Mark Crossfield or TaylorMade: Who do you side with?

[2BFAST]

I like watching his Vlogs. I really don't have an opinion either way on the situation. Although I was a bit surprised he came out and said what he said about the situation. But either way....I still enjoy watching his vlogs and his on course vlogs. I get a kick out of watching Lockey spray balls every where

 

[Yahash]

Why would Crossfail expect anything different. His platform is to review clubs. Of course if he is on staff with Titleist he will promote their gear, he ain’t going to bad mouth them.

+1. Ditto

 

[tpluff]

I side with neither. They both just seem to be acting childish and petty in this deal. However, other companies are still sending him stuff to review, so maybe that tips the scales to Crossfield, but then his whining is making it a matter of me not caring enough to take a side.

 

[mikeg_74]

I side with neither. They seem to be both acting childish and petty in this deal. However, other companies are still sending him stuff to review, so maybe that tips the scales to Crossfield, but then his whining is making it a wash.

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I initially leaned this way, but his whining and carrying on got old real quick. It's not a good look IMO and if he was trying to "shame" TM into sending him stuff to review the opposite effect happened.

 

[Alez367]

Great, all we need now is TM to not send the new stuff to Sheils and we might actually have a THP review thread with staff review and comments by thpers instead of links to YouTube review by Sheils and MC, etc... right after the staff reviews.


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[Yahash]

Great, all we need now is TM to not send the new stuff to Sheils and we might actually have a THP review thread with staff review and comments by thpers instead of links to YouTube review by Sheils and MC, etc... right after the staff reviews.


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Well there is already the reviews up for the M3/M4 from THP. I agree, I would love to see TM get more focused on the community (especially here) with some review product.

 

[joebute]

I think it's a bad move by TM, but I don't agree with Crossfield's argument. He's saying that if he's no longer considered unbiased, then by extension TM staffers can't be impartial because they're paid by the company. Did anyone, including TM, say that they were? They're paid to be walking advertisements, and in TM's view, Crossfield is now an advertiser for Titleist. If they don't want to participate in a channel that minimizes their brand in favor of Titleist, then that's their prerogative. I don't think it implies dubious business practices on their part, as implied by MC.

I will say that I don't agree with the business move, and it seems out of touch with modern marketing. Is the risk of a less than glowing review really worth the cost of barring a product release from MC's audience? Or worse, alienating MC's audience, who want to see him hit the club? MC's message will still get out, because he still has a platform and the means to acquire the clubs. So what has TM really accomplished except risk consumer goodwill?

 

[Shakey]

I bet all this brewhaha from MC is generating more traffic on Taylormade's new releases.

 

[ddec]

Well there is already the reviews up for the M3/M4 from THP. I agree, I would love to see TM get more focused on the community (especially here) with some review product.

clearly the way to make it happen is to post a quick vlog hehe

 

[Nate]

I side with TM. Crossfield is horrible at what he does imo so him bitching about not getting a club to review is coming off as childish and entitled. As an OEM you have the final say in how you want your product marketed or tested. If there is a person on "staff" with another major OEM competing with you why would I send him anything to review? If he wants to review something that bad, go buy it yourself and quit whining like a kid.

I think I'm in this boat as well. Why as a golf consumer, knowing he has a club deal (and who knows what else) w/ Titleist, would I base a buying decision on a review he did for another OEM? I guess if I personally knew Mr. Crossfield and what type of person he was that might change. But probably not...........LOL!

 

[mjkladis]

OK, people who don't like Mark or don't care to watch his videos don't understand his testing or his views at all. You guys are taking it strictly from face value.
He got a nice little equipment deal with Titleist (one club in the bag isnt Titleist BTW) and now his views are completely biased.

I've watched a lot of his reviews and he cringes at giving his LM numbers. He literally pokes fun at people wanting to "perv" over them in one of his comparisons.
When he is playing on course with these clubs he's like a broken record.
-"Bad shot there but that's more me than the club."
-"I like the look and the sound."
-"I could easily game/bag this club."
-(most importantly) "Go try this club for yourself get yourself fitted."

I have never heard him say one club was superior to the others and I have never heard him stray from his same ideas for years.
Why would an equipment deal really make that change?

Titleist wants Mark to use their clubs in his course vlogs and daily vlogs. That's a pretty sweet deal on Titleist's part, honestly.

 

[Yahash]

clearly the way to make it happen is to post a quick vlog hehe

 

[McLovin]

I don't begrudge Mark his signing with Titleist. If this helps him support his family and he can continue to be unbiased, it's good for him.

but isn't that the crux of the question? can he remain unbiased when one oem is in his pockets, and the other isn't? let's take the money out of it, and just focus on the relationship. if tm isn't treating him the way he wants to be treated, but titleist does, i can see where people would question his objectivity.

perception is reality for a lot of people, and the appearance of impropriety - even if completely unfounded - can be just as damaging.

 

[Big SoIL]

When he is playing on course with these clubs he's like a broken record.
-"Bad shot there but that's more me than the club."
-"I like the look and the sound."
-"I could easily game/bag this club."
-(most importantly) "Go try this club for yourself get yourself fitted.".

It's like clockwork, every single time. It's why I quit watching his stuff a while back, I just really wasn't seeing the value in it.

This whole thing just seems like sour grapes on both side to me, I honestly don't really care though. I'll keep up with the reviews here on THP and a couple YouTube guys just because I find them entertaining. I trust the reviews here though.

 

[JB]

I wont comment on the entire thing...But based on the Sadlowski signing thread, why on earth would Titleist sign a guy that is not on TV in Tour Events?

I kid of course. Great move by Titleist.

 

[emart2173]

Great, all we need now is TM to not send the new stuff to Sheils and we might actually have a THP review thread with staff review and comments by thpers instead of links to YouTube review by Sheils and MC, etc... right after the staff reviews.


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While the staff writers here do a good job at reviews I don't see why it's an issue for internet golfers to consume internet reviews from other sources and even comment or post that for others to consume and get another perspective on the gear and how it performs for different swings. IMO more info isn't bad and golf talk is golf talk which is what golf forums are for. I enjoy watching several different youtubers take on gear and like the talk when others bring that here and generate talk about the gear.

 

[TheDoctor]

This all started last year when, for whatever reason, Crossfield didn't get sent the M1 and M2 for review and he spat his dummy out then and put a video up of him 'reviewing' the clubs on course which consisted of teeing a ball up, hitting it with an imaginary club and then spouting the usual spin and carry numbers

I haven't watched the video yet of him having another go at TM over this snub (and may well not bother from what I have read) as I don't agree with his way of doing things, his attitude of self-righteousness and entitlement, and how he uses his followers to bully people that don't agree with his preaching

From what I have read, he also had a go at another YouTuber (Andy Carter) after he asked him a genuine question about why TM never sent him the clubs and ignored the question and told Carter to get over the fact that he didn't want to do a course vlog with him
I once asked a question after watching one of his videos and basically got told I didn't understand what he was saying, but even when then asking for clarification he decided to get aggressive about it and a number of his followers jumped in as well, so he ruined any chance of keeping me as an interested watcher of his stuff

As to the Titleist deal and impartiality, regardless of what he or anyone says, I think there will always be that suspicion when reviewing other clubs - it would be the same as if Rick Shiels signed a club deal with someone but continued to review other clubs as well. I saw the Peter Finch video where he talked about this deal and his response was the most professional response I have heard/read up to now

 

[smgoldstein]

I'm with TM on this one. You can't call yourself an independent reviewer and be on a OEM's payroll-whether he is getting paid or product. Let him sell some of the ton of product he got for free that he has in the basement and go buy a M3 and M4 if he wants to test it.

 

[TheDoctor]

Great, all we need now is TM to not send the new stuff to Sheils and we might actually have a THP review thread with staff review and comments by thpers instead of links to YouTube review by Sheils and MC, etc... right after the staff reviews.


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And for the people who watch Shiels etc and don't know of THP, how are they supposed to get the information they want?

 

[Deano]

I watch MC's videos pretty much daily, although I've yet to watch the latest one about TM and to be honest, I probably won't. Purely because I can't stand the way he has gone about this all, he's acting very immature and childish. He was like this with the whole newspaper incident recently too, and that nearly put me off watching his videos.

He could have handled this whole thing so much better. I think he'll lose a lot of fans for this.

 

[Alez367]

While the staff writers here do a good job at reviews I don't see why it's an issue for internet golfers to consume internet reviews from other sources and even comment or post that for others to consume and get another perspective on the gear and how it performs for different swings. IMO more info isn't bad and golf talk is golf talk which is what golf forums are for. I enjoy watching several different youtubers take on gear and like the talk when others bring that here and generate talk about the gear.

I enjoy golf talk just as much as everyone else. What I don't enjoy is someone posting a YouTube review and nothing else. No discussion, no follow up. Instead everytime I see a post that says:

"Hey Sheils /MC posted a review of the club" and that's it. The threads are for discussion. If I wanted to see their vlogs or reviews, I'd head to their site and comment there.


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[Deano]

as I don't agree with his way of doing things, his attitude of self-righteousness and entitlement, and how he uses his followers to bully people that don't agree with his preaching

This is spot on. Whilst I do watch pretty much all of his videos, he is a bit of an idiot and clearly rates himself very highly.

 

[93civiccpe]

I find Mark Crossfield arrogant and annoying and he's acted like a petulant child in this ordeal. He wants free gear and is whining that he isn't getting it. In fine with an manufacturer making a decision based on the return of their investments.

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[ddec]

While the staff writers here do a good job at reviews I don't see why it's an issue for internet golfers to consume internet reviews from other sources and even comment or post that for others to consume and get another perspective on the gear and how it performs for different swings. IMO more info isn't bad and golf talk is golf talk which is what golf forums are for. I enjoy watching several different youtubers take on gear and like the talk when others bring that here and generate talk about the gear.

I don't find any fault with it. Heck I read a lot of reviews on clubs, even ones that we've written about. Just yesterday I listened to Golf Unfiltered with Matt from Plugged in Golf. I check their stuff out quite frequently because I enjoy what they have over their in terms of writing and pure number of reviews. I check out Crossfield and Shiels every now and then because I also use YouTube as a search engine. What I do find a bit annoying is in a THP review thread, when the thread is young, instantly one of those videos pops up. It's fine, I just think its a way to drag attention from the review that is being done here(if that makes any sense whatsoever). At the end of the day we all have our different audiences, and ways or reaching those people. But I like conversations based on equipment and technology, and I think those can help further a conversation, but they can also tend to just kill it in a way too. Anyway back the main event MC vs TM.

 

[moosejaa]

I enjoy golf talk just as much as everyone else. What I don't enjoy is someone posting a YouTube review and nothing else. No discussion, no follow up. Instead everytime I see a post that says:

"Hey Sheils /MC posted a review of the club" and that's it. The threads are for discussion. If I wanted to see their vlogs or reviews, I'd head to their site and comment there.

I think for many that don't follow them wouldn't even be aware of their reviews. I really look at almost all reviews through THP first, so I don't see any negatives in having access (links) to content about the same equipment in one place. If you aren't interested, don't click on it.