Chalk this one up to very interesting timing. Today, Wilson Golf is launching a new golf ball and subscription service. Following in the footsteps of the irons and utility that have been previously launched and feature the same name, the Staff Model golf ball is designed for the lower handicapped golfer looking for the best control of their game.
Before getting into the Baller Box (yes that is real), let’s go over the new Staff Model ball which offers some intriguing technology. The 4-piece golf ball features a cast urethane cover and 362 dimple pattern design. I always enjoy the dimple count in the technology details from companies for some strange reason, despite being able to say without a shadow of a doubt that golfers don’t care. If there are #DimplePeepers out there, let us know in the comments below. Wilson is touting maximum distance with tour level spin, as expected, but the details show a very promising golf ball.
The 4 piece golf ball breaks down as cover, two mantle layers, and a core. Starting on the outside and working our way in, the cover is new for Wilson. The balancing act that manufacturers go through with the golf ball cover is constant battle between increasing spin and losing durability. While the materials remain largely the same here, the Staff Model is thinner on the outside than their previous tour offering to increase the spin around the green. Moving to the inside of the golf ball, we start with an outer mantle that is a firm/hard ionomer material much like you would find on the cover of range balls. The inner mantle is a HPF, which is another name for ionomer, but in this case, a softer version according to Wilson. They don’t want to abandon the soft feel they have had in place for years.
The core is where this gets really interesting. Mentioned above, Wilson doesn’t want to sacrifice the feel that their avid customers love, but the company did go firmer with the core. In design principles, this is in part where the speed comes from. Some like to call it the engine, I prefer the term gas pedal. Firmer can lead to more speed, while also a bit more spin (player dependent), so it is a careful balance. It is important to note that speed does not automatically equal distance. Distance is primarily a combination of ball speed, launch angle, and spin, which is why we continue to support fitting.
“Featuring a thinner cover and harder core, the Staff Model ball provides higher spin rates on iron shots and holds the maximum allowable initial velocity based upon USGA conformance for a more impressive velocity than traditional urethane covered balls.” said Frank Simonutti, Global Director of Golf Ball Innovation.
You don’t often get velocity twice in the same sentence, so you know they are excited, and they should be. The Staff Model lineup has been extremely well received so far on the THP Forum and their premium golf ball lineup has always been an underrated product by the masses.
A subscription golf ball service is being rolled out at the same time as the Staff Model golf ball. In fact they will be sold exclusively as part of this new program that Wilson calls The Baller Box. You choose how many dozen each month. You choose 3, 6 or 12 months. You choose your customization. You can try it for a single month at a cost of $49.99, but the subscription model only exists of course, with discounts based on longevity. Sign up for 3 months and your Baller Box is $44.99 per dozen, 6 months, drops that to $42.99 and 12 months takes it down another two bucks to $40.99.
Choosing multiple dozen per shipment does not reduce the cost of the Baller Box and despite the catchy name, the box only contains the personalized golf balls you order.
The Staff Model ball is rather intriguing based on construction and Wilson’s pedigree in the space, but the subscription service exclusivity is a tiny bit puzzling. The Baller Box, is a dozen Wilson Staff Model golf balls, and ordering a dozen golf balls means you are ordering a Baller Box. Baller Box and Staff Model in this instance are identical, yet called two different things, but are necessary to complete the order. Still with me? This is where it gets weird, but we believe like anything new, this gets reworked and hammered into a positive in time. Let’s take a look at the subscription math, as we like to call it.
Signing up for 6 months and 2 dozen golf balls per month, means your total cost will be $515.88. Not bad, right? Signup for 12 months at 1 dozen per month and your cost is $491.88. See the issue? Both subscriptions give the golfer exactly 12 dozen Wilson Staff Model golf balls. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet a golfer with a 6 month season is punished in this instance for ordering more golf balls per month, as they are paying an extra $24 for the same number of balls. Crazier still? The golfer that wants 12 dozen now will pay $599.98, more than $100 more for the same 12 dozen if they break them down to one dozen per month.
The Wilson Staff Model ball is an intriguing advancement in design from the company and we look forward to our community of golfers putting them in play and offering feedback. Being a brand new program, I am willing to give them a pass on the math is hard costs part, as we expect them to grow and tweak the program relatively quickly. For more information, check out their website at www.wilson.com/BallerBox
UPDATE
This story ran yesterday and then we received notice from Wilson that they are going to suspend the Baller Box program and just offer the Staff Model in one month trial and the more you buy, the more you save.
Price Breakdown for Staff Model 1 DZ Trial Baller Box:
- Buy 1 for $49.99
- Buy 2 for $47.49 each and save 6%
- Buy 3 for $44.99 each and save 11%
Not sure, other than it looked like a double comment, but it is working now.
either way, ive read through a lot of comments, ive never done the subscription thing and i dont think id try it either. im more of a want to see the ball also, i often like to feel it too. i also dont believe or read over it, what compression is it?
i hope whoever tries them out enjoys them and it turns out to be a good ball. my hands are tied up at the moment. no review here.
Agree, it seems as though a subscription service for anything the point is to get a discount. Why would they not offer one? I know Wilson has been making strides in their product and I’ve liked past generations of their ball, but is the demand for it that great especially for someone to subscribe? If there was a deeper discount, that could hook people into them to try at least.
On that same note. I am not about to spend $50 on a one month trial of this program and 1 dozen golf balls. I would rather buy a sleeve of whatever I was interested in trying out.
I don’t want to say that this won’t work out for them. But, I don’t see how it could. But, I don’t know.
They did not supply us with the compression number, but when I get back to the lab, I will test it.
I agree with you on all if this except I like the name. I love the duo pro ball but the name was bad in my opinion.
It is for a one month "trial" at $50!
They should run a similar trial like Srixon had with their 6 ball packs with their new Z-Star’s. If the ball really performs, you might see some jump on a 3-6 month subscription
Was referring to “Baller Box”
Agreed that they need some kind of intro/sampler gateway. Not many people are going to be lining up for a subscription service to a new ball they’ve never played, which is priced higher than many premium balls they have played and know they like.
Thanks, I guess that kind ok of knocks me out. Would love to try the ball out but not at $50 a dozen. I agree about a different trial model as s this one won’t have legs. I dislike a subscription service for golf balls.
Received notice from Wilson that they are going to suspend the Baller Box program and just offer the Staff Model in one month trial and the more you buy, the more you save.
Price Breakdown for Staff Model 1 DZ Trial Baller Box:
Super curious about THPers thoughts on this new setup and pricing structure.
It speaks volumes about the power of THP since you were the only source reporting then discussing it online. Hope it works out as a win for them.
If I had a girl who looked good I would call her.
I do wish I was a little bit taller ?????
In this instance, the "subscription" is really just online ordering, since it is 1 month only. I love seeing the reduction based on quantity, but I know based on THPers thoughts on the price, Wilson having the most expensive golf ball on the market from major brands is certainly interesting.
The ball itself seems pretty darn good so far, although no full swings as of yet.
This is going to sound terrible and I hate when it gets said…but it’s too much for a Wilson Ball. I say that because I feel like they don’t have the recent history to throw out a ball that should be priced 10 more than say a Z-Star line, and I’ve had some top of the line Wilson balls in the bag years ago. This ball still sounds interesting, but if I walked in to a store and saw Srixon, Bridgestone, Titleist, Callaway, TM, and Wilson Staff all on the shelf, and the Wilson is more than all of those, I’m not reaching for them. There are times where price drives intrigue, but it really doesn’t here.
Pretty funny that they introduced a subscription service, and killed it 24 hours later. Sounds like it wasn’t all that well thought out.
Oh yes baller box is awful
If I was a betting man I would say the subscription service returns with this new tiered pricing structure (which I did say to them before launch). While I am not a believer in subscription ball services done as ball only, I look forward to seeing THPers thoughts.
Thr pricing thing is so interesting to me and I don’t necessarily disagree. It’s a tough spot though. How does a company put more R&D or produce a better product if they can’t raise prices? I thinkbee would both agree the answer would be really good marketing of said product.
Not sure that is what we will see here, but I’m rooting for it because I love golf ball marketing.
Exactly. They need to put the message out about the ball. Why is this ball “better?” There would need to be a damn good campaign built around it. But I can use the past as their blueprint for the future, and I don’t have confidence that they can pull that off.
I’d like to see them succeed here. Not a Anti-Wilson guy at all. Competition is fun.
So what would need to be included in a subscription to make it worthwhile?
I think the only successful subscription boxes in golf offer a level of surprise with opening, combined with "guarantees" of great savings, right? In my opinion, one of the reasons that the subscription ball market from brands has not worked in the past is for a number of reasons, two of them being, People do not think they need as many golf balls as they do and you have competition.
What I mean by that second one is that if you could insure that all other brands didn’t run ridiculously good deals, then it has more merit. But when all of the market share leaders run by 3 and get 1 with free personalization, and you are already higher priced than they are, something is going to need more "oomph" to get the word out.
Again, kuddos to THP for helping them avoid a huge mistake on what might be a good product. This newest stradegy seems to be what they are used to. Slow growth and profitablitly. Now, let’s see if the ball is any good.
This is a very good point.
My follow up question would be, wouldn’t selling direct exclusively do that?
I see your point and don’t disagree. I am very much a fan of subscription models in general, as evidenced by the number of subscriptions I have, ranging from streaming video down to vitamins. It’s a convenience factor.
To me, that’s the biggest issue with using the model for golf balls: how inconvenient is it to go and buy more balls? That’s the selling point I think companies are missing.
Ok, so they’re now copying the Snell price structure – except all the prices are higher for an unproven product.
Sorry W/S. Swing and a miss.
I actually think their subscription idea was better overall, they just didnt put any real thought into it.
I have a few dozen Tour level balls at home that I didnt pay a cent more than $32 CAD for. Hell Srixon balls seem like they’re always on sale for $30.
If you want me to commit to MSRP for a period of time you’ve really got to sweeten the deal somehow.
This is where I think the subscription model shines. Fans of brands (or brand agnostic) get surprised. So a subscription box might cost $50, and you know you will get a dozen balls, but there might be 2-3 other items with each delivery and you don’t know what is coming.
To me this sweetens the deal and may, MAY get repeat customers…
My wife does that, or did with boxycharm… she’d get a box quarterly for a set price and it would have stuff in it that she indicated she liked or wanted as well as other trial size items.
Man this could not have been introduced at a worse time. $’s are precious to all of us which means we are very unlikely to commit long term to a relatively expensive subscription (I can subscribe to a new driver every 6 months for $30/month). I am not sure this would have made it anyway, but I see this a DOA given the environment it’s launching in right now. Wilson seems like a company with good engineers and bad marketing.
This right here. I have only had one subscription service ever. It was fun for a few months getting new apparel. The fun was never knowing the brand or the color, etc. After a while it got repetitive, while it was never the same it became boring. Getting the same golf balls over and over again with no "surprises" would bore me quickly and thats not even talking about the price.
It certainly deals with th potential margin issue. But then is there enough sales volume to justify the direct sales model. Will golf shops continue to support Wilson in the club and accessory business when they compete with them in the ball category. I am not sure Wilson’s place in the market allows them to have it both ways.
I believe @erock9174 and myself discussed this earlier in the thread. Worth checking out.
I think in this instance, shops will support as long as products deliver (and they do). Most shops were not carrying their premium ball, so it is hard to say we just won’t sell one.
While I’m stuck in the house during a Pandemic, show me something, dazzle me, baffle my preconceived notions.
Just as a side note, I’m sure that this ball is made in Asia. I would think distribution has be some kind of issue with several countries at different levels of lock down.
The timing is just so bad, someone should have stopped this release – pushed back 6 months. I know that they had money invested in it however with almost no golf sales going on, how or why did Wilson think this release was going to be successful?
Would people be more apt, or would you go for it if the model followed: as a first time customer sign up, pick your bundle, and we’ll send you a free sleeve as a trial, then you have a two week trial before we ship your (however many) dozen?
I think most companies have brought golf balls to market, as people are still playing, but I do agree for the most part. Which is why the first line of the article says "interesting timing".
We got about 12 emails that had questions about shipping and if the office is open or closed.
Introducing the "Ballin’ on a Budget Box"….
It is still a hard sell with not a single in hand review of the product. Does the cover hold up? How does it feel on full shots? These are all questions that need to be answered before I plop down $50 for a test drive. I trust that Wilson is making a good ball, but its not as if major golf brands have not put out some clunkers that needed to be redesigned (e.g. Snell MTB Red). Heck, some have even had issues from batch to batch (e.g Mizuno). In a world where golf ball companies are producing better and better balls at lower prices, this ball seems like it will have a tough road ahead unless people start putting them in play and it reaches original Kirkland 4-piece levels of hype.