Anthony Kim left golf in 2012 and came back in 2024, but the game he re-entered was almost unrecognizable in one of the places that matters most: the equipment van. By the time he won at LIV Golf Adelaide in February, the gear, the fittings and the launch-monitor numbers that now shape a pro’s bag had moved so far beyond the old routine that Kim had to learn the sport again from the ground up.
Ben Giunta, the owner of the Tour Van and LIV Golf’s lone Tour Truck, was there for part of that reset. Giunta had once been Nike’s Tour rep when Kim was a young player, and he said the reunion at Doral came with a moment that made the gap between 2012 and 2024 impossible to miss. “I remember walking down, we were at Doral, and I was walking across the range and about halfway down the range, he sees me and throws his arms out,” Giunta said.
The surprise was more than personal. In 2012, TaylorMade was still selling a white driver, Callaway had just released its first adjustable driver, Fujikura was still six years away from releasing Ventus and Nike was still making golf clubs. By 2024, the way players tested and trusted equipment had changed dramatically, and Kim had missed all of it while he was away from the game.
Giunta said Kim had never used a Trackman before and initially leaned on what he knew best: feel and ball flight. “The funniest part actually is I still wear a bunch of Nike garb… He thought I still worked for Nike,” Giunta said. “And he’s like, what the hell is this? Yeah, like he had no idea. He didn’t know anything about numbers,” Giunta said.
That lack of familiarity mattered because Kim’s return did not stop with a reunion. As he got back into competitive golf, his speed came back and then kept increasing, which forced more changes in his bag. The equipment work became part of the comeback itself, with each gain in speed opening the door to another round of adjustments.
Kim’s path is a reminder that returning players are not only catching up with swings and stamina. They are stepping into a different sport’s hardware culture, one where launch data, fitting sessions and constant tinkering have replaced much of the old guesswork. For Kim, the comeback has already produced a win in February and a longer lesson in how much the modern game now lives inside the numbers.
