"Cheaping Out"

[Double Mocha Man]

Oh brother.  This was on the Callaway web site today:

Rogue ST MAX Drivers

 

Rogue ST MAX is our highest MOI head with a slight draw bias that's built for all levels of golfers. This is the best combination of distance and forgiveness in a Callaway driver. Please Note: Wrench is not included.

$549.99

Talk about being cheap... at that price point!  I have plenty of wrenches, so no problem here.  But this is a marketing faux pas.  Sheesh, Callaway Pre-Owned always sends you a free wrench... probably about 25 cents.

Where has "Cheaping Out" irked you the most?

Capital "C" in title not included.  (Couldn't figure out how to edit the title)

Edited January 31, 2022 by Double Mocha Man

[boogielicious]

I don’t like when new drivers come with different weight shapes from previous versions. Titleist does this so you can’t use the last models weights. That irks me. It not cheap per se, but does cause you to buy more weights if you need to adjust swingweight 

[iacas]

1. most golfers have wrenches
2. pro shops, etc. are told to give you a wrench if you bought a driver
3. this saves waste
4. most golfers adjust their driver once and then never again

I don't see it as "cheaping out".

[Double Mocha Man]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

1. most golfers have wrenches
2. pro shops, etc. are told to give you a wrench if you bought a driver
3. this saves waste

I don't see it as "cheaping out".

The "saves waste" part should have been mentioned in the sentence written by Callaway.  Saving waste is a good thing... they should have said it.  Otherwise, for those pre-ordering it seems arbitrarily cheap.

Just now, Double Mocha Man said:

The "saves waste" part should have been mentioned in the sentence written by Callaway.  Saving waste is a good thing... they should have said it.  Otherwise, for those pre-ordering it seems arbitrarily cheap.

BTW, if you are buying a new Callaway Rogue ST driver and do not have a wrench, any torx wrench from your garage will work.

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

d.  most golfers adjust their driver once and then never again

True about that.   I have a couple golfing friends who bought new Callaway drivers (that came with wrenches) but never made any changes.  Not even to tweak the hosel to try to correct for that slice they don't want.

[ChetlovesMer]

45 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

The "saves waste" part should have been mentioned in the sentence written by Callaway.  Saving waste is a good thing... they should have said it.  Otherwise, for those pre-ordering it seems arbitrarily cheap.

BTW, if you are buying a new Callaway Rogue ST driver and do not have a wrench, any torx wrench from your garage will work.

True about that.   I have a couple golfing friends who bought new Callaway drivers (that came with wrenches) but never made any changes.  Not even to tweak the hosel to try to correct for that slice they don't want.

Agreed. Marketing as Callaway is trying to save waste sounds a lot better.

Not any torx wrench of course. It has to be a T25 I'm pretty sure. 

 

[Double Mocha Man]

1 minute ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Agreed. Marketing as Callaway is trying to save waste sounds a lot better.

Not any torx wrench of course. It has to be a T25 I'm pretty sure. 

 

My bad there.

[imsys0042]

Club manufacturers are clearly going cheap on golf shafts these days.   Every time one of my clubs is thrown at a tree, it breaks!   C'mon!

[Double Mocha Man]

2 hours ago, imsys0042 said:

Every time one of my clubs is thrown at a tree, it breaks!

You've got to find softer trees.  There is a difference between hardwoods and softwoods.  And carbonwoods.

[KMP]

and don't forget tigerwoods. 🙂

 

[dennyjones]

I didn't get a wrench from Callaway back in 2019.   I bought one from Amazon and once it arrived I realized I already had one that would work!  I've played with the adjustment with my Rogue but have reverted back to the original settings.

[Double Mocha Man]

Erik... thank you for fixing my uncapitalized "c" in the title.

[imsys0042]

21 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

You've got to find softer trees.  There is a difference between hardwoods and softwoods.  And carbonwoods.

Most of the trees are skinny Carolina pines, frequently too much bare wood as opposed to bigger, wider pine trees where the branches will provide a nice buffer so they don't break.   Of course, don't throw it too high, it might get stuck there.

Edited February 1, 2022 by imsys0042

[NM Golf]

Go into any golf shop and they will let you use one. At my course we have lots of them. Personally, I have thrown them away in the past just because I have so many of them.

[Double Mocha Man]

Yes, but sometimes I need to use mine on the 11th tee...  😎

[Pretzel]

Pretty much all brands use either Torx or security Torx bits in their wrenches, the only specific advantage of the branded tools is that they have a torque limiter built-in to prevent you from damaging things.

The thing is, most players don't need, use, or even want the wrenches that come with drivers. I had the screw holding the weight onto my driver come loose while out playing, just making an annoying little rattle, and discovered that my wrench hadn't gotten moved into the new golf bag when I switched everything out of the old one. Afterwards I asked the pro if he could torque it down for me before I forgot, and he just handed me a box filled with dozens of the wrenches and told me to take as many as I wanted. Probably 90% of his customers specifically told him they didn't want the wrench after getting fitted for and buying the new driver that was already adjusted to their specs, so he had amassed a large collection over the years. 

To me it seems like a bit of a non-issue. It's unfortunate if you don't already have the tools required and want to tinker with your clubs, but it's also pretty much irrelevant because pro's and shops are already overwhelmed with too many spares of the wrenches that they can't even give away for free. The number of golfers who change their driver from the fitted setting is very few, and the only reason that companies use the adjustment systems is to consolidate production into a 1-2 SKUs that can be quickly and easily tweaked to fit all customers instead of producing all the different glued loft, shaft, and weighting combinations. It's advertised as though adjustability is a consumer benefit, but the reality is that consumers don't want or need adjustability and it's just meant to make inventory management easier and manufacturing substantially cheaper. If you need to change the weighting or loft of your driver on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis you have a swing problem, not a driver problem.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Pretzel

[Darkfrog]

On 1/31/2022 at 10:56 AM, iacas said:

most golfers adjust their driver once and then never again

Personally I don't ever touch adjustable club setting, especially if it was configured in a lesson or fitting to work for me.

On 1/31/2022 at 10:56 AM, iacas said:

most golfers have wrenches

I think at this point, I have 7-8 adjustable club tools. I carry one in my bag just in case something comes loose. The only unique one was for a Srixon fairway wood that I don't have anymore, which had a square bit.

[Esox]

I have never owned a Callaway club. They have never seemed like a good deal, and this moves them even further into the "not a good deal" side.

Meanwhile Cobra seems to be making a lot of really good stuff for reasonable prices. I never have owned any Cobra clubs either, but my son plays their woods and loves them.