Nike dropping golf equipment (merged)

[Mschumacher]

Damn. Sad to see them go because I really liked their hybrids/woods/drivers. But overall not surprised. The weird designs, names and colors weren't for everybody. And hated to rzn balls too.

[360_CS]

It is sad, they have produced some great clubs. It seemed like the way they went recently with the colours and innovative designs was a desperate attempt to try and get back on track.

[ikarcuaso]

Doesn't bother or surprise me that Nike is backing away from golf. Years ago when I first heard that Nike was going to make clubs I thought it was strange. What the heck does Nike know about golf anyway? I never bought any of their clubs and I don't recall ever buying or even hitting a Nike ball. Nike was first a shoe company. Lets not forget that.

 

So yeah, I'm fine with them leaving the game. I don't think they ever really should have been in the game in the first place.

 

They knew Tiger was going to be a huge cash cow, unprecedented really. They had to get in the equipment business. With Tiger being out, no one close to his commercial success in their stable, the golf equipment business hurting, and misreading the golf market (thought that the untapped market was younger and hipper golfers), they couldn't get over those barriers. But this was the right move even though it sucks to say. Golf equipment is down, rounds are only up because of the warm winter, and you just can't have so much volatility.

 

This basically confirms my feelings about Nike Golf. They were in it for the money: not because of a love for the game.It could be argued that they never really cared about golf in the first place. Their concern was exploiting the cash cow.

Well, no kidding. You think Titleist is in this for the love of the game? Ping? Callaway?

 

Of course Titleist, Ping and Callaway are in it to turn a profit, but they won't sell stuff like this no matter how much it would net them.

 

[InvalidConflict]

Tiger is going to represent Rock Bottom Golf and will play with whatever clubs they can't sell to help clear out their inventory.

 

I would pay good many to see a couple pro's play tournaments with mixed bags they get from the clearance rack at whatever golf store they go to in the area of the course. That would be amazing.

 

"Now stepping up to the tee, Rory Mcllroy, Sporting a brand new Callaway X-Hot N415 Driver, that he picked up from the local golf store this morning. Let's see what he can do...."

[dxb]

Suspect Nike Vapor pro irons will go on sale soon, any opinions on those?

 

I picked a set of blades up last week, finally replaced my VR Pro Combos.

 

They've been reshafted and are ready for their debut tomorrow, will report back!

[matty1802]

Well at least Rory can finally go back to Titleist and start playing some golf!

[blblco02]

Doesn't bother or surprise me that Nike is backing away from golf. Years ago when I first heard that Nike was going to make clubs I thought it was strange. What the heck does Nike know about golf anyway? I never bought any of their clubs and I don't recall ever buying or even hitting a Nike ball. Nike was first a shoe company. Lets not forget that.

 

So yeah, I'm fine with them leaving the game. I don't think they ever really should have been in the game in the first place.

 

They knew Tiger was going to be a huge cash cow, unprecedented really. They had to get in the equipment business. With Tiger being out, no one close to his commercial success in their stable, the golf equipment business hurting, and misreading the golf market (thought that the untapped market was younger and hipper golfers), they couldn't get over those barriers. But this was the right move even though it sucks to say. Golf equipment is down, rounds are only up because of the warm winter, and you just can't have so much volatility.

 

This basically confirms my feelings about Nike Golf. They were in it for the money: not because of a love for the game.It could be argued that they never really cared about golf in the first place. Their concern was exploiting the cash cow.

Well, no kidding. You think Titleist is in this for the love of the game? Ping? Callaway?

 

Of course Titleist, Ping and Callaway are in it to turn a profit, but they won't sell stuff like this no matter how much it would net them.

 

 

Those aren't Nike Golf products.

[jay65]

Lots of questions come into my head.

 

Does anyone think this may have an effect on the whole retail industry side of Golf?

Is the fact Nike were paying tens of millions of dollars to 2 guys in particular, one of which has been out of the game for so long, had a direct effect on their decision? Did Nike over estimate the sales influence those guys would have on their products?

With rumours abound of the likes of DJ, Day, Sergio being offloaded from TM, are the OEM's realising that the amount they're paying their top Pros simply not a good investment, because the amount of Clubs they would have to sell to recoup is now virtually impossible to achieve?

And therefore, will contracts be not so financially extravagant in future? And even possibly mean there may be more Pros seeking contracts than there are lucrative contracts available? So driving down the amount the OEM's will pay their Pros' in future?

 

I know.....too many questions........thinking too much.........I need to get out more! :cheesy:

[David C]

They want to regain market share and visibility lost to Under Armour and perhaps the second hand market is killing clubs. The tech barely moves forward, numbers of players are declining. Where's the £ coming from?

[manxytag]

Adidas getting rid of Taylormade, Nike getting out, less people playing and courses closing down, it's not looking good.

[Conrad1953]

Well, it's gonna be fun to watch who signs with who. In the meantime we

can speculate because it's just fun to do, lol.

[ikarcuaso]

 

 

Those aren't Nike Golf products.

 

Uh, that's the point.

[Conrad1953]

Adidas getting rid of Taylormade, Nike getting out, less people playing and courses closing down, it's not looking good.

 

No worries but there are 3-4 "golf is dying" threads for those who want to go

down that road. More fun to speculate who's going to sign with who IMO.

[MarkFromTheUK]

Hardly surprising. Designing, testing and producing golf equipment costs money. What's the point in doing that when you can get a 9 year old sweatshop worker the the far east to knock out a shirt for next to nothing?

[TheInfidel]

Charl Schwartzel

 

 

[thesamwise]

Doesn't bother or surprise me that Nike is backing away from golf. Years ago when I first heard that Nike was going to make clubs I thought it was strange. What the heck does Nike know about golf anyway? I never bought any of their clubs and I don't recall ever buying or even hitting a Nike ball. Nike was first a shoe company. Lets not forget that.

 

So yeah, I'm fine with them leaving the game. I don't think they ever really should have been in the game in the first place.

 

They knew Tiger was going to be a huge cash cow, unprecedented really. They had to get in the equipment business. With Tiger being out, no one close to his commercial success in their stable, the golf equipment business hurting, and misreading the golf market (thought that the untapped market was younger and hipper golfers), they couldn't get over those barriers. But this was the right move even though it sucks to say. Golf equipment is down, rounds are only up because of the warm winter, and you just can't have so much volatility.

 

This basically confirms my feelings about Nike Golf. They were in it for the money: not because of a love for the game.It could be argued that they never really cared about golf in the first place. Their concern was exploiting the cash cow.

Well, no kidding. You think Titleist is in this for the love of the game? Ping? Callaway?

 

It's my understanding that if you really love the game, and I mean really love it, Titleist and Ping will offer you free clubs to reward you for having the purest of souls.

[ikarcuaso]

Adidas getting rid of Taylormade, Nike getting out, less people playing and courses closing down, it's not looking good.

Actually, number of rounds played in the US has increased the last year and a half. And TM experienced sales growth earlier this year compared to last. These paint an even darker picture of the situation with Nike Golf.

[nichho]

Lots of questions come into my head.

 

Does anyone think this may have an effect on the whole retail industry side of Golf?

Is the fact Nike were paying tens of millions of dollars to 2 guys in particular, one of which has been out of the game for so long, had a direct effect on their decision? Did Nike over estimate the sales influence those guys would have on their products?

With rumours abound of the likes of DJ, Day, Sergio being offloaded from TM, are the OEM's realising that the amount they're paying their top Pros simply not a good investment, because the amount of Clubs they would have to sell to recoup is now virtually impossible to achieve?

And therefore, will contracts be not so financially extravagant in future? And even possibly mean there may be more Pros seeking contracts than there are lucrative contracts available? So driving down the amount the OEM's will pay their Pros' in future?

 

I know.....too many questions........thinking too much.........I need to get out more! :cheesy:

 

So assuming that this scenario has some merit and OEM's stop paying players to play their equipment, do all the players go back to playing.................Mizuno

[skyking]

Work in a golf store part time for fun and Nike's drivers, fairways and hybrids went on sale last Friday. Idiots were snatching up stuff just because it was on sale without even hitting them. Told the GM something was going on. He told me no, just making way for new stuff. Told him new stuff generally comes out at the PGA Merchandise show in January.

 

Haven't sold a Nike stick since Rory won the PGA. Of course it was to a few young guys who thought the driver was actually magic and they wanted to hit 300 yard drives. Had to of been the driver and not the player, right?

[avrag]

Still pissed that Tiger had to suffer with that balky Nike putter for the past few years...at least Rory has more than a handful of years left.

 

It's not like Nike forced Tiger and Rory by holding guns to their heads, you know.

[spbrooks]

Lots of questions come into my head.

 

Does anyone think this may have an effect on the whole retail industry side of Golf?

Is the fact Nike were paying tens of millions of dollars to 2 guys in particular, one of which has been out of the game for so long, had a direct effect on their decision? Did Nike over estimate the sales influence those guys would have on their products?

With rumours abound of the likes of DJ, Day, Sergio being offloaded from TM, are the OEM's realising that the amount they're paying their top Pros simply not a good investment, because the amount of Clubs they would have to sell to recoup is now virtually impossible to achieve?

And therefore, will contracts be not so financially extravagant in future? And even possibly mean there may be more Pros seeking contracts than there are lucrative contracts available? So driving down the amount the OEM's will pay their Pros' in future?

 

I know.....too many questions........thinking too much.........I need to get out more! :cheesy:

yes,yes,yes,yes,yes & yes :dntknw:

[avrag]

Dare I speculate without reading all of the 24 pages before just to see if somebody wrote something similar before?

 

Could it be that Tiger will retire and Nike know it so that they cannot hope for a sales boost upon his return?

Could it also be that Rory expressed much displeasure with certain parts of the equipment (like ball and putter) and tried to negotiate himself out of the contract and even threatened to breach it if necessary (would not be the first time in his career)?

Could it be that because of both circumstances (and terrible sales figures) they have contemplated this move for some time and Rory also knew about this and wanted to change putter or ball straight away, but they threatened such legal action that he complied and that this is one of the reasons why he seems so uninterested and unmotivated this year (except for his own home Open, which he really, really wanted to win)?

[Rory Mcilwoods]

Will stop using my VR pro combos, box them up and wait til the big bucks roll in when I sell Nike irons in 50 years time.

 

#Winning

[Vegaman]

Beyond not making money in equipment, this move seems like it could really boost Nike's ability to get top names on apparel deals. I'm sure there are a lot more players who would be happy to take Nike's money on an apparel deal as long as they can play someone else's clubs...

 

Great point.

 

Not that great. Titleist, Cobra, TM all are/are owned by MAJOR clothing and shoe brands too, namely Footjoy, Puma and a little company called Adidas. I'm pretty sure they will not roll over and let their players wear Nike while sponsoring their hardware. An equipment deal usually involves, (besides clubs/bag) shoes, clothes and preferably also the ball. Sure, if Tiger and Rory were to go to Ping, Mizuno or maybe Callaway they could continue to wear Nike. Or maybe TourEdge, ha ha

[Vegaman]

So I guess the current Nike staffers will keep wearing Nike clothing/shoes, but switch to other equipment. Will be interesting to see what happens there, and whether some players want to depart from Nike completely.

 

Good news for Rory I think.

 

This scenario sounds less likely if Nike players would want to go with Titleist/Footjoy, TM (still with Adidas after all), or Cobra/Puma. Since they are major clothing/shoes companies in their own right.

[jay65]

Lots of questions come into my head.

 

Does anyone think this may have an effect on the whole retail industry side of Golf?

Is the fact Nike were paying tens of millions of dollars to 2 guys in particular, one of which has been out of the game for so long, had a direct effect on their decision? Did Nike over estimate the sales influence those guys would have on their products?

With rumours abound of the likes of DJ, Day, Sergio being offloaded from TM, are the OEM's realising that the amount they're paying their top Pros simply not a good investment, because the amount of Clubs they would have to sell to recoup is now virtually impossible to achieve?

And therefore, will contracts be not so financially extravagant in future? And even possibly mean there may be more Pros seeking contracts than there are lucrative contracts available? So driving down the amount the OEM's will pay their Pros' in future?

 

I know.....too many questions........thinking too much.........I need to get out more! :cheesy:

 

So assuming that this scenario has some merit and OEM's stop paying players to play their equipment, do all the players go back to playing.................Mizuno

 

Lol. Possibly! Seriously though, I never inferred or stated that they would stop paying players, just that the contracts may not be so extravagant. But for the purposes of the joke, you made it well. :taunt:

[warfelg21]

So I guess the current Nike staffers will keep wearing Nike clothing/shoes, but switch to other equipment. Will be interesting to see what happens there, and whether some players want to depart from Nike completely.

 

Good news for Rory I think.

 

This scenario sounds less likely if Nike players would want to go with Titleist/Footjoy, TM (still with Adidas after all), or Cobra/Puma. Since they are major clothing/shoes companies in their own right.

 

I can think of two options for Nike:

Lets it's players "partner" with a brand without a strong apparel presence (PXG, Mizzy, Ping) and agree to somehow allow their branding on a Nike polo or hat.

OR

Nike simply lets everyone but Rory and Tiger explore other options for deals, make Rory and Tiger agree that their bag sponsor cannot be a company that has any apparel.

[Eric05]

What to do with both my rors putters?

[rgk5]

Well at least Rory can finally go back to Titleist and start playing some golf!

 

Right. That will instantly vault him back on top. :swoon:

[Man_O_War]

Well at least Rory can finally go back to Titleist and start playing some golf!

 

 

he couldn't putt with a hippos butt