Fallen from the top

[Boabski]

What has happened to the likes of Dunlop, maxfli,Ram and wilson to a certain degree ?
when i was a kid a long time ago anyone who was playing with anything manufactured by these firms were looked upon with envy.I understand wilson over the last few years have made a comeback with their Staff line but why did they fall away? Why haven't they kept up with the leaders like TM,Callaway, Cleveland etc ? is it technology or is there another reason?

 

[medwayjon]

Dunlop - A load of crap sold in sportsworld, full set is £129 "reduced" from £399

Maxfli - A load of crap sold in JJB sports, get £200 worth of driver for £60 allegedly. Plugged by John Daly and used to be all over the golf channel before the plug was pulled.

Ram - Still offering decent products at a low price-point. Ideal for the beginner/occasional golfer.

Wilson - For me they have gone nowhere, look at the absolutely superb wilson staff irons available today and of course their no1 tour player, Padraig Harrington, won the open with their gear last year.

 

[HTL]

Wilson Staff are like Medwayjon said still one of the best brands and are producing quality gear. And I should now, my bag is full the stuff.

Ram is still decent

As for Maxfli and Dunlop? they are targeting the budget market and producing crap.

 

[Boabski]

I know that they are still avaliable to buy but what i am asking is why have they fallen from the top where they used to be and i agree wilson have got quality gear now but they took a dip up until the re-released their staff range a few years ago

 

[medwayjon]

I believe that ram are still fairly near the summit of their market sector.

As for maxfli & dunlop they aren't at the top because they produce mass-market crap at low prices aimed at the pitch & putt guy who will make an impulse buy and then stick the clubs in the garage and never use them whilst always threatening to take up golf seriously.

 

[ianmc]

nearly every club sold in jjb is crap i bought a maxfli driver from there about four years ago absolute s**t they now have touch screen computers with the likes of ping and callaway available but they have to order them in so in reality they they are probably buying them elsewhere for cheaper and then adding there profit on top.i did buy a 23 degree taylor made hybrid from there last year and its really good ram make ok starter kits as for dunlop absolute crap my mates missus got him a driver a 3 wood and a wedge all for 18 quid i think that says it all. ian mc

 

[Junior]

They all (except Wilson Staff) compete in an area of the market worth millions of pounds. How many house holds with no "full time" golfers have a set of these clubs in the garage for the once a year round ???

Yes in the hands of full or even part time golfers they are shite, but the brands do serve a purpose.

It must be a good business to be in because Maxfli is actually owned by Taylormade (Addidas) and has been for some time !!

 

[viscount17]

and Ram (and Tommy Armour) are owned by TearDrop, which is a bit shaky at present.

 

[thecraw]

Wilson make the best fairway woods I have seen so far this year. Beautiful shaped head great to look down on to.

Rest are budget manufacturers, they serve a great pertentage of the population just fine. It really annoys me when golf snobs come onto forums like this and instantly call them crap and shite.

Look at the componants of these so called shite inferior clubs before spouting off, you will generally find that they have True Temper shafts, a basic golf pride or similar style grip and a cast head. These are mass produced and assembled very cheaply thus resulting in lower prices. They also dont happen to be stamped with Ping, Cobra or Titleist.

Not everybody on here is a serious full time fully paid up club membership golfer who requires the best of kit. Golf snobbery is rife without it being on the internet as well.

Callaway is one of the most mass produced products in golf yet remains one of the most expensive. Companies like MD Golf make outstanding irons and hybrids at a very reasonable cost using top end shafts and grips.

If somebody wants to play golf once in a blue moon, company day, stag weekend etc, Ram, Maxfli, etc are where I will point them and I wont call their products shite either as they generally are not shite!

 

[John_Findlay]

Don't think anyone said Wilson were below standard, did they?

 

[theeaglehunter]

i think one of the main reasons for the more respected brands (callaway,TM,Titleist etc) being the producers of better equipment is because it is all they develop. They focus entirely on producing top-notch golfing equipment and dedicate large amounts of money,time and resources into research and club devlopment. This is in contrast to the likes of dunlop who try and produce budget equipment for a wide range of sports, and therfore see golf equipment as just another sector of their company which they can make money from: they take no interest in developing products which will be market leaders, just products which will appeal to many due to their low price.

 

[time_vans]

i bet tiger could wup everyone with my first set of dunlops

 

[medwayjon]

Easy there craw! I'm not a paid up club member and neither am I a snob, How could I be a snob? I'm from the Medway Towns!!!

I am entitled to say these products are crap because in my eyes they are. I have owned donnay (now we are really scraping the barrell) in the distant past and what a heap of poo they were.

A friend of mine bought dunlop's from sportsworld and they were frighteningly poor quality in terms of build quality, and longevity. His driver split open like a can of beans at the range.

I would happily point someone in the direction on ram however I would always reccommend buying some top-name gear 2nd hand.

 

[geronimo]

I suppose another factor with the likes of dunlop is they do not spend fortunes on giving the pro player loads of dosh to use there equipment and in doing so raising the price.

What would be the price drop of clubs if companies did not spend all the money on sponsorships although it must be worth there while or they would not do it i suppose.

The lower end of the market is what it is, for the once in a while golfer.

I have bought nicklaus clubs twice second hand for buttons compared to there rrp and in my opinion they are a quality product.
I would buy second hand taylormade or callaway but they hold there value to much i would rather pay the small amount extra to get them new, O and the "big" makers gear is rife with copy's.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Ram seemed to have fallen perhaps the furthest. I remember them being quite a dominant force in the early 1980's when Tom Watson was winning US Opens with their irons. I seem to recall they were at the upper end of the iron market as it was in those days.

They seemed to go into decline very quickly probably as a result of a lack of investment in R&D.

Wilson on the other hand have maybe gone the other way. In the same period (mid 80's) they seemed to produce some very low budget starter irons and a mid priced range. They have improved the quality of their products now and had been quite innotative (Fat Shafts).

I think they now sit quite nicely just below the higher echelon (think Uefa cup spot) in that they have a quality set of irons as used by Harrington and an number of well priced mid range clubs for mid to high handicappers

 

[madandra]

Golf snobbery is rife without it being on the internet as well.

I must take you up on this point. If anything the cheap stuff like Dunlop, Donnay and other budget products are more of a rip off than the leading brands because all they do is get a factory in India to use cheap materials to make something that resembles a golf club. There is no research or development, the steel is rubbish, the shafts are made by TUPPERWARE and the grips are golf pride copies.

Everything about these clubs smells of FORGERY

So tell me .... Who is really fleecing the customer???

 

[madandra]

Wilson irons have won Europe their last two majors.


That IS impressive !!!!!!!

But I would NEVER buy them.

 

[Boabski]

why is everyone getting on their high horses, the question i asked is ,in other words is why have they fallen from the absolute top of the game, i am not slating the companies product or anyone who buys wilson etc all i am asking is why are they not still at the top of the game where they once were, not as many pro,s are using the product as the companies i mentioned in the initial post,
oh an when you are on about snobbery i am the one of the least snobs you will ever meet,i have had Ram and wilson in my bag over the few years i have played golf,and they did the job but the more my golf has improved i got advise and improved my clubs too

 

[medwayjon]

Well said andy, well said indeed.

 

[madandra]

I think good marketing has pushed the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK past some of the dinosaurs. Companies like Nike, callaway, Cleveland and TM have managed to get some pretty impressive tour players to use their clubs whilst banging the drum about it at the same time.

At the same time the brands that have fallen away were thinking 'We make it, the golfer buys it ... end of.'


But that didn't work. It is golfing evolution.

Evolve or become exctinct. And RAM, DUNLOP and others have become exctinct albeit they have risen fromthe ashes to be complete and utter 5h1te