masters 2021 clubs · matsuyama witb · sumitomo rubber golf
References
Dates and figures in this chapter were checked against these pages. Where accounts differ, the text says so.