Kirkland Signature Wedges? Posted by Josh Babbitt July 28, 2020 177 Comments Presented with no commentary. Leave your comment below. Follow, Like & Share
Maltby > Costco/Kirkland. That’s not even a real debate.
Exactly.
To each his own.
"STEEL"
Snob
I get what you’re saying and can agree to a point. As far as a parasite, I disagree. Costco is targeting the not so serious golfer with their stuff. The only company I see them “stealing” customers from is Bombtech.
I am not sure that I agree that they only divert customers from Bombtech. Costco was a big enough threat with golf balls that Titleist filed a lawsuit.
It is not just the equipment manufacturers. The golf retail specialty stores make a percentage of their profit from selling less expensive equipment to the not so serious golfer. Anyone who buys from Costco never darkens the door of those stores.
that will probably resemble an M2
Speaking of private labels, I have a massive collection of golf apparel. I’m fairly certain most or all of the Nike, Adidas and Under Armour items were designed in house, and possibly the Puma as well, but what about my Callaway, and Ping golf shirts? My Mizuno and TaylorMade caps? And all those various branded golf gloves I have all over the place? Do we really think they were designed by the company whose logo they bear? Or is it more likely their procurement teams found a suitable partner who specializes in the design and manufacture of such things?
Let’s say instead of a tie or golf shirt for Christmas, the wife and kids get you a fresh new set of Kirkland Signature wedges. Are you happy?
I am 50/50 whether it is good or bad for golf. On one hand I don’t think anyone that is a serious golfer will buy Kirkland signature. But if it helps grow the sport as an entry point then it’s not all bad.
Callaway apparel is licensed. It is designed and manufacturered by PEI.
Not really. I appreciate the gesture.
Good to know. I have five, and they’re some of the best in my closet.
I understand what you’re saying completely and agree on the golf ball. With the wedges I see them no different from the house brands from Dicks’s/Golf Galaxy. For someone who doesn’t know it’s a start. For the budget minded folks like me, I’d rather buy new old stock from Budget Golf or the likes.
@radiman made a good point. I’m not saying they’ll have issues and truthfully I hope they don’t. In fact, I’m a huge Kirk sig fan. Costco does a lot of things right, hence their success.
Back to the point. Let’s say you purchase a wedge from a major OEM (Cobra, Callaway, Titleist, Taylormade, Cleveland, etc) and the finish starts peeling off on every single one of their clubs. What happens? Do they refund and not say a word about it? Or do they fix the issue, find out why it happened and make it right with you as the customer, giving you a new club? They have skin in the game so it’s more personal. Plus THEY manufactured and creates the club, if something goes wrong, it’s completely on them. Their reputation is on the line.
Costco is outsourcing these products. If they work and function appropriately, they cash in. If not, they don’t really care, refund money or they find someone else to build them. People will continue to buy tubs of peanut butter and overrun pairs of jeans there whether these wedges are good or not.
I’m sure I can find a little extra room on my tie rack.
If you think Titleist, Cleveland, Callaway, and the rest are doing it for "love of the game", then I’ve got oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.
He’ll, yeah. I’d be thrilled.
Are you saying the OEMs don’t source their clubheads overseas? That’s news to me.
Obviously, they are in it to make a buck, but let’s not get caught up in semantics and be so cynical about it, either. If Golf as a sport/pastime struggles, those companies struggle. If Golf struggles, Costco doesn’t even hiccup. Whatever semantic you want to use is fine, but the OEMs have a vested interest in growing the game and in golf thriving. Costco has no such incentive.
it has a full face, too!
Why so worried about billion dollar companies like callaway?
Labeling them as "crappy" aren’t you making the same case that are you arguing against in this thread?
I am not worried, but I enjoy discussion. The reason that “billion dollar companies like Callaway” are important to me and should be important to everybody who loves golf is because they have the financial wherewithal to drive real innovation and technological improvement, which makes the game more enjoyable. I am shooting the same scores today that I was 20 years ago. I have nowhere near the physical ability and athleticism that I had then. My club speed is much lower. The improvement in equipment makes up for it and keeps me excited that I can still improve my scores. If there is no Callaway or if there was no company large enough to develop a Pro V1-type ball, I am not sure that the equipment would be as good today. Does that make sense?
Not at all. You are always going to have bargain basement/dollar store companies that cater to a certain demographic. As an allstate agency owner, I have no problem with companies like safe auto and the general. They serve a purpose.
Right. Just as I would assume that many of the larger well thought out companies have little concern with Costco selling cheap wedges. You mentioned earlier that you took issue with people "labeling" the Costco wedges as "crappy" (or the like), but did the same thing with the analogy.
I dont think too many people have issue with Costco releasing and selling a product. As golfers that take clubs, fitting, and performance to a higher level (being THPers), they would believe (right or wrong) that golfers would want performance. Just as you would prefer, drivers, not go with "crappy" coverage. Make sense?
Take the OG 4-piece for example. Basically a direct copy of Titleist property. Then the K-Sig putter, which is a straight knockoff of the Ping Anser/SC. Now, that wedge in the picture looks an awful like a Vokey SM7 to me on the backside, with the difference being that they milled the small indentation towards the top instead of leaving it smooth. So now, we are basically 3 for 3 with Costco copying a Titleist product. That should not be encouraged.
That is actually my friend Rob’s company.
Good point.
I’ll have to say no. Not because of the thoughtfulness of my family taking enough interest in me to know my hobby or passion, that’s admirable. I’d be disappointed that they were most likely right handed clubs.
The front page of that website had so many buzzwords on it that I no longer have to drink my coffee this morning. My goodness.
If the COVID thread taught us anything, it is that comments and views don’t always translate to a good thing