Demo Day Woes. A message to all Companies special attention to Callaway and Cobra

I have been to a few demo days and just about every one of them had a launch monitor of some sorts. I have never seen a lie board or face tape but I'm not there to get fit so I never look for them. Not grabbing some balls and being rude is totally unacceptable but I take demo days with a grain of salt.

I have really only had one true Demo day experience and it was at my local course. It was supposed to be Titleist, Mizuno, and Taylormade. Only TMAG showed up, and Chris was amazing! Great customer service and attention to me as a potential customer, launch monitor, and great product history and knowledge (knew about my clubs and the history of the "b" stamp). I would have bought them then and there... but he didn't have some shafts he wanted me to try, and he knew I was going for a full fitting within 2 weeks. It was sad that the other two didn't even show up, but I am a big fan of TMAG - and this experience just reinforced it more.

JB said:

Callaway does not use lie boards for lie angle.
Neither do a number of companies for that matter.
At the THP Event Ultimate Club Testing (multiple brands/events) they explained the reason why and how unreliable they are.

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Just curious. What is the reason callaway gave for not using lie boards? What method do they recommend to determine lie angle?

Just a curious THP'ER.

Johan185 said:

Just curious. What is the reason callaway gave for not using lie boards? What method do they recommend to determine lie angle?

Just a curious THP'ER.

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Look up.
Explained above.

If we're critiquing company demo days, I can offer thoughts on TaylorMade's demo day at my course. A mess of club options, one seemingly bored female who only engaged me after I said hello, and someone else working with another member at the time. I asked to hit the Aeroburner TP and was asked "Regular or stiff?" --- I left with the X and proceeded to launch it into orbit (oh white tie, why you do dis?) and returned it after 5 swings without any follow up discussion to the worker who returned to her lawn chair.

No genuine service. No questions. Just a ton of clubs and a focus on some of the middle-aged members rather than a 30 year old. I get it - Seems I wasn't their target audience - But frankly I'm glad for that because at 90% of my casual fittings I don't find the fitter to know more about the product than I do. No ego involved, just basing off experience. "Oh I need a Black tie in this? lol... Get some popcorn."

The reality is, of the thousands of demo days, there are bound to be some bad ones. If you want something done about it, contact the company and tell them you were underwhelmed. It's never going to change without genuine feedback.

Also, I hate the lie board. All you have to do is take a look at your divot to see what part of the club is leading into the ground.

emart2173 said:

I am going to slightly disagree there. Demo days are used to fit people. Many of the ones around here will take appointments for fittings by the rep which allows a handful of people to get fit by someone that is normally a product expect and allows for the rest of the public to just come and hit. The reps we have in this area are great at helping and working with golfers at demo days to get dialed in. I don't remember a demo day anywhere around here that I have gone to that golfers weren't getting fittings and dialed in to their exact specs, even seen full bag fittings.

The demo days around here where the companies know they will be extremely busy have 2-3 reps on site to ensure the best experience possible for the public

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While I believe the overall major objective is to let customers try the latest and greatest equipment , the underlying tone is to sell a company's equipment. I use to be a demo day junkie, driving to every demo day withing two hours distance (partially because I'm a lefty and demo days tended to be the only places around me that had any lefty equipment I could try), but due to family and other commitments, I had tapered off. Back then some reps tended to push their products more on you, used lie boards and, if it was an outdoor range, look at the ball flight to determine the best setup (this was prior to interchangeable iron /driver heads etc). Now, most companies bring a LM and so many shafts that the fitting process can be dialed in. I think that LM allows you as a consumer to compare the different heads and shafts offered by a manufacturer and maximize what you most want from the equipment. The downside is, I think newer reps rely on the numbers more and some focus less on the customer service aspect, ie the rapport that as consumers I believe we also need. I just started to hit the demo days again (a few reps even remembered me from a few years ago) and ended up, after going to 5 different vendor demo days revamping my entire wood lineup with what worked best for me in terms of distance and accuracy. Hopefully you can find another demo day in the area and see if the rep just had an off day. Now if both reps act the same way, then I'd definitely call customer service.

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Canadan said:

Also, I hate the lie board. All you have to do is take a look at your divot to see what part of the club is leading into the ground.

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Yeah, but not everybody takes a divot...(at least after the ball). Sweepers need help too. Just to play devil's advocate .

I never really considered demo days to be for fittings. I look at them as a simply a way to hit clubs outside as oppose to at a store on a simulator. Unless the specific demo days advertises a fitting aspect, I really wouldn't expect it.

huhhh said:

Yeah, but not everybody takes a divot...(at least after the ball). Sweepers need help too. Just to play devil's advocate .

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Fair point. But a lie board can be found just about anywhere golf clubs are sold...

Takes what, five minutes once a year to confirm? Not sure why that's necessary at a 'demo' day, but that's just me!!!

huhhh said:

Yeah, but not everybody takes a divot...(at least after the ball). Sweepers need help too. Just to play devil's advocate .

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You still dont need a lie board to figure out angle whether a person takes a divot or not.

Not that it's the exact same thing, but the person who typically works the golf shop knows 0 about anything in the store. The other day I went in and they had one of Odyssey eye-fit boards on the putting area. There were no instructions so I asked the guy how to use it and he didn't have a clue. I had to look up how to do it on my phone. I asked if they were getting any demos anytime soon in the Callaway 815 drivers or 3 woods and he said probably not. I asked if he knew how the spin of last year's big bertha alpha compared to either of the new BB 815s and he had no clue. This wasn't my first interaction with the guy either. He literally just has no clue. Just runs the register.

lmh3 said:

Where in NJ were you? I know all of the actual reps in the state and can say that I would be surprised if it was one of them. It was probably a tech rep that they hire on their own to help when they have multiple events at the same time. I have done this for a couple of companies and often I was left with minimal supplies as far as technology. It is still no excuse for not engaging the people though.

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The Demo day was in Northfield if u know where that is? Not far from Linwood Country Club or Atlantic City Country Club

Tadashi70 said:

If I head to demo day and they have gear, I am happy. I don't need a lot of fan fare or technology. Just have the latest line with options. I can take care of the rest.

As for poor service, I would reach out to Callaway CS and let them know. They can't fix it if they don't know it's broken.

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Same here. I don't think I've ever been to a demo day on a range where they had trackman, a lie board, and all that jazz. If I'm hitting off of grass I can look at the divot and ball flight to determine if I need a different lie. Seeing the ball fly through the air gives me all the info I need in a demo instance. Most of the demo days I've been to are just that, a chance to demo the clubs. I think I've been to one demo day where they advertised that some of the OEMs would offer free fittings. Most of the reps are just sales reps and not certified fitters, though.