Driver vs Driver, Golf Channel and Wilson

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Valleygolfer said:

I just don't see much "Wilson" on the golf course cept for their golf balls.

It really feels as though you just have a hatred for Wilson or something, though.

A guy I play a lot of golf with has a few sets of Wilson blades.

A couple of kids on my golf team have Wilson clubs.

They do okay. They're not one of the big big companies that immediately spring to mind (Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade, PING?), but they do just fine.

[Valleygolfer]

17 minutes ago, 70sSanO said:

I do agree with you on how profitable that particular driver will be.  I also question whether the show will pull people in or push them away.  I have hit the D200 and although it was nice,  at the time I went with a Ping G30.

As for apples and oranges, the exact details of the issues are meaningless as the result is the same... the bottom line.  If you are not making money does it matter if was due to bad mgmt forcing out product or bad product that mgmt allows to go out... or just a combination of a lot of bad decisions. The result is the same.

Regardless, Wilson golf is turning a profit with a lower advertising and sponsor program.  They only have a few tour players.  It is just their approach.  Time will tell how things work out over the long haul.

It is obvious that Nike's approach didn't help their bottom line or develop enough long term player support.

John

I agree that it is about the bottom line but there are different reasons for discontinuing clubs or not. Wilson has "less desirable" pros and less more than likely less overhead, targeting a less expensive line of clubs available. At least is my impression. They also have developed many other sports equipment forever that helps with name recognition without major advertising as well as survival in less lucrative ventures.

Nike wanted to be the top in golf and paid for the best players. I don't think they were able to achieve this and decided to pull out of the club making business, as a business decision. I am not sure if it is as much of a failure or bad decision as recognition of the current market. These differences is why I say apples to oranges.

12 minutes ago, iacas said:

It really feels as though you just have a hatred for Wilson or something, though.

A guy I play a lot of golf with has a few sets of Wilson blades.

A couple of kids on my golf team have Wilson clubs.

They do okay. They're not one of the big big companies that immediately spring to mind (Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade, PING?), but they do just fine.

I do not dislike Wilson. I did love their baseball gloves. I didn't care for the way the show ended. It got really hazy on what club was performing or if it actually performs. They have their place. I would not mind having a set Staff blades to mess around with actually. Wilson is just B class golf equipment in a lot of peoples eyes, even if they do have "A" equipment. Every so often you see them in a bag but I have seen Tommy Armor's in more bags than Wilson's. Just my experience.

[newtogolf]

3 hours ago, 70sSanO said:

My point was more along the lines that the company that sponsored possibly the GOAT and one of the top current golfers went out of business even with their high profile investments.

And Taylormade is rumored to be on the auction block without any takers, so it seems odd to bash a company that has been around for decades and is making a profit just because you don't get out much.

John

Nike did not have a history of making great clubs, they signed Tiger and got into the club making business, trying to play catch up with all the big manufacturers who had a head start.  

Wilson has a long history of making golf clubs and they are better received outside of the US and working hard to regain their popularity here, which is likely why they paid for the Driver vs Driver show.  

Whether you liked the show or not, it put the Wilson name in front of more golfers than any other medium could, the question is does the hype translate into sales.  

[Rainmaker]

Check it out - it's available . . it's selling for around $445 on sites like 2ndswing, dicks, etc.

http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/drivers/driver-vs-driver-winner

"Visible Swing Active Technology" . . . wtf . .it's a stripe.  

Still - cool looking driver and I'll certainly give it another look once it hits the used bin.  

[Joey G]

5 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

"Visible Swing Active Technology" . . wtf . .it's a stripe.  

Putters have had this for how many years?

[1badbadger]

On 10/3/2016 at 8:48 AM, krupa said:

So did Wilson fire their design staff?  Is the design staff competing?  Or did Wilson just give their staff a big F- You?

 

On 10/4/2016 at 11:08 AM, iacas said:

No… this is just for some publicity and the small chance they actually get some good ideas. They probably own the rights to any intellectual property the contestants create during the process of the show, or something like that.

Golf Channel is replaying episodes today of this show. I didn't watch it when it originally aired, mostly because they took a cool idea and did some sleazy things in the fine print of the terms and conditions.  A couple of examples are:

• If the Producers determine that you are one of the Contestants, then for $100.00 USD you will sell and transfer to Wilson the full and exclusive right, title and interest in and to all Intellectual Property rights, patents and rights of any kind.

This means if you were chosen to be on the show but didn't win, you will have sold your driver concept to Wilson for $100.  If you have spent $5-10k for patent applications or invested money in developing your idea, you will net $100 and they will own your design.

• For the winner to have a shot of actually collecting the $500k, the program must be produced and aired on The Golf Channel, a winner is selected during the program, Wilson elects to market a driver based on the winner's concept, and the agreement is not breached.

In other words, there were a lot of ways to not get the grand prize money.  For example, if the entire contest was filmed, and Wilson uses your design, but for whatever reason the series did not air, the $500k would not be paid. 

• Contestants are to warrant that “your Entry does not infringe upon the patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, rights of privacy, publicity or other Intellectual Property or other rights of any person or entity.”

Not only is there a good chance you will sell your driver concept for $100 if you are a contestant, but if your design infringes on any patents and there is legal action, you have to pay any attorney fees and penalties!

I don't know how this turned out for the contestants, but based on the terms and conditions the upside is so slim that I can't imagine participating in something like this.

[HitAndGiggle]

My wife and I both have a crush on the lady hostess. 

[1badbadger]

3 hours ago, HitAndGiggle said:

My wife and I both have a crush on the lady hostess. 

Nice!  I don't think a lot of wives would normally be interested in a show about developing a prototype golf club, but it sounds like you have a shared interest!

[Missouri Swede]

It's ba--ack

[Valleygolfer]

48 minutes ago, Missouri Swede said:

It's ba--ack

I honestly just thought about how stupid that show was the other day and then it's back... 

[iacas]

Season 2 is on now…

[rehmwa]

I tried....watch about 17 seconds total.

nope

[SPJr]

I watched it... The first episode wasn't great, but I'm interested to see how the show and designs unfold.

This is coming from a guy who nearly uses a complete Wilson Staff set of clubs and currently bags the Triton, which won the last Driver vs. Driver show.

I didn't watch then, because I wasn't a golfer -and- my decision to use the Triton driver has nothing to do with the show.

My decision to watch the show has nothing to do with the brand, however. It could be Callaway, Ping, or.... Slazenger and I would probably still be interested enough to watch if I didn't have anything better to do on a Tuesday night at 9pm.

I will say, I feel like I read a lot of hate towards Wilson. Especially on this forum... In this case specifically, the show seems to only make the brand even less legit in many peoples eyes.

Oh well. 

[Vinsk]

The only thing I don’t care much for regarding Wilson is the show. I watched the first episode. I could do without the usual format of ‘reality show’ drama. One guy’s design was so bad it was obviously put on the show for theatrics. Presentations are often mundane. I probably won’t bother to watch any more.

[3jacker]

Sooo.... is this better or worse than the all time gold standard "Shotmakers?"

[Missouri Swede]

8 hours ago, Vinsk said:

One guy’s design was so bad it was obviously put on the show for theatrics.

And he ended up in the hospital.

My wife asked if I saw that one coming (since I had diagnosed appendicitis watching a Big Break episode a few years back). This time I didn’t. 

[Missouri Swede]

Okay, I DVR'd the final episode.

10 minutes in, the show went to a commercial. For a new Wilson driver. And so I'm not going to watch the next 50 minutes.

They did something similar last time:

 

[rehmwa]

On 10/4/2018 at 2:50 PM, 3jacker said:

Sooo.... is this better or worse than the all time gold standard "Shotmakers?"

we could rank them from 1 to 10:

1. there is not a #1
2. there is not a #2
3. there is not a #3
4. Big Break (early seasons)
5. there is not a #5
6. there is not a #6
7. Big Break (later seasons)
8. there is not a #8
9. ShipSticks Commercials
10. tie for last - blatant advertisement for Topgolf, blatant advertisement for some resort down south, blatant advertisement for Wilson

These advert-shows are marginally worse than the series of McLesson programs.

Top golf could have been better if they did it in a hot climate, since the ladies weren't picked for skill, rather for looks.  At least the creeper golfers would have watched.

Edited November 15, 2018 by rehmwa