Brand Loyalty...Seems to matter more to Golfers than most will admit!

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

I think that by calling someone with all one brand "brand loyal" can be somewhat misleading. I can throw together a 100% Mizuno bag (except the actual bag since I don't want to be mocked as a fanboy) but it's a snapshot of Mizuno in the past. Am I Mizuno brand loyal with 20 year old blades, 18 year old wedges, a 12 old putter, and a 4 year old driver?  What current Mizuno gear gets me excited about giving the Mizuno Corporation [sic] more of my money? To be completely honest - none of it does. I am loyal to what Mizuno was in the 1990s wrt wedges and irons and more recently wrt their woods. I wasn't a fan of their woods garbage in the 1990s.

If a person is truly "brand loyal" they'll stay in touch with all that brand's new offerings and drool over their brochure every spring. Not sure any brand of anything ever does that for me at any one time - they all have strengths and weaknesses. I could say that Titleist would be the closest, but I won't use a Titleist  ball (personal reasons) and don't plan on replacing any of my gear with what would essentially be replacements in kind.

Agree.  Id also add that being brand-loyal means you think that your brand of choice is superior and everything else is junk.  I have a lot of love for Mizuno but Im also not about to fool myself by thinking that the other OEMs dont make good stuff too.  I simply love the soft feel and the weighting of Mizunos.  At the same time though, lately Ive had flings with Wilson, Cleveland and Bridgestone.  I just come back to Mizuno because I love that soft feel.

[bigwave916]

Quote:

IMHO, brand loyal would mean you play one brand and only one brand, as we can see from all the previous posts, that is not the case.  It seems to me, that we find a brand for a particular part of the game that we like and tend to stick with them, but we carry several brands in our bags at one time, I know that is the case for me.  I wouldn't really call that brand loyal, don't know what I would call it, I'm not that ingenious to come up with a term!

Originally Posted by millencolinman

I think it's more common for people to dislike a particular brand. I would fall in that category, when buying my new clubs this year I gave every brand a fair shot except for Nike. I'm sure they make very nice clubs but I refuse to let the swoosh enter my bag. I just find it hard to trust a company that makes crappy shows to make my expensive golf set.

I think you're onto something there.  I can't see myself purchasing anything from Callaway and I don't even know why. Nike is another story. The day Charles Barkley spit on that little girl (unintentional, the target, not the act of spitting on someone) I boxed everything I owned that had a Nike swoosh on it and packed it in a box and shippped it via UPS to their Oregon headquarters. Not that it mattered to them, but it sure as hell mattered to me. (Damn good thing they weren't in the golf business just yet.)

I'm leaning towards Lumpuckeroo's suggestion that we are more likely to be brand loyal to certain parts of our game. I thnik that's where I am today. I proudly carry an Odyssey staff bag and I wouldn't try to putt with anything else. I have Cleveland wedges and I think they are the best ever made and I wouldn't buy another brand wedge.  I had always played Wilson woods & irons unitl the company just got so far down in technology and quality that I jumped ship (I understand they are better now). I went to Hogan for irons but had to find a driver and fairway wood/metal so I ended up with Taylormade. Hogan was sold to Spalding (another company I hate) and then went out of business so when I needed irons I chose Taylormade.

For balls, I've always been loyal to Titleist, even though I've tried others from time to time.

Shoes: FootJoys, I rotate 3 pair, one new pair every other year, throw away the oldest pair, and keep second oldest pair for practice and casual rounds.

Golf shirts?  Never had a brand loyalty until just recently, and I'm still torn (pun intended) between two..........UnderArmour & Antigua