Kirkland (Costco) Premium Golf Ball

[jsgolfer]

5 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Check Ebay prices...Somebody is selling 2 dozen for $75 and has 9 bids.   That is quite a profit.

Good profit until you have to replace the two dozen balls.    

[jkelley9]

Well this does make me kind of sad. I'm not all that familiar with corporate business and politics (although I do start my MBA on Monday! lol) but it seems like if Costco can sell this type of ball for $15/doz, through Nassau as the manufacturer, even if it was short lived from this or that, why are we paying ~$45/doz for something basically the same? 

Actually that's not really my question, I get the whole "you pay for quality" thing but I'm just surprised that if Kirkland is able to make a nearly identical ball without any patent infringements (I guess it's more identical to this "Quattro" ball?) and let's say they don't have the 99.999% quality control, but maybe 99%? I'd take the 1% hit on QC and pay a third the price. That's just where my game is right now. That's where a lot of players' games are, I think.

I play different golf when I have a sleeve of ProV1's. I cringe over the ball to some unmeasurable degree because I think to myself "dang, if I lose this ball in the water, that's like $4!"

I guess I'll have to either go to Snell or maybe back to used Bridgestone e6's.

[rmenary]

I just played my first round with the K-sig in Florida Sunday. I can honestly say, they were as good as advertised for sure. Great ball flight, long and soft around the green.  I wish I would have loaded up and bought more than 10 dozen.

 

[iacas]

14 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

Well this does make me kind of sad. I'm not all that familiar with corporate business and politics (although I do start my MBA on Monday! lol) but it seems like if Costco can sell this type of ball for $15/doz, through Nassau as the manufacturer, even if it was short lived from this or that, why are we paying ~$45/doz for something basically the same?

Because it's not the same.

For all we know these were stolen dimple patterns and/or manufacturing processes. China, Korea, etc. aren't exactly known for avoiding infringement.

Never mind quality control and other things that can affect the cost to produce goods.

14 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

Actually that's not really my question, I get the whole "you pay for quality" thing but I'm just surprised that if Kirkland is able to make a nearly identical ball without any patent infringements (I guess it's more identical to this "Quattro" ball?) and let's say they don't have the 99.999% quality control, but maybe 99%? I'd take the 1% hit on QC and pay a third the price. That's just where my game is right now. That's where a lot of players' games are, I think.

What if it's 95%? 90% And what if the ball does infringe on other patents?

14 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

I guess I'll have to either go to Snell or maybe back to used Bridgestone e6's.

There are plenty of good options in the sub-$30/dozen price range.

[Blackjack Don]

1 hour ago, jkelley9 said:

why are we paying ~$45/doz for something basically the same? 

I've been thinking all along that the industry hated this story. They hate Golf Now, too. Tee times are like airplane seats. They are perishable, so the theory is why not get all the value you can? But that creates a customer base that isn't paying full price. For what? Is the Wynn really worth $500 a round?

I have a degree in journalism. This is a big story that nobody has really been covering. Golf is shrinking; golf is expensive. You think this isn't connected? My reporter's instinct tells me this might be due for a correction. The popularity of the K-Sig is a symptom of a much larger issue, or not. That's what I would do as a reporter. That's the story I'd like to write.

 

[Golfingdad]

2 hours ago, jkelley9 said:

Actually that's not really my question, I get the whole "you pay for quality" thing but I'm just surprised that if Kirkland is able to make a nearly identical ball without any patent infringements (I guess it's more identical to this "Quattro" ball?) and let's say they don't have the 99.999% quality control, but maybe 99%? I'd take the 1% hit on QC and pay a third the price. That's just where my game is right now. That's where a lot of players' games are, I think.

The way I understood the story was that Kirkland isn't "making" anything.  Nassau made them, and they aren't even made for Kirkland, but rather they are Quattro overruns.  Nassau doesn't want to undercut themselves by selling Costco more balls.

Quote

A representative of Nassau Golf (originally listed as the manufacturer of the Kirkland Signature Ball on the USGA conforming list) has told MyGolfSpy that Costco purchased overruns of Nassau's European-market-exclusive Quattro ball. There is some indication the sale was made through a third party, and that Nassau may not have been directly involved in the deal. The same source confirms that while the Costco balls have a different core color, the material composition and layer thickness are absolutely identical to the Quattro.

With the initial supply of overruns exhausted, Costco effectively has nothing left to sell.

With Costco selling its version of the Quattro at its cost ($15/dozen), it appears that Nassau is not particularly interested in selling Costco any additional inventory. As you can imagine, there's little interest in allowing Costco to undercut the Quattro with the Quattro, nor is there any desire to see the ball market (including direct-to-consumer brands like Snell, and OEMs such as TaylorMade) undercut either.

 

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

I have a degree in journalism. This is a big story that nobody has really been covering. Golf is shrinking; golf is expensive. You think this isn't connected? My reporter's instinct tells me this might be due for a correction. The popularity of the K-Sig is a symptom of a much larger issue, or not. That's what I would do as a reporter. That's the story I'd like to write.

You can buy golf balls right now for under a buck a ball. Not everyone needs $40/dozen golf balls.

[Si135]

Gutted, we didn't even get to touch them over here.

[Hategolf]

43 minutes ago, iacas said:

You can buy golf balls right now for under a buck a ball. Not everyone needs $40/dozen golf balls.

I could not agree more with this statement. I would think that most recreational Golfers do not need the top performing ball. As of matter of fact, I would think most players would benefit from a lower spin ball. With a fairly new wedge you can put enough spin on most balls (that are not a rock) to keep the ball close enough for a putt.

[Hacker James]

1 minute ago, Hategolf said:

I could not agree more with this statement. I would think that most recreational Golfers do not need the top performing ball. As of matter of fact, I would think most players would benefit from a lower spin ball. With a fairly new wedge you can put enough spin on most balls (that are not a rock) to keep the ball close enough for a putt.

You don't even need a new wedge. Pal Joey Wedge has NO grooves, but a sandpaper like finish and it will definitely spin a ball. Not sure if conforming though.

[mvmac]

6 hours ago, jkelley9 said:

I play different golf when I have a sleeve of ProV1's. I cringe over the ball to some unmeasurable degree because I think to myself "dang, if I lose this ball in the water, that's like $4!"

I guess I'll have to either go to Snell or maybe back to used Bridgestone e6's.

Yes, check out Snell. High quality, great value, engineer co-designed the ProV1 and TaylorMade balls.

https://www.snellgolf.com/products/get-sum/

[SavvySwede]

1 hour ago, Hacker James said:

You don't even need a new wedge. Pal Joey Wedge has NO grooves, but a sandpaper like finish and it will definitely spin a ball. Not sure if conforming though.

I would guess that wedge is completely useless out of dewy rough. Grooves contribute little to any spin off a perfect lie but a little bit of grass completely changes the ballgame.

[Hacker James]

8 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

I would guess that wedge is completely useless out of dewy rough. Grooves contribute little to any spin off a perfect lie but a little bit of grass completely changes the ballgame.

can't really say as its been so long since I owned one. I do remember it as pretty good around the green. I don't remember what become of it. I more than likely included it in a set of irons I sold. That may have been twenty years ago.

[Hacker James]

1 hour ago, Hacker James said:

can't really say as its been so long since I owned one. I do remember it as pretty good around the green. I don't remember what become of it. I more than likely included it in a set of irons I sold. That may have been twenty years ago.

a little OT, but I seem to recall a few years back, you could buy these little emory cloth stick ons for your irons. When the granules wore smooth, simply replace with new face plate.

[Hardspoon]

I suppose it would have been nice if Costco advertised from the beginning that this was a limited overrun, I can understand why they didn't.

I can't get too excited about the whole thing, since it's not to difficult to get high-quality golf balls for a reasonable price (from several sources).

[Patch]

Well, I hope these Cotco whatever brand balls have a good shelf life. I still have 4 dozen I recieved for Christmas. It will be a while before I get to them. Good ball though. 

[No Mulligans]

This was a fun topic while it lasted.  I have about three dozen left.  

I don't care that much though about the demise of the Kirkland ball.  I've played with a bunch of different balls, sometimes on practice rounds playing three different makes/models for an entire round side by side.  For me, based on this experience, the ball brand/model makes practically no difference.  Even still, I did like getting premium balls for $1.25, I figured why not.  When I run out it will be back to Mojo's (I like the model name and price ).

Here's a Wall Street Journal article about the Kirkland ball from this morning:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-most-coveted-ball-in-golf-is-from-costco-1484832756

[Golfingdad]

5 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

I suppose it would have been nice if Costco advertised from the beginning that this was a limited overrun, I can understand why they didn't.

But that is also true for a ton of other stuff they sell.  It's always been the case of any really good product they sell that if you didn't get it when you saw it, there was a great chance it wouldn't be there when you went back.