The Truth About Golf Ball Sales

[JB]

Since we have this contest about the "king of golf balls" going on, I wanted to do some snooping and find out some facts behind the numbers we see and hear about pertaining to golf balls, growth, and other things. After scouring my Outlook contact list, I was able to get my hands on the latest Boom list that clearly shows how each ball is doing. Here are the 3 pages.

This is the On/Off Course recap
My observations on this are a couple of things.
1. Titleist gained some numbers back by the heavily discounted "old balls" and the new offerings comings out.
2. I had NO IDEA that Bridgestone was doing that well compared to last year. I highlighted in Yellow.
3. This goes to show how big the margin to gain that all the companies have to climb because of the green grass lock that Acushnet has had on the country. It also goes to show just HOW GOOD Titleist distribution is.

This is ON COURSE ONLY
1. Interesting facts came along with this one. Titleist $$$ per dozen were down from $48.45 to $46.02 proving my theory that the discounted old version of the balls was part of marketshare climb.
2. Bridgestone was the fastest growing golf ball on course. (highlighted in yellow)

This is OFF COURSE ONLY
1. Anything over 100% inventory is NOT GOOD. (TM highlighted in pink)
2. Average cost of ProV1 was $4.96 less than in 2008 further proving my theory that it was the discount that got people buying them.
3. Bridgestone once again had the most growth (highlighted in yellow)

I want to add a little something to this and say this is NOT A KNOCK on any brand at all. But THP was started for many reasons, but one of them was to rip through all the marketing hype and show people the HONEST facts about equipment and everything else related to golf. With every company seeming to claim that they are the "best" and "fastest selling", I wanted to find out for myself and the readers of this site.

We were able to get our hands on information that is not available to the public and highlight a few things. This was NOT sent to us by any equipment or ball company and is not meant to harm or help any of them at all. In fact we work with every single company on the lists and want to continue to do so.

However many sites out there were reporting COMPLETE Mistruths about the sales numbers of golf balls and they were emailed to me. So I personally went digging to set the record straight!

 

[cantputt]

Nice research JB. You should go work for the government and get this economy turned around. Very interesting numbers.

 

[StLCardsFan]

Interesting info. I love seeing stuff like this. Are these sales to the consumer, i.e. you and me, or driect sales to golf stores and/or their warehouses?

Is there any way to get the info broken down by price category? I would be equally interested in that. Some brands may be skewed either on the high or low end and that might give a better view on the ranking of each label compared to a similar priced item. Titleist might have the top label with the 'premium' brands, but how do they compare at the different price levels. i.e. How does the NXT Tour compare to the Bridgestone E6, or the DT Solo vs. the Srixon Soft Feel? Equally important would be the amount of SKU's for each brand and price category. A brand that might be low on your charts, may have 50% fewer labels so naturally their market share and overall sales would be less. But head to head against similar priced products, they might dominate. Srixon is at or near the bottom of each segment, but that doesn't necesarily mean they have the least selling ball in each category.

 

[JB]

STL,
I too like info like this, hence seeking it out. But the break downs further would be almost impossible for me to obtain. As for brands in each price category, I think it is safe to say that Acushnet has the MOST balls out by a WIDE margin. At my club more Pinnacles are sold than any of the Titleist golf balls that they sell.

The numbers are geared towards the stores and green grass, however "inventory %" clearly dictates how each brand is doing in the end. In fact, that could be the most telling number out there.

 

[Harry Longshanks]

STL,
At my club more Pinnacles are sold than any of the Titleist golf balls that they sell.

I've always wondered why course logo balls are ALWAYS Pinnacles.

 

[China Cat>Rider]

Does this include range balls or just what is purchased by the consumer?

 

[JB]

It is direct to store and green grass sales and how it affects the consumers. Range balls would not be included.

 

[ActionJackson8]

Srixon though only one spot up looks to be growing as well.

 

[TheGasman]

Ive noticed that most of the courses around here dont really carry Bridgestones. I play them, but I have to pick them up at off course stores. Hopefully they will start popping up more and more.

 

[dynarider]

If I were to judge golf ball sales by what I find on the courses they would probably rank something like this.

#1. Topflite XL5000
#2. Ti tech whatevers
#3. Pinnacles
#4. Titleist NXT
#5. Titleist ProV1x
#6. Yellow range balls....for some reason I find a lot of these & they are nowhere near a driving range.

 

[JB]

But could that also be attributed to the fact that in most cases those are purchased by

a: bad golfers that lose a lot of balls.

b: People that spend next to nothing on golf balls normally take very little time to look.

hehe

 

[Floppy]

If I were to judge golf ball sales by what I find on the courses they would probably rank something like this.

#1. Topflite XL5000
#2. Ti tech whatevers
#3. Pinnacles
#4. Titleist NXT
#5. Titleist ProV1x
#6. Yellow range balls....for some reason I find a lot of these & they are nowhere near a driving range.

LMAO, exactly what I find. With Bridgestone E's being up there too, and a few B330's in the mix.

 

[Osahar]

I've noticed the same thing in my area, Gasman. Dick's loves me, since I seem to be stopping in for a new dozen E7+ at least once a month now.

Have I mentioned how much I hate all this swampland in Florida?

 

[dynarider]

But could that also be attributed to the fact that in most cases those are purchased by

a: bad golfers that lose a lot of balls.

b: People that spend next to nothing on golf balls normally take very little time to look.

hehe

It's possible, although that doesn't explain why I seem to find so many $4 ProV1x's. I play with some crappy golfers & not one of them uses an expensive ball, but I suppose there are plenty who do.

LMAO, exactly what I find. With Bridgestone E's being up there too, and a few B330's in the mix.

I find a fair amount of E6's but have never found anything from Birdgestone better than that. Only ever found a single Nike one black & have never found a single Taylormade ball which I find odd.

 

[Smallville]

I find a lot of those too, Dyna! I've lost quite a few of those Ti Tech Whatevers in my day too!

Which may go back to what JB said:

a: bad golfers that lose a lot of balls.

b: People that spend next to nothing on golf balls normally take very little time to look.

I resemble that!

 

[Floppy]

It's possible, although that doesn't explain why I seem to find so many $4 ProV1x's. I play with some crappy golfers & not one of them uses an expensive ball, but I suppose there are plenty who do.




I find a fair amount of E6's but have never found anything from Birdgestone better than that. Only ever found a single Nike one black & have never found a single Taylormade ball which I find odd.

I've found a few TM Red LDP's or something like that. And I never find B330S's or RX's...only the B330 and E's.

Also, found a few Srixon AD333's. I always find pairs of the same ball in the same area too...like the same guy hit two in the woods. Kinda funny. lol

 

[paulthewitt]

I've found a few TM Red LDP's or something like that. And I never find B330S's or RX's...only the B330 and E's.

Also, found a few Srixon AD333's. I always find pairs of the same ball in the same area too...like the same guy hit two in the woods. Kinda funny. lol

a pair in the same place....that'll be me! lol
those TM Red LDP are the taylormade Pro v1 equivelent...wish i found more of em!

A theory for dynaryder, if you use expensive balls you normally only lose a MAXIMUM of one ball a round (not always true i know). If that is true then you may be able to live with that loss and not look too hard.

me.....i search till it goes dark! lol

 

[Badger_Golfer]

Interesting info...

 

[RocketSauce]

YAY Precept (Bridgestone, hehe)! btw, thanks again for the recommendation about where to buy used balls JB.

 

[SeeMoreGuy]

Great work JB. I knew Bridgestone had created something special when my golf sales guy told me he had never seen the type of response witnessed at the introduction of the 330RX.

 

[Floppy]

YAY Precept (Bridgestone, hehe)! btw, thanks again for the recommendation about where to buy used balls JB.

Where? Somewhere other than lostgolfballs.com or knetgolf.com?

 

[JB]

It is a place local to us.

 

[Floppy]

It is a place local to us.

Lucky. :arrogant:

 

[worst_shot_ever]

Question -- if Titleist has had such a vastly predominant share of the marketplace historically, won't that mean that the percentage growth figures for the other ball makers vs. prior years will readily outpace Titleist? In other words, there are more golf ball sales to steal from Titleist than Titleist has to steal from other companies, and since the other data suggest few new golfers join the sport each year, it's not like there are tons of new consumers entering the marketplace to influence the yearly change in sales figures. Am I thinking about this right?

 

[Badger_Golfer]

Perhaps, but you forget about the marketing prowess of Achushet and how gullible some people are in thinking that Titleist is the only ball to play because some TV ad says so and because so many tour players use Pro V1s.