Costco suing Titleist (Acushnet)

one of the guys who plays in our roll up brought some back from the US when over there at Christmas. he reckoned they were nothing like a Prov1.
 
patricks148 said:
one of the guys who plays in our roll up brought some back from the US when over there at Christmas. he reckoned they were nothing like a Prov1.
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I think that's the point of the lawsuit, Costco have never marketed them as such, golfers, as we do, associate things to other brands all the time and these balls suddenly raised a lot of excitement in the states when golfers started to say they were no different to a Pro V.

There's still a huge market for a premium ball that's on the second tier, like a Z Star or similar that doesn't demand the premium price, then you have the AD333Tour, Chrome Soft and Bridgestone market, so wherever you placed this ball if it's playable it's going to be a success over here at the forecasted price.

Acushnet aren't a stranger to these battles so it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
 
Titleist seem very concerned about a 5% drop in sales.

With beads like callaway expanding into the mid and premium market with vice and Kirkland hitting the mid market, let alone new balls like the ad333 tour, I don't think a 5% drop is that bad, but I suppose that does depend on your market share.

25% share and your 20% down, 75% share and it's a different ball game
 
Fish said:
I think that's the point of the lawsuit, Costco have never marketed them as such, golfers, as we do, associate things to other brands all the time and these balls suddenly raised a lot of excitement in the states when golfers started to say they were no different to a Pro V.

There's still a huge market for a premium ball that's on the second tier, like a Z Star or similar that doesn't demand the premium price, then you have the AD333Tour, Chrome Soft and Bridgestone market, so wherever you placed this ball if it's playable it's going to be a success over here at the forecasted price.

Acushnet aren't a stranger to these battles so it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
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Exactly what the Chromesoft is though, plenty of use on tour
 
Oddsocks said:
Titleist seem very concerned about a 5% drop in sales.

With beads like callaway expanding into the mid and premium market with vice and Kirkland hitting the mid market, let alone new balls like the ad333 tour, I don't think a 5% drop is that bad, but I suppose that does depend on your market share.

25% share and your 20% down, 75% share and it's a different ball game
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I don't think it's the 5% per se but more the threat of a downward trend in their domination... to warn off other companies thinking about entering the market in addition to frightening Costco... which obviously didn't work.
 
A law suit should not be the way to combat a 5% drop in sales. A lawsuit should be a course of action taken irrespective of sales, and given the cost of these things, Kirkland must be confident they can win.


It would be interesting to see the research they have done to understand why there has been a 5% drop in sales. Is it due to the rise of Kirkland ? Is it due to the rise of other premium balls (TM, Callaway) Or maybe the market just is not as big as it once was ?


As an aside, I have switched to Vice Pro Plus and find them every bit as good as a Pro v1, and, if you bulk buy, you get them for just over £20 quid a box. Even in the sales, Pro v's are always £35+. Cost is perhaps the overriding factor and perhaps Titlest's been riding the crest of their wave for too long. I can't remember the last time I actually handed over money for prov's. I've always just used pro shop / open winnings so it feels like I'm getting them for free :)
 
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patricks148 said:
In any way.
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It's interesting you say that, I got hold of a sleeve of Kirklands (still have one left!) and I thought they were pretty darn good. I'm no connoisseur, but they felt nice off the driver and performed well round the green. The only down side was that they lasted about 9 holes before they got scuffed up and mis-coloured. But to be honest, that's not the end of the world!
 
dufferman said:
It's interesting you say that, I got hold of a sleeve of Kirklands (still have one left!) and I thought they were pretty darn good. I'm no connoisseur, but they felt nice off the driver and performed well round the green. The only down side was that they lasted about 9 holes before they got scuffed up and mis-coloured. But to be honest, that's not the end of the world!
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trouble is with these things, products get talked up and the expectation is greater than the actual product in reality.

He was told they are exactly like a Pro V1 at half the price... ! there are plenty of cheaper good performing balls out there, TM TP, Callaway, Srixon, Bridgestone. none of which are the same as the Pro V1.
 
patricks148 said:
trouble is with these things, products get talked up and the expectation is greater than the actual product in reality.

He was told they are exactly like a Pro V1 at half the price... ! there are plenty of cheaper good performing balls out there, TM TP, Callaway, Srixon, Bridgestone. none of which are the same as the Pro V1.
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There was no marketing for the costco ball. It was purely user experience that created all the excitement and demand for the product.

It was a ball that was ~$1 each performing on par with balls that cost ~$4 each, which is massive.
 
Dasit said:
There was no marketing for the costco ball. It was purely user experience that created all the excitement and demand for the product.

It was a ball that was ~$1 each performing on par with balls that cost ~$4 each, which is massive.
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true enough, but there lies the difference in cost...

Costco spend nothing on marketing, Titleist millions world wide
 
patricks148 said:
trouble is with these things, products get talked up and the expectation is greater than the actual product in reality.

He was told they are exactly like a Pro V1 at half the price... ! there are plenty of cheaper good performing balls out there, TM TP, Callaway, Srixon, Bridgestone. none of which are the same as the Pro V1.
Click to expand...

Saying that though, MyGolfSpy did a test which basically gave the same numbers as a ProV1, sometimes even gave better numbers. So "technically" they were toe-to-toe... but data on a screen doesn't account for feel I guess.
 
patricks148 said:
true enough, but there lies the difference in cost...

Costco spend nothing on marketing, Titleist millions world wide
Click to expand...

If you've got a good enough product you shouldn't need to spend millions on marketing, or give loads of them away to all their ambassadors, which we, the average golfer are subsidising!

Costco may have a sowed a seed in some way, but very carefully, and then let the excitable US of A do the rest, that's how you market something and this action now by Acushnet (Titleist) I think will, if and when successful, will benefit Costco and their Kirkland ball much more, because if you didn't know about it then, you will now and will want to see what all the fuss is about, and then you have another convert.

No such thing as bad press sometimes
 
Fish said:
If you've got a good enough product you shouldn't need to spend millions on marketing, or give loads of them away to all their ambassadors, which we, the average golfer are subsidising!
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i imagine how much Prov's would be without all the marketing and every one and his mother on tours getting freebies ??:)
 
patricks148 said:
i imagine how much Prov's would be without all the marketing and every one and his mother on tours getting freebies ??:)
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I think that has been answered with the cost of the Kirkland ball, OK I think it would need a slight increase to make it a little more durable from the tests I've seen, but in the grand scheme of things I think we the paying customer subsidise 2/3rds of the current costs of buying a Pro V :angry:
 
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