Market leader and why...

Tiger

Tiger

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Ok I'm curious - do we have a consistent perception of a certain brands superiority in a certain area? And if we do have a fairly strong consensus what is driving that? Why do we automatically perceive that x brand is the best? I've only been playing for a relatively short period of time but the perceptions I've picked up are:

Woods/Metals - Taylormade (though the rate of new releases is irking more than a few
Hybrids - Adams (though the velocity slot tech is fugly)
Irons - Mizuno (not just because they're stunning)
Wedges - Vokeys
Putters - Scotty (I can only assume the last two because they're so blooming expensive)
Ball - ProV1 (because it just is)

Look forward to your views on this :)
 
Tiger said:
Ok I'm curious - do we have a consistent perception of a certain brands superiority in a certain area? And if we do have a fairly strong consensus what is driving that? Why do we automatically perceive that x brand is the best? I've only been playing for a relatively short period of time but the perceptions I've picked up are:

Woods/Metals - Taylormade (though the rate of new releases is irking more than a few
Hybrids - Adams (though the velocity slot tech is fugly)
Irons - Mizuno (not just because they're stunning)
Wedges - Vokeys
Putters - Scotty (I can only assume the last two because they're so blooming expensive)
Ball - ProV1 (because it just is)

Look forward to your views on this :)
Click to expand...

I think in perception terms you have pretty much nailed it Tiger. Are they actually the best though? Adams Hybrids maybe, the rest is up for debate!
 
My perceptions differ slightly:


Woods/Metals - Titleist

Hybrids - Titleist

Irons - Mizuno

Wedges - Mizuno

Putters - Odyssey

Ball - ProV1 (Even though I play Callaway)


Pretty much what I have in my bag :D

Why?

Well, having tried various manufacturers, I feel the above offer the best build quality and value for money.
 
Tiger, Some of your perceptions are old ones though ;)

Gareth, and performance choices made, just build and value for money .... since your choices are quite high up in the pricing scale I wonder how you rated them so highly, if they aren't way beyond everything else in performance.
 
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Adam's seem to have a very good rep generally, but they've released some shocking clubs. There's a thread on GolfWRX where LOADS of people were saying an Adams Hybrid was the worst club they'd ever bought.

For me:

Drivers: Titleist
Fairway Woods: TaylorMade
Hybrids: Titleist
Irons: Mizuno
Wedges: Titleist
Putters: Odyssey
Balls: Titleist
 
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woods/metals Titleist for quality and TM for volume with lesser quality (as a brand image)

hybrids- no opinion

Irons- Mizuno first and Titleist second. Mizuno blade quality I think takes the edge here in brand recognition.

Wedges- Vokey/Titleist because most of the pro's use them and they know best
Putters- Scotty Cameron for the same reason above
Ball- Titleist Pro V again for the same reason above
 
Strange thing is that nowadays, there is probably very little to differentiate one club from another from different manufacturers at the same price point in terms of performance. So the difference is mostly mental which can be influenced by so many factors, advertising, past experience, recommendations etc etc.
 
Every single person that has tried my Orka blades has thought they are really nice but I wonder how many people would actually consider putting them in their bag?

Not many I would imagine.
 
MendieGK said:
marketing marketing marketing
Click to expand...

Well exactly whats being discussed, the perceived superiority, and you are right, a lot of that comes down to marketing! Because the pro's play XYZ club means they are the best? no. it means its a decent club, sure, but it also means they are 99% of the time being paid to use it. Lets face it, none of the kit you see on tour is going to be crap.

I think however, amateur golfers should be reminded that we are NOTHING like the guys you see on TV. They (majority) are hitting 280+ yard drives, 180 yard 7 irons etc etc and they hit out of the sweet spot 98% of the time! What they use has no relevance to say, me, that plays a couple of times a month.
 
As a perception issue I would tend to agree with the original post. This is a bit of a BMW/Audi/Mercedes type question. It doesn't mean they are the absolute best but they will be up there. Clearly people will have their own preferences that are correct in their own way. No right or wrong answer.
 
Rooter said:
I think however, amateur golfers should be reminded that we are NOTHING like the guys you see on TV. They (majority) are hitting 280+ yard drives, 180 yard 7 irons etc etc and they hit out of the sweet spot 98% of the time! What they use has no relevance to say, me, that plays a couple of times a month.
Click to expand...

This is a really interesting point. When I played football a lot of people bought into the crazy expensive super lightweight boots because they thought it would enable them to do stepovers like Ronaldo.
 
Rooter said:
I think however, amateur golfers should be reminded that we are NOTHING like the guys you see on TV. They (majority) are hitting 280+ yard drives, 180 yard 7 irons etc etc and they hit out of the sweet spot 98% of the time! What they use has no relevance to say, me, that plays a couple of times a month.
Click to expand...

This reminds of a pro-am I played in last year. Afterwards the pro at my own club asked me what I thought of the pro in my group as he came across him occasionally in competitions but not in the same group. I thought for a while and then confessed I could not really tell him. He was playing a completely different game to me and the others in the group but I just could not advise where that put him in the grand scheme of things. Way better than me was all I could say.
 
Rooter said:
Well exactly whats being discussed, the perceived superiority, and you are right, a lot of that comes down to marketing! Because the pro's play XYZ club means they are the best? no. it means its a decent club, sure, but it also means they are 99% of the time being paid to use it. Lets face it, none of the kit you see on tour is going to be crap.

I think however, amateur golfers should be reminded that we are NOTHING like the guys you see on TV. They (majority) are hitting 280+ yard drives, 180 yard 7 irons etc etc and they hit out of the sweet spot 98% of the time! What they use has no relevance to say, me, that plays a couple of times a month.
Click to expand...

absolutely right. The players will play the gear of whatever company pays them the most money.

Adam Scott is probably the only exception as Titleist are well know for not paying top $ and that's why they often have the younger level players and then lose them once they hit the big time. Although i would assume Adam is probably their highest paid player.

Tiger, Rory and Phil are 3 examples.

Then again going back to the original question, there is a big difference between market leader and best quality.

My answer to the question would be - the market leader is the company with the biggest buying power and marketing budget. In this case - Taylormade (largely since Adidas bought them out).
 
Tiger said:
This is a really interesting point. When I played football a lot of people bought into the crazy expensive super lightweight boots because they thought it would enable them to do stepovers like Ronaldo.
Click to expand...

Exactly! The fat lad in your class that bought Adidas Predators because Beckham wore them expected to score in swinging free kicks from 30 yards!

The car analogy i think is quite a good one that can be transferred to here, let me have a go:

Titleist - Mercedes (Quality design, great marketing, in every walk of motorsports with heavy sponsorship)
Talylormade - BMW (Again quality, but a bit of stigma with frequent product releases)
Mizuno - Audi (More understated than BMW, well made)
Ping - Honda (excellent quality, bought by old people)
Benross - Skoda (excellent quality, due to price and stigma often overlooked)
Muira - Lotus (probably built by a man in a shed, but strangely exotic and overpriced)
 
drive4show said:
Every single person that has tried my Orka blades has thought they are really nice but I wonder how many people would actually consider putting them in their bag?

Not many I would imagine.
Click to expand...

Orka is an interesting one. Before I came on this forum I'd never heard of them, so when I first saw the name mentioned I actually assumed they were a lower level brand. The name I think made it seem like the sort of clubs you might buy from Argos (it's in the same area as Jumbo, Hippo, Whale etc in my minds eye).

But clearly they are much better than this and I was wrong to think this.

The name of a brand is very important!
 
Driver - Taylor Made
Fairway Woods - Titliest
Hybrids - Adams
Irons - Mizuno
Wedges - Vokeys
Putter - Odessey
Ball - Pro V
 
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