Bridgestone Hires Dan Murphy as President and CEO

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Best decision they've made in a while.

If I were Dan, this would be a good time to start with something simple.. like what worked before. Not long term, but just something short term that helps prove to the public that your ball is better than its competition or not for people. Long term, uhh... Something that can compete with graphene.
 
interesting move bringing Dan back.
 
I certainly would get away from their current mode. It's just not working. Get back to the roots of their golf ball and what makes them more unique than their competition. I would also get back to a more simple on-line fitting. I also would consider in coming out with a new ball with a urethane/hyb-urethane cover that would compete with the Titleist Tour Soft, Srixon QST, Duo-U etc. Finally the Tour "B" series need to be redone.
 
Thanks for the update. Best wishes for success to Dan Murphy. Creating a simple brand message for consumers has to be near the top of his list. I use their ball quite a bit and honestly can't tell you much about the current line. My inventory of B330-RX balls came via an Amazon deal. I played this ball ~90% of the time last year and it's closer to 50% now. Hard to argue against Chrome Soft.
 
In person fittings.

I was fit, given a sleeve of two balls, and then took them to the course. Was completely sold then until they changed their lines and I didn’t really want to retest all of them.


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Personally, give the R&D team a year or so to go a different route with a basically unlimited budget (in reason of course). find new materials, research, etc something that will make them different. Don't go and copy another companies idea and put your own spin on it. Do something new and different. Also, maybe tone down the ball options. Not saying options are a bad thing, but I just can't see huge differences between all their lines/within the categories (obviously there is difference between their tour line and the 3 lines).

Not sure how realistic this is and im sure harder than I am making it out to be, but they are quickly falling down the line. Im sure taylormade is past them or about to be?

clubs wise, I think they are fine? I mean, not sure if they can or should expect to have more market share.
 
 
I would get back to testing online and at events. Regain trust. It takes time to make line changes and with the parent company in Japan it may take time. Great time to visit the big accounts and talk little and listen a lot. The answers are out there.
 
We spent an evening with Dan back in January and got his take on the current golf ball market and what hurdles are impacting other companies. He has been involved in some aspects of golf since leaving Bridgestone in 2015, so he still has his finger on the pulse.

Right now there is one thing I know for sure. Retailers are not angry with this decision.
 
He was awesome at the PGA Show in “The Pit!” Some great stories and how the golf industry has changed throughout the years and how he was itching to get back into the industry.

Fantastic news!


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Such a fantastic hire! Bridgestone is coming back baby!
 
Really excited to see whatever changes may be coming for Bridgestone!
 
Will this change mean more emphasis on providing golf balls for golfers and less emphasis on marketing golf balls to consumers?
 
Simplify the balls they make and undercut the competition price. Drop the Precept name and stamp a B on it. They already make a great product and have plenty of big names they sponsor. Problem is, they struggle horribly with clubs. Finding anything Bridgestone that isn’t a golf ball in a confusing package that reads the same as everything else is impossible. It’s like finding a leprechaun riding a unicorn chasing after twin Big Foot. Model three iron sets. Copy the way Ping makes clubs with the G, I, and iblade. Make a product pros want to play and consumers will buy it. A great deal of people have no clue that Kuchar and Snedeker use Bridgestone irons. They know about the Kuchar Bettinardi putter though.
 
In person fittings.

I was fit, given a sleeve of two balls, and then took them to the course. Was completely sold then until they changed their lines and I didn’t really want to retest all of them.


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Doesn’t every golf ball change or improve with each iteration? Their premium golf balls are the same with different names. There would be zero reason to retest.

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Early on when Bridgestone started the whole ‘fitting’ idea, I heard a lot of skepticism from consumers. ‘The fitting was rigged’, ‘’my ball still tested better’ these two had to be the most common. I heard this more often than not. Then I witnessed their fittings at the pga show, 1000s of fittings over 3 days. Old guys getting fit and receiving a free sleeve. Still heard the same criticism.

Then they weren’t at the show and I did not hear anything. No one was talking about Bridgestone golf balls out side of THP. Tiger was signed and still no talk outside of online forums and people in the know. And now the online talk is negative for what ever reason people give.

They have a solid solid line of golf balls. The tour balls are very much still in play. Despite the grumbling, the fittings worked and Tiger still moves the needle. If I were in Dan’s shoes, I would be working a very creative way to tie all that together. And then beat it into the heads of consumers. I’d go right for the top, take the fight to Titleist at the green grass level. Start fittings at private clubs, demos at munis and fitting at big box stores. I’d also hit small town America, show those golfer they care. It would cost some coin but you have to spend it to make it.
 
He needs to be more customer focused with better 2-way, not one way, communications. Very few "golfers' believe the the longer, straighter, father messages any more, they all just sound like blah, blah! With all the up and coming online only competition he needs to tap into what resonates with consumers and develop a unique selling proposition that give consumers a reason to switch to, or at least try their products.
 
Bridgestone Hires Dan Murphy as President and CEO

At first glance of this topic I read it as “Bridgestone hires Diana Murphy” ...yikes.

But I’m happy to see Bridgestone with some fresh direction. They need some changes for sure.


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Doesn’t every golf ball change or improve with each iteration? Their premium golf balls are the same with different names. There would be zero reason to retest.

————————

Early on when Bridgestone started the whole ‘fitting’ idea, I heard a lot of skepticism from consumers. ‘The fitting was rigged’, ‘’my ball still tested better’ these two had to be the most common. I heard this more often than not. Then I witnessed their fittings at the pga show, 1000s of fittings over 3 days. Old guys getting fit and receiving a free sleeve. Still heard the same criticism.

Then they weren’t at the show and I did not hear anything. No one was talking about Bridgestone golf balls out side of THP. Tiger was signed and still no talk outside of online forums and people in the know. And now the online talk is negative for what ever reason people give.

They have a solid solid line of golf balls. The tour balls are very much still in play. Despite the grumbling, the fittings worked and Tiger still moves the needle. If I were in Dan’s shoes, I would be working a very creative way to tie all that together. And then beat it into the heads of consumers. I’d go right for the top, take the fight to Titleist at the green grass level. Start fittings at private clubs, demos at munis and fitting at big box stores. I’d also hit small town America, show those golfer they care. It would cost some coin but you have to spend it to make it.

Took two years off so my swing changed a lot. I trusted the Bridgestone guys at the fitting because they know what their talking about and were able to explain it to me. I guess what I meant by the testing thing was that it could take me a while to figure out what’s best for me now but if they had a fitting at the range like I first went to I could have it done in 5 minutes (and saved a lot of money)


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I'd love to see Bridgestone go something like the route of Tour Edge. Cut out much of their tour sponsorship and the money pit that represents, enjoy the positive vibes their name still invokes, be able to bring some prices down and develop their market share. I love their clubs, and don't really want to see them totally leave the club market. I don't think they have the pull to continue to demand the prices they do.

No matter which direction they go, simply having someone who can provide to overall vision will be a vast improvement from their current position of having plenty of good golfers in their stable that they seem to do a rather poor job of marketing. Hopefully they can quit wandering in circles and move towards a well defined end goal.
 
At first glance of this topic I read it as “Bridgestone hires Diana Murphy” ...yikes.

But I’m happy to see Bridgestone with some fresh direction. They need some changes for sure.


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We'd be hearing about the "TOUR RX B" balls if that were the case.
 
I would keep the focus on selling the ball as the best. No comparisons, just tell me why this ball is the best. B makes some great balls, but I'm not sure I get that from their marketing approach. I would do what Taylormade does. Just proclaim that you are the best.
 
Just read an interview with Murphy that Bridgestone golf retweeted. Sounds like he is all in to get back to #2 in balls. And sounds like he is all about using the tiger woods effect to help and plans on mixing him up with some of their other staffers like couples, kuch and bryson. Hope that comes to fruition and they get back on track.
 
Just read an interview with Murphy that Bridgestone golf retweeted. Sounds like he is all in to get back to #2 in balls. And sounds like he is all about using the tiger woods effect to help and plans on mixing him up with some of their other staffers like couples, kuch and bryson. Hope that cones to fruition and they get back on track.
Actually just read the same thing, has me much more excited about Bridgestone again already
 
How about have Tiger randomly show up at a couple of ball fittings around the country. Viral video of Tiger walking up while you and a bunch of friends are there trying balls on your front lawn!
 
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