Rory McIlroy signed with TaylorMade (MERGED)

[EKELLY]

THERE IT IS. THOSE IRONS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yep, another exact Wilson JP copy!.....LOL

[Sean2]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

[MMB1500]

New equipment or not, he's still not WRX long.

 

 

[MMB1500]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers these days - manufacturers who will basically make him what he wants anyway.

[MaydayGSXR]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

Taylormade apparently reporting the deal is no where near 100m, but multi-year deal confirmed. We'll have to see, you know there was a pretty penny somewhere in there though, haha.

[cvhookem63]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers and who will essentially make him what he wants anyway.

 

It's also been confirmed that the actual figure wasn't anywhere near 100 million - confirmed by a GolfWRX TM source. Doesn't stop the vitriol though.

[Sean2]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers these days - manufacturers who will basically make him what he wants anyway.

 

I am sure everyone would have done the same thing. I wasn't giving him any heat...just pointing out the obvious. Trying to "hide" the $100,000,000 as a prime motivator is disingenuous at best. For example, a golfer being paid a $1,000,000 appearance fee...the Golf Channel, NBC, and CBS never mention that. It's as if it's not PC to talk about the money.

[cvhookem63]

Can we set up the forum to auto-adjust text? So any time someone types $100,000,000 for the next week it will add a "NOT" in front of the number? Just a thought. :rolleyes:

[MMB1500]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers these days - manufacturers who will basically make him what he wants anyway.

 

I am sure everyone would have done the same thing. I wasn't giving him any heat...just pointing out the obvious. Trying to "hide" the $100,000,000 as a prime motivator is disingenuous at best. For example, a golfer being paid a $1,000,000 appearance fee...the Golf Channel, NBC, and CBS never mention that. It's as if it's not PC to talk about the money.

 

No worries. My comment wasn't directed at you, rather quite a few I've read elsewhere.

 

You're right though they money is never mentioned and it's weird. I'd love it if McIlroy came out and told it like it is:

 

"Yeah, I decided to go with Taylormade because they make really solid equipment and, more to the point, they offered me a sh!t load more cash than anyone else. It was primarily about that, especially as the bank balance has taken a significant hit after my wedding"

[soundedgoodtho]

You're right though they money is never mentioned and it's weird. I'd love it if McIlroy came out and told it like it is:

 

"Yeah, I decided to go with Taylormade because they make really solid equipment and more to the point they offered me a sh!t load more cash than anyone else. It was primarily about that, especially as the bank balance has taken a bit of a hit after my wedding"

Yeah me too, except they're paying him all that money precisely so that he doesn't say that it's about the money :smilie_tm:

[Sean2]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers these days - manufacturers who will basically make him what he wants anyway.

 

I am sure everyone would have done the same thing. I wasn't giving him any heat...just pointing out the obvious. Trying to "hide" the $100,000,000 as a prime motivator is disingenuous at best. For example, a golfer being paid a $1,000,000 appearance fee...the Golf Channel, NBC, and CBS never mention that. It's as if it's not PC to talk about the money.

 

No worries. My comment wasn't directed at you, rather quite a few I've read elsewhere.

 

You're right though they money is never mentioned and it's weird. I'd love it if McIlroy came out and told it like it is:

 

"Yeah, I decided to go with Taylormade because they make really solid equipment and more to the point they offered me a sh!t load more cash than anyone else. It was primarily about that, especially as the bank balance has taken a significant hit after my wedding"

 

According to the British publication The Guardian the $100M is what he signed for. They also pointed out his $200M deal with Nike.

 

According to PGA Tour.com, this is what McIlroy had to say, in part, about his equipment:

According to McIlroy, his club of choice during practice sessions is a 6-iron. Eventually, he went to work performing his own independent testing, using a Callaway 6-iron and TaylorMade 6-iron with different golf balls to see if he could recreate the flight and numbers.

"I started with a Callaway 6-iron and Titleist ball and it went around 184 yards, and then I hit the same 6-iron with a Callaway ball and it went 3 yards further," McIlroy said. "I was like, 'That works for me.' Then I hit the TaylorMade 6-iron with the TaylorMade ball and it went 7 yards further than that. So I was getting 10 yards extra over the initial 6-iron combination. The TrackMan numbers I was seeing not only with the irons but the woods as well I had never gotten before, so at that point I felt like the decision to join their staff made sense."

No where is the dollar amount discussed. :-)

[MMB1500]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers these days - manufacturers who will basically make him what he wants anyway.

 

I am sure everyone would have done the same thing. I wasn't giving him any heat...just pointing out the obvious. Trying to "hide" the $100,000,000 as a prime motivator is disingenuous at best. For example, a golfer being paid a $1,000,000 appearance fee...the Golf Channel, NBC, and CBS never mention that. It's as if it's not PC to talk about the money.

 

No worries. My comment wasn't directed at you, rather quite a few I've read elsewhere.

 

You're right though they money is never mentioned and it's weird. I'd love it if McIlroy came out and told it like it is:

 

"Yeah, I decided to go with Taylormade because they make really solid equipment and more to the point they offered me a sh!t load more cash than anyone else. It was primarily about that, especially as the bank balance has taken a significant hit after my wedding"

 

"Then I hit the TaylorMade 6-iron with the TaylorMade ball and it went 7 yards further. Then when I saw how much they were going to pay me, I felt like the decision to join their staff made sense."

 

What he meant.

[craz-e]

Some stunning new blades hopefully in the pipe line from all the big manufacturers, what a time to be alive!

[doctorjedi]

Although money is the driving factor rory did not win with the callaway equipment. It was an epic fail. If he won the masters and a few more tournaments with the epic he would not have switched.

 

Money was the only factor. Calling his time with the Callaway equipment "an epic fail" is just plain ignorant as he finished 7th at The Masters, 4th at the AP Invitational, 7th at the WGC Mexico Championships, and 2nd at the BMW SA Open.

 

This is america 2nd place is first loser... I will maintain if he won all those events you listed he would not have switched for all the money in the world.

[tbowles411]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers these days - manufacturers who will basically make him what he wants anyway.

 

I am sure everyone would have done the same thing. I wasn't giving him any heat...just pointing out the obvious. Trying to "hide" the $100,000,000 as a prime motivator is disingenuous at best. For example, a golfer being paid a $1,000,000 appearance fee...the Golf Channel, NBC, and CBS never mention that. It's as if it's not PC to talk about the money.

My buddy is a former pro. He said money is important, that's for sure. But he said moreover, if a club can help get a ball in the hole faster than another kind, they'll play it. It seems, at least to the quotes, he auditioned TM for quite some time before he signed on. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. Since he could play what he wanted, it seems to me he did it the right way.

[jackzhang]

wow, taylormade has got all the top players!

[MtlJeff]

I'm no insider and have no idea what the deal is worth, if it's anything close to 100M i think it's crazy.

 

I believe that having a tour staff is important to brand, but i question if any individual player genuinely moves the needle enough to warrant such a big deal in this market for golf equipment

 

When the shoe business was struggling a bit in the 90's during the NBA lows after Jordan retired, a lot of shoe companies scaled back on endorsements because they didn't see the value in those players selling their product. Golf has a lot of young talent, but i'm not sure even a guy like Rory is going to generate that much increase in sales

[toc]

Although money is the driving factor rory did not win with the callaway equipment. It was an epic fail. If he won the masters and a few more tournaments with the epic he would not have switched.

 

Money was the only factor. Calling his time with the Callaway equipment "an epic fail" is just plain ignorant as he finished 7th at The Masters, 4th at the AP Invitational, 7th at the WGC Mexico Championships, and 2nd at the BMW SA Open.

 

This is america 2nd place is first loser... I will maintain if he won all those events you listed he would not have switched for all the money in the world.

 

Way to go out on a limb there.

[J13]

TM positioning to sell. Classic move by a company trying to increase the "value" on paper. In terms of actual golf I don't think it makes a bit of difference what he plays. The guy is one of the best in the world and could work with anything.

[thedurtydurden]

His Spider Tour

 

 

 

 

When we were in Carlsbad, one of our hosts made a comment that the then "world #3" was expected to put a Spider Tour in the bag. Cool to see it coming to fruition.

 

Is it me, or is the epoxy/caulking/filler job on the wings of that thing look really sloppy?

I can't believe how many guys are using this thing. I've not been able to try one myself so I can only imagine how well it must actually work to overcome the god-awful cheapness of everything about it.

 

And I agree about the new ProV1x being terrible in the wind. Spinniest, most balloon-y ball I've hit this year. Regular ProV is a different story though...

[BottleCap]

I just heard the interview with GD, sounds so BS. I agree it was just about the money, and probably for small money since TM is broke

[MaydayGSXR]

According to McIlroy, his club of choice during practice sessions is a 6-iron. Eventually, he went to work performing his own independent testing, using a Callaway 6-iron and TaylorMade 6-iron with different golf balls to see if he could recreate the flight and numbers. [/font][/color]

"I started with a Callaway 6-iron and Titleist ball and it went around 184 yards, and then I hit the same 6-iron with a Callaway ball and it went 3 yards further," McIlroy said. "I was like, 'That works for me.' Then I hit the TaylorMade 6-iron with the TaylorMade ball and it went 7 yards further than that. So I was getting 10 yards extra over the initial 6-iron combination. The TrackMan numbers I was seeing not only with the irons but the woods as well I had never gotten before, so at that point I felt like the decision to join their staff made sense."

No where is the dollar amount discussed. :-)

 

More money, better clubs (for him, per him). Sounds win win to me either way (both ways)

 

Edit; and no where does it say that callaway/bridgestone/cobra etc couldn't or would not match the money or make a comparable deal, are we just assuming the money is that much more with Taylormade? /pitchforks

[alecfeltman]

Solid bag. The wedges are a bit surprising. Putter should be interesting as well.

[bruinmw]

Would love to snag that 48* wedge... alas, not for the common public to buy.

[GoPios25]

I don't know why everyone keeps saying it's just about the money.... It seems every week on the PGA Tour that the winner is using a Taylormade driver and woods.. their equipment IS that much better. I personally think he made the choice of brand that will give him the best opportunity to win more tournaments and majors.

[TollBros]

Don't forget a re-badged UDI now that him and DJ are playing the same one.

 

Newly badged for next gen upcharge ;)

 

As far as the pro v1 diss and chance of lawsuit, I'd guess Titleist would be scared it would only tarnish their image more to go after Rory legally, not only does he command a lot of respect in the golfing world (for obvious reasons), it also brings his comments to the light of many more people (who they are hoping never catch wind of the comment in the first place). They likely want to let that one ride off into the sunset quietly as opposed to trying to bury it forcefully.

He's just doing the same thing the PXG guys did after they signed! It's Marketing/Advertising 101. Anything to get a few followers interested in the Taylor Made product. Look at Bridgestone's new ball commercial. Good ball, but the only way to tread into the ProV1 water is to try and stab them on television......

 

You are aware that Titleist pays royalties to Bridgestone for every ProV1 sold based on them losing a lawsuit years ago for infringing on a boatload of their ball patents. Bridgestone gets paid no matter what.

[TollBros]

I don't know why everyone keeps saying it's just about the money.... It seems every week on the PGA Tour that the winner is using a Taylormade driver and woods.. their equipment IS that much better. I personally think he made the choice of brand that will give him the best opportunity to win more tournaments and majors.

 

Of course he did. Even if Callaway's offer was a million less a year, that's one tournament win. Now when Nike was paying double, then of course it's hard to look away from that. Just take a look at what driver all the free agents decided to bag when nobody was paying. Almost every single one went Taylormade M2. Even Rory started out that way.

[uflorida1]

Do we know why literally every pro plays the M2 over the M1?

[parrnj]

Those proto irons are nice!!

[gvogel]

Well, $100,000,000 is hard to argue with. Yes he says he likes the equipment, but I am sure $100,000,000 had just a wee bit to do with selecting TM.

 

He seems to be getting a lot of heat for "selling out to the highest bidder" etc etc. Not surprising given today's outrage culture, but at the end of the day this is his living. He's out there to make money. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people would have done the same thing, particularly when there is so little to choose between most major equipment manufacturers these days - manufacturers who will basically make him what he wants anyway.

 

I am sure everyone would have done the same thing. I wasn't giving him any heat...just pointing out the obvious. Trying to "hide" the $100,000,000 as a prime motivator is disingenuous at best. For example, a golfer being paid a $1,000,000 appearance fee...the Golf Channel, NBC, and CBS never mention that. It's as if it's not PC to talk about the money.

 

No worries. My comment wasn't directed at you, rather quite a few I've read elsewhere.

 

You're right though they money is never mentioned and it's weird. I'd love it if McIlroy came out and told it like it is:

 

"Yeah, I decided to go with Taylormade because they make really solid equipment and more to the point they offered me a sh!t load more cash than anyone else. It was primarily about that, especially as the bank balance has taken a significant hit after my wedding"

 

According to the British publication The Guardian the $100M is what he signed for. They also pointed out his $200M deal with Nike.

 

According to PGA Tour.com, this is what McIlroy had to say, in part, about his equipment:

 

According to McIlroy, his club of choice during practice sessions is a 6-iron. Eventually, he went to work performing his own independent testing, using a Callaway 6-iron and TaylorMade 6-iron with different golf balls to see if he could recreate the flight and numbers.

"I started with a Callaway 6-iron and Titleist ball and it went around 184 yards, and then I hit the same 6-iron with a Callaway ball and it went 3 yards further," McIlroy said. "I was like, 'That works for me.' Then I hit the TaylorMade 6-iron with the TaylorMade ball and it went 7 yards further than that. So I was getting 10 yards extra over the initial 6-iron combination. The TrackMan numbers I was seeing not only with the irons but the woods as well I had never gotten before, so at that point I felt like the decision to join their staff made sense."

No where is the dollar amount discussed. :-)

 

It's one thing to get the numbers right on the range. He thought that he had the spin numbers right with his first Nike driver, and he couldn't control it. He walked off a golf course terribly upset and confused. It took him a year to get comfortable.

 

Chasing the holy spin numbers is a great way screw up a winning golf game.