Kirkland (Costco) Premium Golf Ball

[Patch]

I had a birthday this past weekend, and recieved a box of these cheapie,  4 piece wonders. Going to give them a try Tuesday. I figure 4 rounds in the next week or so, will give me an idea of how they play. Might get a little chipping/putting practice in today. 

As for shopping at Costco, I don't. No particular reason for not shopping there. Just never thought about it. 

[gregsandiego]

8 hours ago, newtogolf said:

You can pick times that aren't busy.  Costco is also very good at having a lot of cashiers working, I've never waited more than 10 minutes in a line.  

As for cost, yes, bulk items cost more but they last longer and the cost per unit is usually significantly less.   The problem is that Costco has so many great products that you usually end up buying something you didn't intend to buy and likely don't need.  

Yes - things you don't need.

Switch to non-Cosco for a while and compare your spending. I'm sure it will go down.

Regarding those incredible golf balls, can you buy them online or at eBay?

The one good deal at Cosco: those cheapo lunches. i used to walk over to the Irvine Cosco and get the salad. Sometimes I'd have to flash my card that expired 10 years ago, sometimes not.

[iacas]

18 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

Yes - things you don't need.

Switch to non-Cosco for a while and compare your spending. I'm sure it will go down.

That doesn't make any sense.

Look, I don't have a Costco within about 90 miles of me, but we do have a Sam's Club. The things we need - the non-perishables - that we buy in larger quantities definitely save us money. Toilet paper, for example, is significantly cheaper there. Some school supplies. Lunch items. Etc.

If you're entire basis is that you're tricked into buying things you don't otherwise need, then all one has to do is simply not do that.

P.S. Sam's Club has a hot dog combo that's $1.70.  I think the pizza combo is well under $3.

P.P.S.

[newtogolf]

28 minutes ago, gregsandiego said:

Yes - things you don't need.

Switch to non-Cosco for a while and compare your spending. I'm sure it will go down.

Regarding those incredible golf balls, can you buy them online or at eBay?

The one good deal at Cosco: those cheapo lunches. i used to walk over to the Irvine Cosco and get the salad. Sometimes I'd have to flash my card that expired 10 years ago, sometimes not.

You can buy the Kirkland golf balls online but they are out of stock until 11/21/16.  

[Lihu]

I decided to play the one I found and played it yesterday. It plays pretty well, about as good or better than the B330S I found on Friday. I only made one flop shot on the 6th hole which stuck like Velcro. Seems to fly a bit shorter than my proV1x though, but that could easily have been me as I wasn't hitting all that well yesterday.

All in all, I would say it's a decent ball. Albeit, most stuff I buy from Costco is pretty good though. . .When I run out of balls sometime in the next decade or so, I'll probably buy these. . .or I might end up finding a bunch and add them to my motley assortment of balls.

[No Mulligans]

I have a Costco three miles away, we (my wife mostly) are there every week.  All our grocery shopping is done at Costco and Trader Joe's.  90% or so of our gas for the cars is purchased at Costco.  We probably save over $1,000, maybe way over a $1000, a year this way.  In addition we get about $1,000 a year cash back using our Costco Visa (was AmEx previously).

My wife was at Costco this morning, in addition to lettuce and trash bags and Coaches Oatmeal etc.... all the usual type items, she bought a Hamilton Toaster for $20 which was less than the Amazon price.  A couple of weeks ago we bought a garbage disposal way below the Home Depot price.  (Both those appliances needed to be replaced, prior ones had died).  Not exactly impulse items.  

We can go months without going to those higher priced grocery store chains like Vons or Ralphs.

[gregsandiego]

13 hours ago, iacas said:

That doesn't make any sense.

Look, I don't have a Costco within about 90 miles of me, but we do have a Sam's Club. The things we need - the non-perishables - that we buy in larger quantities definitely save us money. Toilet paper, for example, is significantly cheaper there. Some school supplies. Lunch items. Etc.

If you're entire basis is that you're tricked into buying things you don't otherwise need, then all one has to do is simply not do that.

P.S. Sam's Club has a hot dog combo that's $1.70.  I think the pizza combo is well under $3.

P.P.S.

Who so much concern about going off topic? Besides I threw in the line about the golf balls - doesn't that count ?

 

[OSSO BUCCO]

I work very closely with COSTCO and know their mark up structure which is significantly lower than any of their competition.  In addition they are very demanding concerning the quality of their products.  The majority of their income is derived from the annual membership fee.  You cannot go wrong buying from COSTCO. 

[No Mulligans]

1 hour ago, OSSO BUCCO said:

I work very closely with COSTCO and know their mark up structure which is significantly lower than any of their competition.  In addition they are very demanding concerning the quality of their products.  The majority of their income is derived from the annual membership fee.  You cannot go wrong buying from COSTCO. 

The majority of their revenue and gross profit comes from merchandise sales. If you do the math, 11.2 billion in gross profit from net sales, 2.5 billion from membership fees.  Taking that down to net income, that is not reported between these two revenue sources and would be arbitrary. (From their 2015 annual report:

 

[dennyjones]

Whatever...

I played again today 11/15/2016 !! with the ball.    At my level, I'm not sure it is significantly better than what I was playing but it is a good ball and cheaper.    I'm sold.  

 

Side track...I can't believe it is nice enough min-November to golf in mid-Michigan.     +1

Can I +1 my own post?

[Patch]

A buddy and myself played 27 holes today. Our scores were 120, and 124 respectively. I had to buy the grub and beverages. He played his usual prov-1, and I played my usual e7 Bridgestone. On different holes we both played this new Kirkland ball, and each other's brand ball.  We only counted what we considered "good ball contact" shots. I have to say there is no science here. Just relating our own opinions. Also niether of us are long hitters of the ball. 230 - 240 off the tee is pretty good for both of us. 

First off on full shots, off good lies, the Kirkland averaged a few yards shorter than the other two. Not shorter by much, but noticeable. We used GPS to measure our shots for distance. All three balls flight patterns looked to be about the same as to what our normal shots would look like.  

On 100 yard approach shots, the e7 was the better ball for us, followed by the pv-1, and Kirkland. Still the difference was noticeable, but no big deal. 

Green side chips, and shorter pitches, the difference between the 3 balls was not a big deal. All three, when hit correctly, did what we wanted the ball to do, with what ever club we used. 

As for putting, we both seem to putt better with our normal gamers. The Kirkland, again was a tad bit shorter, than we were accustomed to with our putting strokes. We attributed this difference to our individual comfort zones when playing our gamers. 

All in all, the Kirkland ball, for the price, is a pretty decent ball I think. My partener thought so too. It seems to fit in the premium ball discription. I think anyone wanting to save a few bucks on the price of balls, will find this ball quite fitting.

After the rounds the Kirkland ball looked pretty good. No noticeable damage noted. We both wear hearing aids, so impact sound was not noted. 

Again this opinion is from a couple of old dudes who are some what distanced challenged. Longer hitters might come to different conclusions. We play again Thursday.

[rehmwa]

all the comparisons so far are people hitting the ball.  including some of the more thorough ones

still waiting on a study with the automated swing arm - human variation is still just too much for what we are likely looking for

[Lihu]

18 minutes ago, rehmwa said:

all the comparisons so far are people hitting the ball.  including some of the more thorough ones

still waiting on a study with the automated swing arm - human variation is still just too much for what we are likely looking for

True, but isn't most of what makes you like a ball or not in the "feel"?

 

4 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

The majority of their revenue and gross profit comes from merchandise sales. If you do the math, 11.2 billion in gross profit from net sales, 2.5 billion from membership fees.  Taking that down to net income, that is not reported between these two revenue sources and would be arbitrary. (From their 2015 annual report:

 

I think Gross Margin just takes out the cost of goods, but not the operating costs? The net profit is likely a lot less? I'm an engineer and not a business type, so pardon my ignorance if I'm wrong. . .

[gregsandiego]

2 hours ago, rehmwa said:

all the comparisons so far are people hitting the ball.  including some of the more thorough ones

still waiting on a study with the automated swing arm - human variation is still just too much for what we are likely looking for

Agreed. I consider the ball a 2nd order effect at most - at least for me. A lucky shot and I'll hit a range ball further than a Pro V1.

 

[OSSO BUCCO]

18 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

The majority of their revenue and gross profit comes from merchandise sales. If you do the math, 11.2 billion in gross profit from net sales, 2.5 billion from membership fees.  Taking that down to net income, that is not reported between these two revenue sources and would be arbitrary. (From their 2015 annual report:

COSTCO NET INCOME:

I will give you a "mulligan" on your statement.  Note that COSTCO's membership fees as a percentage of their pre-tax income is about 68.8% for the past 5 years

[rehmwa]

13 hours ago, Lihu said:

True, but isn't most of what makes you like a ball or not in the "feel"?

 

Yup - so those guys' reviews also don't mean much to me since my 'feel' isn't going to be the same as their 'feel'.  So I really just need a starting point with objective data with the human variable removed.

In any case, until I find a few, I won't be assessing them.  Even then, I need to get a lot better.  (I don't even mind hitting Top Flites or Pinnacles - let alone the cargo shorts thing and not wearing a nice watch or anything - , so what do I know?)

[OSSO BUCCO]

See https://www.google.com/#q=costco+membership+income

[No Mulligans]

4 hours ago, OSSO BUCCO said:

COSTCO NET INCOME:

I will give you a "mulligan" on your statement.  Note that COSTCO's membership fees as a percentage of their pre-tax income is about 68.8% for the past 5 years

That's very arbitrary.  Aren't you going to allocate any of their costs against the membership fees?  You couldn't have membership fees unless you have a Costco and all the associated costs.  You need to look at it as a percentage of gross profit not pretax income.  (I am an accountant, a CPA)