Sales return because of endorsements (Tiger et. al.)

[sandy]

How to measure

I've often wondered how companies measure how much value having an athlete is to them in terms of endorsements. Tiger Woods comes to mind. The one area he has had a great impact in is Nike golf clothing. I think that is an unqualified success. But obviously other than the SQ driver and before that the Ignite how many clubs does he really help Nike sell? The blades and wedges (although as good as anything produced today) just sit on dealers shelves gathering dust. How many Tag Huer watches does he sell?? How many Buicks does he sell (always thought that was a stupid division anyway to sign him to in the first place given the relatively old geaser view of Buicks)---Chevrolet or Cadillac maybe. Chevrolet probably would have been to common folk for him to represent (although they make the bulk of GM's money). How many people say I can't live without an American Express card because Tiger uses one??

Actually the only golf equipment Tiger ever helped sell was the stuff that the public didn't have access to. Forged irons, GSS putter, 970/PT fairway woods. Didn't up the sales on Cobra deep face drivers or 975D drivers. But because people couldn't get the other clubs everyone wanted one. Remember from the old forums there was a certain brother of a tour pro from Titleist that kept swearing Titleist could do everything with 431 stainless that a forging could do and there was no need to produce a forging. Once it was obvious that Tiger was leaving they hurried up and put out his irons and a reissue of the PTs (bore thru this time) to try and capitalize a little on the "buzz". Other than that I don't see him selling any equipment.

[Gxgolfer]

Branding yourself as a winner and being associated with greatness is a tangible marketing goal. He may not sell his blades and wedges, but there are alot of casual golfers who "Want to be like Tiger" and will get slingshots, carry bags, and shoes. Look at the Wie clips from Korea, that probably justified her contract as a drop in the bucket...

 

I would be curious to see Cobras numbers after O and C season.

[DemolitionMan]

How many Buicks does he sell (always thought that was a stupid division anyway to sign him to in the first place given the relatively old geaser view of Buicks)---Chevrolet or Cadillac maybe.

 

Since Buick signed TW, the average age of Buick driver is down by 12 years. TW was involved with the launch of the Rendezvous, his image was everywhere. Buick sold 130,000 Rendezvous in the first two years which was more than forecast.

 

Buick was in serious trouble before they changed the lineup, the marketing and the strategy to go after the younger crowd and signing TW was a big part of that. TW brings Buick consumer credibility and since they needed that badly, whatever they pay him is well worth it.

 

TW could have signed with any car company, but it was Buick that wanted him bad enough that they put together 17 storyboards of commercials to present to TW's agent before there was a deal. Hardly anyone would extend themselves that much.

 

Nike's club sales are a drop in the bucket compared to clothing/shoe sales. TW sells a ton of clothes/shoes. Paying him $20M+ per year is well worth it when Nike Golf does $500M per year. Would Nike do $500M/yr without him? No way.

 

AMEX probably does not realize much of any gain having TW but it beats the opposite of not having him. Competing against Visa, AMEX has to watch out for protecting the brand. Every commercial with TW protects established brand/image and shuts out competitors. Do they overpay him? Hard to tell.

 

EA Sports? No explanation needed. They are ahead of the game based on sales.

 

TAG is the newest sponsor and it's too early to tell if they are getting their money's worth. We may never know real numbers because the parent company LVMH has it's own way of doing things that hardly anyone can argue with.

 

Bottom line is overall, TW sells product. If I could afford him to endorse a product, I would not hesitate.

[sandy]

I will buy your other data on Tiger as far as Nike clothing and EA Sports, but your data on Buick is wrong. Buick is still in the worst condition of any GM division (ignoring Saab and Hummer---and will probably be the next to be Oldsmobiled) and the Rendevous is done after this year. While much better than it's ugly step sister the Aztec it still wasn't selling enough to support it's going on. They can't give Rainiers away and while some of the new redone sedans are getting good reviews they aren't selling. My data is because of Buick and the golf tournament involvement (4 at last count) is the big reason they wanted him, any miniscule sales increase was a bonus. Believe me I'm well aware of the presentation made to Tiger's agent. I'm also aware of a similar one done by Lexus/Toyota. (40+ years aware).

[sergizmo]

Having Tiger on board gives Nike some credibility in the golf market. The skepticism around Nike golf when they started was huge. Almost everyone without trying the equipment said it was terrible, and everyone was saying "Nike doesn't make golf clubs, they make shoes". Quite frankly, without Tiger I think sales would have been even worse, and Nike may have scrapped it's golf division. Tiger and Tom Stites were all Nike golf really had in the early days (OK, Rock Ishi too).

 

As you have pointed out, sales have been pretty flat for Nike golf. But Nike blades aren't the only blades not selling. How many new sets of blades are sold in golf shops these days? Very, very few. The trend among better players, even those on tour is towards combo sets and forged players cavities. As to the wedges, I honestly don't know. The SV is a great deal, $99 list for a nice looking wedge with a milled face. The TW wedges look a little busy and only come in 2 lofts. Tiger has the best shortgame in the world, you'd think Nike would sell some wedges because of him. Possibly holding on to the Vokey(s) for so long hurt in that respect? When people look to buy a new wedge, 90+% of the time they look at vokey and Cleveland first.

 

Nike golf made some big mistakes early on that may have hurt their sales long term. Early negative impressions can form opinions that can last even if the product is improved.

 

The first major mistake was releasing the blades, which 95% of golfers can't hit, as their first iron. Having the Speedstep as the stock shaft in the Pro Combos (blades too?) hurt them as well. These are players irons, and most players don't want a light, high launching shaft in their irons. Not saying they are bad shafts, just a bad match for the golfers likely to play that model. People were also confused as to exactly what the Speedstep shaft was. The graphics/look of the Pro Combos were very busy (fake rivets, sticker, etc) which many did not like.

 

I never tried the first generation of drivers, but heard they were fairly low launching and had a low spin shaft that played a little stiff. Correct? For all but very strong golfers, a low launching, low spinning driver is a bad thing. Hence the perception of a "dead" feeling driver that launched low.

 

Their putters were, and still are, pretty lackluster. No Tiger usage and very little usage on tour in general hurt.

[sandy]

Having Tiger on board gives Nike some credibility in the golf market. The skepticism around Nike golf when they started was huge. Almost everyone without trying the equipment said it was terrible, and everyone was saying "Nike doesn't make golf clubs, they make shoes". Quite frankly, without Tiger I think sales would have been even worse, and Nike may have scrapped it's golf division. Tiger and Tom Stites were all Nike golf really had in the early days (OK, Rock Ishi too).

 

As you have pointed out, sales have been pretty flat for Nike golf. But Nike blades aren't the only blades not selling. How many new sets of blades are sold in golf shops these days? Very, very few. The trend among better players, even those on tour is towards combo sets and forged players cavities. As to the wedges, I honestly don't know. The SV is a great deal, $99 list for a nice looking wedge with a milled face. The TW wedges look a little busy and only come in 2 lofts. Tiger has the best shortgame in the world, you'd think Nike would sell some wedges because of him. Possibly holding on to the Vokey(s) for so long hurt in that respect? When people look to buy a new wedge, 90+% of the time they look at vokey and Cleveland first.

 

Nike golf made some big mistakes early on that may have hurt their sales long term. Early negative impressions can form opinions that can last even if the product is improved.

 

The first major mistake was releasing the blades, which 95% of golfers can't hit, as their first iron. Having the Speedstep as the stock shaft in the Pro Combos (blades too?) hurt them as well. These are players irons, and most players don't want a light, high launching shaft in their irons. Not saying they are bad shafts, just a bad match for the golfers likely to play that model. People were also confused as to exactly what the Speedstep shaft was. The graphics/look of the Pro Combos were very busy (fake rivets, sticker, etc) which many did not like.

 

I never tried the first generation of drivers, but heard they were fairly low launching and had a low spin shaft that played a little stiff. Correct? For all but very strong golfers, a low launching, low spinning driver is a bad thing. Hence the perception of a "dead" feeling driver that launched low.

 

Their putters were, and still are, pretty lackluster. No Tiger usage and very little usage on tour in general hurt.

 

Boy you are right on in your assessment about the equipment, not only including what they offered but the order and shaft selection. Another thing that put everyone off was the appearance of the first pro combo set (I remember writing a very complimentary review only to be ridiculed on one board just due to the appearance), which has gotten slightly better by removing that business in the cavity of horizontal lines. The irons would be really good looking if they got rid of the two tone satin and those silly dimples. I still think the first 400 cc driver they did was their best driver. For me it still outperforms the Ignite and SQ---but old drivers don't keep you in business very long.

 

I guess there isn't a set of tables that they can acurately figure having XXXX on board gets us XXXXX in return. Seems like they could do a risk assessment.

[Gxgolfer]

Here's an old Forbes Article that seems relevant today

Six Degrees of Tiger Woods

 

"I suspect that the nature of the relationship is such that he's obligated to wear Nike in any public appearance," says Gary Singer, chief strategy officer at Interbrand, a branding consultancy. "Tiger is so closely associated with Nike that whether you see [other] brands or not, you think of Nike."

 

A Nike Golf spokesman, Dean Stoyer, says there would be "some level of disappointment" if Woods did not wear Nike apparel in these appearances but there would be "no break in the contract."

 

He acknowledges that the partnership has benefited Nike Golf by "spilling over to [Woods'] other endorsements. This is an extension of our brand through all these other companies in their marketing, and it has certainly helped move us along."

 

Nike's shrewd bear hug of the golf pro is a rarity in marketing--it's even a rarity for Nike. The company had a wide-ranging deal with basketball great Michael Jordan (which has continued into his retirement), but Jordan didn't wear Nike in every one of this other marketing appearances.

 

This week, we're looking at three particularly smart, unusual or shrewd marketing tactics. Those promotional efforts are as important to a product's success as the product itself, since one of the primary goals of a marketing campaign is to create demand. Some people believe that Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) succeeded not because it had better products, but because it had better marketing.

 

Nike's appearance in other Woods commercials raises the question of whether audiences are confused about what they're being sold, and whether the prominent presence of the Nike swoosh overwhelms other brands in non-Nike advertising. Buick, for one, doesn't think so.

 

"It's a stretch to say that two brands are being pitched," says Buick spokesman John Wray. "People expect him to be in a Nike hat. It's natural."

 

Woods was originally signed to a five-year contract with Buick in 1999. In 2002, Woods was involved in every aspect of the launch of Buick's Rendezvous SUV. This February, Buick re-signed Woods for another five years, in a deal reportedly worth $40 million.

 

Wray would not confirm the value of the contract, but says that Buick is happy with its investment, pointing out that more than 130,000 Rendezvous vehicles were sold in 2002 and 2003. "That exceeded our forecasts," he says. "It has to be in recognition of Tiger."

 

While Woods is at the center of some cross-promotion--his golf bag features a Buick logo--Nike is promoted in nearly all his other advertising deals. In the world of high-stakes sports sponsorships, the depth of the partnership has no peer.

 

"Nike built their franchise on celebrity endorsements both big and small," says Singer. "The core of their soul is their association with outstanding athletes."

 

The strategy appears to be working. According to Interbrand, Nike's brand value, or the potential for future earnings, went up 6% in 2003 to $8.17 billion, making Nike the 33rd most valuable brand in the world.

 

The proof of the brilliance of Nike's Tiger Woods arrangement is that other advertisers don't seem to mind the presence of the swoosh in their ads. Then again, if they want to use Tiger, they don't seem to have a choice.

[DemolitionMan]

I will buy your other data on Tiger as far as Nike clothing and EA Sports, but your data on Buick is wrong. Buick is still in the worst condition of any GM division (ignoring Saab and Hummer---and will probably be the next to be Oldsmobiled) and the Rendevous is done after this year. While much better than it's ugly step sister the Aztec it still wasn't selling enough to support it's going on. They can't give Rainiers away and while some of the new redone sedans are getting good reviews they aren't selling. My data is because of Buick and the golf tournament involvement (4 at last count) is the big reason they wanted him, any miniscule sales increase was a bonus. Believe me I'm well aware of the presentation made to Tiger's agent. I'm also aware of a similar one done by Lexus/Toyota. (40+ years aware).

 

My data on Buick is 100% correct. But make no mistake, I am no Buick fan or apologist. I really couldn't care less how they do. Still, the decision to sign and pay Tiger has brought them a very good return.

 

Anyone can put together a snippet on how poor Buick is doing. Fact is, unless you are Toyota, just about all car manufacturers, especially American ones are completely screwed up, and a 3rd grader could put together a report on how not to run an American car company.

 

And this time, no, I don't believe your "awareness".

[DemolitionMan]

I guess there isn't a set of tables that they can acurately figure having XXXX on board gets us XXXXX in return. Seems like they could do a risk assessment.

 

There are "tables" so to speak; it's just not for everyone.

[Gxgolfer]

More Recent Article after Tiger's BO Win

 

But it's not all rosy in Nikeland: His contract doesn't require him to exclusively use Nike clubs, and he won the British Open by hitting only one of his 72 drives with the new Nike Sasquatch driver.

 

"I think what we saw (Sunday) was an athlete that had a plan and had a strategy coming into this golf course and, you know, there are 14 golf clubs in a bag," shrugs Nike's Davis.

 

 

 

Woods' contract with Buick does require him to drive the car to the golf course for every tournament. Buick signed Woods in 1999 hoping he could help lower the average age of a Buick owner -- 65 at the time.

 

"Tiger transcends the game of golf," says Larry Peck, a marketing manager with Buick. "We know that golf fans are more affluent, they're younger, they are more educated than our traditional buyer, and Tiger is an ideal means to get to them. We used Tiger to launch an all-new vehicle (with an) all-new name, and helped to drive the average age of the Buick driver down by 12 years."

 

Woods is not only the world's top golfer; he's the nation's most beloved sports star, according to the Harris Poll. In May, Woods topped Michael Jordan, who had held the No. 1 spot for 13 years.

[vthokie1157]

even though Tiger may not be selling major clubs at Nike, at least he is doing something and not promoting say TM or Cleveland, because they are more popular and easier for retailers to sell. so nike is also just keeping him off the market from other companies.

[sandy]

I will buy your other data on Tiger as far as Nike clothing and EA Sports, but your data on Buick is wrong. Buick is still in the worst condition of any GM division (ignoring Saab and Hummer---and will probably be the next to be Oldsmobiled) and the Rendevous is done after this year. While much better than it's ugly step sister the Aztec it still wasn't selling enough to support it's going on. They can't give Rainiers away and while some of the new redone sedans are getting good reviews they aren't selling. My data is because of Buick and the golf tournament involvement (4 at last count) is the big reason they wanted him, any miniscule sales increase was a bonus. Believe me I'm well aware of the presentation made to Tiger's agent. I'm also aware of a similar one done by Lexus/Toyota. (40+ years aware).

 

My data on Buick is 100% correct. But make no mistake, I am no Buick fan or apologist. I really couldn't care less how they do. Still, the decision to sign and pay Tiger has brought them a very good return.

 

Anyone can put together a snippet on how poor Buick is doing. Fact is, unless you are Toyota, just about all car manufacturers, especially American ones are completely screwed up, and a 3rd grader could put together a report on how not to run an American car company.

 

And this time, no, I don't believe your "awareness".

 

I still say you and your vehicles sold are incorrect on Buick. I know because I was involved not just "aware". And don't get me started on how the inequities between how legacy car companies are treated versus how foreign car companies are treated in the U.S. (check out the taxes that foreign car companies do not have to pay as well as the regulations they don't have to abide by because they aren't legacy U.S. companies almost like an entitlement) Yes nobody forced the U.S. companies to sign those ridiculous contracts with the U.A.W. over the years, or forced GM to whizz money down the drain on robots, EDS, fiat, fuji etc. etc.... Toyota is successful because they stick to a plan and don't bounce around trying to fill every niche market like the other car companies do. Also they have the poorest pension and medical coverage of anybody for their executives (let alone their regular employees). You would be suprised how many of Toyota's high level executives are working for GM, Ford, DCX because they can't live off their "pension". Yes people like to go on and on about how Toyota employees americans to build cars in their U.S. plants. What most people don't realize is when they build a plant they are allowed to use exclusively japanese steel and architectual firms (no bid situation) to erect those plants. Any local content rules that were negotiated in for U.S. produced parts are rapidly reduced over the next 3 years to less than 5%. That and no U.A.W. or brown field plants all works in their favor. All of this by the way was told by Lee Iaccoca in the late 60s to congress to warn them about allowing japanese plants here and not having equivalent tariffs on their products as they had on ours in japan.

 

Even Honda and Nissan are in sickly shape compared to Toyota. I still remember like it was yesterday my family's japanese gardener who said japan was very patient and while they lost the war they would eventually overtake us economically (turned out to only be in the auto industry). He said it may take 100 years but they would do it. I still remember my brothers and I got a big chuckle out of his claims (when a Sony transistor radio was junk and everyone wanted a U.S. made Zenith). Sure enough 61 years later the three companies that had a large part industrially in defeating Japan (GM, Ford, Chrysler) probably won't exist much past the end of the decade (their financials are very much like social security--broke but don't realize it yet). Humorously, what we were told by a Toyota executive is coming true. They had a time frame to gradually take on the U.S. market share but that has speeded up and what they feared is happening---quality is slipping because they are compromising their processes. Oil leaks in engines, virtually unheard of are starting to creep out in the form of recalls on their high publicity Prius'.

[DemolitionMan]

That post is so laughable it's not even worth a response other than to say, check your calendar, it's 2006 going on 2007.

 

...Japan taking over....lol....lol....

[Johnny]

dont worry about Japan... high cost of labor will keep them in check, kinda like the US now... worry about China...low cost labor, no crazy enviro stuff, plenty of engineers hell 60% of the engineers at my co. are chinese. We can only hope for the "me" generation in China continue to take over...they are more like the west .

[sergizmo]

Lack of natural resources, lack of land/space which prevents population growth, high cost of living and therefor labor, an ageing population (health care expenditure will soon go way up), a problematic banking system (especially with regards to loans), and the need to build a large military (could be tens of billions of $'s) to protect themselves from the Chinese will prevent Japan from overtaking the USA as the world's leading power. In fact, it may have peaked IMO.

 

China could be extremely problematic however. Their economic growth is staggering. As Johnny says they have a very low cost of labor and virtually no environmental regulations. They have a massive population to draw on and can work many of them into the ground as worker's rights are almost non-existant. They have the world's largest air-force, which although largely obsolete is still a massive threat (it is starting to modernize with newer Russian planes). They are building up huge stockpiles of medium range missiles which are being pointed at Taiwan. They have promised to "re-unify" (invade, occupy and assimilate) Taiwan by 2020.

 

China does have several problems though. A very large percentage of it's population has yet to be modernized (something like 60+% are farmers), pollution will soon become a serious issue, many of it's brightest and most educated are leaving, over-crowding is a problem (hence the one child rule), the population will be disproportionately male in the future due to the forced abortion of female babies (because of the one child rule). China is a dictatorship trying to foster a (semi) liberal/Western pattern economy. This is not easy to do.

 

The other factor in China's favour is that they tend to make huge quantities of cheap junk, as opposed to Japan which tend to make smaller quantities of quality goods. More and more, cheap junk is what the world wants. Many people (I'm not innocent of this) would rather buy cheap junk several times than a quality product once. The golf industry is an example. When clubs were mainly made in the US/Japan people tended to buy fewer clubs and hang on to/play the ones they had MUCH longer. Now people flip clubs like crazy, sometimes not even hitting a club before ordering/buying it. Not many things are meant to last these days, there is plastic and chipboard everywhere. It's kind of sad really.

[golfernut78]

As you have pointed out, sales have been pretty flat for Nike golf. But Nike blades aren't the only blades not selling. How many new sets of blades are sold in golf shops these days? Very, very few. The trend among better players, even those on tour is towards combo sets and forged players cavities. As to the wedges, I honestly don't know. The SV is a great deal, $99 list for a nice looking wedge with a milled face. The TW wedges look a little busy and only come in 2 lofts. Tiger has the best shortgame in the world, you'd think Nike would sell some wedges because of him. Possibly holding on to the Vokey(s) for so long hurt in that respect? When people look to buy a new wedge, 90+% of the time they look at vokey and Cleveland first.

 

Nike golf made some big mistakes early on that may have hurt their sales long term. Early negative impressions can form opinions that can last even if the product is improved.

 

The first major mistake was releasing the blades, which 95% of golfers can't hit, as their first iron. Having the Speedstep as the stock shaft in the Pro Combos (blades too?) hurt them as well. These are players irons, and most players don't want a light, high launching shaft in their irons. Not saying they are bad shafts, just a bad match for the golfers likely to play that model. People were also confused as to exactly what the Speedstep shaft was. The graphics/look of the Pro Combos were very busy (fake rivets, sticker, etc) which many did not like.

 

I never tried the first generation of drivers, but heard they were fairly low launching and had a low spin shaft that played a little stiff. Correct? For all but very strong golfers, a low launching, low spinning driver is a bad thing. Hence the perception of a "dead" feeling driver that launched low.

 

Their putters were, and still are, pretty lackluster. No Tiger usage and very little usage on tour in general hurt.

- i agree with you on the blades and wedges. the blades are a great blade, and for a blade easy to hit, but still they aren't geared towards the general golfing public. i am suprised that there wedges aren't more popular. the forged wedges are awesome. the sv is a steal. the only think i can that is holding them back on the sv wedge is the finish (not for everyone) and the loft/bounce options. they don't have multiply bounce options for the same wedge.

 

- i agree the speedsteps being stock shafts haven't been the greatest idea, but don't remember that being the stock shaft for the blades, and on the original pro combos it was very easy to get the rifle shafts (i didn't even know the pro combos came with speed step shafts because when i first was introduced to them by 5 different people i played with, they all had rifle shafts).

 

- not sure about your story about the drivers. yes, many people claimed it to be "dead" feeling, but it was a low launch low spin head, and it didn't come stock with a low spin shaft that played on the stiff side, but rather a high launching, high spin shaft that played on the weakside. the stock shaft was a fujikura shaft that was similar to that of the ignite shaft.

 

 

More Recent Article after Tiger's BO Win

 

But it's not all rosy in Nikeland: His contract doesn't require him to exclusively use Nike clubs, and he won the British Open by hitting only one of his 72 drives with the new Nike Sasquatch driver.

 

"I think what we saw (Sunday) was an athlete that had a plan and had a strategy coming into this golf course and, you know, there are 14 golf clubs in a bag," shrugs Nike's Davis.

 

not really sure what this statement means. i went and read the article thinking it would make more sense as a whole story that just a piece of a story, but it still doesn't make sense. seems the writer is just trying to stir the pot.

 

he didn't use the driver because he didn't need to. its smart golf and has nothing to do with the performance or lack of performance of a driver.

[sandy]

That post is so laughable it's not even worth a response other than to say, check your calendar, it's 2006 going on 2007.

 

...Japan taking over....lol....lol....

 

Poorly stated I will agree. Not taking over the U.S. economically but certainly taking over the american auto industry. I just thought that was ironic (based on a whimsical statement by a gardener those many years ago). And does the american auto industry deserve to survive because it is based in america (although will have as many foreign made parts as many foreign competitors shortly)---NO. It is amazing it has lasted as long as it has with the succession of incompetent managers they have had over the years. And yes it is 2006 and my Uncle who survived Pearl Harbor for the last 6 years of his life drove Toyotas.

 

Eventually China will be the big guys and Toyota will go the way of GM, Ford et.al (partly because Toyota is now hiring "westernized" young engineers that don't want to work 17 hours a day like their fathers did). As others have said all about labor costs, regulations, taxes etc... None of which China has any worries about due to their form of government. Wonder how the UAW would do in China.

 

Over and Out......................Been Fun

[DemolitionMan]

To bring it back to golf. We, as Americans, should come to terms with the fact we have it pretty f'g in a global sense. But we are not all TW that can take a golf talent / image and turn it into a $1 billion +. It won't be China's low cost labor, lack of regulation and iron fisted government that will end up taking over the U.S. as the world's superpower. If that was the case, Taiwan would be more dominant because we gave up the manufacturing of trinkets to them a long time ago before it went to China.

 

No, it will be the U.S. mindset to consume, consume, consume. No matter what it is in the world, we must consume the most and if we can't we'll send some troops to make a mess of things.

 

We look really good in the entertainment and recreation sector. We have a society that plays golf, loves golf, compulsively buys golf, has a golf profession that dominates the world. But in the end, it's just a game, somewhat of a luxury. Not even close to being enough of an excuse to rationalize the poor choices made by industry and government leaders.

 

But I guess it could be worse, we could be relying on cycling. :drinks:

 

Cheers to those participating in the thread, it's been fun.

[nunee]

 

 

TAG is the newest sponsor and it's too early to tell if they are getting their money's worth. We may never know real numbers because the parent company LVMH has it's own way of doing things that hardly anyone can argue with.

 

 

When Tiger's TAG first came out we were watch shopping for me (for a wedding gift). They didn't have Tiger's TAG instock, they had sold out, and couldn't keep them in the store.......

 

Tiger sells product, and he is the BEST at it.