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Drivers are not to expensive.

SuperStroke
Don't think comparing prices with 90s time period is necessarily the right way to go about it if the discussion is for the current prices in 2017. The relevant points will tend to get lost in a number of reasonings that don't really address the point at hand.

Golf clubs in the early-mid 90s were not made in China for $10-20 a pop. Shafts were not rolled in Vietnam and Bangladesh by laborers making 5-10 cents an hour. It is exponentially cheaper to manufacture nowadays.

Technological advancements result in superior products that cost much less. Perfect examples mentioned by others being computers, cell phones etc.

The cost of 14 clubs as a percentage of one's monthly income has likely gone up from 90s making them relatively expensive. On top of this the OEM claims of drastic improvements every 6-18 months makes me feel like I spent $500 on inferior technology if it was so easily improved by such a large amount in 12 months.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Canadan said:
It's different for everyone, obviously.. And that's what is so great about a site like Callaway Preowned... You can get a mint GBB driver for 167 dollars right now.. One release out, barely any time away from the product cycle. Same for just about everything.
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I agree with you Dan that there are other options and that no one has to play the latest release.

The original question was just if $499 was too expensive, which has no definitive answer since it is an opinion. I think for a large number of people it is clearly more than they are able or willing to pay, but that's not a fault or problem for any specific manufacturer unless their sales reflect that people don't want what they are offering at those prices. Agree that everyone's means/value of money/priorities are different.


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It all depends upon how someone looks at money.

Person A looks at it and says golf is my main hobby I have discretional income and I want the very best. $500 is reasonable.
Person B looks at it and says I really like golf, but is it really THAT much better than a driver I can get for $200? For them it is not reasonable.

Dave
 
I very rarely purchase any clubs new the year they're released. I bought my Burner 2.0 irons 1-2 years after release and they were brand new in the box. Saved myself a couple hundred dollars. I also picked up a brand new driver, never used, a couple of years old for about $200 vs the $400 price tag when released. I'm totally okay with getting the new technology a year or two late if it means a significant savings. It's not like the technology of Driver A, bought brand new in 2015 is going to be any better than Driver A, bough brand new in 2017.
 
"Too expensive" is a very subjective term. For me, all new clubs are too expensive. It's not that I can't afford them; it's that I can't justify spending what they cost when there are used or older model clubs available at a fraction of the price.

Something is worth what people are willing to pay for it. As long as people are buying $500 drivers, drivers will cost $500.
 
I won't ever complain about golf club prices simply because my set costs the same if not less than the full bag I bought in 2002 and my clubs today are significantly better performers.


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I think the car analogy has some flaws (and my Dad was a car dealer - one of the first BMW dealers in the US and we had Porsche too), particularly these days.

The car can have significant downstream costs (particularly out of warranty) so buy and hold for a long time has some issues. Golf clubs don't have the out of warranty cost risk that cars do.

So, personally, I don't mind paying out a significant amount for a good, new set of clubs. They're mine, I played them from the get go and I can play them for years (my history is 15+ years for an iron set). Maybe 5-7 for drivers. At that point, they really didn't cost me much. If someone comes out with something that beats the pants off of what I have, I'll take the beating and shell out again. But, IME, that really doesn't happen all that often. If I really like a club or set, I'll buy an extra when they're on close out at end-of-life.
 
I agree the car comparison is a tough one... with only a couple soft comparisons that are viable.

That in mind, I think club buying comes in three stages.
1 - Buy at release for full price (or the pre-sale crazies for even more haha)
2 - Buy the following year heavily discounted, brand new
3 - Buy used

I don't think there's a right or a wrong way, and I think we're lucky as consumers to have such a big gap in such a small timeframe. Sucks for resale, but anyone buying clubs to make money should probably have another one haha
 
I think the car comparison is very legitimate to the extent that drivers and cars have anything at all in common. That said, I buy late at the heavily discounted price or used. Same with cars.

JM
 
Having never bought a new and current model driver, yes, I think they're too expensive.

Thank being said, by the end of the month I'm hoping not be able to say that anymore thanks to the Epic.
 
Guess on the surface a $500 driver sounds expensive. But is it really? Unlike some other consumer goods there is a ready secondary market for the old club. In fact, it is pretty typically to get a 50% or similar trade in bonus to buy the replacement for the club you bought 24 months ago. So in reality, to replace that club it really only cost you $300. Which is only $12.50 per month, or about 4 golf balls.

Surely the new club can keep you from losing 1-2 balls a month right? So the real cost is only about 2 golf balls a month isn't it? I can afford two golf balls a month. See what happens when you live with a house full of shopaholics!
 
Not to hijack the thread, full disclosure I'm blessed to be a member of a country club, via their super cool military rate, but the cost of entry to golf, just talking a decent used set of clubs, is astronomical to a person thinking about getting into golf. Add that to the four hour plus rounds and green fees and practice costs and it quantifies the growth problem golf is having. Costs are high because companies have to make more per customer as a result of a shrinking consumer base. Just my opinion, namaste.


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Drivers are not to expensive.

I will agree what one wants to spend is very subjective.
My only point was when you consider all the money that has been spent on technology for drivers, a $200 increase in 20 years is actually good


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I'll compare this to buying software or cell phones or laptops. If I buy in to every hype and every release, I'll be a poor man real soon. But if I bought an M1 last January for 460 dollars, that would be around 20 dollars every month up to now and that keeps improving.

Am I going to buy a new driver anytime soon? Not really, unless the Epic sz performs way way better.

As they always say, caveat emptor.
 
Yes. They are WAY too expensive for what they are.

You are paying $500 for literally $5-10 in made in China materials cost.. tops.. and millions in marketing costs. It is a literally a stick with a hollow piece of metal stuck to the end intended to wack a golf ball. For $500. Think about that for a second.

Despite what they want you to believe there isn't a whole lot of technology there. Optimized over the last 20 years? Sure.. but technology? Not really. Putting two bars in a driver face and calling it jailbreak isn't some fancy revolutionary engineering technology discovered by Callaway scientists in an underground lab over 20,000 hours. It's mainly just marketing. Building a new iPhone with millions of applications and incredible abilities in the palm of your hand developed by thousands of people is technology.. and it still costs pretty close to the same as a driver even with a lot more expensive parts and development costs. (Yes, I know the volume is much larger).

These drivers "should" cost about $150 with the cost of building things overseas so cheap now and computers assisting so much in the design and testing process.

Even having a 6 figure salary and disposable income I won't pay that for new clubs. It's overpriced for what it is. Buy 6 months used at 60% off! Or last years new models for half off. "Maybe" if clubs held their value but they clearly don't.. depreciation is horrible.

I came from an engineering background, owning a fabrication business and designing/manufacturing aluminum parts for the performance automotive racing industry. Not that my opinion matters because their is obviously plenty of people willing to overpay @$500 for new Drivers every year.
 
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I think there's also some psychology at work here. For the same reason Titleist sells their balls for $50, a brand spankin' new driver that comes out today for $299 is going to be generally thought of as "cheap" compared to one that comes out for $499. Then when the price drops in 6 months, people will feel like they're getting a bargain on an elite driver.
 
RyanP. said:
Yes. They are WAY too expensive for what they are.

You are paying $500 for literally $5-10 in made in China materials cost.. tops.. and millions in marketing costs. It is a literally a stick with a hollow piece of metal stuck to the end intended to wack a golf ball. For $500. Think about that for a second.

Despite what they want you to believe there isn't a whole lot of technology there. Optimized over the last 20 years? Sure.. but technology? Not really. Putting two bars in a driver face and calling it jailbreak isn't some fancy revolutionary engineering technology discovered by Callaway scientists in an underground lab over 20,000 hours. It's mainly just marketing. Building a new iPhone with millions of applications and incredible abilities in the palm of your hand developed by thousands of people is technology.. and it still costs pretty close to the same as a driver even with a lot more expensive parts and development costs. (Yes, I know the volume is much larger).

These drivers "should" cost about $150 with the cost of building things overseas so cheap now and computers assisting so much in the design and testing process.

Even having a 6 figure salary and disposable income I won't pay that for new clubs. It's overpriced for what it is. Buy 6 months used at 60% off! Or last years new models for half off. "Maybe" if clubs held their value but they don't.. depreciation is horrible.

I came from owning a fabrication business with a CNC and designing/manufacturing aluminum parts for the performance automotive racing industry. Not that my opinion matters because their is obviously plenty of people willing to overpay for new Drivers every year. Oh well..
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I am also of the opinion that the vast majority of things that get called "tech" in golf clubs are just minor changes propped up by ridiculous marketing. I also realize that I'm new enough, and bad enough at the game that there is a possibility that I'm wrong.
 
RyanP. said:
Yes. They are WAY too expensive for what they are.

You are paying $500 for literally $5-10 in made in China materials cost.. tops.. and millions in marketing costs. It is a literally a stick with a hollow piece of metal stuck to the end intended to wack a golf ball. For $500. Think about that for a second.

Despite what they want you to believe there isn't a whole lot of technology there. Optimized over the last 20 years? Sure.. but technology? Not really. Putting two bars in a driver face and calling it jailbreak isn't some fancy revolutionary engineering technology discovered by Callaway scientists in an underground lab over 20,000 hours. It's mainly just marketing. Building a new iPhone with millions of applications and incredible abilities in the palm of your hand developed by thousands of people is technology.. and it still costs pretty close to the same as a driver even with a lot more expensive parts and development costs. (Yes, I know the volume is much larger).

These drivers "should" cost about $150 with the cost of building things overseas so cheap now and computers assisting so much in the design and testing process.

Even having a 6 figure salary and disposable income I won't pay that for new clubs. It's overpriced for what it is. Buy 6 months used at 60% off! Or last years new models for half off. "Maybe" if clubs held their value but they clearly don't.. depreciation is horrible.

I came from an engineering background, owning a fabrication business and designing/manufacturing aluminum parts for the performance automotive racing industry. Not that my opinion matters because their is obviously plenty of people willing to overpay @$500 for new Drivers every year.
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Very nicely stated. I guarantee I could go out to the garage and grab my original GBB driver or TM Burner Bubble and see no discernable difference in my scores. The marketing hype behind golf equipment is like no other industry that I'm aware of.

With that being said it's still really fun to ponder and test new equipment, just not at full retail price.
 
formula8 said:
Very nicely stated. I guarantee I could go out to the garage and grab my original GBB driver or TM Burner Bubble and see no discernable difference in my scores. The marketing hype behind golf equipment is like no other industry that I'm aware of.

With that being said it's still really fun to ponder and test new equipment, just not at full retail price.
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I could not disagree with this more. I hit the ball as far now as I did with my bubble. I was 28 years old when I owned my bubble swung 12 mph faster. That proves their is a lot of technology in new clubs
 
I don't think 499 is to much for a driver just more than I am willing to pay.
 
sposey013168 said:
I could not disagree with this more. I hit the ball as far now as I did with my bubble. I was 28 years old when I owned my bubble swung 12 mph faster. That proves their is a lot of technology in new clubs
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I'm not disputing that new drivers may be more advanced or go farther. I just don't think the added performance is equal to the marketing claims with each new model. This means the real world benefit of this technology is not worth $500 to me. Even if I could potentially be driving the ball 10 yards longer, it doesn't warrant that kind of money to me. I don't feel that would translate to a meaningful decrease in my scores.

Take a generic 400 yard hole for example. Say I drive the ball 280, that leaves me a choked down PW to the green. Using a less advanced driver I hit the ball 260 or 270, I now have a full PW or partial 9i to the green. For my game that does nothing to increase my scoring chances.

It may be worth it to some, but that is why a driver is not worth $500 for me.
 
I agree that golf clubs are expensive that said you can almost say that about anything that was produced twenty years ago. Cars, stereo equipment, televisions, etc. All clubs must meet the COR requirement but that where it ends. Different materials are used to not only help with the distance but with accuracy not see on clubs twenty years ago. You might have had a driver back in the '90's where it would go 280 but also 30 yards right or left. Drivers are to me are more than empty shells fitted onto an end of a stick. There's a lot of technology in that shell that we probably can't see it all much less than the engineering behind the technology that was tested. So I guess when you look at things, clubs do cost a lot of money but we also have a choice when we decide to purchase. Go for used/CPO clubs and still get the benefit of technology if you don't want to pay full boat for new clubs. I don't get everything that I want or desire just because it's new and I do buy CPO at times also, but I also appreciate the technology that goes into the new clubs and balls.
 
Not sure things are all that much higher. Look at the prices of Eye 2's, Callaway's and such fifteen to twenty years ago. Unless you are looking PXG and such there isn't that much difference. Been playing almost ten years and the top drivers were $500+ then, TM Superquad, Nike Sumo2 and others with not near the adjustability or forgiveness they have now. Clubs may be a better bargain but also agree on the release cycles.
 
JayB said:
Those aren't outrageous prices given the engineering that goes into modern day clubs. Computational fluid dynamics, materials scientists and the host of mechanical and manufacturing engineers that are required for today's innovations are not cheap. Keep in mind a big part of the retail price is in the reseller markups. But stores and pro shops need their cut too; keeping knowledgeable trained fitters on staff, procuring and maintaining hitting bays, keeping available inventory for testing. It all adds up.

Driver's are just like luxury cars - they cost a lot. Depreciate like a stone, and are guaranteed to be obsoleted by next year's model.
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And people wonder why there aren't many new golfers.
 
I do think they're too expensive. I am not one to think golf is dying, but I do think the recession (and lack of Tiger) has hurt the game. Here in Canada the Epic is 650$. That is $70 more than my year's membership. Maybe The two subjects should be mutually exclusive costs, but in my head I can't spend 120+ rounds worth of golf on one club I hit maybe a dozen times a round and when that doesn't even include a fitting and lesson.
 
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