What happened to Golden Bear Line ?

Good Morning,

I picked up a used hybrid from Play it again sports. It is the Golden bear G-power series. The thing flat out performs just as well as the clubs today. I was looking at some of their past sets and it seems like they had a good product line and even a forged Driver. Just wondering what happened to them. Probably got swallowed up by the machine.

Thx

i have those same hybrids too. they do preform well.

There is so much used premium equipment available now that discount lines have a tough time competing.

I have a set of golden bear irons that are sitting in my basement. I was thinking of putting them up for sale to see if I can get anything for them. I liked them but upgrade to more of a mid range iron set.

I got a Golden Bear Master Tour Series putter that my father handed down to me for my first putter (it was his from college). That thing is a keeper. I see golden bear clubs every once in awhile and I'm tempted to pick them up.

[quote name='GolfDiseasedFool' timestamp='1395919706' post='8960417']
Good Morning,

I picked up a used hybrid from Play it again sports. It is the Golden bear G-power series. The thing flat out performs just as well as the clubs today. I was looking at some of their past sets and it seems like they had a good product line and even a forged Driver. Just wondering what happened to them. Probably got swallowed up by the machine.

Thx
[/quote]

A good friend of mine in the industry for many years used to handle all of the acquisition, production and assembly of the Golden Bear line for all the years it was out so I can shed a tiny bit of light on this for you. The Golden Bear line was always what the industry calls a "store line" which means it was made to chiefly be sold at the mass merchant retailers like KMart, WalMart, Big 5, etc as a low end line - compared to what are called the "pro line" clubs which are sold for the higher prices in the major golf retail chains and pro shops.

The store line business for clubs is literally cut throat when it comes to wholesale pricing and payment terms. As much as the mass merchants literally beat the crap out of the store line companies for low price and extended terms, unless you can sell hundreds of thousands of sets, you can't make any money in this side of the golf business because there are always a couple of other store line companies willing to cut their price and offer longer payment terms to get the business. And the mass merchants don't care because they only offer golf clubs at low prices as just one more of the millions of items they stock and sell.

In this side of the business it is not at all uncommon for these store line club companies to have to accept only a 10% profit and offer 90-120 days for payment to get the business. And that's a horrible way to have to do business to try to make any money. So it is a "here today, gone tomorrow" ugly side of the club industry.

Thanks, Tom. Very interesting info for those of us on the outside looking in.

Wow, that brings back memories. I had a good friend that I often played golf with in the late 90's that had a Golden Bear driver that sounded like an aluminum bat hitting a baseball. It was loud and obnoxious but he hit that club a mile.

Wasn't this a store brand?