biggest OEM golf club "flops"

[enduro]

Thats good info from a retailers perspective phatchris.

 

I dont imagine the Hibore XLS ,or Mizuno FWs and putters Sasquatch FWs sell very well either judging by how many i see on the shelves at the local Golftown.

[james77]

callaway hyper x, a real hunk of junk!!

[mn723]

Didn't some ball manufacturer (Top Flite maybe) come out with a line of balls where different models were supposed to work better with different manufacturers drivers. I think there was a seperate model for both Callaway and TM drivers. This was maybe 10 years ago or so.

[Racurl]

The clubs themselves were very good, but the concept did not take off.

 

MacGregor MT Tourney Aluminum-Shafted clubs! I played with them for several years, but I have never seen anyone with a set of the since. Granted, this was 35 years ago!

[obsessedgolfer]

Didn't some ball manufacturer (Top Flite maybe) come out with a line of balls where different models were supposed to work better with different manufacturers drivers. I think there was a seperate model for both Callaway and TM drivers. This was maybe 10 years ago or so.

That seems like a great idea, but now TM and Callaway have there own balls so that makes the technology useless.

[mat562]

Crikey.

 

Aluminium shafts...

 

I was a bit of a titanium fanboy - and even briefly bagged some Sandvik-shafted irons in recent weeks - but aluminium was horrendous stuff. Really whippy, loose-feeling, and if you live somewhere like Canada there's every chance of dodging chunks of shrapnel with the things when the temperature plummets and they start shattering.

 

I remember having a knock with some GolfGear irons a few years back. Aluminium shafts and a hollow head with a welded-on face that felt like the entire club was made from polystyrene. Not good.

[Double Dawg]

The new 2009 "Plop" putters that will be retailing for $500.00 each.

 

Pro: "they incorporate the same game-changing technology Plop pioneered in the 90's"

 

Con: you can buy a new one from the 90's for $10.

[Double Dawg]

Oh, and if anyone thinks that Plop putters are a good buy at $500, I have one in my garage that my wife's parents bought as part of a starter set for her little brother in the 1990's (not exactly true - the shop gave it to them when they bought a set of Wilsons). It has seen exactly zero rounds of use.

 

I'll be happy to sell it for $490. Save $10! Buy another one with the extra $10! I'm offering 2 for 1 here! What a bargain!

 

(BTW, NOT kidding about having an unused Plop...TOTALLY kidding about selling it for $490. I'm going to keep it as a conversation piece. After all, the shaft band says "Original Japan Price [yen symbol] 30,000" - no kidding.)

[RTP419]

Since the obvious have been stated, I'll throw in the TM Bubble Shaft. Yeah, it's not a "club" but the shaft does attach the "club"head! :D

 

Wilson Fat Shafts

Tommy Armour E.Q.L.

 

 

 

3JACK

 

Couldn't disagree more. We're talking about "flops" here which to me means items that didn't sell.

 

Taylormade's Bubble line sold like crazy back in the day. Also, the Fat Shaft line put Wilson back on the map in terms of golf equipment and also sold pretty well back in their day. In fact, I know plenty of people who played both.

 

As for chippers, they're not for everyone but the concept isn't a flop. I hear they are excellent sellers.

 

I can think of at least 25 members at my club STILL playing the Wilson Fat Shaft.

 

For Me, I'll call the Scotty Cameron "Kombi" as being the next flop

 

Is it me or is the Komba just another Ping copy (Craz-e)?

 

Ryan

[KevCarter]

Is it me or is the Komba just another Ping copy (Craz-e)?

 

Ryan

 

Hmmm, I think you are the first to mention it...

 

KC

[jb93]

Top Flite Magna....oversized ball. I wish I could find the marketing slogan or a commercial for them.

[golfdad907]

Taylor Made Inner Gel balls....about as bad as ever made, though had the kewl packaging.

[JD3]

Wood Brothers corked wooden drivers ... LOL. tried to catch the wave of the illegally corked baseball bats

[parpar41]

Wood Brothers corked wooden drivers ... LOL.

 

 

I bought one of those drivers back in about 1992 for about $99. It was a great club, at the time. Also awesomely attractive giant persimmon head. Blond head with a red insert. It stll looks great. It lives happily in retirement in my basement since i seldom sell clubs after they fall out of the bag.

 

As I understand it, Wood Brothers was a thriving, successful company, recognized for making great persimmon heads, but the company did not survive or adapt to the universal move to metal woods?

[JD3]

Nicklaus "Linear Dynamics" irons ... LOL.

 

Linear Dynanics Iron

[QuigleyDU]

Nicklaus "Linear Dynamics" irons ... LOL.

 

Linear Dynanics Iron

 

 

hey those linear dyn irons where awsome!! i had a set and loved them. they even saw some tour play at the time.

[Parmaster]

The C4 is definitely the Ford Edsel of golf equipment from a sales standpoint. However, from an R & D standpoint it was critical in Callaway's development of carbon fiber technologies to produce the Fusion series that followed (continues to follow).

 

Did anybody else mention: TaylorMade's Supersteel series that came out in the late '90s? Goldwin? Wright Golf who had Dr. Gil Morgan on staff right when he hit the Champions Tour and was hot and sold donut? Hurricane Golf? Yonex was hot circa 1990, but has flopped since....does anyone here remember the ADX irons that had graphite heads you could wear out in a season? Maxfli VHLs? Burroughs Golf? Atrigon?

 

I'm sure there are more I can think of....

[neverlayup]

How about the Maxfli VHL irons?

[JD3]

Hogan "Big Ben" driver. Kind of like MacTech to MacGregor, marked the slow but inevitable decline to oblivion. Overall the clubhead was a good idea ... kind of like a larger Ping TiSi, which was the best driver ever relative to the competition (imho). Unfortunately those 3 hollow cavities in the back made it look crappy when a simple solid back would have done the trick. Face angle was also too closed but they could have come out with a "Tour" model to address that.

 

Visit My Website

[touch]

Ping's first metal woods the Zing woods. Fugly as ever.

[mat562]

Ping's first metal woods the Zing woods. Fugly as ever.

 

I played one of those for a while. I've still got it somewhere. Along with the headcover with the little white logo on it. It was a belter of a club, and I hit my longest ever drive with it - but it was indeed a shape only a Solheim could love and looked like a chocolate that had melted in the sun. The scorelines weren't all that pretty and the all-over tumble finish wasn't all that pretty either. And it was missing a ferrule.

 

I remember everyone saying 'Hooray!' when Ping finally launched their much-anticipated first metal wood. And then saying 'I don't like it' when they finally saw one. It did look as if the designers had run out of time and just thought 'sod it... let's just launch it as it is...'

 

Coupled with the old sparkly red Novus shaft it wasn't pretty.

[Parmaster]

Ping's first metal woods the Zing woods. Fugly as ever.

 

I played one of those for a while. I've still got it somewhere. Along with the headcover with the little white logo on it. It was a belter of a club, and I hit my longest ever drive with it - but it was indeed a shape only a Solheim could love and looked like a chocolate that had melted in the sun. The scorelines weren't all that pretty and the all-over tumble finish wasn't all that pretty either. And it was missing a ferrule.

 

I remember everyone saying 'Hooray!' when Ping finally launched their much-anticipated first metal wood. And then saying 'I don't like it' when they finally saw one. It did look as if the designers had run out of time and just thought 'sod it... let's just launch it as it is...'

 

Coupled with the old sparkly red Novus shaft it wasn't pretty.

 

You can mock the shape all you want, but the sole design made it one of the most deckable drivers I've hit. The sound was pretty unbearable as well, especially considering what it was up against at the time....They also weren't the most durable as I seem to remember caving in a handful of them.

 

Still have one practically new I found in a grab bag 15 years ago I take out occasionally for giggles.

[AcesAZ]

And possibly the "Perfect Wedge" which is a thinly disguised "Hybrid Wedge" thingy.....

 

The only thing uglier than that is a chipper.

[hogan234]

Ping's first metal woods the Zing woods. Fugly as ever.

 

I played one of those for a while. I've still got it somewhere. Along with the headcover with the little white logo on it. It was a belter of a club, and I hit my longest ever drive with it - but it was indeed a shape only a Solheim could love and looked like a chocolate that had melted in the sun. The scorelines weren't all that pretty and the all-over tumble finish wasn't all that pretty either. And it was missing a ferrule.

 

I remember everyone saying 'Hooray!' when Ping finally launched their much-anticipated first metal wood. And then saying 'I don't like it' when they finally saw one. It did look as if the designers had run out of time and just thought 'sod it... let's just launch it as it is...'

 

Coupled with the old sparkly red Novus shaft it wasn't pretty.

 

You can mock the shape all you want, but the sole design made it one of the most deckable drivers I've hit. The sound was pretty unbearable as well, especially considering what it was up against at the time....They also weren't the most durable as I seem to remember caving in a handful of them.

 

Still have one practically new I found in a grab bag 15 years ago I take out occasionally for giggles.

 

Interestingly, I also found them to be a decent club back in the day. I hit a lot of shots off the deck with that driver. You could get them w/ the GLoomis shaft which was a decent shaft.

[steverum]

Crystal Clear Pepsi?

 

+1

[steverum]

New Coke?

 

+2

[QueenCityGolfer]

IMO the Epic shaft was an epic fail. Why Grafalloy discontinued the CompNT then went in the Epic direction is beyond me. They handed aftermarket shafts at that price point to Aldila on a silver platter.

 

I disagree. I don't know anybody who has reshafted a wood of any kind with an Aldila. Those are the shafts you play because they came with the club, not because you want to. In fact, I don't think I've ever played a round of golf with a person playing an Aldila shaft, that didn't come stock with the club.

 

Grafalloy on the other hand, and specifically the Epic shaft, have a much more expansive, and impressive record of accomplishments, in additional to a superior product line . . . in my (correct) opinion.

[scall1968]

How about the Titleist Howitzer driver? Oversized driver with a short shaft. I think they came out in 1995.

[jazzguy71]

I was given the C4 for christmas or something and it took about two swings to realize how terrible it is. I have tried to trade it in, asking for anything, and the shops still turn me down.

[obsessedgolfer]

IMO the Epic shaft was an epic fail. Why Grafalloy discontinued the CompNT then went in the Epic direction is beyond me. They handed aftermarket shafts at that price point to Aldila on a silver platter.

 

I disagree. I don't know anybody who has reshafted a wood of any kind with an Aldila. Those are the shafts you play because they came with the club, not because you want to. In fact, I don't think I've ever played a round of golf with a person playing an Aldila shaft, that didn't come stock with the club.

 

Grafalloy on the other hand, and specifically the Epic shaft, have a much more expansive, and impressive record of accomplishments, in additional to a superior product line . . . in my (correct) opinion.

 

Voodoo, NVS, VS Proto. Tons of people game those shafts.