Dick's Sporting Goods Fires In-Store Golf Pros

[Mayday]

I bought a Taylormade Superfast 2.O TP Driver at Edwin Watts online store two years ago. It was offered as "New" and "in original packaging" but it arrived with a big scuff mark on the face. It didn't even have the type of shaft (Matrix HD-6) that was supposed to come factory. It had been reshafted. Why I didn't return it I will never know.  The clank it made when struck sounded nothing like another "genuine" TM driver I owned. It had to be counterfit. Chinese copy.   I never bought from Edwin Watts again. I've had better luck with Rock Bottom and "In the Hole."  The prices that Global Golf charges for used golf equipment seems ridiculous.  Caveat Emptor.

I definitely would've returned it or filed a case with my credit card company/bank and reported it to Taylormade. Just like any other industry "they say" the counterfeiting takes more money away than anything. Guy on the Jimmy Roberts piece was sent a free driver from Ping once he realized he had a fake. Ive seen the best prices on ebay (hate to say it) but with yelp or a quick google search you can easily find the reputation of a company or person. If the club(s) dont end up with rattle most people never know they have counterfeit clubs.

Sadly, Golf is on the the decline and you will see it more and more. It has to do with the economic climate, costs and time spent. People are no longer inclined to spend their money so frivolously for casual sport. We here are becoming the amateur minority.

Guess that means there will people who actually care about the sport left. Lots of people buy a new set of clubs every year if not sooner which is ridiculous whether you have a billion dollars or not. Majority of the clubs on ebay/other forums barely have been used because they go out and but the latest and end up with the wrong shaft. wrong lie, etc or theyre selling this years staff bag because they find they have no use and/or space for it. They cant get distance or whatever they're looking for and just give up. I started on varsity level sport teams as a freshman in high school (we went to CIF every year) and I haven't had to practice/study or work as hard at any other sport like I have in golf. I've seen sooo many people on forums asking what clubs/shaft etc they should get because they say they suck and are too embarrassed to get fitted.

I never knew they had PGA pros at dicks. When they said "golf pros" on their commercial, I just assumed they were exaggerating ...like when commercials say to go see the lending pros or the home pros or whatever, lol. They should have said "PGA pros".

In any case, I guess I can see why they changing direction. When I shop at a place like dicks I don't expect or need a golf pro to help me. It's just not part of what I associate with a big box sporting goods shopping experience.

I'm sure the pros were good but I'd honestly be skeptical of anybody but my own teacher helping me choose clubs. Not that I even do that - I just buy used clubs based on research alone because new ones not worth the $$$$

Only reason I went to Dicks in the first place was because THE PGA Tour and Golf Digest promote them so heavily. I agree with you on the new clubs not being worth the money. . .Im tying to decide now if I should get last years X forged or this years Apex pros. . . Golfsmiths used 2013 X forged are the same price (if not more expensive than online retailers Apexs and have a few knicks) and online for a new set its only like a 100-200 for the 2014 Apexs and most places that price includes shipping, your choice of shafts and even being cut to your desired length.

[daledunlop]

I for one received great help from the PGA Pro at Dick's in Fort Myers - he was a cousin of and spitting image of Ben Curtis. I feel for all you guys and gals.

[Vinsk]

Sadly, Golf is on the the decline and you will see it more and more. It has to do with the economic climate, costs and time spent. People are no longer inclined to spend their money so frivolously for casual sport. We here are becoming the amateur minority.

Well, having limited tee times available and taking 5+hrs to play a round at every public course around...with 6 minutes between tee times and seeing a mass of carts lined up at the first tee EVERY SINGLE DAY.....not buying it....I play all over and it's the same everywhere....

[ay33660]

Well, having limited tee times available and taking 5+hrs to play a round at every public course around...with 6 minutes between tee times and seeing a mass of carts lined up at the first tee EVERY SINGLE DAY.....not buying it....I play all over and it's the same everywhere....

That is what I am observing up here in Vancouver BC, Canada.

Wait list of 8 years in the full time men's category at Capilano Golf and Country Club with initiation fees of at least $90,000. (Before everyone jumps all over about the high cost of initiation fees don't forget that here in Vancouver a 50 by 100 foot bare lot in the West Side will sell for $3.5 million everyday and a slightly larger lot with a view will sell for over $10 million so everything is relative.)

Almost impossible to get onto the good public courses. Ask anyone how difficult it is to get a tee time at Fraserview Golf Course.

The only people that are crying the blues are golf course developers and some golf club manufactures (ie. Jack Nicklaus and Mark King of Taylormade).

Jack's work or lack there of is more related to the health of the economy and the housing industry than the decline in golf.

Taylormade's drop in sales is mostly due to their short product cycle. They will introduce at least 2 or 3 new clubs each year. How sustainable is that? I used to buy a new Taylormade driver every year because it is perceived to be better than last year's model. I stopped that two years ago and now I only buy from Titlelist or Ping. Both of those companies have longer product cycles.

[Vinsk]

Yep. I'm at Disney World right now. All courses have been packed full.

[ay33660]

Frankly I would welcome the bankruptcy of Taylormade. It will just make my preferred companies Titlelist and Ping stronger.

[Chris223]

Frankly I would welcome the bankruptcy of Taylormade. It will just make my preferred companies Titlelist and Ping stronger.

Yes all the people that work for those companies being out of work like the pros from Dicks will surely help the economy and golf industry

[David in FL]

Frankly I would welcome the bankruptcy of Taylormade. It will just make my preferred companies Titlelist and Ping stronger.

Without strong competition, guess what happens to the prices of the products that you buy from your "preferred companies"........ :-\

[Shorty]

Frankly I would welcome the bankruptcy of Taylormade. It will just make my preferred companies Titlelist and Ping stronger.

A very charitable sentiment.

At least he didn't call them "Titliest" -

Still, I prefer Titleist to Titelist.

He must be a huge fan.

[vangator]

Misspelled Titleist in a browser once. Left out the "e". Didn't get golf clubs. :-O

[ay33660]

A very charitable sentiment.

At least he didn't call them "Titliest" -

Still, I prefer Titleist to Titelist.

He must be a huge fan.

My bad I was typing too quickly. I seek a most humble forgiveness from the spelling police.

Just not a fan of Taylormade and especially Mark King.

[ay33660]

Without strong competition, guess what happens to the prices of the products that you buy from your "preferred companies"........

As I have noted in other posts I don't have an issue paying more for a good product.

In fact I don't mind paying more to shop at my club pro shop instead of big box retailers.

[David in FL]

As I have noted in other posts I don't have an issue paying more for a good product.

In fact I don't mind paying more to shop at my club pro shop instead of big box retailers.

If you get better service in the pro shop, that may be worth an additional upcharge, but all other things being equal, most people prefer to pay less for the same product.

Without the same strong competition, there's little to drive innovation in the market either, and we could still be playing our beloved persimmons......

Competition always benefits the consumer in the free market.

[newtogolf]

If you get better service in the pro shop, that may be worth an additional upcharge, but all other things being equal, most people prefer to pay less for the same product.

Without the same strong competition, there's little to drive innovation in the market either, and we could still be playing our beloved persimmons......

Competition always benefits the consumer in the free market.

I agree, while I'm not a fan of Taylor Made products or King, they provide choices in the industry and force the others to step up their game from both a technology and price standpoint.  While I prefer the business practices of Ping, Titleist and Mizuno over TM and Callaway I wouldn't want to be limited to only Titleist and Mizuno products.

[Lihu]

My bad I was typing too quickly. I seek a most humble forgiveness from the spelling police.

Just not a fan of Taylormade and especially Mark King.

Looks like you won't be buying any Adidas shoes either. He got promoted.

[imsys0042]

Looks like you won't be buying any Adidas shoes either. He got promoted.

It's hard to discount the number of good people who work there, despite a lot of people not liking their business practices.   I personally think that TaylorMade has screwed the pooch.   You can't shove so many options at people in such a short time and claim it's the next best thing w/o making some people mad.   While I won't buy into their insane product cycles any more, I will give some of their other stuff a look.

I used to feel the same way about Nike, but there are a heck of a lot of good people there.  Even if you don't like the people calling the shots, so if they offer good stuff I consider it.

[newtogolf]

It's hard to discount the number of good people who work there, despite a lot of people not liking their business practices.   I personally think that TaylorMade has screwed the pooch.   You can't shove so many options at people in such a short time and claim it's the next best thing w/o making some people mad.   While I won't buy into their insane product cycles any more, I will give some of their other stuff a look.

I used to feel the same way about Nike, but there are a heck of a lot of good people there.  Even if you don't like the people calling the shots, so if they offer good stuff I consider it.

The problem is the method public companies are evaluated almost forces them to adopt business practices that they wouldn't if they were not public.

Taylor Made / Adidas Golf comes out with the white driver and a outstanding marketing campaign which causes their clubs to fly off the shelves.  Record revenues up 32% in first quarter of 2012 set a new bar and while they rode the wave for a few years, it's difficult for any business to sustain peak growth.  TM knew they were saturating the driver market with white drivers so to stimulate sales they shortened their product life cycles even more, went back to black and gray and came up with the SLDR. to try and entice people to buy 2 drivers or more per year rather than 1.

Bigger claims, broader marketing campaigns and additional products were not going to prevent TM from declining sales, Adidas has reported reduced revenue and issued profit warnings the last 3 quarters and their stock is the lowest it's been in 2 years.  It's not a shock people are getting laid off, when a business can't find a way to increase revenue, they cut costs.  It's unfortunate people had to lose their jobs, but it's likely some of them were hired during the R1 / R11 days and might not have ever been hired had TM not had the revenue surge it did.

Callaway is a year behind, after many years of struggling and cutting they had their best year in 2013.  They carried momentum into this year due to the success of the X Hot but it appears it's slowed down and the reintroduction of Big Bertha was now as exciting as they hoped.  I expect we'll see some announcements in Q1 2015 that their numbers are down from the previous year and by Q3 they may announce layoffs too.

Companies are making bad decisions to keep shareholders and market analysts happy but in the end they know it's not the best thing for the business.

[imsys0042]

The problem is the method public companies are evaluated almost forces them to adopt business practices that they wouldn't if they were not public. Companies are making bad decisions to keep shareholders and market analysts happy but in the end they know it's not the best thing for the business.

Very true, and very sad state of things. You have to have respect for companies that play the long game. They tend to do really well, or miss their market completely. This is a little off topic, but it shows how things cascade down. Taylormade blows it and takes Dicks down with it. At least their golf business. The sad thing is that TM does have good R&D.;