Golf clubs. Ltd edition.

[Tashyboy]

In essence. When a manufacturer releases a golf club it is 99% of the time one style, design, colour suits all. They are usually longer, straighter, less spin etc etc etc. But that club is aimed at customers who are from the ages of teens to 80's plus. Now seeing as about 60 % of golfers are over 50 yrs old. Is a 50, 60,70,80 yr olds eye for design and styles the same as someone who is in there 20's. I think not.
The only real differance away from a club head is the shaft.
In essence in a Ferrari, what colour would you have. It's the same underneath, but the colour, well everyone's differant
My point is would you pay extra for a custom club if you thought it looked better in the bag. I have lost count the amount of times I have seen clubs on here where one has thought it beautiful and another says it is " Fugly".
I have thought on and off about this for an age. Then lo and behold yesterday I recieved an email where Titliest have brought out some Black ltd edition ap2 and ap3s. They don't look bad at all, but they will fall into the beautiful/fugly discussion bracket.
Now ave done some googling and it has shown me percentages of players v ages, and like I said most players are elderly fossils. But what I cannot find is which age bracket spends the most on clubs. Young or old. Again is that actually a factor, would older or younger players be more likely to pay for Ltd edition or customised clubs. I don't know.
Now Golf club makers must put some cosmetic looks into designing a golf club. Who is/are the people that have the final say on what the club actually looks like, before it hits the shops. And is there an actual target audience for said club. Or is it just down to said club is for said Handicap range.
Finally would you pay for customised/ ltd edition clubs. Even if it just a differant coloured head on a driver or woods.
Thoughts please folks 👍

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Didn't Cobra (?) offer a driver a while back where you could choose from four different coloured heads?

 

[chrisd]

Can't really comment Tashy, I'm not due to change my clubs yet 🤔

 

[Wolf]

Didn't Cobra (?) offer a driver a while back where you could choose from four different coloured heads?

The original Cobra amp came in from memory on Orange, Red, Blue and White I think. The F6 which I have options in Blue, White and Black.

As for the OP, if the option is there at no extra cost then I'm interested much like I have the Blue driver because I liked the colour better than the others, if however that wasn't an option I'd have taken the other colours rather than pay more.

Golf is getting so expensive as it is I'd say this sort of thing would be more targeted to those with more disposable as an optional extra.

Who is that though? If OEM did look at targeting markets in this way I'd reckon they'd have to look at the over 45s, as generally in current economic climate under 30s are saving to get on property ladder or just starting on it with families just coming along to, the 30-40 bracket whilst probably more settled will still be in full throws of family life and have young to teenage aged children than are their primary expenditure. Which means usually over 40s are normally more settled financially. I am hugely generalising here and there will be exceptions to this of course and is just my opinion.

I think the way they have it currently with the colours and selling points of distance etc they've currently got it right and have no need to offer upsell custom paint jobs.

 

[Oldham92]

Didn't Cobra (?) offer a driver a while back where you could choose from four different coloured heads?

I've certainly seen black, grey and blue offerings from them

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The original Cobra amp came in from memory on Orange, Red, Blue and White I think. The F6 which I have options in Blue, White and Black.

The Cobra Amp was what I was thinking of. I knew they'd offer a few different colours.

 

[Imurg]

Callaway did various colours with the RAZR Fit I think - yellow, orange, red, blue, white.......not my cuppa tea.
Same goes for the black finish on irons and wedges.
The finish will wear quite quickly and if that's what you like then it's not a problem.
But if I've spent a load of cash on a new set of irons I want them to look new for more than 3 rounds.
I know they're tools to be used and are mashed into the ground at up to 80/90 mph so they're going to get dings but, personally, I don't like the excessive wear that get with most black irons.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I really don't see any huge market for custom paint jobs on new irons. It would surely add to the costs of the clubs, which are climbing year on year anyway. As long as the original club is well designed, suits my eye and makes a difference to my game, I'll buy on those criteria, not whether I could then pimp it up

 

[Tashyboy]

Got to day some lovely replys, especially re Cobra, which I didn't know because I have never really looked at them
( which has given me an idea of another thread). But that's ok if your a Cobra fan. But and I don't know the answer to this. Do Cobra have a small share of the market compared to Titliest, Ping Callaway etc and is that why they offered a colour choice. There must of been some rational behind them offering a colour choice.
Incidently I do understand that you could take your club head else where to have it customised/ sprayed but warranty etc, why would you.

 

[clubchamp98]

Have you seen the new Callaway cf19 black.
As for cost there are so many grey cars on the road now because this is the only colour that is not charged for by most oems.
Black clubs do mark but so do they all.
If you have the dosh ok ,if not?
I like the CF19s but would I pay £1500. No!!!

 

[pendodave]

Cobra certainly have a smaller presence than Titleist, ping callaway and TM, but are next tier in numbers I would say.
Their coloured drivers include the fly-z, which is newer than the Amp and comes in various flavours. Mine is crimson and the finish has stayed perfect over the years without me being terribly careful about looking after it.
Ironically, I have recently acquired a later model Cobra driver/3w (LTD) which was a premium product and came in bog standard black. Both clubs exhibit flaking on the paint around the top edge. And not just because I hit a ball there....

 

[Deleted member 16999]

There is or was a company that will “pimp” Driver heads and I think you could also buy stickers of all designs flags etc that you could apply yourself to the crown of the Driver.

 

[Cake]

Callaway Customs

 

[USER1999]

Callaway Customs

Yep, my Big Bertha from a couple of years ago was orange. You got a better head cover too.

 

[jim8flog]

I do not think I have ever had a club in the bag just because it looks good although I have been an early adopter of steel heads and graphite shafts. I once went with a pink shaft and pink grip but I knew the shaft worked anyway (Aldila NV 65)

I do not have enough money to have something in the bag that does not work.

I have tried products that are niche to see if they work eg Crookshank drivers (the original anti slice offset driver)

 

[Crow]

[QUOTE="jim8flog, post: 1962743, member: 23204"]I do not think I have ever had a club in the bag just because it looks good.

I have tried products that are niche to see if they work eg Crookshank drivers (the original anti slice offset driver)[/QUOTE]

How boring!

Good on you for trying the Crookshanks though, I've got a set of the irons but the woods scare me.

(My bag make up is often governed by what I think looks nice on a given day, especially when choosing the putter.)

 

[mhwgc]

Well Mizuno offer this service through Yoro:-

https://golf.mizunoeurope.com/blog/new-custom-finishing-service-direct-from-yoro-japan/

 

[patricks148]

Well Mizuno offer this service through Yoro:-

https://golf.mizunoeurope.com/blog/new-custom-finishing-service-direct-from-yoro-japan/

I was just about to post this, expensive though at least £100 per club on top, did seriously think about getting my MP4 in black.....mmm nice