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Hot Take- Callaway’s Arms race

SuperStroke
The average consumer is completely confused and bewildered by all the offerings, but ultimately that's on them IMO. The information is out there from a thousand different outlets if you try to find it. Just this past weekend I played with a guy who thought his Sim Max D was the "Max Distance" version.

Sometimes the OEMs muddy the waters as well. To stick with Callaway in this thread - they insisted that Epic Flash and Mavrik were both current product lines in 2020, except you couldn't actually custom order an Epic Flash from Callaway pretty early on in 2020. So it was only a "current product" in the sense that it was still on the shelves. We'll see if that repeats with Mavrik this year or not.

Ultimately, I like options. If it was up to me every single driver would have a specific draw version, a specific fade version, and a neutral version with adjustable weights front/back for trajectory. If it was up to me every single iron on the market would have a normal loft spec, a power loft spec, and a traditional loft spec.
 
I'm ok with it.
 
I like seeing multiple options. Does it mean more time spent for a golfer to determine the best set for them based on budget, wants/needs, and if they had a specific OEM to focus on? Most likely yes, but the process can be fun as well. If a company is fine with having a lot of options and they are justified, and not being done just to say "we have X options, one for everyone", then I am fine with it.
 
I used to be pretty critical of this also but I've since come to realize options are good. Heck if a brand is still offering the previous model and I can get a driver at a lower price that's a big win IMO. The more options we can have to find the perfect fit the better.
 
Give me options. I love the fact that there's something for everyone for the most part.
 
dacatalyst41 said:
Give me options. I love the fact that there's something for everyone for the most part.
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The bigger takeaway is that we are in the middle of a product release cycle to it has the appearance of a lot of lines, but in reality supply chain inventory is being managed and they have very little exposure being stuck with product.
 
Scorpion12 said:
Sure that many choices may be a bit much but that will sort itself out... and product lines will come and go as the manufacturers determine the market they are willing to serve.

I just wish that this many choices were around in the early 1990's when I started playing golf. Not a lot of options then for a lefty... I'll take the overload of options(y)
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As a fellow lefty I definitely agree. We always need more love.
 
Dt1741 said:
We all shall what happened to TM back then. Not good.
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Taylormade's issue was not number of products, it was the amount of products.
As mentioned earlier, Titleist has 10 sets of irons, Mizuno has 8 or so. I don't think anybody has ever said they have too many, right?
There is so little inventory right now.
 
Dt1741 said:
We all shall what happened to TM back then. Not good.
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I think that goes back to inventory management more than anything. If you give the consumer numerous options in your current line, they can likely find something that works for them. If you don’t make a million (literally) of each iron, then you’re not likely going to be stuck with excess product that you can’t move.
 
Clearly it's a problem for:

All those old Taylormade haters who seemed miffed solely by the number and frequency of TM releases. Callaway is the new TM in that regard and undoubtable worse by the shear numbers. Maybe they were all Callaway lovers who were mad that TM made better products and won all the tour events. Funny that the TM haters have seemingly just disappeared.

Suckers who can't help themselves and buy whatever is brand new. I use to count myself in that boat, but I've gotten much better at resisting the temptation. This is part of the reason some people were up in arms when the holier then thou 2 year release cycle was thrown under the bus. Sorry, that's not a problem with new releases, that's just something that every golf crazy, forum junky has to deal with.

For me, I've always been a TM fan and I can't wait for the new releases. I'll be buying them... a couple of years from now. The faster they come, the faster I'll be buying your used and way cheaper clubs on eBay or from the bargain barrel. I swear the new stuff totally rocks and you need to buy new stuff now!
 
I want

 
While I agree with most that having more options results in a better environment for the consumer, I wonder if in this case the number of different options could create an issue for retailers. While they are a dying breed, I am thinking of the smaller shop that might only have space to display say 20-30 different iron sets. If Callaway has 7 or 8 different "sets" by themselves, Titleist has another 6, it could actually result in a smaller pool for the consumer to choose from, or be forced to go to a larger retailer.

We have one major retailer here in Canada, and unless your city has an independent they are pretty much it unless you buy online. I can remember when the first opened many years ago, it was like an amusement park for a golfer. Over the years the amount of product they carry has been cut, most likely due to a downturn in the economy. So let's take a driver rack as an example - there might be room for 40 drivers. If there's 5 models of driver, that's 3 with a regular shaft and 3 with a stiff shaft of each. That leaves room for 1 regular and 1 stiff of each in left handed. If I go into a store looking for a particular model and they've already sold what they had on the floor I'm going to be forced to drive to another store. Sure, they might have 1 or 2 more in the back, but with new releases those don't take long to sell. Does this make sense?
 
I love all the options, actually. In a few years when it's time to replace my irons, the used market is going to be flush with em!
 
Junkyard said:
While I agree with most that having more options results in a better environment for the consumer, I wonder if in this case the number of different options could create an issue for retailers. While they are a dying breed, I am thinking of the smaller shop that might only have space to display say 20-30 different iron sets. If Callaway has 7 or 8 different "sets" by themselves, Titleist has another 6, it could actually result in a smaller pool for the consumer to choose from, or be forced to go to a larger retailer.
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That's a good point. I live in a metroplex of about 7 million and currently know of exactly two places off the top of my head that I could go to look at new clubs. It's not going to get better either. I think over time more and more will shift to the Sub70 model where they'll send you a demo club to try for a few bucks. Me, I'm pretty lazy, so if I have to get cleaned up, gear up with the masks, fight traffic, and then deal with some saucy sales droid who was selling cars last week, that's a major deterrent. You ship me a couple to try at my leisure, then all I have to do is click a button to buy? I'd probably have a brand new set in my hands right now.
 
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