{"id":4269,"date":"2009-01-13T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2009-01-13T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/?p=4269"},"modified":"2009-01-13T10:54:44","modified_gmt":"2009-01-13T15:54:44","slug":"whats_ahead_for_2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/bag_drop\/whats_ahead_for_2009","title":{"rendered":"What’s Ahead for 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BagWell, we’re back in the saddle for 2009 at the Bag Drop<\/em> and I hope you got all the golfing equipment you asked for over the holidays. If not, there’s still plenty of time with some good deals floating around!<\/p>\n

There’s been quite a bit of news as of late and while we have some new equipment to fill you in about, we’ll ease into 2009 with a few equipment\/business stories you might have missed in the past few weeks. You might soon having to start filling out a spreadsheet to follow the equipment company switches.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Callaway Adds to Portfolio<\/strong>
\nLeading off the news is Callaway Golf<\/a> adding to its stable of products by adding<\/a> electronics device company, uPlay<\/a>, makers of the uPro GPS. Apparently, not all their money is going to their legal team.<\/p>\n

In other Callaway news, Stuart Appleby is the latest<\/a> to join their tour staff. I thought I just saw him trying to outrace one of Freddie Couples’ drives. Apparently not.<\/p>\n

Vijay Makes a Switch<\/strong>
\nVijay Singh is staying<\/a> with Cleveland Golf\/Never Compromise but is now switching to Srixon balls. Is the new ball that much better than what he was previously using or was the contract that much better?<\/p>\n

Vijay’s been a long-time Cleveland guy, and now that Srixon’s parent company and Cleveland’s parent company are one and the same, it will be interesting to follow the Tour players to find out who else is switching and if this is for performance reasons or to put a bit more guaranteed money in their bank accounts.<\/p>\n

FootJoy Adds Paddy<\/strong>
\nSpeaking of switching, Padraig Harrington will be donning some new shoes this year as he has signed<\/a> up to wear Footjoys for the next few years. He’ll be sporting the latest and greatest<\/a> from from the Footjoy folks.<\/p>\n

TaylorMade r9<\/strong>
\nNews alert, TaylorMade<\/a> is coming out with a new driver. Okay, so that’s more like a weekly bulletin given TaylorMade’s history, but from what little I’ve been able to scout out, you can adjust virtually everything under the sun (okay, not quite, but pretty close). I think this brings TaylorMade’s current driver lineup to 42. The buzz being generated by the r9 is pretty hot and I eagerly anticipate getting a look at what the hype is all about.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more info as this launches on March 20th.<\/p>\n

New Pro V1 Line<\/strong>
\nThe new Pro V1 and Pro V1x made their debut<\/a> this past weekend at the Mercedes-Benz Championship to get some field testing in prior to their release in February. Hopefully with the new ball, it will clear up any confusion<\/a> about the old\/old or old\/new ball. <\/p>\n

Pink Slips and Non-Renewals<\/strong>
\nThe LPGA has handed out pink slips<\/a> to several staffers as part of a reorganization and has promoted a few others (otherwise known as “we’re adding to your current job responsibilities”) to streamline operations. At the rate this is going, Commissioner Bivens will be all that is left at LPGA Tour HQ. Perhaps that is the problem.<\/p>\n

In other business news, the Nationwide Tour is losing<\/a> the Xerox Classic as the title sponsor decided not to renew it’s sponsorship deal. Probably would not have looked good to renew considering they had to lay off 3000 employees in October. Look for this to continue as companies look ways to cut costs.<\/p>\n

Speaking of cutting costs<\/a>… Maybe TaylorMade should just fire any employee who can’t name all 117 of their currently shipping golf club models. That should leave, oh, about twelve employees. Think of the cost savings!<\/p>\n

Ron Sirak weighs in<\/a> on the whole matter as well.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/strong>
\nThis will be an interesting year on the various tours and for the equipment manufacturers with the economy as is and there are several questions that will be need answered. Will there be a decrease in the amount of new equipment offerings this year or will it be business as usual? Will R&D departments have a decrease in funds going to them? More layoffs? More corporate sponsors going under or pulling out out of tournaments? Is the consumer tapped out and how will this affect course operators?<\/p>\n

On the flip side, there are some excellent equipment deals floating around on “older” equipment and it will remain to be seen how quickly discounts will be applied to 2009 equipment. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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