Wilson Staff Dynapwr and Dynapwr Carbon Drivers spotted on USGA Conforming List

[elwhippy]

Could be a bargain by end of the season. 

[Gary Gutful]

On 1/30/2023 at 5:01 PM, J9293 said:

This thread has more posts than the amount of Dynapwr drivers Wilson will sell!

 

no cap. 

The level of Dynapwr in this post is disappointingly low.

[Mike_Honcho]

8 hours ago, elwhippy said:

Could be a bargain by end of the season. 

 

win-win for us

[realitycheck]

Just tried at PGA Superstore....I'll be buying one of these.  

Loved It!

[boggyman]

39 minutes ago, realitycheck said:

Just tried at PGA Superstore....I'll be buying one of these.  

Loved It!

What shaft you pick?? Carbon or titanium?

Edited February 20, 2023 by boggyman

[CLEVELAND59]

Wilson golf must not be happy with the reception in the marketplace so far.  The CEO of the Golf division was fired today and the VP of product development is the new acting division president.  

[hammergolf]

3 minutes ago, CLEVELAND59 said:

Wilson golf must not be happy with the reception in the marketplace so far.  The CEO of the Golf division was fired today and the VP of product development is the new acting division president.  

WOW! Tim was such a good guy and was there for over 25 years. It’s going to be interesting to see what direction they go. 

[CLEVELAND59]

Just now, hammergolf said:

WOW! Tim was such a good guy and was there for over 25 years. It’s going to be interesting to see what direction they go. 

Tim had a long history at Wilson for sure.  Definitely a bit of a surprise.  Trying to figure out what the direction goes, Tim was very much about bringing the Wilson name back to the premier level in the game.  

[Garydean]

1 hour ago, CLEVELAND59 said:

Tim had a long history at Wilson for sure.  Definitely a bit of a surprise.  Trying to figure out what the direction goes, Tim was very much about bringing the Wilson name back to the premier level in the game.  

I really think they just needed to upgrade their marketing team, look at all these other companies singing influencencers and such

[boggyman]

28 minutes ago, Garydean said:

I really think they just needed to upgrade their marketing team, look at all these other companies singing influencencers and such

The influencers are??

Edited February 20, 2023 by boggyman

[CLEVELAND59]

1 hour ago, Garydean said:

I really think they just needed to upgrade their marketing team, look at all these other companies singing influencencers and such

I've got no use for the "influencer" model of marketing.  Drives costs up well beyond the value the influencer brings in my opinion.  I've sat back and watched Taylor Made launch the stealth 2 with these ridiculous packages to various social media influencers while launching a $650 base model driver to the market, which I'm sure captures the cost of those "influencers".  I wonder how many of thousands of these kits that TM sent out, I can tell you that marketing campaign wasn't cheap.  Now I see Cobra doing an aerojet campaign in a gun case that's not cheap either.  I don't think people realize just how much they are paying for others to get free product in exchange for a tweet or instagram post.  The bottom line is the serious golfer will pay whatever, but the average or recreational golfer won't.  I don't see the point of this type of marketing strategy.

[PedronNiall]

2 hours ago, CLEVELAND59 said:

I've got no use for the "influencer" model of marketing.  Drives costs up well beyond the value the influencer brings in my opinion.  I've sat back and watched Taylor Made launch the stealth 2 with these ridiculous packages to various social media influencers while launching a $650 base model driver to the market, which I'm sure captures the cost of those "influencers".  I wonder how many of thousands of these kits that TM sent out, I can tell you that marketing campaign wasn't cheap.  Now I see Cobra doing an aerojet campaign in a gun case that's not cheap either.  I don't think people realize just how much they are paying for others to get free product in exchange for a tweet or instagram post.  The bottom line is the serious golfer will pay whatever, but the average or recreational golfer won't.  I don't see the point of this type of marketing strategy.

It really depends on what method they go with. A decent more mainstream influencer with about 250k subscribers can easily do 500k-1M views on a single video. While most golf-focused channels aren't at that level, a lot of casuals watch channels that are. Plugs on those channels might be as low as $2500-10k. Even on the higher end of around $50k you're talking about rounding errors in comparison to what a traditional TV spot costs, and the better influencers work the spots into their videos so they can't be skipped over. If those kits were worth $1000 a pop and they went to 50 influencers who each got them 50k sets of eyeballs on the new merch that's 2.5M impressions for $50k. How much would a 30 second TV spot for the same number of views cost to produce and air? On top of that the influencers put the link right there with the video/post, so if someone's mildly curious they don't have to remember a site or a product name, just click or tap the link.

 

If you read the comments at times you'll see viewers noting that they don't normally even watch or pay attention to ads, "but you know I support the channel, so I watched for you" and so on isn't uncommon to come across. People who mute or FF'd through DVR content will watch because they feel connected to the presenter. They'll check out a product site out of loyalty to the channel.

 

Now, outsized campaigns are idiotic and you're very right that some of these marketing departments paying thousands or tens of thousands for a single post on a channel without a receptive audience aren't worth the six-figure plus salaries they're pulling down. Well done campaigns, however, require a LOT less ad spend per impression than traditional media and on top of that many social media marketers know all you really need is the initial five seconds before someone can skip an ad or realize an embedded one is playing and skip it to give a key visual and audio queue for the product. We can pretend we're above it all we want but our brains pick up on those queues, so a quick "Go 400 yards longer with the new Range Rat driver from Gomer Golf" is all it takes to put Gomer Golf Range Rat = more distance in your head. Heck, the first back and forth of TM's Fargiveness ad this weekend was enough to make that stick with me and I don't really have thoughts one way or another for TM; that's how easy it is to tweak the primal parts of the brain and get something in there.

 

Social media marketing is much, much cheaper on average than traditional outlets. Wilson would do well to build a swell of loyalty with the right groups to help their appeal. Have you seen how many people now buy expensive clothing, electronics, or other products that are nothing special simply because an influencer they like wears and promotes it? There are brands selling at premium prices to smaller numbers of repeat customers because it pays off. 80 percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your customers, so what if you just market to that 20 directly through the right channels and save the headache of the rest?

 

There are books written on this for a reason, but long story short, as much as you might hate influencers and I might dislike a lot of social media in general it would be wrong to assume it doesn't have outsized value when used correctly and it would be foolish of Wilson to not hire some people who know how to make the most of it. They certainly need to do something differently because their quality in many areas is right there with the top-selling competitors but they haven't captured anywhere near as much market share as that should yield.

[the bishop]

13 hours ago, CLEVELAND59 said:

Wilson golf must not be happy with the reception in the marketplace so far.  The CEO of the Golf division was fired today and the VP of product development is the new acting division president.  

To this I would say "good".  Not that someone is without a job.  Tim came across as a nice guy but as someone who was responsible for the entire golf operation IMO he should have been fired for the marketing direction of Wilson Golf alone years ago.  

 

Can someone, anyone here explain what it is, or was?  Other than "let's throw a bunch of sh*t on the wall and see what sticks?"  Just when you think they might have figured out a direction they make a decision that tells you they haven't.  

 

Take the Staff Model line for instance.  I thought, ok they're going to build off their core competency of irons and wedges which are as good as anybody's.  The Staff Model irons are aimed at better players and mid-cappers w/the blades and cavity backs. So then they announce a new line of woods and hybrids.  They have what is clearly a driver aimed at better players in the Carbon and the Titanium aimed at aspiring golfers.  To me Staff Model is where I'd take that to continue continuity of thought with the buying public.  But they choose Dynapwr.

 

I realize that is resurecting a name from the glorious past, but it didn't belong here IMO.

 

Wilson golf doesn't have the budget to support a myriad of lines the way Titleist and some others do.  But they should support two lines always.  The first should be a line aimed at better/aspiring players.  The second should be a lne that straddles the game improvement/super game improvement players.

 

If I were to give them any advice it would be to maintain these lines on 3yr cycles.  First because it lowers cost  and second because in certain years your release may stand out more rather than get lost in the sea of new releases for those on 2 yr cycles.

 

It has felt for a long time that Wilson Golf marketing is either part of a shared service used by their other lines (Demarini, etc..) or run by interns or both.  It sucks.  Sorry for the rant.  Wilson Golf as a whole could be a lot better than it currently is even with their minimal budgets.  But it isn't.

[boggyman]

It seems like they’re just grasping at straws! They’re trying yes, but one wonders IF they’re sincere in their efforts. At the price point for the driver, I think they’ve missed the boat, especially if they WANT a piece of the market. I’m a big W/S fan, but at $500 for the driver vs the other OEMs, it better perform and do it well!! Look at their GI/SGI irons, they’ll go toe to toe with any out, yet they’re priced WAY under the so called top tier OEMs. Why not do this with the driver? I’ve played tons of GI/SGI, and would just soo have the W/S line and save hundreds over other OEMs. 

Edited February 21, 2023 by boggyman

[PickItUpGolf]

Just watched Lee Whittaker Golf on YouTube review the carbon model and he loved it. 

 

I left a comment saying "I think Cast Away turned the Wilson brand into a joke" or something along them lines, as a laugh, but thinking about it, that what happened?

 

Wilson just doesn't seem like a great brand name does it? I think they need to rename/brand, and they might get somewhere.

 

Compared to Stealth, Paradym, AeroJet, etc.. etc.. Dynapowr doesn't sound too bad of name imo, but it's that "Wilson" that just ruins it for me. There's something about that name that just doesn't say premium, or maybe even Golf? anymore.

 

I dunno, just spitting out some bs thoughts that are going through my head haha.

Edited February 21, 2023 by PickItUpGolf

[Grouchykona]

1 hour ago, PickItUpGolf said:

Compared to Stealth, Paradym, AeroJet, etc.. etc.. Dynapowr doesn't sound too bad of name imo, but it's that "Wilson" that just ruins it for me. There's something about that name that just doesn't say premium, or maybe even Golf? anymore.

 

I dunno, just spitting out some bs thoughts that are going through my head haha.

I’ve always preferred “letters+numbers combo” for naming club models.
The way Ping and Titleist does it:  G430, TSR3 etc…

 

I’ve always hated “made up” random names:  Stealth, Paradym, Aerojet, Dynapowr. Kinda “gimmicky cheapens” it for me. 

[orr444]

I loved the staff model name and still play the ball. Haven't had the irons since power holes. The blades are as pretty as anything. Go back to classic irons and maybe get out of the woods all together.

[03trdblack]

17 hours ago, CLEVELAND59 said:

I've got no use for the "influencer" model of marketing.  Drives costs up well beyond the value the influencer brings in my opinion.  I've sat back and watched Taylor Made launch the stealth 2 with these ridiculous packages to various social media influencers while launching a $650 base model driver to the market, which I'm sure captures the cost of those "influencers".  I wonder how many of thousands of these kits that TM sent out, I can tell you that marketing campaign wasn't cheap.  Now I see Cobra doing an aerojet campaign in a gun case that's not cheap either.  I don't think people realize just how much they are paying for others to get free product in exchange for a tweet or instagram post.  The bottom line is the serious golfer will pay whatever, but the average or recreational golfer won't.  I don't see the point of this type of marketing strategy.

 

That's because you aren't the target audience via this type of campaign.

[James the Hogan Fan]

1 hour ago, PickItUpGolf said:

Just watched Lee Whittaker Golf on YouTube review the carbon model and he loved it. 

 

I left a comment saying "I think Cast Away turned the Wilson brand into a joke" or something along them lines, as a laugh, but thinking about it, that what happened?

 

Wilson just doesn't seem like a great brand name does it? I think they need to rename/brand, and they might get somewhere.

 

Compared to Stealth, Paradym, AeroJet, etc.. etc.. Dynapowr doesn't sound too bad of name imo, but it's that "Wilson" that just ruins it for me. There's something about that name that just doesn't say premium, or maybe even Golf? anymore.

 

I dunno, just spitting out some bs thoughts that are going through my head haha.

 

Wilson is the official ball of the NFL and NBA, they make Roger Federer's tennis racquet, and their gloves are worn by players across the MLB...

 

My theory:

 

The big OEMs of the 50's-80's: Spalding, MacGregor, Wilson, (Hogan, Ram, Powerbilt, Lynx, etc, everyone except Acushnet really, but Acushnet had Titleist, and Titleist had balls) were all killed (in my opinion) by a lack of desire to innovate and more specifically failure to recognize the onset of metal drivers and failure to truly explore the Game Improvement segment.

 

Those legacy OEMs were making Persimmon Woods into the 90's and primarily forged blades with the occasional forged cb. Towards the end they got on the mid-90s "oversized" train (Hogan Magnum anyone?) but if you look at their oversized offerings they seemed to go too far towards the box-set.

 

Ping figured out that you could make GI clubs but have them appeal to better players, and saved a ton of money casting them in the process. Taylormade and Callaway discovered metal drivers could get bigger and better and WERE superior to persimmon. These innovations gave these companies the money to beat the legacy OEMs at their own game, and they were left in the dust...

 

I also wonder if marketing changed perception that non golf specific companies were any good. Aside from Wilson, Mizuno and Dunlop/Srixon, none of the other brands today sell anything else than golf equipment. Is Wilson golf knocked because "they can't be as good as a TM because they don't devote entirely to golf"?

[hammergolf]

There are several companies, Wilson among them that make really good products that perform as good as anything. The issue they face is the prestige the company had decades ago doesn’t resonate with a large percentage of the market. It’s very hard for them to compete with the marketing budget they have. I will be interesting to see which way they go but unless they substantially increase their marketing spend it will continue to be tough for them to gain significant market share. No doubt the new carbon driver, irons, and golf balls will compete with anything, but the brand awareness and perception is the issue they need to overcome.

[Steve o]

Lots of passion and ideas. All good but I wonder if influencers make sense in the near term. The brand seems to m best resonate with an older golfer who doesn’t get the value of influencers. In time, perhaps but short term start figuring stuff out. Marketing is at the top of the white board. Product would be farther down the list of issues. I’d stop doing contracts that don’t require their staff to use their driver. This is about story telling. Can you imagine. Wimbledon or the tennis US Open without the red Wilson tennis bag. That should be the goal in golf.

[bobbyclampett!!]

I don't know what they should do, if anything, to change their image re: drivers. Making an excellent driver is a good start. I think the Dynapwr Carbon could be that driver. Going to continue testing it against the other big brands. It also looks fantastic. I think it has kind of a cool cache, like everyone will be playing TSR, Stealth, Paradym, G430. Makes you kind of stand out to have a niche product. If I hit it as good on the course as I did on the simulator, that would be some pretty good marketing! Maybe they don't want to compete with the biggest sellers, and would be happy to have a really good, high quality niche product.

[Binson]

The problem with lower prices is the golf market perceives it as lower quality. Even if they are cheaper or at the price of an older driver from Titleist, Taylormade, Ping, Callaway, etc. People will still prefer to buy an older driver from one of those companies than a brand new "Budget" Wilson.  And cost isn't really the main consideration for those looking to buy brand new golf clubs.  Even Cobra suffers a bit from this despite having high performing equipment on par and sometimes better than other major OEMs.   

 

Wilson Staff actually might need to go ultra premium on the product and pricing to change market perception.  Low volume, high quality, high price.  Then scale and lower prices.  Similar to the PXG model (aside from the Kaboom marketing).  PXG still keeps the ultra premium line as a halo product. But, market perception of the lower cost 0211 line is that it retains much of the technology from the pricier lineup and is seen is a good value rather than low quality. 

[bobbyclampett!!]

5 minutes ago, Binson said:

The problem with lower prices is the golf market perceives it as lower quality. Even if they are cheaper or at the price of an older driver from Titleist, Taylormade, Ping, Callaway, etc. People will still prefer to buy an older driver from one of those companies than a brand new "Budget" Wilson.  And cost isn't really the main consideration for those looking to buy brand new golf clubs.  Even Cobra suffers a bit from this despite having high performing equipment on par and sometimes better than other major OEMs.   

 

Wilson Staff actually might need to go ultra premium on the product and pricing to change market perception.  Low volume, high quality, high price.  Then scale and lower prices.  Similar to the PXG model (aside from the Kaboom marketing).  PXG still keeps the ultra premium line as a halo product. But, market perception of the lower cost 0211 line is that it retains much of the technology from the pricier lineup and is seen is a good value rather than low quality. 

Yeah, that's kind of the feeling I got from hitting the Carbon. I was more likely to try it because it is priced competitively with the big boys. And for me, driver is the only club I'm buying this year and I think driver is the most important club in the bag for what is by far my favorite hobby/pasttime/peace of mind, so I don't care if I have to spend $500 or $600 or $700 or even $800 or $900. I'm going to get the one that performs the best and makes me the most excited to practice and play and see it down there behind the ball. I realize I'm fortunate, but I think a lot of golfers feel the same way. I like what Wilson has done here.................

[James the Hogan Fan]

4 hours ago, Binson said:

The problem with lower prices is the golf market perceives it as lower quality. Even if they are cheaper or at the price of an older driver from Titleist, Taylormade, Ping, Callaway, etc. People will still prefer to buy an older driver from one of those companies than a brand new "Budget" Wilson.  And cost isn't really the main consideration for those looking to buy brand new golf clubs.  Even Cobra suffers a bit from this despite having high performing equipment on par and sometimes better than other major OEMs.   

 

Wilson Staff actually might need to go ultra premium on the product and pricing to change market perception.  Low volume, high quality, high price.  Then scale and lower prices.  Similar to the PXG model (aside from the Kaboom marketing).  PXG still keeps the ultra premium line as a halo product. But, market perception of the lower cost 0211 line is that it retains much of the technology from the pricier lineup and is seen is a good value rather than low quality. 

 

Like I've said before, the problem with the D300/D7/D9 was that they were not perceived as "tour" clubs precisely because of their low price. Troy Merritt won a tour event with the D300, but somehow it wasn't a "tour club". If you price too low, you get passed over.

 

We live in a world where Tour Edge and Cleveland (Dunlop/Srixon's B-line) price themselves at $400+ for MSRP. How low can Wilson realistically go with price and retain any semblance of prestige attached to their club? 

 

I'm not exactly sure what Wilson has to do to satisfy the WRX critic, short of combining the essences of a Big Bertha Warbird, 975D, R510TP, 2016 M2, and an OG Sim, combining them into a laser-straight guaranteed 500 yard cannon, and selling said club for $49.99. And even then someone on here will say "Looks like they copied (insert OEM) and it came from a K-Mart, I'm never going to hit that club"

[PedronNiall]

4 hours ago, Binson said:

The problem with lower prices is the golf market perceives it as lower quality. Even if they are cheaper or at the price of an older driver from Titleist, Taylormade, Ping, Callaway, etc. People will still prefer to buy an older driver from one of those companies than a brand new "Budget" Wilson.  And cost isn't really the main consideration for those looking to buy brand new golf clubs.  Even Cobra suffers a bit from this despite having high performing equipment on par and sometimes better than other major OEMs.   

 

Wilson Staff actually might need to go ultra premium on the product and pricing to change market perception.  Low volume, high quality, high price.  Then scale and lower prices.  Similar to the PXG model (aside from the Kaboom marketing).  PXG still keeps the ultra premium line as a halo product. But, market perception of the lower cost 0211 line is that it retains much of the technology from the pricier lineup and is seen is a good value rather than low quality. 

Every brand you mentioned, including PXG, has ads running regularly during broadcasts. Wilson is playing confetti with their advertising, messy and all over the place, and seems shy about running commercials recently for who knows what reason. PXG also features their players in their ads and their online channels at a good cadence. Let's see what Wilson's YouTube lineup looks like:

Wow, four videos in the last six months; PXG has more than that in the past two weeks. Amazing online presence, Wilson.

 

Funny thing is that ball commercial isn't bad. A little cheesy, but the presenter sold it, it's well-produced, and they got the message across. I'm not sold on the Dynapower spot, but at least it's also well-produced and has a coherent message, even if I don't think it's one that's going to catch fire for them. I can see why some heads just rolled at Wilson, because all of this is a reflection of the state of the company as a whole in the golf world.

 

They have stand-alone Wilson outlets in NY & Chicago, but it doesn't look like they feature their golf line aside from apparel, so not much doing there.

 

Their website is also a pain to navigate compared to almost everyone else. I guess no one's told them but you can create landing pages just for specific lines, and there's no reason I should have to flip through menus for all your other sports when all I want is golf. It also should be simpler to get to the final product, but if they'd at least isolate the golf pages they'd be miles better.

 

All that said, Wilson doesn't need to go ultra premium, they need to cash in on what they have. People know the W/S logo stands for top quality golf products. Put that on a driver and the players who spend know you're saying it's up there with the very best. They don't need to become something they're not, and they are not the sleeper Gucci of the golf world, only suffering because they aren't expensive enough.

 

They have the W/S logo on the new drivers and they pleasantly toned down the Wilson scripting so it's noticeable but not blinding. People who hit it and like it won't forget it's a Wilson. Now they just need to run actual ads so people will know it's available and where they can hit it. I don't think the 400 views a week that new YouTube post is doing is quite going to bring home the bacon.

[JungleJimbo]

On 2/21/2023 at 8:28 AM, CLEVELAND59 said:

I've got no use for the "influencer" model of marketing.  Drives costs up well beyond the value the influencer brings in my opinion.  I've sat back and watched Taylor Made launch the stealth 2 with these ridiculous packages to various social media influencers while launching a $650 base model driver to the market, which I'm sure captures the cost of those "influencers".  I wonder how many of thousands of these kits that TM sent out, I can tell you that marketing campaign wasn't cheap.  Now I see Cobra doing an aerojet campaign in a gun case that's not cheap either.  I don't think people realize just how much they are paying for others to get free product in exchange for a tweet or instagram post.  The bottom line is the serious golfer will pay whatever, but the average or recreational golfer won't.  I don't see the point of this type of marketing strategy.

 

On 2/21/2023 at 11:18 AM, PedronNiall said:

It really depends on what method they go with. A decent more mainstream influencer with about 250k subscribers can easily do 500k-1M views on a single video. While most golf-focused channels aren't at that level, a lot of casuals watch channels that are. Plugs on those channels might be as low as $2500-10k. Even on the higher end of around $50k you're talking about rounding errors in comparison to what a traditional TV spot costs, and the better influencers work the spots into their videos so they can't be skipped over. If those kits were worth $1000 a pop and they went to 50 influencers who each got them 50k sets of eyeballs on the new merch that's 2.5M impressions for $50k. How much would a 30 second TV spot for the same number of views cost to produce and air? On top of that the influencers put the link right there with the video/post, so if someone's mildly curious they don't have to remember a site or a product name, just click or tap the link.

 

If you read the comments at times you'll see viewers noting that they don't normally even watch or pay attention to ads, "but you know I support the channel, so I watched for you" and so on isn't uncommon to come across. People who mute or FF'd through DVR content will watch because they feel connected to the presenter. They'll check out a product site out of loyalty to the channel.

 

Now, outsized campaigns are idiotic and you're very right that some of these marketing departments paying thousands or tens of thousands for a single post on a channel without a receptive audience aren't worth the six-figure plus salaries they're pulling down. Well done campaigns, however, require a LOT less ad spend per impression than traditional media and on top of that many social media marketers know all you really need is the initial five seconds before someone can skip an ad or realize an embedded one is playing and skip it to give a key visual and audio queue for the product. We can pretend we're above it all we want but our brains pick up on those queues, so a quick "Go 400 yards longer with the new Range Rat driver from Gomer Golf" is all it takes to put Gomer Golf Range Rat = more distance in your head. Heck, the first back and forth of TM's Fargiveness ad this weekend was enough to make that stick with me and I don't really have thoughts one way or another for TM; that's how easy it is to tweak the primal parts of the brain and get something in there.

 

Social media marketing is much, much cheaper on average than traditional outlets. Wilson would do well to build a swell of loyalty with the right groups to help their appeal. Have you seen how many people now buy expensive clothing, electronics, or other products that are nothing special simply because an influencer they like wears and promotes it? There are brands selling at premium prices to smaller numbers of repeat customers because it pays off. 80 percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your customers, so what if you just market to that 20 directly through the right channels and save the headache of the rest?

 

There are books written on this for a reason, but long story short, as much as you might hate influencers and I might dislike a lot of social media in general it would be wrong to assume it doesn't have outsized value when used correctly and it would be foolish of Wilson to not hire some people who know how to make the most of it. They certainly need to do something differently because their quality in many areas is right there with the top-selling competitors but they haven't captured anywhere near as much market share as that should yield.

Wasn't aware of TM Stealth2's fancy packaging for their social media/influencer launch (until mentioned by @CLEVELAND59).

 

"Paying it forward" , via these Links, to save a google-search for those interested.

 

 

 

 

[TheBear95]

Bishop's comments on Wilson's product lines, releases and branding are spot-on. Right now, there's no consistency in the marketing and branding of their lines and launches. Not even gear junkies have an idea of what's coming from Wilson on a new release. How does the average consumer have a chance?

 

Just look at their bread and butter, irons. They have the Staff Model brand, which is good, but it has had no new releases since '21. For example, why doesn't Wilson have a player's distance iron in their Staff Model line-up? Most of the other OEMs market their player's distance model with their better players irons. Yet, Wilson puts that model with their GI offerings. Makes no sense. Look how tight the branding and marketing are for Mizuno's JPX iron line or Srixon's ZX line across the generations of those products. Now, compare that to what Wilson does.

 

If the branding on the irons is sub-par, their driver releases are another category of bad. In just the last 10 years, they have done the following:

 

Lightweight drivers marketed to seniors and slower swingers. Then jump to crowdsourcing ideas for their reality show to build a driver for the mass market. That was followed up with a no-thrills, extremely limited fitting option drivers (the D7 & D9) and now they are back to fitting options with the two heads of the Dynapwr line. And, of course, the drivers in this 10 year period have come-in at various price-points across the market. Zero consistency. 

 

You can talk about influencers, ads, tour players and alike, but until Wilson puts together a consistent brand strategy in their product lines that carries through multi-generations of products, I don't think they have much of a shot at building any momentum with either the core or casual golfer.

[chouls19]

7 minutes ago, TheBear95 said:

Bishop's comments on Wilson's product lines, releases and branding are spot-on. Right now, there's no consistency in the marketing and branding of their lines and launches. Not even gear junkies have an idea of what's coming from Wilson on a new release. How does the average consumer have a chance?

 

Just look at their bread and butter, irons. They have the Staff Model brand, which is good, but it has had no new releases since '21. For example, why doesn't Wilson have a player's distance iron in their Staff Model line-up? Most of the other OEMs market their player's distance model with their better players irons. Yet, Wilson puts that model with their GI offerings. Makes no sense. Look how tight the branding and marketing are for Mizuno's JPX iron line or Srixon's ZX line across the generations of those products. Now, compare that to what Wilson does.

 

If the branding on the irons is sub-par, their driver releases are another category of bad. In just the last 10 years, they have done the following:

 

Lightweight drivers marketed to seniors and slower swingers. Then jump to crowdsourcing ideas for their reality show to build a driver for the mass market. That was followed up with a no-thrills, extremely limited fitting option drivers (the D7 & D9) and now they are back to fitting options with the two heads of the Dynapwr line. And, of course, the drivers in this 10 year period have come-in at various price-points across the market. Zero consistency. 

 

You can talk about influencers, ads, tour players and alike, but until Wilson puts together a consistent brand strategy in their product lines that carries through multi-generations of products, I don't think they have much of a shot at building any momentum with either the core or casual golfer.

The D9 forged is their players distance iron released in 2022

[TheBear95]

1 hour ago, chouls19 said:

The D9 forged is their players distance iron released in 2022

 

Yeah, that's the point I was making. That club should have been branded within the Staff Model line and away from D-series GI clubs.