Kirkland Signature (Costco) golf balls (MERGED) (NO BST POSTS)

[Mustu]

Is the K-sig the #1 ball in golf?   I find more K-sigs on the course than any other ball.  I think they've completely taken away market share from the cheaper balls like noodle, pinnacle, top flite, etc.  I hardly ever find any of those anymore.  I bought some of the ver 3.1 and felt like it didn't quite go as far as the Bridgestone BRX that I normally use so I don't play it.  However, it was a good ball especially for the price.

 

I finally bought some of the Costco golf gloves recently and they're fantastic.  I noticed the 3 random people I got paired up with yesterday all had Costco gloves.  

[vsabre]

1 hour ago, Mustu said:

Is the K-sig the #1 ball in golf?   I find more K-sigs on the course than any other ball.  I think they've completely taken away market share from the cheaper balls like noodle, pinnacle, top flite, etc.  I hardly ever find any of those anymore.  I bought some of the ver 3.1 and felt like it didn't quite go as far as the Bridgestone BRX that I normally use so I don't play it.  However, it was a good ball especially for the price.

 

I finally bought some of the Costco golf gloves recently and they're fantastic.  I noticed the 3 random people I got paired up with yesterday all had Costco gloves.  

I did the same last week on the gloves and was amazed. Figured I'd use them for practice and keep the wear off the Sta Softs and honestly the Costco glove was the equal of a Titleist Players Glove. Now to get that box of wedges through the checkout line without getting snickered at..🤣

[RSinSG]

I was in the warehouse today and thought I’d get some balls for a grandson. I looked in the normal place and didn’t see anything golf related. Knowing every time I go there it’s like a game of hide and seek as they like to rearrange things, I looked for other sporting goods and didn’t see anything, and after looking for an employee for a few minutes I got irritated and gave up. 
 

I’m sure they have market studies and strategies that validate this annoying practice, but in my case all it does is piss me off and results in lost revenue from me. I have no doubt that the increase in sales from others makes up for my little protest though. 

[bhj83]

Just now, RSinSG said:

I was in the warehouse today and thought I’d get some balls for a grandson. I looked in the normal place and didn’t see anything golf related. Knowing every time I go there it’s like a game of hide and seek as they like to rearrange things, I looked for other sporting goods and didn’t see anything, and after looking for an employee for a few minutes I got irritated and gave up. 
 

I’m sure they have market studies and strategies that validate this annoying practice, but in my case all it does is piss me off and results in lost revenue from me. I have no doubt that the increase in sales from others makes up for my little protest though. 

They've got me trained well. Whenever I go to Costco I go up and down every single aisle 😂

[gioreeko]

4 hours ago, RSinSG said:

I was in the warehouse today and thought I’d get some balls for a grandson. I looked in the normal place and didn’t see anything golf related. Knowing every time I go there it’s like a game of hide and seek as they like to rearrange things, I looked for other sporting goods and didn’t see anything, and after looking for an employee for a few minutes I got irritated and gave up. 
 

I’m sure they have market studies and strategies that validate this annoying practice, but in my case all it does is piss me off and results in lost revenue from me. I have no doubt that the increase in sales from others makes up for my little protest though. 

Get off my lawn you damn kids!!!

[OK_Golf]

Regarding stock, the 3.2s are getting low at the Tulsa store.  Maybe 30 boxes left.  First time I’ve seen low stock in quite a while. I bought two boxes. 😀

[1t2golf]

Topic cleaned up. Let's keep this on topic so there are no more reports about it derailing. 

 

Feel free to start a topic in the 19th Hole if you want to discuss Costco's return policy, patching tires, home insurance, ...

 

Thanks!  

[Myherobobhope]

On 7/31/2021 at 5:13 PM, RSinSG said:

I was in the warehouse today and thought I’d get some balls for a grandson. I looked in the normal place and didn’t see anything golf related. Knowing every time I go there it’s like a game of hide and seek as they like to rearrange things, I looked for other sporting goods and didn’t see anything, and after looking for an employee for a few minutes I got irritated and gave up. 
 

I’m sure they have market studies and strategies that validate this annoying practice, but in my case all it does is piss me off and results in lost revenue from me. I have no doubt that the increase in sales from others makes up for my little protest though. 

They actually have a company policy of making the store a “treasure hunt”… I haven’t seen the exact explanation of it, but apparently stumbling upon a $2000 fridge where you least expect it makes you want to buy it…

 

its usual pretty easy to find things… especially if you shop in the same store… the big stuff (meats, TVs, frozen stuff, food and snacks) are usually in the same places… but I spend a lot of time in Costco! Spent $400 there today, but my wife wanted iPhone buds.

[cardigan]

3.2 available online again.

[forrester_fire]

I'm starting to think the new 4 piece ball is a myth.

[Girevik]

54 minutes ago, forrester_fire said:

I'm starting to think the new 4 piece ball is a myth.

Nonsense, Bigfoot plays them and gives them rave reviews.

[wantacigar]

4 hours ago, Girevik said:

Nonsense, Bigfoot plays them and gives them rave reviews.

So does his whole foursome.....Elvis, his cousin Yeti and the Chupracabra

[forrester_fire]

4 hours ago, Girevik said:

Nonsense, Bigfoot plays them and gives them rave reviews.

 

If he were smart, he'd sell them on Ebay for $100 per dozen.

[Girevik]

We know the 4 piece has been on the conforming list for some time.  What exactly needs to happen for a ball to be placed on the list?  Are specs just submitted or does a ball actually have to be produced and tested?  I'm assuming that actually testing all the balls by the USGA would be so onerous that it would take forever for balls to get added, but simply submitting specs would make it awful easy to produce something different labeled as what was submitted. 

[cardigan]

4 minutes ago, Girevik said:

We know the 4 piece has been on the conforming list for some time.  What exactly needs to happen for a ball to be placed on the list?  Are specs just submitted or does a ball actually have to be produced and tested?  I'm assuming that actually testing all the balls by the USGA would be so onerous that it would take forever for balls to get added, but simply submitting specs would make it awful easy to produce something different labeled as what was submitted. 

The balls have to be submitted and tested before appearing on the list.

[Joe S]

2 hours ago, Girevik said:

We know the 4 piece has been on the conforming list for some time.  What exactly needs to happen for a ball to be placed on the list?  Are specs just submitted or does a ball actually have to be produced and tested?  I'm assuming that actually testing all the balls by the USGA would be so onerous that it would take forever for balls to get added, but simply submitting specs would make it awful easy to produce something different labeled as what was submitted. 

 

According to this, they test them all.

 

https://www.usga.org/equipment-standards/research-and-test-center-primer.html

 

2 hours ago, cardigan said:

The balls have to be submitted and tested before appearing on the list.

 

[North Butte]

They also have to be resubmitted and retested every so many years (maybe 24 or 36 months?) if they are wanted to remain on the list. 

[cardigan]

1 hour ago, North Butte said:

They also have to be resubmitted and retested every so many years (maybe 24 or 36 months?) if they are wanted to remain on the list. 

https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/pdf/Equipment/2021 USGA Golf Ball Submission Guidelines Final.pdf

[grm24]

1 hour ago, North Butte said:

They also have to be resubmitted and retested every so many years (maybe 24 or 36 months?) if they are wanted to remain on the list. 

I believe Dean Snell covered the resubmission process at some point the the Snell balls thread.

[jpdx]

1 hour ago, grm24 said:

I believe Dean Snell covered the resubmission process at some point the the Snell balls thread.

Didn’t he also cover it here early on?

[grm24]

12 minutes ago, jpdx said:

Didn’t he also cover it here early on?

He might of.

[gioreeko]

17 minutes ago, jpdx said:

Didn’t he also cover it here early on?

He may have

[Girevik]

16 hours ago, cardigan said:

The balls have to be submitted and tested before appearing on the list.

Ok, so that means at least SOME of the balls have been produced and they're not just specs on a computer somewhere.  That sees to make is less likely that they will never make an appearance.  But alas, when?

[Myherobobhope]

Some idle speculation:

 

costco doesn’t need to release the ball by any particular date, and values their reputation… 

 

they had  the quality issue with the last ball, and basically set the precedent of refunding the purchase while letting people keep the balls… 

we’ve also seen problems in the global supply chain, directly impacting golf balls…

and the original 4 piece ball quickly sold out…

i don’t think Costco wants to quickly sell out of an item… they don’t really do one and done, especially on consumables. 
 

I think it’s possible they had some sort of quality control Issue, or possibly they looked at the supply chain, realized they couldn’t keep up with demand and decided to make sure to they had control over their supply before releasing them.

 

or maybe they know I’m waiting and hate me.

[Nessism]

If Costco releases a new 4 piece I'll buy them on principle alone.  No doubt the last debacle left a bad taste in their mouth so if we see a new version I'll throw down money that they will be a great ball. 

[gioreeko]

3 hours ago, Myherobobhope said:

Some idle speculation:

 

costco doesn’t need to release the ball by any particular date, and values their reputation… 

 

they had  the quality issue with the last ball, and basically set the precedent of refunding the purchase while letting people keep the balls… 

we’ve also seen problems in the global supply chain, directly impacting golf balls…

and the original 4 piece ball quickly sold out…

i don’t think Costco wants to quickly sell out of an item… they don’t really do one and done, especially on consumables. 
 

I think it’s possible they had some sort of quality control Issue, or possibly they looked at the supply chain, realized they couldn’t keep up with demand and decided to make sure to they had control over their supply before releasing them.

 

or maybe they know I’m waiting and hate me.

I think it's a global supply issue....the fact that Snell suspended it's "buy 5" bulk discount deal until they get more balls in seems to suggest that there's some supply side issues going on.

[wantacigar]

4 hours ago, Nessism said:

If Costco releases a new 4 piece I'll buy them on principle alone.  No doubt the last debacle left a bad taste in their mouth so if we see a new version I'll throw down money that they will be a great ball. 

The Ksig 3.2 for an example.  They heard the issues and improved on the ball.  Now they have a really good ball in the market that performs as advertised.

[Girevik]

History shows they aren't too concerned about the time of year when they release a ball.  IIRC the first time I was the V2.0 ball was right around Halloween last year, and it seemed to me at the time that the end of the golf season seemed an odd time to release a new product.  Costco seems to take a longer view and will release it when it's ready. 

 

Now that I think about it, maybe that WAS the strategy.  They new the new ball would have a strong demand so they waited until the end of the season to give them time to catch production up with demand.  Or maybe China is behind it, or Russia.  At this point I'm starting to feel like a conspiracy theorist coming up with ideas of when we'll see the new ball.

[North Butte]

Another theory. When they get a ball that’s a better value, as soon as they have enough in hand they will sell them. 
 

Crazy, right?

[Nessism]

Just got back from Costco where I grabbed a box of 3.2's.  I need more balls like a hole in the head but what the heck!  4 dozen Kirkland's for the same money as 1 dozen Pro V1's?  Hum, what to choose?🙃