Kirkland (Costco) Premium Golf Ball

[Jeremie Boop]

6 minutes ago, baller7345 said:

Still, 4 dozen is usually more than enough if you are stocking up.  How  many people truly need a pallet of balls?

[jsgolfer]

46 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

That will change once the hoarding stops.  I'm also not sure if it's 2 per membership total or 2 per membership per order.  

not sure, it only says "Limit 2 Per Membership"

[OrangeHog]

I set my calendar reminder for Dec 20th.  I want to get at least two more 2-packs.  These balls are fantastic and I'm planning on playing them throughout 2017.

[jsgolfer]

Another article on Kirkland. 

The Case Against the Costco Kirkland Signature Ball

http://www.mygolfspy.com/the-case-against-the-costco-kirkland-signature-ball/

"Costco can sell for significantly less than conventional ball producers because its business model is built on retail margins of 15% (excluding membership fees). Most anyone running a brick & mortar retail business, or even a direct to consumer business, will tell you that those margins are so thin they border on insane."

 

Support you're local course when you can, but you should not feel bad if you buy golf equipment  elsewhere, anymore than you should feel bad if you decide to buy from Abercrombie & Fitch instead of Lands End or BMW instead of Mazda.  It all depends on how you rationalize spending your money.  Me, I'll continue to play the Kirkland (when they are available) and I'll buy my golf shirts and clothing from the course (I like having the SGCC logo on it), plus I pay monthly dues, so I personally don't feel bad that the course loses out on the 10 dollar markup on ProV1x's that I don't buy anymore.  But then again, I've been buying Snells for the last year too.  

[jkelley9]

On 12/8/2016 at 2:08 PM, jsgolfer said:

Another article on Kirkland. 

The Case Against the Costco Kirkland Signature Ball

http://www.mygolfspy.com/the-case-against-the-costco-kirkland-signature-ball/

"Costco can sell for significantly less than conventional ball producers because its business model is built on retail margins of 15% (excluding membership fees). Most anyone running a brick & mortar retail business, or even a direct to consumer business, will tell you that those margins are so thin they border on insane."

 

Support you're local course when you can, but you should not feel bad if you buy golf equipment  elsewhere, anymore than you should feel bad if you decide to buy from Abercrombie & Fitch instead of Lands End or BMW instead of Mazda.  It all depends on how you rationalize spending your money.  Me, I'll continue to play the Kirkland (when they are available) and I'll buy my golf shirts and clothing from the course (I like having the SGCC logo on it), plus I pay monthly dues, so I personally don't feel bad that the course loses out on the 10 dollar markup on ProV1x's that I don't buy anymore.  But then again, I've been buying Snells for the last year too.  

I just wish not every single clubhouse "pro shop" would carry such a wide variety of equipment. I wish they would stick to good counter service (for public courses), better bar/food service, and especially marshaling, starting, and other grounds-keeping services to make the courses themselves better. Charge me the difference in greens fees that you would have made otherwise in margins on your clubs/bags. Balls are fine, since often people (non-frequent golfers) forget them, custom course shirts are fine. But I would rather they not be constantly thinking about moving product that changes every year, clearing inventory, etc. I'm sure a lot of time, effort, and panic goes into that. 

I'm fortunate in that my club (public) only sells those 2 items (balls/custom shirts). No clubs or bags. But the city municipals do sell them, and I'm often seeing layers of dust all ALL that merchandise. I don't get it.

 

[Blackjack Don]

On 12/8/2016 at 11:08 AM, jsgolfer said:

"Costco can sell for significantly less than conventional ball producers because its business model is built on retail margins of 15% (excluding membership fees). Most anyone running a brick & mortar retail business, or even a direct to consumer business, will tell you that those margins are so thin they border on insane."

 

Yet somehow they manage to pay their employees more and give better benefits. A mathematical wonder. When a business is run for customers and employees,  not for investment bankers, they have a loyal following that messes up the market models. Profit has nothing to do with business. Stock prices are besides what makes a business work. Costco will always get my money.

[No Mulligans]

I hope my frequent greens fees help support the local golf courses.  But, I feel no obligation to support Titliest or the tiny bit of margin that goes to a pro shop.  If I want to support something I've got plenty of good choices like City of Hope's Childeres Cancer Research program.  All things considered the local pro shop is a bit down the list.

[mvmac]

This ball is hot! Listed on eBay for $48.99 a dozen. 

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2016/12/13/costcos-kirkland-golf-ball-out-of-stock-until-december-20th.html

Quote

Thanks to reader Steve for Erik Matuszewski's Forbes follow-up on sales of Costco'sknock-off ball zooming from shelves large crates for $29.99 per TWO dozen. A date of December 20th is listed as the earliest re-stocking of a ball that has tested well.

Even more remarkably, folks are trying to resell them at a premium price.

The balls, not surprisingly, have popped up on auction sites like eBay, with listings of $48.99 for a dozen, $90 for two dozen or $189.99 for 48 balls. Those aren't wholesale club prices there, folks. Costco has declined to say how many of the Kirkland balls have been sold since the launch or generally give any detailed information about the balls at all. It's actually not a bad approach; the company is letting (positive) word of mouth speak for the ball, the same as it has for, say, its high-quality wines.

It will be interesting to see how long this phenomenon continues until (or if) the lack of elite-player usage undermines some of the excitement.

 

[jsgolfer]

6 minutes ago, mvmac said:

This ball is hot! Listed on eBay for $48.99 a dozen. 

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2016/12/13/costcos-kirkland-golf-ball-out-of-stock-until-december-20th.html

 

I wonder if anyone is actually paying that much for them.  It's a great ball at the price they sell it for.  

[No Mulligans]

Forbes article on the Kirkland ball:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikmatuszewski/2016/12/13/the-1-25-golf-ball-that-flew-off-costcos-shelves-is-only-growing-in-popularity/#1602c4c37270

[OrangeHog]

On 12/8/2016 at 1:08 PM, jsgolfer said:

"Costco can sell for significantly less than conventional ball producers because its business model is built on retail margins of 15% (excluding membership fees). Most anyone running a brick & mortar retail business, or even a direct to consumer business, will tell you that those margins are so thin they border on insane."

[OrangeHog]

1 hour ago, OrangeHog said:

On 12/8/2016 at 1:08 PM, jsgolfer said:

"Costco can sell for significantly less than conventional ball producers because its business model is built on retail margins of 15% (excluding membership fees). Most anyone running a brick & mortar retail business, or even a direct to consumer business, will tell you that those margins are so thin they border on insane."

I work for a CPG company on the Walmart and Sam's Club business and have been in this industry for 18 years.  In the typical realm of retail, which operates on margins of 30% or higher, yeah the margins at Costco seem crazy.  But they have refined their operating model to successfully function in that environment by charging members an annual fee, making slightly higher margins on apparel and other soft goods and selling things like auto insurance, vacations, etc.  Your typical retail outlet or grocery store doesn't do that, nor does the typical golf shop.

Is there an answer that your brick/mortar golf shop can leverage to combat Costco?  Honestly, not really.  I say that because they are restricted by OEMs on how they can price merchandise so traditional golf retailers are handcuffed by manufacturers.  And even if they dropped prices they'd never get close to Costco's price point and still make any kind of money in the process.

Will OEMs respond?  I think they have to or they risk Costco stealing share hand over fist.  That said, I think this could be a catalyst for some kind of dynamic shift in how OEMs do business.  Perhaps the answer is more distribution through their own e-commerce sites versus traditional brick/mortar.

At the end of the day this move by Costco is good for the consumer, so they'll continue to keep selling these balls.  OEMs will either respond or they'll watch their share dissolve.

[Brad W]

making the news....

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/costco-tight-lipped-wildly-popular-133927878.html?hl=1&noRedirect=1

 

 

[jkelley9]

This ball is supposed to be back in stock tomorrow morning. 

I don't need anymore, but I would be interested to know how fast they sell out this time, if anybody wouldn't mind refreshing the page every now and then tomorrow. I'll be out in the garage doing an entire front end bushing and ball joint replacement so I'll be tied up most of the day lol.

[dennyjones]

I looked on Ebay today and was shocked.  People were asking $108 for 2 dozen and some were selling them by the sleeve!  

[jsgolfer]

18 hours ago, jkelley9 said:

This ball is supposed to be back in stock tomorrow morning. 

I don't need anymore, but I would be interested to know how fast they sell out this time, if anybody wouldn't mind refreshing the page every now and then tomorrow. I'll be out in the garage doing an entire front end bushing and ball joint replacement so I'll be tied up most of the day lol.

I'll be online at 8 am to try and pick up two dozen.  I'll post if I get then or not.  And i just noticed it says 8 am PST, so 11 am EST.

 

8 hours ago, dennyjones said:

I looked on Ebay today and was shocked.  People were asking $108 for 2 dozen and some were selling them by the sleeve!  

I can't believe anyone is paying more than you would pay for Pro-V1's?  The ball is good for the price point.

[rmenary]

Anyone know what's going on? I've been refreshing my browser for 30 mins. They still say out of stock.

[jsgolfer]

Just now, rmenary said:

Anyone know what's going on? I've been refreshing my browser for 30 mins. They still say out of stock.

I was just told about a work around.  I bought 4-2 dozen boxes.  You have to do the following or they will show up as out-of-stock.

Add the item to your wishlist.  After that click on your wish list and then add the balls to your cart.  once you do that you can update the quantity you want, I tried 4 and it worked.  Got a confirmation number, just waiting for the email confirmation.