05.08.07
TaylorMade Golf’s Product Strategy
Most of us who play golf probably either have a TaylorMade club in their bag right now, or have tried one of their clubs. I know that my bag is pretty much filled with them. From my perspective they are solid, well-built clubs that perform very well. I had never really put much thought into the investment in time and technology that TaylorMade (or any golf club manufacturer) must go through in order to develop state-of-the-art clubs. They start out designing clubs for the professional players…and then their products trickle down to the general population, after many tweaks and changes to allow the average weekend duffer to use it. So even if you think you are playing with the same clubs as the pros, chances are that the version of the TaylorMade SuperQuad or Callaway Fusion you have is drastically different from the version Sergio Garcia or Phil Mickelson is using.
There is a very interesting interview with Sean Toulon, TaylorMade’s executive vice president of product and brand creation. In it he talks about the club development process and the input they get from the pros as they design their clubs. It is a long interview but I strongly recommend you watch it if you are at all interested in what the club manufacturers go through as they develop new products.
I’d be very interested to learn if any of the leading club manufacturers design clubs with the average player in mind…or are all of our clubs just descendants of clubs the pros currently use? Anyone have any comments?
The interview can be found here: http://www.podtech.net/home/rockymountainvoices/2915/taylormade-golfs-product-and-brand-man
SAM said,
May 15, 2007 at 8:46 am
Nice thoughts but define AVERAGE? YIKES!! Asking all of us to ADMIT to being average golfers is akin to actually answering the quintessential girlfriend/wife question ” Does my butt look big in this?…” you just NEVER do it!
, our drives AVERAGE 275, depending on wind and we pontificate over that approach shot over water; should I hit my PW, SW, LW, AW, 60degrees and hop on it!…when it really is an 8 Iron over 135 yards.
Hey, we all hit a 5 Iron 195
But all that said, yes take a look at Adams, Callaway and Nickent who are now making millions buy designing the worlds UGLIEST GAME IMPROVEMENT irons. Heck, they are not even irons anymore these clubs are all hybrids and woods. Even the PW looks like a 3 wood!
Hey use golfers are never average, but yes I will spend a grand on a set of clubs that drops my score just a few more strokes….forget that practice stuff that takes too much time.
Ted said,
May 15, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I whole heartedly agree! Truth is with all the practice in the world I still won’t be a pro so I’ll take any game improvement club I can afford. Personally I own the R7 irons and they hit balls like butter. What I love about TaylorMade is that their game improvement clubs still look like irons and not plastic hybrids. The form factor is excellent.