Beres Golf Clubs.

[AnthonyGraziano]

I was playing with a guy yesterday and he had one of the beres drivers and I have never seen it before on a course but I knew their clubs are crazy money. He could hit it straight not far at all but he was pretty old but my question simply is why do people pay 1000$ and more for these clubs?

[Topper]

It's obvious....because they will golf better!

[Chief Broom]

A local driving range is Korean owned and they are a licensed Beres distributor.  The stuff is high (2-3 times other name brang gear), I figure a lot of that has to do with exchange rates, but the owner told me that the quality is top notch.  He's got demo models and I wasn't impressed with the couple of irons I hit (didn't feel any better than my i10's) but I was impressed with a driver I demo'd.  I kept telling him I'd be interested in buying his demo model but I never followed up with him (besides I'm quite happy with my current driver so I don't want to get a used bargain driver for $400-500!).

[Stewie007]

They are deluded into thinking that that $1000 club is going to make them a better golfer. He'd probably hit a $300 Driver just as far and straight.

When I was somewhat on top of my game, my Driver was no problem; it didn't cost $1000 bucks; let alone 400.

[Topper]

I was being sarcastic with my previous post.  But here's a legitimate factor in the pricing of many things including golf clubs.

But first a short parable to demonstrate my point.....I'm on a Dean's Advisory Council for a university.  It has been interesting looking at universities from a business perspective versus a student perspective.  Each year we review tuition pricing, recruiting numbers, scholarships awarded, etc.  As most of you know, tuitions nationwide have risen well above the rate of inflation for a long time.  Some of that is certainly needed to cover salaries and capital improvements, but I asked why we don't price tuitions to keep the university profitable but still more affordable.  I was not surprised to learn that one of the factors is marketing and brand development.  In short, if you don't raise tuition compared to your peers then parents (and prospective students) will think that the university must not be that good....or at least as good as the more expensive schools.  It's a vicious circle.  Parents complain about high tuition but are suspect of the school's credentials unless the tuition is high.

The connection to equipment pricing should be obvious at this point.  A company like Beres is not going to compete with the marketing clout of the "big boys" and is not going to make money on high volume.  It would seem that Beres is taking the "boutique" manufacturer approach using high pricing to play on people's inherent assumption that more expensive is probably better quality and more exclusive.  Beres clubs may in fact be high quality but are unlikely to be any better than a $300 driver.

As far as I'm concerned, there is a segment of any market that can be served by manufacturers like Beres.  If their customers are happy paying the prices asked for a decent club and it keeps them playing golf, then it great for the sport overall.  As for me, I'm at the other end of the spectrum and in the "Ebay market segment" buying used clubs.

[AnthonyGraziano]

I dont care if it makes me hit a pitching wedge 200 yards...im not spendin 30 grand on irons I just wanted to know what makes them so much money.

[kurisu]

Beres is a product line made by Honma, the Japanese maker. Here they also have another line aimed at high handicapper (but still stupidly expensive) called "Athport". There is a Honma shop right in front of my office building and they -always- have special sales going on. I wonder why...

The cheapest 6 clubs iron set starts at 120,000 yen and the ones with gold everywhere can fetch upwards of 600,000 yen. I haven't seen the recent prices for their drivers.

Those clubs are usually popular with the wealthy senior golfers, as their custom shafts are erring on the soft side (in general, but especially the "Athport" line) and they have countless custom options for shaft colors, head colors, various shiny inserts, etc...

Everything is supposed to be "hand made/finished" but to be honest, the difference lies in the marketing and the target audience rather than the performances.