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Do Golf Club Names Matter?

SuperStroke
I played Wilson Staff irons for a few years, and one of the stamps on the heads said "FLUID FEEL." They didn't feel like fluid to me....

arydolphin said:
...Also, when one is about to hit a shot, does it matter at all the name of the club?
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I could care less what they are called...whats funny is though if you look at all the clubs in my bag only two of them don't have a letter/number designation. Not by design, just happen to work that way... R11, 712CB, 712MB, SM5, Si2.
 
arydolphin said:
Question I've been pondering since last week: outside of marketing purposes, does the name of a golf club really matter at all? In recent years, there was lots of talk about very interesting club names like the TaylorMade Rocketballz and Rocketbladez, along with bringing back "classic" names like the Big Bertha with Callaway. Then you have companies like Titleist and Ping that go with the model that a number of car companies have, which is to name their clubs with a combination of letters and numbers that really don't convey much emotion or meaning at all. I'm not saying either approach is right or wrong, but it seems like there's a wide range of strategies that golf companies use to name their clubs.

Furthermore, I play most of my golf at a municipal course in Boston, where you get a cross-section of golfers as opposed to the enthusiasts that mainly frequent golf forums. For almost all of those players, if you ask them what's in their bag, they are pretty likely to just say something like "I play a TaylorMade driver, Ping irons, Cleveland wedges, Ping putter" as opposed to naming the actual names of each club (ex. Ping G25 irons). Also, when one is about to hit a shot, does it matter at all the name of the club?

It just seems like people get so worked up on here and other forums about the names of clubs when it's just not that big of a deal, IMO. I'd like to hear other people's opinions on this one, without this thread getting stupid like the Cameron #7 thread of last week.
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I'd like to think that I don't worry about the names of golf clubs, balls, etc., but I do sometimes get caught up in it. I will be the first to admit that I never gave the Taylormade Lethal golf balls a shot because of the name. To me, the name made it sound like a cheapo ball, even though I knew it got great reviews and many people liked them, I never tried them out simply because of the name.

I can honestly say that I've never let the name of a golf club keep me from trying it out. I usually don't change up my clubs as I get stuck in my ways with clubs that I know and trust. This past year was a pretty big year for me when I changed out my irons and wedges, which I still have my old ones at home just in case.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty much a hypocrite for never giving the Lethal's a shot. The ball could have worked out great for me.

Sorry for rambling on a bit there.
 
Its all marketing. If you can come up with a funny name for a new club thats going to make people curious about it, theres a chance they may buy that club.
 
i wouldn't get a club for the name...but i think i would cross one off for it. Case in point...not ever owning clubs with the word "ballz" in it.
 
Erky said:
Yeah, they are just piggybacking off of the flagship name, I guess.
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I think that this statement would argue for names making a difference. Obviously you need commercial and performance success with the club first, but then the name does mean something.

For instance, I would bet that the SLDR fairways and irons will do better since they are piggybacking off of the SLDR driver, which may end up being the best seller this year. At the end of the day, it is all about marketing
 
I loved my rocketballz 3 wood. the thing was great and then along came xhot and that was it.
fupresti said:
People rag on RocketBallz, but I may be wrong but I believe it was their biggest selling line of woods ever.
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When someone says Rocketballz or Big Bertha an image of the driver immediately comes to mind.
When it's just a letter/number combination, not so much.
 
I'm only comfortable speaking for myself, but I love silly club names. I think it's just another way to make the game fun.
 
Names matter. It doesn't make you play better but it can make products sell better. We can all go on and on about how it's about the performance but the dirty little secret is that a well named product can help sales. What does the name Mustang mean to you? If I put a lower case "i" in front of your cell phone's name...does it help or hurt? I suppose that would depend on your feelings about Apple.

Ever notice how the TM Rocketballz became the RBZ real quick? How about the best named set of clubs by Callaway...Apex? Does that not communicate how Callaway feels about that product?

Yeah, the name matters. It might be only marketing and psychology but look at the number of people on this board that wouldn't even try TMs RBZs because of the name.

Good topic, by the way!
 
i like that my clubs have recognizable names that others can recognize when i have a golf equipment discussion with them.
but i didnt really buy them for their names. its just the name the oem gave them. now im kind of nerdy and would love it if they were called the "doberman" line (see my avatar)
 
I have the same reaction every time. "Silly name".
Then I wind up trying them anyway, because, hey...golf clubs.

I can like a club while wishing it was named something else. And vice versa. But there is probably a few months difference between when I'll actively seek out a club with a name that appeals to me and one that doesn't. Takes me a while to discard my predjudices.
 
I think a lot of the marketing has to do with the target market for whatever the company is.Ping products really don't have to come with a name that has marketing appeal. I believe they have loyal customers that know what they're getting and pay a good dollar for high performing products. Titleist falls in that same boat. Companies like Cobra, Taylormade, Nike, and even Callaway seem to be in a battle for market share. Your weekend golfers are pretty much your best bet for improving market share and impulse buys; therefore, the flavor of the year (color schemes, customizations, name, etc.) is what's going to sell outside of the core market.

If I hear that the THP Super Straight Bomber is coming out next year, I'm probably going to want to take a look...as opposed to the THP701.

My thoughts...

I think it's a great idea.
 
The names don't matter to me in the long run, but I think they drive a positive or negative emotion in the early days between a club being announced and an individual being able (or willing) to try it. I'm with the masses that I hated the Rocketballz/Rocketbladz thing, but if they had called it RBZ (like it eventually became) I wouldn't have had the strong resistance to it...maybe their intentional marketing decision. I do really like when the companies use the classic names (Big Bertha, Launcher, Burner, etc). I think folks who have been around the game a while like myself enjoy the emotional connection back to those earlier clubs.

For putters, I love that the shape #s or model names stay the same, even when the overall line changes. A Rossie or Newport mean something similar regardless of the line.
 
Yes names matter. I'm a little different I like the G20, G25 or Tour V2, Tour M3 but I also like Calamity Jane and Launcher. Names I don't like X2Hot or Rocketballz and Speedblades. I like some goofy names but they need to sounds good to me as for playing them it wouldn't bother me but I will be less likely to even give them a chance.
 
I think people are on to something when they say the name of a full line matters. People were likely to continue to update to the newest Big Bertha if they had successful last one. I don't think it would matter per say if it was called your mom is turnip mallet as long as it had a reputation perennially to be the longest and straightest. The R Series in the Big Bertha series have been doing that for years.

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I prefer the catchy names as apposed to a number/letter line, makes it a bit more personal than standoffish? Whatever works the best gets the spot, regardless of the origination of said name/number.
 
Just ask Callaway about the "Diablo" line(s) of clubs. Losses were in the millions.......Bad name....horrible graphics and poorly made. Not good.
 
Once again people weren't happy with the product so they weren't gonna come back for more next year.

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Name doesn't play into whether or not ill game something. I used to play disc golf and many of the names were ridiculous, but as long as it worked I gladly gamed it. It's been the same with golf. If I was in charge I would probably go the Mizuno/Titleist route, but since I'm not I'll play whatever works.
 
Some are more catchy but it doesnt influence what I game

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I don't mind a catchy name but it doesn't influence what I game. I think nostalgia plays a big role for some as far as names can go.

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I'm sure it does matter, but it doesn't make or break a club. I know a guy that refused to even consider buying a Rocketballz club because of the name, but he must've been in the vast minority. I think what companies like Cobra and TMAG (with the SLDR line) are doing by incorporating some of the tech into their name is pretty cool. Then you have nostalgia of revived names like Apex, Big Bertha, and Wilson's FG Tour line. I've really only heard of a handful of names that really made me scratch my head, but if it was the best equipment for me, I think I could get past the name that I don't see when I hit it.
 
I don't think it matters, although I hope the guy at TM that came up with the name rocketballz was fired!
 
Names aren't just marketing. They're a way for players to communicate in shorthand. It establishes a sort of pecking order of who's "in the know" and who isn't. For example, Cobra golf has virtually zero presence around here. I've golfed with one other person who's used a Cobra product from the past 3 years (he had an orange Amp Cell driver with the stock shaft in stiff, and rocked that thing.) So when someone compliments my driver (for as little presence as Cobra has, people seem to think the Amp Cell is darned pretty) and I tell them the make & model, and they comment that I had an aftermarket shaft put on, I know I'm talking to a fellow geardo.

The use of the names sets off a series of facts & figures inside the golfer's mind, but does it in shorthand. Thus, names can be bad, or they can be great, but successful names are not mediocre, and are not injected into a saturated market. Big Bertha is a great example of overuse and saturation. I own Great Big Bertha II fairway woods. That means there was a Big Bertha...then a Great Big Bertha...then a Great Big Bertha II...but try deciphering whether that was annual or bi-annual or whether there was a Big Bertha II before there's a Great Big Bertha II, or was it the other way around? The name became worse than useless.

Nearly every company has done it. Cobra's advancement from the Amp to the Amp Cell to the Bio Cell seems decent and logical...until you try to search for anything on the Amp. TaylorMade's decision to have things end in Z for some reason made some people either not take them seriously or simply not use the name. I often heard them described as "the irons they released last year." That generic but apt description doesn't create any connections inside the mind of the listener.

So yes, to me names matter far more than many give them credit for.
 
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