Ernie Els joins Callaway...

[rockramon]

I believe that Ernie Els is leaving Titleist with immediate effect and that Callaway have bought out the remainder of his contract with them...

[GoingfortheGreen]

That's huge; granted it's not the same as say Tiger leaving his inferior equipment for Callaway , but it's still big news. Maybe Ernie needs to use the "world's straightest driver" to help with his 3-year Tiger plan...

[WaldoPepper]

It just goes to show you that with the professionals it's all about "show me the money".... Ernie could hit it 275 straight down the pipe with a 100 yr old hickory shafted persimmon and a gutta percha ball, so it's not about the new equipment making any kind of miraculous difference for him, but it is about the CASH !! ...Ernie coming online with Callaway simply pads the pockets of Eli and the gang with more of the $$$ that Ernie's dedicated fans work so hard for ! ""Hey! Ernie's using Callaway now so I guess I should dump my new $2000 set for those spanky new FT's""

Too much man,

The Pep.

[rockramon]

Money . money , money is all it's about....

[WaldoPepper]

Exactly Rock....And that mentality has been evidenced, I believe, in the results of the Ryders Cups as of late, especially in that last thrashing the Americans received. They're spending too much time picking and choosing their events to play, snowboarding in Aspen, fishing in the Rockies, playing in corpoate events, doing manufacturer commercials etc. etc. etc to keep their games in top form for such events as the Ryder....They need to get back to the work ethic of the Sneads, Hogans, Nelsons, and other week to week grinders of the past, if they're going to equal the obviously unbalanced playing field that golf has become between the Internationals and the Americans. Kudo's to the Internationals for their superb play and I hope it continues. We saw this past weekend at the AE Match Play, with just 2 Americans in the final 8, just how great the rest of the world is playing.

I think it's fantastic !

BTW: Wow, is all I can say about the Av

The Pep

[flap]

Gentlemen;Titliest has for a long time been cheap when it comes to resigning the tour pro's that represent them.Phill left over money when Titliest told him no raise for renewing and now Ernie.With the money that Titliest makes with golf balls I get the feeling that they do not put the same stock in the club prt of the bussiness.That is not to say they are not great clubs but they do not advertise the clubs as much as the balls.I would say they pay pro's a lot less to play the ball then the clubs so they can set limits and stick by them.Remember they had Tiger at one time also.

[SSandlin]

Does anyone know if there is any truth to a rumor that existed about a year ago that had Nike trying to sign Ernie? I can't remember if it was the beginning of this season or last, but I thought I read somewhere that Nike was interested. I personally wouldn't mind seeing him go back to Taylormade. Whether it was pure coincidence or not, he seemed to win a lot more when he was with them.

[Q.Q.Quillume]

  rockramon said:

I believe that Ernie Els is leaving Titleist with immediate effect and that Callaway have bought out the remainder of his contract with them...

Is this a rumor or a fact? I've been searching the www and can't find any mention of it at all . . .

[Q.Q.Quillume]

  Q.Q.Quillume said:

Is this a rumor or a fact? I've been searching the www and can't find any mention of it at all . . .

I diligently continued my www search and finally found something.

http://www.golfdigest.co.za/stories/...ALLAWAY780.php

[iacas]

  flap said:

Gentlemen;Titliest has for a long time been cheap when it comes to resigning the tour pro's that represent them.Phill left over money when Titliest told him no raise for renewing and now Ernie.With the money that Titliest makes with golf balls I get the feeling that they do not put the same stock in the club prt of the bussiness.That is not to say they are not great clubs but they do not advertise the clubs as much as the balls.I would say they pay pro's a lot less to play the ball then the clubs so they can set limits and stick by them.Remember they had Tiger at one time also.

Your point kinda falls apart if Ernie starts playing Callaway balls, right?

Titleist is largely focused on their line of golf balls, yes. You only have to visit titleist.com weekly to see the faces of players with different logos on their hats (sometimes cropped out) but who play Titleist balls to know that. Doesn't mean they don't make good equipment. It just doesn't make as much money as the golf balls.

[WaldoPepper]

Well, there we have it...Thx QQ .....What Flap says is true also, in that Titleist is cheap and obviously their ball is the bread and butter of their buisness. This of course makes it easy for club focused companies to sway a player over, and the players to leave, on the club issue......As I stated earlier, and the article confirmed, Ernie is going to have his hands more full of Corporate duties for the next while, than golf clubs, which can't help but take away from his game. I guess we'll see just how detrimental Callaway's demands will be on Ernie in the upcoming Presidents Cup.

The Pep

[allin]

  flap said:

Gentlemen;Titliest has for a long time been cheap when it comes to resigning the tour pro's that represent them.Phill left over money when Titliest told him no raise for renewing and now Ernie.With the money that Titliest makes with golf balls I get the feeling that they do not put the same stock in the club prt of the bussiness.That is not to say they are not great clubs but they do not advertise the clubs as much as the balls.I would say they pay pro's a lot less to play the ball then the clubs so they can set limits and stick by them.Remember they had Tiger at one time also.

Paying tour pros is only one way to market your equipment. Titlest probably prefers to rely on club pros, seeding colleges with equipment etc. After all their primary market (other than balls) is the better player. They already have a solid rep. and these players are probably less swayed by what pros play because they have enough experience to choose what works for their game. I think Ping is another that prefers this method. Besides most pros play blades or less forgivng versions of CB. The clubs they sell the most are usually the more forgiving models anyway. So that makes paying pros the golf equivalent of that Mclaren in the window at your Ford Dealer, bragging rights only. ( I know traffic builder, image etc.)

[GoingfortheGreen]

  WaldoPepper said:

...if they're going to equal the obviously unbalanced playing field that golf has become between the Internationals and the Americans.

Don't you think that's a bit much? I mean the Ryder Cup and Accenture Match Play are two events, and are not a large enough sample size to proclaim International player superiority over the Americans.

Last time I checked, out of the nine events on the PGA Tour so far, six were won by Americans. And, no I don't agree that the European tour is at the same level as the PGA Tour. If you want to be a successful golfer (International or American), you have to make on the PGA Tour.

[Shindig]

  flap said:

Remember they had Tiger at one time also.

When? I thought Tiger was Nike from the git-go.

[Q.Q.Quillume]

  Shindig said:

When? I thought Tiger was Nike from the git-go.

Heck, he played Mizuno before he went with Titleist.

After a cursory review of "What's in the Bag" for Tiger on the Golf Channel website, Tiger's clubs were essentially Titleist through 2001 and it appears he switched from a Titleist ball to a Nike ball early in 2001. And he STILL uses a Titleist putter.

[rockramon]

If you look on the Titleist website he has already been removed from thier profile...

[J.P.]

Originally this hit me as - uh oh, they are going to dump Phil. Rumor had it that they were not happy that Phil took so much of the late season off, and that they even wanted to reduce some compensation.

But, after reading that article above, it does make sense that Callaway is simply trying to add a premier European player - this captures customers in both Europe, where Els plays a lot, and his native South Africa.

Probably will keep both guys for now, but if your paid player isn't playing, how long do you keep him?

Maybe because Phil can't make the new FT-5 look forgiving enough for us all to want to purchase, perhaps sign Ernie cause he can.

[Black_Black]

Ahh, what a bummer Ernie is one of my favorite players! and he also used my favorite equipment company! Titleist seems a lot like the Chicago Bears right now! I can't believe they have such a hard time shellin' out the dough! Geez, it's almost a joke how bad they are! They let Phil go after he won a Masters? Now Ernie, with his multiple majors (with Taylormade) but still, a staple on the PGA tour. This is disgusting. I wonder how this will affect his game? i.e. clubs and a new ball if Callaway makes him drop Titleist gear cold turkey?! (he'll probably continue to use his Titleist woods and putter via Callaway headcovers haha) Maybe Titleist will sign someone new? Like a Luke Donald maybe? He'd be a good enough replacement for me hah!