Should Club Manufacturers start selling Driver heads only?

[patricks148]

With many of the manufacturers now selling adjustable Drivers and many guys owning more than one shaft for these drivers. Is it not time that they started selling just the heads?

Maybe they would sell more upgrades, so if you had a Callway Xhot and a couple of shafts, you might be more inclined to buy an Xhot 2 Head if it were say £150 instead of £300 for the driver and shaft, they offer at the moment.

Anyone else think this is a good idea?

 

[Papas1982]

With many of the manufacturers now selling adjustable Drivers and many guys owning more than one shaft for these drivers. Is it not time that they started selling just the heads?

Maybe they would sell more upgrades, so if you had a Callway Xhot and a couple of shafts, you might be more inclined to buy an Xhot 2 Head if it were say £150 instead of £300 for the driver and shaft, they offer at the moment.

Anyone else think this is a good idea?

great at idea for the consumer, but not for the manufacturer. I'm sure there are plenty of people that fork out for new drivers that would more than cover the revenue they may lose from lesser sales. The fact that they can still release clubs bi annually would suggest the demand is still strong enough.

 

[Foxholer]

great at idea for the consumer, but not for the manufacturer. I'm sure there are plenty of people that fork out for new drivers that would more than cover the revenue they may lose from lesser sales. The fact that they can still release clubs bi annually would suggest the demand is still strong enough.

I agree. Srixon/Cleveland's policy - at least in the UK - of not supplying adapters discourages 'shaft transfer'. I certainly had a favourite shaft that ended up in all but 1 of my 'gamer' heads.

Pretty sure that over 98% of sales would be 'complete club' ones anyway, so almost certainly not worthwhile to make special case for the few!

I don't believe the price would actually reduce much anyway - price has very little to do with cost!

 

[patricks148]

I agree. Srixon/Cleveland's policy - at least in the UK - of not supplying adapters discourages 'shaft transfer'. I certainly had a favourite shaft that ended up in all but 1 of my 'gamer' heads.

Pretty sure that over 98% of sales would be 'complete club' ones anyway, so almost certainly not worthwhile to make special case for the few!

I don't believe the price would actually reduce much anyway - price has very little to do with cost!

of course the the numbers of sold are the for complt club,s as no one offers just the head.

 

[MadAdey]

I think that this is a fantastic idea and would save the consumer money. At the end of the day yes they will be selling them for less, but then again they will not be supplying shafts with them. I might be inclined to buy a new driver head if it was at the right price as I love the shaft I currently use.

 

[Foxholer]

of course the the numbers of sold are the for complt club,s as no one offers just the head.

I did use the 'would be'! The 98% was merely a number picked to quantify 'the vast majority'!

Fitters might be the source for Heads-only - they currently have some access to some heads now. But that could well be to the detriment (or maybe benefit?) of Pro Shops! Suppliers may be innovative with products, but they tend to be (quite reasonably imo) pretty conservative when it comes to Sales streams!

You might have more choice (nothing to do with quality though) in a less remote part of the world!

 

[Digging a hole for myself]

Stock shafts fitted to drivers generally cost in the region of $10, I am reliably informed by a well known fitter.

So, the actual amount that you could see deducted is (logically) around the £15 mark. That's without factoring the cost of the adaptor - and there's a risk you will be an aftermarket copy instead of the genuine article, so the manufacturer stands to loose another $20 (assuming you pay around £25 for a genuine one and the mark-up is 100%).

So, putting it another way - the reduction would never be anything like 50% the cost of the driver.

Better to buy the whole thing and chop in the shaft on the 'bay. I did this recently with my SLDR and sold the stock shaft for £30, so I was happy enough.

In my experience, fitters only want to sell you the whole club including shaft at the standard price (or going rate at least). If you have a custom shaft put in it, you never actually get the stock one. Guess they also end up on eBay or in a skip...

 

[Alex1975]

Its a lovely idea. My understanding is that the made for shafts cost about a pound to make so they use them to make there huge markup.

 

[Garush34]

I like the idea but it wouldnt work as the manufactures wouldnt want to loose out on money. If someone wants to upgrade and keep their current shaft theres nothing stopping them doing that now.

Plus if you search on ebay im sure you could find plent head only deals, ive certainly seen a few.

 

[Stuey01]

I think your estimate of the saving to the consumer is wildly optimistic.

 

[harpo_72]

Nice idea, and great for the consumer, but I think you may lose shaft manufacturers and there may be some argument about the intended integrity of the combination of shaft and head.

 

[shewy]

great idea,I've tried several component heads before and the aftermarket shafts seem to work better for me than stock shafts in most heads.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

great idea,I've tried several component heads before and the aftermarket shafts seem to work better for me than stock shafts in most heads.

This interests me.

Kind of on subject, how much progress do you think there has been in the actual heads in the last few years? How long ago would you say the heads haven't changed, and that to upgrade, it would just be worth getting a better shaft? 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?

 

[Deleted member 18588]

I think you may find that Callaway have already tried this about 4 years ago. Presumably it was not sufficiently popular for them to continue.

 

[Sweep]

I have always thought that the choice available to fitters should allow them to fit whatever shaft to whatever head. Only then would true fitting be available. Head manufacturers should stand or fall on the quality of their product, like everyone else has to, including the shaft makers.

 

[patricks148]

I think you may find that Callaway have already tried this about 4 years ago. Presumably it was not sufficiently popular for them to continue.

you could be right i do remeber something about the Callaway around then. The only thing i can think of why it was not popular was, not many if any had an adjustable diver head?shaft combo 4 years ago.

Im not expecting anyone to do this as they prob make a killing on the made for shafts. plus some of them dont do themselves any favours with shaft upgrades.

Titleist for instance. I tried a mates driver last summer that had a proforce V something that i really liked. Trouble was to get this in the driver was over £400, i could have bought the shaft and the driver sep for less that all in one from a fitter.

It was just a thought, that perhaps more would upgrade the head if it was done at a sensible price, as if i tried to buy a stock shaft from a club manufacturer they would charge me the price of a real one i imagine.

 

[Ethan]

The club makers wouldn't want to do this, probably because it makes life more complicated for inventory management and stock control. They also get massive discounts on shafts from makers who want to use a club launch as a shaft launch event too, and most players just buy their stuff off the shelf so wouldn't want to be bothered with having ti select a shaft separately.

 

[ManinBlack]

I think digging a hole for myself hit the nail on the head saying that the standard shaft costs the manufacturer very little. According to a couple of fitters I've discussed it with the "made for" shafts you get are totally inferior to the same make of aftermarket shaft. I have bought heads only on E Bay and also complete clubs, selling on the shafts for next to nothing because I prefer to use the shaftvof my choice, found after years of (expensive) research!

 

[Deleted member 18588]

I think digging a hole for myself hit the nail on the head saying that the standard shaft costs the manufacturer very little. According to a couple of fitters I've discussed it with the "made for" shafts you get are totally inferior to the same make of aftermarket shaft. I have bought heads only on E Bay and also complete clubs, selling on the shafts for next to nothing because I prefer to use the shaftvof my choice, found after years of (expensive) research!

I believe this to be one of golf's biggest myths, "made for" shafts still carry the shaft manufacturers name so why would they offer two products apparently the same yet one of them is "totally inferior".

Might not the club-fitters have a vested interest in fitting and selling after market shafts?

 

[Ethan]

I think digging a hole for myself hit the nail on the head saying that the standard shaft costs the manufacturer very little. According to a couple of fitters I've discussed it with the "made for" shafts you get are totally inferior to the same make of aftermarket shaft. I have bought heads only on E Bay and also complete clubs, selling on the shafts for next to nothing because I prefer to use the shaftvof my choice, found after years of (expensive) research!

It is probably true that OEMs get shafts for very little cost but I think it is a but unfair to say that 'made for' shafts are all rubbish. There is a large variation with some certainly being pretty poor quality and quite different from the real deal shaft whose name they share, but some OEMs offer very good quality 'made for' shafts. Mizuno is an example of this and a lot of players considered their Fubuki better than the real deal. Also a lot of the shafts you see are not 'made for' versions especially in Tour or TP models, as well as certain brands such as Titleist.