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Callaway CEO Steps Down

Wow, that is big news. Thanks for the link biggsy.
 
I guess sales are not that good if they are laying people off. I had no idea their stock was down 22% this year. Tough economy especially for a company that is selling recreational items in such a competitive market.

Hope none of this has to do with the expected poor performance of Team Hackers. :D Just kidding guys - had to throw something in there!
 
Those layoffs are coming soon.
I dont think too many were surprised by this and the upcoming loss of jobs.
Its always a shame to see things go down this path.
 
Shame. Although if he's citing 'personal reasons' I hope there's nothing serious.

Hopefully the Morgan Cup can turn things around for Callaway!
 
This isn't good. He abruptly left his job and things like this terrifies stock holders. I fear for Callaway. I hate to hear that sales are down b/c in my opinion, they have the best stuff out there right now. Goes to show how important marketing is, and how important targeting a demographic is.
 
TC said:
This isn't good. He abruptly left his job and things like this terrifies stock holders. I fear for Callaway. I hate to hear that sales are down b/c in my opinion, they have the best stuff out there right now. Goes to show how important marketing is, and how important targeting a demographic is.
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I really do wonder if sales are not across the board. Any idea JB on other OEM's sales from the ones that disclose it?

After all, we are still in a not so great economy and golf is a luxury item.
 
mcook77 said:
I really do wonder if sales are not across the board. Any idea JB on other OEM's sales from the ones that disclose it?

After all, we are still in a not so great economy and golf is a luxury item.
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Not all the companies are struggling. Heck one showed that by making a color change, it could effectively print money apparently.
Ironically its not entirely their hard goods fault. Those have slowed, but the rest was headed this way for the last couple of years.
I do not expect anything drastic as of now as the company has good people there and CAN right this ship.
 
Well the problem with the golf market is these people produce high-end goods for a very limited market. Your average golfer who goes and plays public courses with 15 year old clubs isn't going to want to spend 300+ on a driver every couple of years, or in some peoples cases on this website every couple of months :D

Advertising is going to win out in this market and for whatever reason that white club is really attracting people. TC, I agree with you Callaway makes some darn good stuff and I think they will get through this rough patch just fine.
 
TC said:
This isn't good. He abruptly left his job and things like this terrifies stock holders. I fear for Callaway. I hate to hear that sales are down b/c in my opinion, they have the best stuff out there right now. Goes to show how important marketing is, and how important targeting a demographic is.
Click to expand...

Always does, however if you have complete faith in the company, this is a good time to buy stock in them. After hours trading yesterday has them down $.34 per share, be interesting to watch today. I haven't played any Callaway clubs since my X-14's, but I have played many of their products over the years. I just have no brand loyality and buy according to what seems to fit my game.
 
TexasHacker34 said:
Well the problem with the golf market is these people produce high-end goods for a very limited market. Your average golfer who goes and plays public courses with 15 year old clubs isn't going to want to spend 300+ on a driver every couple of years, or in some peoples cases on this website every couple of months :D

Advertising is going to win out in this market and for whatever reason that white club is really attracting people. TC, I agree with you Callaway makes some darn good stuff and I think they will get through this rough patch just fine.
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+1 Do you know how many more drivers for example would be sold if they were $199 instead of $299? I am not only talking about Callaway but all OEM's. Sometimes they just price themselves out of people's ranges and they just go with a cheaper option.
 
DevRickus said:
+1 Do you know how many more drivers for example would be sold if they were $199 instead of $299? I am not only talking about Callaway but all OEM's. Sometimes they just price themselves out of people's ranges and they just go with a cheaper option.
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I have to say I disagree.
They have done the market analysis. If that was the case, a company would jump in and do it.
Truth be told is that amateur golfers want to buy their game...And more importantly distance.

Golf used to be cyclical in terms of releases. Every 2 years, the companies would come out with new stuff.
Some companies changed that and started releasing clubs individually and staggered through the course of the year. Every 60-120 days, there was a new release.
Those companies are the ones that are "winning" at this time.

People want to have the latest, whether it is the greatest or not for their game.
Take TaylorMade and compare with others for driver purposes.
Most released a line of drivers at once and gave the consumer the option to pick the one that worked best. Taylormade released the R9, then followed that up with the R9 460 and then another and another.
What they saw is consumers that bought one, bought the next and so on.

It has trickled down and now others are following suit as well. Look at Adams golf for instance.
Dont discount the amateur golfer and what he will spend his money on in terms of getting more distance. Its shocking really.
 
JB said:
I have to say I disagree.
They have done the market analysis. If that was the case, a company would jump in and do it.
Truth be told is that amateur golfers want to buy their game...And more importantly distance.

Golf used to be cyclical in terms of releases. Every 2 years, the companies would come out with new stuff.
Some companies changed that and started releasing clubs individually and staggered through the course of the year. Every 60-120 days, there was a new release.
Those companies are the ones that are "winning" at this time.

People want to have the latest, whether it is the greatest or not for their game.
Take TaylorMade and compare with others for driver purposes.
Most released a line of drivers at once and gave the consumer the option to pick the one that worked best. Taylormade released the R9, then followed that up with the R9 460 and then another and another.
What they saw is consumers that bought one, bought the next and so on.

It has trickled down and now others are following suit as well. Look at Adams golf for instance.
Dont discount the amateur golfer and what he will spend his money on in terms of getting more distance. Its shocking really.
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JB,

I dont know you from Adam, but I have to believe the majority of amateur golfers you see are using clubs from pre 2007, most even earlier. When I go to a driving range I would say well over half the people are using "older" clubs, and a lot of the same can be said for the golf course. Just my findings, may not be true of everywhere.
 
Well said JB. Well said.
 
JB said:
I have to say I disagree.
They have done the market analysis. If that was the case, a company would jump in and do it.
Truth be told is that amateur golfers want to buy their game...And more importantly distance.

Golf used to be cyclical in terms of releases. Every 2 years, the companies would come out with new stuff.
Some companies changed that and started releasing clubs individually and staggered through the course of the year. Every 60-120 days, there was a new release.
Those companies are the ones that are "winning" at this time.

People want to have the latest, whether it is the greatest or not for their game.
Take TaylorMade and compare with others for driver purposes.
Most released a line of drivers at once and gave the consumer the option to pick the one that worked best. Taylormade released the R9, then followed that up with the R9 460 and then another and another.
What they saw is consumers that bought one, bought the next and so on.

It has trickled down and now others are following suit as well. Look at Adams golf for instance.
Dont discount the amateur golfer and what he will spend his money on in terms of getting more distance. Its shocking really.
Click to expand...

For the people that can afford it then of course, but if they dropped the price it would bring in a whole new demographic of people. Never in a million years would I spend $300 on a golf club. My wife would murder me. But $200 is more in my ballpark and the same goes for alot of people. This is the first new driver I have ever had and the only reason I have it is because the website I bought it from was doing a market test and lowered the price $100 for 3 days. They sold over 50 in 3 days. Previously I have had to buy closeouts from the year before at 50% discount because I just can't afford it. In no way am I saying that these companies are going to be in trouble, but to me, if they lowered the price, they would sell twice as many.
 
TexasHacker34 said:
JB,

I dont know you from Adam, but I have to believe the majority of amateur golfers you see are using clubs from pre 2007, most even earlier. When I go to a driving range I would say well over half the people are using "older" clubs, and a lot of the same can be said for the golf course. Just my findings, may not be true of everywhere.
Click to expand...

Must be a geography thing right now. Because based on sales of drivers over the last 3 years and marketshare numbers, that is simply not the case nationally.
Heck the amount of drivers sold when adjustability came out (TM, Nike, Cobra) was simply staggering.
Now you add the white to the mix and it is mind blowing (for a single company, not across the board).
 
DevRickus said:
For the people that can afford it then of course, but if they dropped the price it would bring in a whole new demographic of people. Never in a million years would I spend $300 on a golf club. My wife would murder me. But $200 is more in my ballpark and the same goes for alot of people. This is the first new driver I have ever had. Previously I have had to buy closeouts from the year before at 50% discount because I just can't afford it. In no way am I saying that these companies are going to be in trouble, but to me, if they lowered the price, they would sell twice as many.
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Again, I disagree.
This cost analysis has been done hundreds of times by the OEMs.
Which driver sells more do you think? Burner SuperFast at $300 or R11 at $400?
 
I expect to see callaway do something new with their equipment next year similar to what TaylorMade did this year with the white. They need something that will really grab the consumers attention, but I think they can pull it off.
 
Interesting news for sure. Callaway markets their products for sure but are they missing the target? Sure seems like it. For such a storied company this is something I hate to see. And letting Gmac go was mistake in my opinion. Callaway has been bleeding players while TM just keeps adding big names to its stable. Performance wise I think Callaway the best equipment out right now from top to bottom. Shame to see them stuggle because the equipment is just as good if not better then everything else.
 
JB said:
Again, I disagree.
This cost analysis has been done hundreds of times by the OEMs.
Which driver sells more do you think? Burner SuperFast at $300 or R11 at $400?
Click to expand...

I would say the R11 because if you can afford and are willing to spend $300 you will spend $400. Now let me ask you this, if the Superfast was $200 and the R11 was $300 do you think they would sell more?
 
DevRickus said:
I would say the R11 because if you can afford and are willing to spend $300 you will spend $400. Now let me ask you this, if the Superfast was $200 and the R11 was $300 do you think they would sell more?
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It would be the R11.
The adage that if you can afford $300, you will spend $400 is no different than saying if you can afford $200, you can afford $300 in my opinion.
In 6 months they will be $200 and $300 in most cases, and the R11 will still out sell it by a huge margin.
You are underestimating what golfers will spend to be "better" and like the pros.
 
JB said:
It would be the R11.
The adage that if you can afford $300, you will spend $400 is no different than saying if you can afford $200, you can afford $300 in my opinion.
In 6 months they will be $200 and $300 in most cases, and the R11 will still out sell it by a huge margin.
You are underestimating what golfers will spend to be "better" and like the pros.
Click to expand...

I agree with you but you didnt answer my question. Would they sell more of both if they were $100 cheaper?
 
DevRickus said:
I agree with you but you didnt answer my question. Would they sell more of both if they were $100 cheaper?
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Would the amount of clubs sold be more? Maybe, but only by a small margin.
But that is not the goal of a company. It is to make money. With a higher margin and a VERY small dropoff, they do that.

That is like saying would Pro V1 golf balls sell more if they were $20. Of course they would, but the company would earn less.
 
JB said:
Would the amount of clubs sold be more? Maybe, but only by a small margin.
But that is not the goal of a company. It is to make money. With a higher margin and a VERY small dropoff, they do that.

That is like saying would Pro V1 golf balls sell more if they were $20. Of course they would, but the company would earn less.
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That is not a fair comparison. $20 per dozen golf balls vs $100 per golf club is a substantial amount of money. I guess we will have to agree to disagree. We are both coming from 2 completely different standpoints which is fine.
 
I understand the economics of it, but JB my point is that of all the people that consider themselves golfers (play at least a couple times a year) maybe half have bought a new club in the past year. A lot of golfers have been using the same clubs since college etc. I understand they do research on this stuff, and even if they R11 was 100 bucks cheaper or the superfast was 100 cheaper, I dont know if these people would buy it.

I am just simply saying more golfers than you think are using older clubs
 
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