New Drivers Are Too Expensive. Or, Are They?

[ChetlovesMer]

Just went to the range. Saw a guy with an ancient TaylorMade Burner Bubble driver. 
I used to have one of those, so it brought back memories. 

Now, I'll get to the point. It still had the sticker on it. The price tag showed $299.95. 

The driver is/was from 1995.

$299.95 in 1995 money is $552.55 in today's money. 

Taylormade Stealth drivers are retailing right now for $579.00.

 

What do you think? Are today's drivers overpriced? 

[GolfLug]

  On 2/15/2022 at 6:00 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

Just went to the range. Saw a guy with an ancient TaylorMade Burner Bubble driver. 
I used to have one of those, so it brought back memories. 

Now, I'll get to the point. It still had the sticker on it. The price tag showed $299.95. 

The driver is/was from 1995.

$299.95 in 1995 money is $552.55 in today's money. 

Taylormade Stealth drivers are retailing right now for $579.00.

 

What do you think? Are today's drivers overpriced? 

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Naw.. brah. No way. Unless it was some PGA super mega star's bonafide hand me down.  

And to your point.. $579 seems high from my perspective. I think $400-$450 is what I can palate. 

[Darkfrog]

A brand new, current generation driver can be really expensive, especially if you happen to get fitted into (or just happen to want) an exotic shaft, which can add $200-300 to the base price. Personally, I would rather spend that $600+ on lessons, and look into previous generation drivers at lower cost. The only exception would be a fitting result or advancement in technology so profound that the extra cost is worth it (unlikely).

I've never bought a new, current year's model driver before. The Cobra F9 currently in my bag was purchased after the Speedzone generation was released, and I paid around $270 shipped.

I recently got a PXG 3-wood that is the best 3-wood I have ever had, for whatever reason, it just seems to suit my eye, and I hit it better than any of the other 3-woods I have carried before. Because of this, I am looking to get fitted for a PXG driver, which I think run $300-350 current generation with stock shaft options, which seems downright reasonable compared to the big club makers that come in at $500 or more.

I guess it's really in the eye of the beholder, what tolerance each of us has for spending on a club.

[Piz]

The current price is an IPO in a sense.  If sales meet expectations it would be difficult to argue that the club is overpriced.  

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 2/15/2022 at 6:51 PM, Piz said:

The current price is an IPO in a sense.  If sales meet expectations it would be difficult to argue that the club is overpriced.  

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To your point, Callaway just released it's annual statement. Best year in the history of the company. Granted some of that is acquisition but a lot of it is organic growth as well. I would imagine Taylormade had a similar year. (I use Callaway as an example because their numbers are public and easy to get.) All the big brands are selling A LOT of drivers. The market seems to bear the price. 

 

  On 2/15/2022 at 6:27 PM, GolfLug said:

Naw.. brah. No way. Unless it was some PGA super mega star's bonafide hand me down.  

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I didn't mean that was it's value today.

But in 1995 the Burner Bubble retailed for $299.00, you can look it up. The Ping ISI also retailed for $299 about the same time frame. A Callaway Great Big Bertha as well. If you recall, you could buy an "Imported" Callaway GBB for $400. (Imported meant it was 0.86 COR which was legal in Japan, but not the US where COR was limited to 0.83) $300 was the going price for the latest and the greatest back then. You could wait 6 months to a year and save $100. ... kind of like today, only in 1995 they would have "tour" models that would come out mid-year and the regular model would come down in price. Like today there were also lower cost, high quality, options. For example a Wilson Killer Whale would only set you back $249. 

 

The Hammer, however, is, was and always will be $99.00 .......BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mohearn]

  On 2/15/2022 at 6:50 PM, Darkfrog said:

Personally, I would rather spend that $600+ on lessons, and look into previous generation drivers at lower cost. The only exception would be a fitting result or advancement in technology so profound that the extra cost is worth it (unlikely).

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This is pretty much where I'm at.  I suppose if I could really quantify a couple strokes improvement by buying a new driver, maybe I would, but I just don't see it.  Having said that, ran into a guy at the range in the cold couple days back hitting his new Stealth, loves it 20 yards longer and more forgiving (right.....)  

[GolfLug]

  On 2/15/2022 at 7:36 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

I didn't mean that was it's value today. But in 1995 the Burner Bubble retailed for $299.00, you can look it up.

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Gotcha. The $299 price makes sense back then.  

  On 2/15/2022 at 6:51 PM, Piz said:

The current price is an IPO in a sense.  If sales meet expectations it would be difficult to argue that the club is overpriced.  

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I guess I have to agree. There seems to be a marked shift in buyer valuation and behavior when it comes to discretionary spending. Not certain but IMHO it vaguely follows the thought process behind the Great Resignation, i.e., people are valuing money differently. I hear skiing was similar with record Epic Pass sales ( - the logistical nightmare it created is another story).  

Thankfully, last year or previous models still available at 'reasonable' prices, should I arbitrarily decide I can bunt the 2020 SIM three yards further than my 2019 Cobra. 😊  

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 2/15/2022 at 10:06 PM, mohearn said:

ran into a guy at the range in the cold couple days back hitting his new Stealth, loves it 20 yards longer and more forgiving (right.....)  

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You never know what he was hitting before. Perhaps, he switched out of a 1967 MacGregor Persimmon?

  On 2/15/2022 at 10:40 PM, GolfLug said:

Thankfully, last year or previous models still available at 'reasonable' prices, should I arbitrarily decide I can bunt the 2020 SIM three yards further than my 2019 Cobra. 😊  

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I like that 2019 Cobra. That F9 is a really good driver. Did you get the Avalanche White or the Bright Yellow? 

[GolfLug]

  On 2/16/2022 at 12:44 AM, ChetlovesMer said:

I like that 2019 Cobra. That F9 is a really good driver. Did you get the Avalanche White or the Bright Yellow? 

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Yellow.. has been a good run with it  lately.

[saevel25]

  On 2/15/2022 at 6:00 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

The driver is/was from 1995.

$299.95 in 1995 money is $552.55 in today's money. 

Taylormade Stealth drivers are retailing right now for $579.00.

What do you think? Are today's drivers overpriced? 

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So... For $40 bucks more, you get the technology over the past 27? 

Yea, I think today's drivers are still a good deal. 

Heck, I think Titleist drivers from the early 2000's were around $500 dollars. 

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 2/16/2022 at 2:46 AM, saevel25 said:

So... For $40 bucks more, you get the technology over the past 27? 

Yea, I think today's drivers are still a good deal. 

Heck, I think Titleist drivers from the early 2000's were around $500 dollars. 

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I agree with you. 

I will add. I don't know if they are a "good deal" or not. But I will say that if today's drivers are over-priced, then drivers have always been over priced. 

Once again, however, there's no rule in golf that says you have to have the latest and greatest driver. There are dozens of ways to get a driver that don't require backing up a brinks truck.

By the way, to your point, do you remember when Callaway was selling the FT-I drivers (yeah, that square one)? They experimented with selling heads and shafts separately. You could pay up to $400 for a head alone and up to $500 for a shaft alone. And that had to be 15 years ago or so. 

[mcanadiens]

Brand new drivers have always been beyond my budget. I haven't noticed if they've been creeping up, but I haven't particularly cared to follow them either. My most lavish purchase was a prior-year Callaway Rogue driver that I got for $300. It had about 10 years on my prior driver, so that was good enough for my purposes.

  On 2/15/2022 at 7:36 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

To your point, Callaway just released it's annual statement. Best year in the history of the company. Granted some of that is acquisition but a lot of it is organic growth as well. I would imagine Taylormade had a similar year. (I use Callaway as an example because their numbers are public and easy to get.) All the big brands are selling A LOT of drivers. The market seems to bear the price. 

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You'd normally expect a big company to set it's price points to maximize profit and it sounds like that's what is happening. Prices can't be too far out of whack.

[saevel25]

  On 2/16/2022 at 10:19 AM, ChetlovesMer said:

Once again, however, there's no rule in golf that says you have to have the latest and greatest driver. There are dozens of ways to get a driver that don't require backing up a brinks truck.

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Yep, go to Global Golf or something similar and buy a 2-3 year old driver. 

Still, on brand new drivers, I think they could get away with charging more if you consider how much tech is in them compared to like pre 2005-ish drivers. 

The value of the driver goes down for better players, except for getting fit. High handicap golfers do not benefit as much from fitting in my opinion, but it is beneficial, but they benefit the most from the tech in drivers. Very good players benefit the most from fitting, but also benefit the least from the tech in drivers. The tech improvements has been in finding ways to improve ball speed across the entire clubface. That only benefits those who hit it off-center more often. 

 

[TourSpoon]

I bought the F9 in Avalanche White last year (sale) and the shaft I put in it cost more than the driver (Tour AD XC-6)! 

I just cleaned house and put some old equipment on eBay. Everything was definitely well cared for and no marks on the heads. Here is what I got for each: 

• 2012 Tour Authentic Razr Fit with PX Tour (standard issue) for $110. 
• 2011 Callaway Diablo Octane Tour for $90. 
• 2011 Callaway Diablo Octane Tour Fairway for $65. 

I cannot believe I could average a buck a driver from something a decade old. Now the TA retailed for $600 and I bought it on clearance so maybe half price. Same with the Octanes. Seeing that Callaway could see prices of 400-650 dollars 10 years ago tells me that 500-750 dollars is not outrageous. 

 

 

[RayG]

They will charge what the public is willing to pay. to a point. They aren't going to produce a million units to charge $550+ each. they will produce the numbers that they believe will be enough or just less to create a smaller supply giving the impression that they are 'scarce' and can justify the price. then throw in the latest buzzwords and techno speak that will generate on average about 1.6 yards more and BOOM, everyone wants one. Until next year and the marketing guys say that THIS years model isn't crap like last years.

What the larger names DON'T generally do or promote is produce lower level affordable models for those that want a new driver but don't want a $50 dollar garbage club. TM is 'reproducing' it's very popular M4 for a reasonable price. Older tech, but for most, it will fill in that "new" driver void for a decent price. Cobra, with it's 'sneaky' F9S model was trying to do similar, just in a bit more deceptive manner by removing some of the high tech features of the original F9. TM didn't change the M4, other than a few cosmetic changes with the logo colors. 

If it costs too much, then don't buy it. when they end up not being sold and waste away in some storage area, wait a couple of seasons and older NOS will be available at less than half price somewhere.

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 3/2/2022 at 5:09 PM, RayG said:

They will charge what the public is willing to pay. to a point. They aren't going to produce a million units to charge $550+ each. they will produce the numbers that they believe will be enough or just less to create a smaller supply giving the impression that they are 'scarce' and can justify the price. then throw in the latest buzzwords and techno speak that will generate on average about 1.6 yards more and BOOM, everyone wants one. Until next year and the marketing guys say that THIS years model isn't crap like last years.

What the larger names DON'T generally do or promote is produce lower level affordable models for those that want a new driver but don't want a $50 dollar garbage club. TM is 'reproducing' it's very popular M4 for a reasonable price. Older tech, but for most, it will fill in that "new" driver void for a decent price. Cobra, with it's 'sneaky' F9S model was trying to do similar, just in a bit more deceptive manner by removing some of the high tech features of the original F9. TM didn't change the M4, other than a few cosmetic changes with the logo colors. 

If it costs too much, then don't buy it. when they end up not being sold and waste away in some storage area, wait a couple of seasons and older NOS will be available at less than half price somewhere.

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Somebody has been watching Rick Shiels channel. 

BTW - Cobra isn't being sneaky. The F9S is a slightly less techy version of their popular F9. (I guess they could have called it F9-Cheapo, but that probably wouldn't sell as well as F9S.) It's lower cost to produce and gives folks an opportunity to get a lower cost version of a popular club. You always have the option of buying a used original F9. By the way, Callaway is doing the exact same thing. They came out with the Mavrik 22. It is a lower cost version of the Mavrik. Slightly lower cost shaft, slightly lower cost face technology. Companies have been doing this for years. Taylormade brought back it's JetSpeed driver 3-4 years after it came out. They brought it back as the JetSpeed Black, and it was 200 bucks cheaper than their newest model. 

It's not sneaky. They are telling you exactly what tech you are getting. If you want all the latest tech, go buy the latest model. 

By the way, it's no coincidence TaylorMade brought back the M4. It doesn't have a speed foam injected face, or their all new carbon face. So, it is no threat to their current product offerings. That's why they offer it as an "entry level" TM model. Same as Cobra's F9S or Callaway's Mavrik 22. They are entry level models that don't threaten to cannibalize current sales of the latest and greatest. 

[mohearn]

On a per stroke basis, Drivers are cheap compared to some other clubs:

 

Yards gained per dollar, driver also comes out ahead.  

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 3/2/2022 at 10:22 PM, mohearn said:

On a per stroke basis, Drivers are cheap compared to some other clubs:

 

Yards gained per dollar, driver also comes out ahead.  

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Ha, that's funny.  Nice one.