Let's Revisit This Thread: Is The Pro V1 in Trouble?

[GoGoErky]

> @rgk5 said:

> > @soregongolfer said:

> > > @rgk5 said:

> > > Titleist's ball market share was down 8% in 2018 compared to 2017.

> > That's pretty significant.

>

> Callaway and Srixon have been eroding Titleist's market.

 

Bridgestone more than Srixon and TaylorMade. At one point last year TM and Bridgestone were around 10% and Callaway at 16%. Srixon was around 5%

[hacker49]

> @Bad9 said:

> For all the chatter the DTC balls get on golf forums I have yet to see a Vice, Snell or even the mythical Ksig out on an actual course.

 

I actually found a Kirkland my last time out. I have found several Vice and maybe a couple Snell (I remember at least one).

 

[noodle3872]

> @GoGoErky said:

> > @rgk5 said:

> > > @soregongolfer said:

> > > > @rgk5 said:

> > > > Titleist's ball market share was down 8% in 2018 compared to 2017.

> > > That's pretty significant.

> >

> > Callaway and Srixon have been eroding Titleist's market.

>

> Bridgestone more than Srixon and TaylorMade. At one point last year TM and Bridgestone were around 10% and Callaway at 16%. Srixon was around 5%

 

Srixon is really being aggressive this year with 4 for 3 deals and now buy 1 get 1 (50% off) deal. Buying market share with these deals?

 

Bridgestone, I feel any way, is hurt by how they named their balls all Tour B and then moved away from swing speed as a way to pick a model.

 

[GoGoErky]

> @noodle3872 said:

> > @GoGoErky said:

> > > @rgk5 said:

> > > > @soregongolfer said:

> > > > > @rgk5 said:

> > > > > Titleist's ball market share was down 8% in 2018 compared to 2017.

> > > > That's pretty significant.

> > >

> > > Callaway and Srixon have been eroding Titleist's market.

> >

> > Bridgestone more than Srixon and TaylorMade. At one point last year TM and Bridgestone were around 10% and Callaway at 16%. Srixon was around 5%

>

> Srixon is really being aggressive this year with 4 for 3 deals and now buy 1 get 1 (50% off) deal. Buying market share with these deals?

>

> Bridgestone, I feel any way, is hurt by how they named their balls all Tour B and then moved away from swing speed as a way to pick a model.

>

But Bridgestone hasn’t moved away from that approach. Just look at the commercial with tiger? Kuch and the dude that dies the impressions. They talk about playing a ball for your speed. While I agree that Srixon is being aggressive with deals it doesn’t always correlate to increased market share.

 

[noodle3872]

> @GoGoErky said:

> > @noodle3872 said:

> > > @GoGoErky said:

> > > > @rgk5 said:

> > > > > @soregongolfer said:

> > > > > > @rgk5 said:

> > > > > > Titleist's ball market share was down 8% in 2018 compared to 2017.

> > > > > That's pretty significant.

> > > >

> > > > Callaway and Srixon have been eroding Titleist's market.

> > >

> > > Bridgestone more than Srixon and TaylorMade. At one point last year TM and Bridgestone were around 10% and Callaway at 16%. Srixon was around 5%

> >

> > Srixon is really being aggressive this year with 4 for 3 deals and now buy 1 get 1 (50% off) deal. Buying market share with these deals?

> >

> > Bridgestone, I feel any way, is hurt by how they named their balls all Tour B and then moved away from swing speed as a way to pick a model.

> >

> But Bridgestone hasn’t moved away from that approach. Just look at the commercial with tiger? Kuch and the dude that dies the impressions. They talk about playing a ball for your speed. While I agree that Srixon is being aggressive with deals it doesn’t always correlate to increased market share.

>

 

When the B Tour balls were released Bridgestone suggested score be used to pick your B Tour ball. Go back and look at the various golf site initial product reviews. They all talk about score as a means of selecting a ball. When Bridgestone changed CEO in mid 2018 he brought back ball fitting which included swing speed. That is why you see commercials discussing swing speed.

 

https://pluggedingolf.com/bridgestone-tour-b-x-tour-b-xs-tour-b-rx-tour-b-rxs-golf-ball-review/

[Edward_Majorwin]

> @Bad9 said:

> For all the chatter the DTC balls get on golf forums I have yet to see a Vice, Snell or even the mythical Ksig out on an actual course. Over the last 5 years that covers more than a dozen courses ranging from South Carolina, Ontario, Quebec and all of the Atlantic provinces of Canada.

 

I can guarantee you there's about 36 Vice balls scattered around the lower mainland of British Columbia, but they'd be a couple years old now.

 

 

[Stanks]

The fact that Tiger alone is with Bridgestone is the reason they are so popular. They were a little popular a couple years ago and then Tiger signed on and Titleist stock dropped a percentage. Given how many people were playing Titleist and changed over because of Tiger, it shows how lucid the market is.

In my mind, Titleist still makes a good ball, but people want an equally good ball at a cheaper price or whatever Tiger is playing.

Again, the ProV1 isn't in trouble. Noone is in trouble. Sales are sales and the company is making hand over fist. Go to bed. nothing more to talk about. /thread

[mallrat]

Last year I worked at a facility that has 2 18 hole courses and both are Top 100 courses. We used to joke about how awesome it was to stock your back weekly with once driven Pro V’s. In actuality the majority of balls I saw there and my current course are Callaway. Not sure what it is but the seniors LOVE Callaway balls. Most guys on the crew golf casually and don’t know how good some of the other balls are so I was able to trade and average of 1 Pro V for 3 TP5’s or whatever. I was constantly amazed how many of the DTC balls we found on a private course with roughly a $1000 a month fee.

[Myherobobhope]

I think the long term question becomes: Is there another performance increase in the future for golf balls? At this point, there are multiple competitors to the ProV... if you fit 100 golfers with no brand bias, I don't think there would be a consistent winner.

The main drawback on the Direct to Consumer model is that it takes a bit to get the balls... the 2 dozen snell I ordered likely won't be here for a week, so I'll have to make do because of my poor planning... (I have a dozen MG C4s in my car, I just don't care for them).

 

The market has definitely matured. So it will be interesting to see if it can be disrupted by a new sales model (DTC) or if there will be another technology breakthrough...

 

I also won't be surprised if a DTC company gets bought out by a major ball manufacturer and they bring their efficiencies of scale and make knock offs of their own ball to capture that lost market share.

[North Butte]

> @Myherobobhope said:

> I think the long term question becomes: Is there another performance increase in the future for golf balls? At this point, there are multiple competitors to the ProV... if you fit 100 golfers with no brand bias, I don't think there would be a consistent winner.

> The main drawback on the Direct to Consumer model is that it takes a bit to get the balls... the 2 dozen snell I ordered likely won't be here for a week, so I'll have to make do because of my poor planning... (I have a dozen MG C4s in my car, I just don't care for them).

>

> The market has definitely matured. So it will be interesting to see if it can be disrupted by a new sales model (DTC) or if there will be another technology breakthrough...

>

> I also won't be surprised if a DTC company gets bought out by a major ball manufacturer and they bring their efficiencies of scale and make knock offs of their own ball to capture that lost market share.

 

They wouldn't need to buy a company. Srixon or Wilson or whoever can simply order balls from the same Asian contract manufacturers that Vice or MG buys from.

[Myherobobhope]

> @"North Butte" said:

> > @Myherobobhope said:

> > I think the long term question becomes: Is there another performance increase in the future for golf balls? At this point, there are multiple competitors to the ProV... if you fit 100 golfers with no brand bias, I don't think there would be a consistent winner.

> > The main drawback on the Direct to Consumer model is that it takes a bit to get the balls... the 2 dozen snell I ordered likely won't be here for a week, so I'll have to make do because of my poor planning... (I have a dozen MG C4s in my car, I just don't care for them).

> >

> > The market has definitely matured. So it will be interesting to see if it can be disrupted by a new sales model (DTC) or if there will be another technology breakthrough...

> >

> > I also won't be surprised if a DTC company gets bought out by a major ball manufacturer and they bring their efficiencies of scale and make knock offs of their own ball to capture that lost market share.

>

> They wouldn't need to buy a company. Srixon or Wilson or whoever can simply order balls from the same Asian contract manufacturers that Vice or MG buys from.

 

I know they can easily get the balls made, but they don’t want to leech their own market share... people like me won’t spend $45 on a premium ball. I used to settle for the mid tier ball but can now buy a snell ball and get the best of both worlds.

 

Titliest can’t compete in the dtc market as titliest... they can make a ball almost as good with a different name and compete at the $30 without hurting their current market share. Maybe. It’s going to be interesting to see how the market changes.

 

[cane700]

> @Dunny51 said:

> I think it’s good for us consumers that there are so many good options in different price brackets, it helps to keep the big boys on their toes. I’ve played Pro V1, TP5, Chrome soft and Bridgestone over the last 3 years since getting back into golf. At my level (13) all are great just depends on what feel you want.

 

Agree with this statement. Even though I've pretty much settled on the Prov1xs, competition is good for the consumer at the end of the day. Srixon was selling Zstars for $20 a dozen a couple weeks back. That's great for everyone.

[North Butte]

Over the long haul, I've like the Pro V1x better than any other ball I've tried. So I use it for long periods of time, although occasionally I'll use something else for a while. But it's expensive. If I lost more than about a ball a round (on average) I'd play something cheaper.

 

But today's urethane golf ball market for consumers would have been considered a miracle even 10 years ago. If someone in 2009 told me I could have my choice among several options for really high performance, high quality golf balls like these current models for around $25-$30 a dozen and even have a few choices available for $20/dozen or less (still very good quality and performance) I'd have said they were crazy.

 

Compare those $20/dozen Z-stars to whatever $20 would have bought you 25 years ago when I took up the game. Holy cow, it's no comparison. Today's $20 is equivalent to about $12-$13 back then. For that price in the early 90's about the best you could do was buy 18-ball packs of Dunlop DDH at K-Mart or maybe find a good deal on some marked down Top-Flites. Those were horrible, no-spin rocks.

[ryanjm]

> @Bad9 said:

> For all the chatter the DTC balls get on golf forums I have yet to see a Vice, Snell or even the mythical Ksig out on an actual course. Over the last 5 years that covers more than a dozen courses ranging from South Carolina, Ontario, Quebec and all of the Atlantic provinces of Canada.

 

That's because old people play golf, and old people don't use the Internet to learn things.

[North Butte]

> @ryanjm said:>

> That's because old people play golf, and old people don't use the Internet to "learn" things.

 

Fixed it for you.