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Titleist on THP Radio: The Golf Industry Uncut Volume 28

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JB

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This week Josh Talge from Titleist joins the show and we discuss everything from Titleist 917 line of metal woods to marketing in a different environment in this episode of the Golf Industry Uncut.

On This Episode
Release Cycles at Different Companies
The Marketing of the Titleist 917 Line
The Goals of Titleist Golf Clubs
Creating the Perfect Burger
And so much more

This podcast is your chance to hear from those in the golf industry in a format that is completely raw and unedited. If there is an issue on the show, you will hear it. You will have the opportunity to submit questions for guests over the course of the year and even connect with them after each episode either right here on the THP Forum or through social media and let them know your thoughts or ask follow up questions.

Tackling on demand audio for the world of golf like never before, THP Radio presents this unique look behind the doors of the equipment world through the experts.

Join us by listening at the link below or if you are on the THP Mobile App, click the THP Radio button on the bottom. As always you can find us on iTunes or Google Play at The Hackers Paradise or whatever platform is your favorite of choice for podcasts.

https://www.thehackersparadise.com/josh-talge-from-titleist-the-golf-industry-uncut-volume-28/
 
This is so awesome. I can't wait to check it out. Great to see Titleist more often on THP! Keep up the great content, JB!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Most of the way through...Had to stop at the final question. Josh is doing a great job answering Josh's questions, the burger one sounds like a pending heart attack but would definitely try it. There's a local burger joint near my house where you can do a custom burger and just about all Talge's ingredients are available so I'll be trying a Talge this week.

I want to hear more stories about those first Old Spice commercials a few years back. They're classics. Crazy how different his TM & Titleist campaigns are. I think Titleist may be missing an opportunity. Think Justin Thomas and Jordan goofing around in boxers in Spring Break... Titleist can fit that into social, pointing out just how carefree you can play when you know you have the best fitting equipment for you.

It's something that companies can do, using the variety of social media available. If you focus that type of marketing in a platform like Instagram only, it is unlikely to put off the segment of country club golfers who don't even care about those outlets. Just a thought...

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk
 
Another incredible episode! The burger sounds incredible. I never really associated Minnesota as a haven for water skiing so was a little taken back when that answer first came out.
 
Enjoyed his explanation on the reason behind their two year release cycle and their marketing approach targeting a certain type golfer vice the wide net.

His added explanation to the reason for 30 in 30 fitting practice process makes sense


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I'm excited to listen to this one today sometime and get a peek behind the Titleist iron curtain.
 
I'm listening now and just paused it at 10:30 or so to make this comment.

Josh T just said how Titleist doesn't want golfers to view their products as just "Oh hey, the new AP1" and how they want each line to be a significant improvement on the last or they won't release it. My honest response is that they have some work to do in that case because that is exactly how I view their new stuff (rightly or wrongly). 910-913-915 saw marginal gains if any while the sound got worse and worse. 917 woods really seem to be a great step from what I can tell but I haven't spent enough time with them to say for sure. 714-716 AP2 or AP1 I and my friends struggled to see any noticeable performance gain.

Their clubs are always solid and never a bad buy but if Titliest can start to increase the gap in performance from release to release they will be scary good.
 
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ArmyGolf said:
I'm listening now and just paused it at 10:30 or so to make this comment.

Josh T just said how Titleist doesn't want golfers to view their products as just "Oh hey, the new AP1" and how they want each line to be a significant improvement on the last or they won't release it. My honest response is that they have some work to do in that case because that is exactly how I view their new stuff (rightly or wrongly). 910-913-915 saw marginal gains if any while the sound got worse and worse. 917 woods really seem to be a great step from what I can tell but I haven't spent enough time with them to say for sure. 714-716 AP2 or AP1 I and my friends struggled to see any noticeable performance gain.

Their clubs are always solid and never a bad buy but if Titliest can start to increase the gap in performance from release to release they will be scary good.
Click to expand...

There is no coincidence as to when Mr. Talge came on board...haha.
They are changing and one thing is clear, there responses don't always align with in. So I would expect to see continued changes to the modern golfer and age.
 
JB said:
There is no coincidence as to when Mr. Talge came on board...haha.
They are changing and one thing is clear, there responses don't always align with in. So I would expect to see continued changes to the modern golfer and age.
Click to expand...

I was going to ask about when he came on board and what lines he has had an influence on, but I think you just answered that. That gives me an exponentially increased excitement for the 718 line of irons!
 
It was pretty interesting when he spoke of a specific target market. Guys like us on THP who are tinkerers and gear heads. It's genius
 
ArmyGolf said:
I was going to ask about when he came on board and what lines he has had an influence on, but I think you just answered that. That gives me an exponentially increased excitement for the 718 line of irons!
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I don't see the correlation between the hire date of a marketing expert and the actual product improvements. I guess I'm missing something (which is a common occurrence).
 
obedt said:
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I don't see the correlation between the hire date of a marketing expert and the actual product improvements. I guess I'm missing something (which is a common occurrence).
Click to expand...

For a couple of reasons.
R&D and Marketing do work together to create products and bring them to market.
Then add buzz matters.
 
obedt said:
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I don't see the correlation between the hire date of a marketing expert and the actual product improvements. I guess I'm missing something (which is a common occurrence).
Click to expand...
Perhaps you are right but I guess I'm thinking that the hire brings with it a change or a tweak in philosophy and a larger desire to push the envelope a lite bit.
Titleist has always been loved/hated for playing everything so safe all the time and while they release solid clubs they have never been at the forefront of new tech innovations.
 
ArmyGolf said:
Perhaps you are right but I guess I'm thinking that the hire brings with it a change or a tweak in philosophy and a larger desire to push the envelope a lite bit.
Titleist has always been loved/hated for playing everything so safe all the time and while they release solid clubs they have never been at the forefront of new tech innovations.
Click to expand...
No, you were right.

JB said:
For a couple of reasons.
R&D and Marketing do work together to create products and bring them to market.
Then add buzz matters.
Click to expand...

In the industry I work in, whenever marketing has an idea they do work with our network team to make sure we are equipped for the additional volume. It makes sense that those partnerships extend even into the golf landscape. Thought that since golf clubs are such long lead-time products usually in development for years maybe in this case it was a bit more coincidental, but what you wrote makes perfect sense JB.
 
ArmyGolf said:
I'm listening now and just paused it at 10:30 or so to make this comment.

Josh T just said how Titleist doesn't want golfers to view their products as just "Oh hey, the new AP1" and how they want each line to be a significant improvement on the last or they won't release it. My honest response is that they have some work to do in that case because that is exactly how I view their new stuff (rightly or wrongly). 910-913-915 saw marginal gains if any while the sound got worse and worse. 917 woods really seem to be a great step from what I can tell but I haven't spent enough time with them to say for sure. 714-716 AP2 or AP1 I and my friends struggled to see any noticeable performance gain.

Their clubs are always solid and never a bad buy but if Titliest can start to increase the gap in performance from release to release they will be scary good.
Click to expand...
Well for me the 716 ap2 were better than the 714s. Just had a fitting comparing both side by side. 716 were way better for my toe side miss and launched almost a degree higher. Pretty good improvement in a players club imo.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 
ArmyGolf said:
I'm listening now and just paused it at 10:30 or so to make this comment.

Josh T just said how Titleist doesn't want golfers to view their products as just "Oh hey, the new AP1" and how they want each line to be a significant improvement on the last or they won't release it. My honest response is that they have some work to do in that case because that is exactly how I view their new stuff (rightly or wrongly). 910-913-915 saw marginal gains if any while the sound got worse and worse. 917 woods really seem to be a great step from what I can tell but I haven't spent enough time with them to say for sure. 714-716 AP2 or AP1 I and my friends struggled to see any noticeable performance gain.

Their clubs are always solid and never a bad buy but if Titliest can start to increase the gap in performance from release to release they will be scary good.
Click to expand...

LSMO said:
Well for me the 716 ap2 were better than the 714s. Just had a fitting comparing both side by side. 716 were way better for my toe side miss and launched almost a degree higher. Pretty good improvement in a players club imo.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I think feedback was improved on the 716 line over 714. 915 was an improvement on 913 and 917 a better improvement over 915. The TMBs and C16 releases were also good IMO
 
emart2173 said:
I think feedback was improved on the 716 line over 714. 915 was an improvement on 913 and 917 a better improvement over 915. The TMBs and C16 releases were also good IMO
Click to expand...
I really loved my 915D2, 913D2, 910D2, 915F and 714AP1s that I gamed for a full season but when put head to head against other brands Titleist just could never come out on top for me. Always near the top but never the best (for my game).

I know this comes across as negative and I don't want it to. I was a Titleist brand loyal golfer for a period and still would be so proud to bag their clubs IF they won their spot in my bag. I see them winning over golfers with their performance quite a bit recently and I love to see that.
 
ArmyGolf said:
I really loved my 915D2, 913D2, 910D2, 915F and 714AP1s that I gamed for a full season but when put head to head against other brands Titleist just could never come out on top for me. Always near the top but never the best (for my game).

I know this comes across as negative and I don't want it to. I was a Titleist brand loyal golfer for a period and still would be so proud to bag their clubs IF they won their spot in my bag. I see them winning over golfers with their performance quite a bit recently and I love to see that.
Click to expand...

Not negative at all. Some clubs work better for some than others. I've been an on and off again Titleist club guy. The 714 wasn't big enough improvement over 712 and 913 wasn't as good as 910 so I stayed away for a few years. 915 was an improvement over 913 but sound was terrible.

I am a fan of what they have in the 716 lines and 917. I'm excited to see what they bring for 718 and I like where they are headed.
 
emart2173 said:
Not negative at all. Some clubs work better for some than others. I've been an on and off again Titleist club guy. The 714 wasn't big enough improvement over 712 and 913 wasn't as good as 910 so I stayed away for a few years. 915 was an improvement over 913 but sound was terrible.

I am a fan of what they have in the 716 lines and 917. I'm excited to see what they bring for 718 and I like where they are headed.
Click to expand...
We are certainly on the same page then. 718 AP2 is on my radar even though I know nothing about them.
 
Enjoyed the interview! Sounds like we might hear more from them.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 
I like how Josh came out and said they do in fact target a specific demographic of golfers for the brand. Not sure that has been much of a secret, but I like that he came out and said it. Not a big fan of the clockwork release cycles per say, but I will add that what they do is pretty much spot on during the calendar year in terms of releases. You know every fall drivers tend to come out for the odd years, and the irons for the even years. Frankly it just works for them. Very interesting discussion on how to keep things fresh for the longer period of time and how it offers difficulties that are there when he was at TM and releases were more frequent. That part of the conversation I actually found interesting.

Wouldn't mind hearing more from the Titleist crew on THP Radio, perhaps next time we can get Abby on.
 
ddec said:
Wouldn't mind hearing more from the Titleist crew on THP Radio, perhaps next time we can get Abby on.
Click to expand...

You know the drill bro....Easier said than done. Knowing JT for a bit from his previous life helped aid this one take place.
I believe this one changes that a bit.
 
Listening now.
 
Yup I know. I'm throwing it out there because I know Liebs checks in on the forum from time to time.
 
ddec said:
Yup I know. I'm throwing it out there because I know Liebs checks in on the forum from time to time.
Click to expand...

I've seen her post at least once. Thought that was very cool (and different).
 
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