Club endorsements that undid their Pro

[MUNIGRIT]

It is overblown a bit about the equipment change because of a few cases. More guys have made seamless swaps.

[tiderider]

On 3/17/2021 at 9:28 PM, Lefty_13 said:

Bubba to Volvik almost ended his career 

but that's bubba ... not sure he's someone who makes decisions based on the best logic (at times) ... 

[GatorNate11]

7 hours ago, tiderider said:

but that's bubba ... not sure he's someone who makes decisions based on the best logic (at times) ... 

Plus, if we're following the prevailing idea of "golf is mostly mental," that guy is an absolute head case. I'd wager that had more to do with it than anything.

[Righty to Lefty]

After reading all of these posts...the fitters for these companies should all be fired!! The only goal of these companies should be to make the clubs visually appear to be the retail version.  After that all of the specs should have been tweaked to fit the golfer's needs in regards to total weight, swing weight, etc.  I am 100% confident that any reasonable club can be fit to suit a golfer's needs, especially if they  already have a previous club that was known to work.  The specs of any club can be replicated in another even if they don't look the same visually.  That is just a failure on the gaining company to not fit the golfer's new clubs to what previously worked for them. This is the same with tennis rackets where people really think they are swinging Federer's actual racket that they bought at retail when in actuality his may have the same frame, but is some 75 grams heavier once it it is set up for him.  

[Tiptx1122]

On 3/17/2021 at 10:30 PM, dhen9 said:

PXG fan here, but where is Lydia Ko?

She did much better with Callaway doing good now but she dominated with Callaway

[SC-TX 88]

CPG and US Kids 😅

[MikeW2]

5 hours ago, Tiptx1122 said:

She did much better with Callaway doing good now but she dominated with Callaway

I don’t really think her issues were equipment related. 

[HackDaddy360]

On 3/18/2021 at 12:52 AM, iNeedMoreGolf said:

One things for sure... if you find brands, clubs, a ball, a coach or even a swing that works for you.... DO NOT CHANGE IT. If anyone has done this you know the outcome. I refuse to play any other driver brand then callaway. Everything else feels wrong. Ball hasnt really shown me enough to say wow i must stick to this certain one... but then again im no pro. Putter is a realll deal must stick to. I have 3 putters that work wonders for me and nothing i put then against so far can bounce them out of the lineup. Just look at tiger with his putter.

I’m generally in agreement here.  Played Mizuno blades for over 20 years burning up multiple sets of them.  
 

Tried putters other than Scotty’s and just keep coming back - can’t envision using anything other than an SC.

 

Titleist Pro V1 only.  Tried the TM TP5x and I couldn’t break 75.   Shot even first round with the PV1 back in play.  Not changing.  

 

BUT, as I started playing again I went through several different wedges, two drivers, two 3 woods, 7 putters and 3 sets of irons before I got the bag how I like it (jury is still out on the 3 wood though.. 🙂 ).  
 

As you get stronger/older/better/worse I think it’s worth trying out a lot of different clubs ongoing.  You never know when you’ll pick something up and say “yep - that’s better than my gamer”.   

 

Once you’re comfortable though, start grinding on your practice and groove what you have.  Some club changes DO help, but never giving yourself time to get comfortable with any given club isn’t a good idea IMO.  

[ob1soccer]

nick watney and almost Justin rose, Zack Johnson for sure, sergio awful with callaway

[CCTxGolf]

Would be nice to see ZJ regain form. He’s got basically the two most awesome major/major venues. I think unfortunately his downward slide and his club change came at the same time.

 

Sergio on the other hand was a mess when he left tm. Was he with tm when he came into the seen as a youngster in the late 90’s? I can’t recall. Regardless he has always seemed like a tm lifer to me and I think that between his ears

[CCTxGolf]

Funny thing about Justin Roses is when he made his big change I thought for sure the axis would be the fleeting faze he was going through. Turned out gonna got the the boot and the axis has been awesome.

 

weird game

[grm24]

1 hour ago, CCTxGolf said:

Sergio on the other hand was a mess when he left tm. Was he with tm when he came into the seen as a youngster in the late 90’s? 

He was with Titleist.

[Simp]

On 3/25/2021 at 11:42 AM, rblmp32 said:

If you think Pavin made millions in endorsement money back when an Open win was $350k you seriously need to reconsider what these guys make even now on endorsements.  

He made high 7 figures from Cleveland as a bonus by winning a major with those ugly clubs. 

[KennyP]

On 5/16/2021 at 3:43 PM, tad273 said:

 

Here's a pretty old and obscure one for those that remember: Chip Beck, former top 10 player, 3-times on US Ryder Cup team, 2nd ever 59 shot on PGA Tour,  2nd at The Masters 1993 and two US Open runner up finishes  - switches from Ping to Powerbilt in 1994 for a $650,000 per year contract (a lot of money back then).  Ends up missing 46 consecutive cuts and quitting the tour to sell insurance.

 

Really enjoyed the NLU podcast. The real question in all of this is why does someone who won over $6M in prize money, plus a $1M bonus for shooting 59, and had a $650k per year endorsement from a club deal alone, have to sell insurance to make ends meet?

 

 

[3whacker]

On 5/16/2021 at 7:43 AM, tad273 said:

 

To be fair he did score a win at the Arnold Palmer in the first week he played the Callaways and was going all right for a bit at the Masters a month later, but agree it's been all downhill since.  Sad face whenever I see a player take that Callaway money 

 

Here's a pretty old and obscure one for those that remember: Chip Beck, former top 10 player, 3-times on US Ryder Cup team, 2nd ever 59 shot on PGA Tour,  2nd at The Masters 1993 and two US Open runner up finishes  - switches from Ping to Powerbilt in 1994 for a $650,000 per year contract (a lot of money back then).  Ends up missing 46 consecutive cuts and quitting the tour to sell insurance.

are you sure it was Ping ? because I could have sworn Chip was a long time Wilson staffer when he came to Hank for swing advice after the Masters

[3whacker]

2 hours ago, 3whacker said:

are you sure it was Ping ? because I could have sworn Chip was a long time Wilson staffer when he came to Hank for swing advice after the Masters

I stand corrected Chip was playing Pings in the 93 Masters...my error

[Simp]

3 hours ago, 3whacker said:

I stand corrected Chip was playing Pings in the 93 Masters...my error

Zings, no? Talk about an ugly iron......

[Stevens24]

Changing balls has the largest effect IMO. Kevin Na moved from Titleist to Callaway but never changed from the PROV1X. Payne's issue was with the ball. Rickies had to change shaft brands due to the flight of the TP5 ball. Bubba has been mentioned. 

 

If you play a ball you like, or are in charge of the development of it, that is the difference IMO

 

Changing the flight characteristics of your ball flight and response affect these guys so much the then start changing their swing to tweak and down we go.

[Vespar]

On 3/29/2021 at 1:05 PM, KRAMER1997 said:

Fat Rory with Titleist/Jumeirah/Oakley would have 9-10 Majors by now and would have close to 40 wins on tour.

 

Insiders refer to this as the "curse of nike"  & its not just limited to golf, signing a big contract with such an importance of winning at all costs and body shaping thru weight training often get the best of them WIE, CASEY, definitely Rory, Jason day the list goes on and on.

 

Body shaping they want a particular body shape, there's a reason Patrick reed doesn't have a NIke contract, instead he prefers to wear their close. Off the rack Nike does fit larger consumers might be why. The clothes the pros wear are custom fitted to exacting specifications down to the 1/10th of a centimeter. The same for footwear. Long time nike athlete Long Serena williams started her own clothing line although never public but it was long felt that her body type was turning women away from nike tennis apparel.  So she came out with her own line. 

 

As an industry professional Im getting tired of Nike of buying players, now it looks like they are all on the same team. Lets face it the only reason why they are wearing Nike is the Money. 

 

Its not all nike, but certainly they're exposed the most. Lexi Thompson should have torn up the LPGA with length, If she wasn't getting paid so much by Puma. Money changes people and these equipment and apparel companies are not just writing a check and saying see you later. There are product commitments, tourney appearances and off site/course commitments that are often non negotiable....these alone can impact the player

 

 

[Vespar]

On 6/6/2021 at 9:48 PM, CCTxGolf said:

Would be nice to see ZJ regain form. He’s got basically the two most awesome major/major venues. I think unfortunately his downward slide and his club change came at the same time.

 

 

 Zack is one of the shortest drivers of the ball, and with all courses being stretched distance wise is was just a matter of time. His big win was obviously the masters, his wedges in softer than usual greens along with a hot putter paved his way to victory

[KRAMER1997]

On the flipside, Phil started winning right away when he switched from Titleist to Callaway so maybe it's the Indian not the arrow.

[Old Tom Morris]

9 hours ago, KRAMER1997 said:

On the flipside, Phil started winning right away when he switched from Titleist to Callaway so maybe it's the Indian not the arrow.

Phil has been successful his entire career with a few different equipment contracts.  It took him a while to win a major in the 2004 masters but he was always winning and contending throughout his career.  Phil could probably make any brand of equipment work for him.

[KRAMER1997]

10 hours ago, Vespar said:

 

Insiders refer to this as the "curse of nike"  & its not just limited to golf, signing a big contract with such an importance of winning at all costs and body shaping thru weight training often get the best of them WIE, CASEY, definitely Rory, Jason day the list goes on and on.

 

Body shaping they want a particular body shape, there's a reason Patrick reed doesn't have a NIke contract, instead he prefers to wear their close. Off the rack Nike does fit larger consumers might be why. The clothes the pros wear are custom fitted to exacting specifications down to the 1/10th of a centimeter. The same for footwear. Long time nike athlete Long Serena williams started her own clothing line although never public but it was long felt that her body type was turning women away from nike tennis apparel.  So she came out with her own line. 

 

As an industry professional Im getting tired of Nike of buying players, now it looks like they are all on the same team. Lets face it the only reason why they are wearing Nike is the Money. 

 

Its not all nike, but certainly they're exposed the most. Lexi Thompson should have torn up the LPGA with length, If she wasn't getting paid so much by Puma. Money changes people and these equipment and apparel companies are not just writing a check and saying see you later. There are product commitments, tourney appearances and off site/course commitments that are often non negotiable....these alone can impact the player

 

 

Agreed. I know this is the tour talk thread, but I think in recent years nike has had some of the worst golf apparel on the market. For example Koepka's hats at the PGA Championship were downright horrendous. This one looks like a 3rd grader's art project.

[golfortennis]

On 6/8/2021 at 2:47 AM, KennyP said:

 

Really enjoyed the NLU podcast. The real question in all of this is why does someone who won over $6M in prize money, plus a $1M bonus for shooting 59, and had a $650k per year endorsement from a club deal alone, have to sell insurance to make ends meet?

 

 

 

Well, he could be wanting something to do and get paid for it, he may have invested poorly, he may have lost a lot of money while struggling with his game.

 

Or, it could be that with taxes and expenses, there isn't nearly as much left over as one thinks.  Maybe he wants to maintain a lifestyle for his family, and to do so, he has to bring in some cash.  

 

 

[KRAMER1997]

5 minutes ago, Old Tom Morris said:

Phil has been successful his entire career with a few different equipment contracts.  It took him a while to win a major in the 2004 masters but he was always winning and contending throughout his career.  Phil could probably make any brand of equipment work for him.

Very true. I did some research and he's been a Yonex staffer, a Titleist staffer, and finally a Callaway Staffer. He's also had Ping wedges in his bag at some point,  and is currently using the Taylormade Mini driver. I wonder how he gets so much flexibility with his contract, because even Rory switched to a nike putter in 2013-14.

 

https://www.golfmonthly.com/features/the-game/phil-mickelsons-golf-equipment-years-150619

 

https://golf.com/gear/winners-bag-phil-mickelson-at-the-2021-pga-championship/#:~:text=Mickelson fills out the remainder,X Triple Track golf ball.

 

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2014/01/18/phil-mickelson-ping-eye2-xg-lob-wedge-abu-dhabi/

 

 

 

 

[flip flappy]

On 6/6/2021 at 10:05 AM, SC-TX 88 said:

CPG and US Kids 😅

Absolutely! When I heard the NLU Podcast with CPG I about died laughing at the US Kids club deal! Playing a 28" driver hurt him! 🤣

[3whacker]

On 6/9/2021 at 5:20 AM, KRAMER1997 said:

On the flipside, Phil started winning right away when he switched from Titleist to Callaway so maybe it's the Indian not the arrow.

he has won with every mfg ; Ping > Yonex > Titleist > Callaway

[jons1]

On 3/17/2021 at 7:58 PM, Megakarl said:

An interesting and oversimplified question for my first post:

 

Have you seen a contract signed by a pro with a new brand or model of club that seem to have corresponded with a massive change in performance? The examples that spring to mind for me are mostly negative, but changes for the better are equally welcome. 

 

 

Almost every player for the negative.  The worst changes involve golf balls, because they can make clubs that are fairly similar or even prototype clones, but golf balls seem to really throw players into a tailspin. 

 

 

[jons1]

12 hours ago, 3whacker said:

he has won with every mfg ; Ping > Yonex > Titleist > Callaway

 

He's won with inferior equipment. lol

 

Tiger Woods using a Bridegstone ball stamped with a swoosh and clones of Mizuno irons is about the weirdest of the switches players made, and he did alright as well.

 

The more demanding the person switching, the better it seems to go.  And Tiger is the MOST demanding when it comes to his equipment. 

 

 

[MUNIGRIT]

On 6/9/2021 at 3:21 PM, flip flappy said:

Absolutely! When I heard the NLU Podcast with CPG I about died laughing at the US Kids club deal! Playing a 28" driver hurt him! 🤣

I'd love to hear the episode. Do you know how to find it or the number it is?