Here at NCGA Golf magazine, we love to shine a light on the best stories in Northern California golf, which is why we are taking you to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to talk to revolutionary golf club designer Tom Bailey.
Don’t get confused.
Bailey, the founder of Avoda Golf — which reached instant fame when NCGA alum Bryson DeChambeau used Avoda’s 3-D printed irons at the 2024 Masters — moved his company’s headquarters to the Steel City late last year.
But Bailey still considers our turf as Avoda’s spiritual home.
Specifically, at the Mike Schy Performance Institute in Madera.
“I have Mike to thank for every single thing,” Bailey said.
It was there where the Englishman Bailey, an inquisitive and intelligent former golf instructor and junior college player, arrived in 2022. He was seeking golf truth. The pursuit led him from Sussex, England to California and a trip into what Bailey calls “a rabbit hole” of golf club technology.
“Who better to go to than the guy who coached Bryson?” Bailey reasoned.
The rabbit hole Bailey and Schy dove into can get complex if you are a layman and not into physics and bulge and roll, but their overriding mission statement was as simple as arithmetic: “We’re just trying to help golfers get better,” Bailey said.
Bailey and Schy believed that the golf club is “an extremely overlooked piece of the puzzle” and can be a player’s “No. 1 training aid.” Bailey set out to build golf clubs that encourage better swings, not quick fixes.
“We don’t want to create an aid to keep you stagnant,” Bailey explained. “We are looking at it from a coaching standpoint … to build a club that encourages better movements to help you hit the ball better, as opposed to allowing you to get away with a lesser swing.”
Bailey is serious about his mission. Even the branding of his clubs came after intense thought and planning. He wanted to emphasize the precision of his golf clubs but didn’t want to name his clubs “Precision Golf.” He decided to use the original language of the Bible, and found the Hebrew word “diyuk,” which means precision or exactness. The Hebrew symbol for diyuk is on every iron Bailey makes.
To come up with a brand name, he again searched Hebrew. Bailey is from a Christian background, but loved the Hebrew word “Avoda,” which translated to “work, worship and service.” Presto, a brand was born.
DeChambeau is, of course, the link to fame for Bailey and Avoda.
A mad scientist similar to Bailey, DeChambeau’s journey to get USGA approval for the single-length Avoda clubs before the 2024 Masters was a big news story. The California kid finished T-6 that week and then won the United States Open two months later with the irons. He experimented with a different set at the U.S. Open in June but switched back to his trusty Avoda set ahead of the British Open.
Was that 2024 Masters the biggest week of Bailey’s life?
“No,” said Bailey. “The most significant week of my life was coming to Mike’s academy.”
After all, he met his wife, California-raised Morgan Bailey, at the Performance Institute, as well. “She beat me in a wedge competition the first time we met,” Bailey recalled with a laugh.
All that 2024 buzz led to changes for Bailey and his NCGA base camp.
As Avoda grew, Bailey needed a different business climate and proximity to the Eastern time zone, for better contact with his business partner, his UK-based, brother Nicholas, who is the technician; Tom Bailey is the idea guy. It works out.
In the early months of 2024, Bailey estimates Avoda was making 200-300 sets of irons. He saw it as a way to fund his golf hobby.
Now, Avoda has sold thousands of sets and employs 13 staffers. The company offers “combo length” sets, too — keeping scoring clubs like wedges and high-lofted clubs single length, but lengthening low-lofted clubs.
When we talked to Bailey, he was about to hire three new workers for his Pittsburgh warehouse.
Kid comes to America with nothing but a vision. Now look at him. Old-fashioned American dream?
“It 100% is,” said Bailey.
While Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway and Ping form the Big Four, the guy who set up shop in Madera just keeps doing his thing.
“We’re not trying to disrupt or dent anything,” Bailey said. “We’re just trying to help golfers get better.”
