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Kirkland (Costco) Premium Golf Ball


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35 minutes ago, jsgolfer said:

New Kirkland Coming. Looks like same cover but different guts according to mygolfspy 

https://www.mygolfspy.com/costco-ksig-performance-one-ball/

Yes, read that article myself this morning. Hopefully, the price does not increase too much.

 

 

Cheers,
Rick Menary

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I missed out on the original K-Sigs and I'm hoping they send some stock north of the border to Canada, if this ball does indeed come to market.  I'm really interested in trying these.

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6 minutes ago, DannyMac said:

I missed out on the original K-Sigs and I'm hoping they send some stock north of the border to Canada, if this ball does indeed come to market.  I'm really interested in trying these.

Not sure about the newer version, but the originals played pretty well. I found little difference between them, and the Bridgestones I usually play. Then again, I am not the kind of ball striker than can get all the good things out of a ball. :-)

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A whole bunch of Tour Edge golf stuff...... :beer:

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I still have 8 dozen of the K-Sig

-Jerry

Driver: Titleist 913 D3 (9.5 degree) – Aldila RIP 60-2.9-Stiff; Callaway Mini-Driver Kura Kage 60g shaft - 12 degree Hybrids: Callway X2 Hot Pro - 16 degree & 23 degree – Pro-Shaft; Callway X2 Hot – 5H & 6H Irons: Titleist 714 AP2 7 thru AW with S300 Dynamic Gold Wedges: Titleist Vokey GW (54 degree), Callaway MackDaddy PM Grind SW (58 degree) Putter: Ping Cadence TR Ketsch Heavy Balls: Titleist Pro V1x & Snell MyTourBall

"Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots but you have to play the ball where it lies."- Bobby Jones

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33 minutes ago, Patch said:

Not sure about the newer version, but the originals played pretty well. I found little difference between them, and the Bridgestones I usually play. Then again, I am not the kind of ball striker than can get all the good things out of a ball. :-)

Thanks for the info @Patch .  These balls really intrigued me and at that price point I think its the perfect ball to work off the rust at the beginning of my golf season.

 

5 minutes ago, jsgolfer said:

I still have 8 dozen of the K-Sig

I'll PM you my address! ;-):-P

Edited by DannyMac
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  • 3 weeks later...
14 minutes ago, rmenary said:

 I just saw this too, get the popcorn out.  Should be good.

-Jerry

Driver: Titleist 913 D3 (9.5 degree) – Aldila RIP 60-2.9-Stiff; Callaway Mini-Driver Kura Kage 60g shaft - 12 degree Hybrids: Callway X2 Hot Pro - 16 degree & 23 degree – Pro-Shaft; Callway X2 Hot – 5H & 6H Irons: Titleist 714 AP2 7 thru AW with S300 Dynamic Gold Wedges: Titleist Vokey GW (54 degree), Callaway MackDaddy PM Grind SW (58 degree) Putter: Ping Cadence TR Ketsch Heavy Balls: Titleist Pro V1x & Snell MyTourBall

"Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots but you have to play the ball where it lies."- Bobby Jones

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24 minutes ago, rmenary said:

Good news?

Companies spending money on legal issues rather than on golf balls rarely strikes me as "good news" for anyone.

  • Upvote 1

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
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20 minutes ago, rmenary said:

 

5 minutes ago, jsgolfer said:

 I just saw this too, get the popcorn out.  Should be good.

 

Quote

Let's all get out of our seats to give Costco a standing ovation for standing up to the golf industry's biggest bully.

Costco has asked for a declaratory judgment that states, for unwant of more delicate language, Acushnet's claims are total bullshit.

Not holding any punches! :-D

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"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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I don't know much about golf or golf merchandising, but I do know something about warehouse clubs, branding and law, and this should be entertaining.  Some things to keep in mind:

Costco is bigger than Acushnet.  Acushnet may be the 800 lb gorilla in the fairway mists, but Costco is the white hunter in the jungle rough collecting specimens for the Museum of Natural History back home.  Costco's market cap is roughly 60x that of Acushnet.

The Kirtland brand is every bit as important to Costco as Titleist is to Accushnet.  Think Craftsman and Sears, or 365 and Whole Foods.  I don't care whether you are talking about olive oil or bedsheets, bacon or golf balls, Costco needs its customers ('members') to perceive Kirtland Signature as the best, or as good as the best, and differences between it and other leading brands to be a matter of taste, style and design choice, not quality, reliability or durability.  (When Costco wants to offer lower quality merchandise at a lower price point, they have some captive brands, 32 Degrees comes to mind, to produce to that spec.)

Costco doesn't spend money on R & D, golf or otherwise.  That's the responsibility of their vendors.  If a former vendor (Acushnet) wants to divert R & D dollars to litigation expense, that's their business.  I doubt it even affects Costco's willingness to do business with them down the pike.  Here, I'm not sure if Costco should charge its expenses in this fight to the legal budget or to marketing.  They certainly are generating some good ink for themselves.

Bottom line--I understand why Acushnet wrote the letter, but putting it in the mail probably wasn't a very good idea.

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12 minutes ago, DwightC said:

Bottom line--I understand why Acushnet wrote the letter, but putting it in the mail probably wasn't a very good idea.

And what if the Costco ball is found to violate some of Titleist's patents?

Like you said, Costco really has no idea. They bought some balls from Nassau that they had over-produced or something, and branded them as Kirkland. The new Kirkland ball, which Dean Snell says they CANNOT sell at $15/dozen, are different. They may or may not infringe, too.

(I suspect they don't infringe - Nassau probably knows what it's doing - but we don't know this.)

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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22 minutes ago, DwightC said:

Bottom line--I understand why Acushnet wrote the letter, but putting it in the mail probably wasn't a very good idea.

Yeah, that letter seems to validate Kirkland brand as a threat to Titleist. TBH, the balls are nearly the same in performance for my game. The fact that they are much cheaper is just a bonus. I go to Costco twice a month and get a lot of big items from them as well. If I need some golf balls I just walk to that aisle and pick them up.

I really like Pro-V1 and use them almost exclusively, but have recently started to play a few of the Kirkland balls.

Titleist didn't really think this one through. . .

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

The new Kirkland ball, which Dean Snell says they CANNOT sell at $15/dozen, are different. They may or may not infringe, too.

What are the manufacturing costs of a golf ball? Seems like materials costs shouldn't be that high? I can't imagine a ball costing that much to make? Of course, if they're mostly hand inspected in USA then I can see. . .

I do know that the Costco products I buy are very cheap and about the same quality somewhere else for half the price. The cost is likely the same.

Edited by Lihu
sentence structure

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
TM Rac 60 TT WS, MD2 56
Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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8 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Yeah, that letter seems to validate Kirkland brand as a threat to Titleist.

And yet Dean Snell said that the Kirkland ball was about 0.00002% of the market, or something like that.

9 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Titleist didn't really think this one through. . .

Same question: what if the ball violates one or more of their patents?

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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Does Acushnet actions in general lead to a net increase to golf ball innovation?

Or do their legal action lead to a decrease to golf ball innovation?  Are their legal action mostly predatory in that they shut down small companies with marginal claims where the defendants can't afford to defend themselves? 

Does the game of golf even need additional golf ball innovation?

Edited by No Mulligans
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If this did violate Titleist patents, why not file directly in court? Why send a letter to Costco if you know that they have infringed on the patents? Shouldn't the Acushnet suit be directed at Nassau if that is in fact where these balls came from?

Edited by StevenR84

Driver: Taylormade R15 10.5 Rogue Silver 70S  3 Wood: Krank Formula 6 Aldila Tour Blue 80S  3H: Mizuno Jpx825  Irons: 4-PW,AW: Taylormade Rsi1  Wedge: Callaway 56 MD3 Putter: Ping Cadence TR Anser 2 Heavy

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2 minutes ago, iacas said:

Same question: what if the ball violates one or more of their patents?

I'm not sure what Kirkland can do with a ball they don't manufacture that it could possibly violate any Acushnet patents? Unless, it's something like customization of golf balls with their own label or something innocuous like that?

 

1 minute ago, No Mulligans said:

Does Acushnet actions in general lead to a net increase to golf ball innovation?

I'm also wondering the same thing.

Titleist is a great brand and I really like using their balls, but their actions seem really strange to me.

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
TM Rac 60 TT WS, MD2 56
Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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1 minute ago, StevenR84 said:

If this did violate Titleist patents, why not file directly in court? Why send a letter to Costco if you know that they have infringed on the patents. Shouldn't the Acushnet suit be directed at Nassau if that is in fact where these balls came from?

Usually a claim starts with a letter. If the other party backs down then legal costs are minimized. 

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5 minutes ago, StevenR84 said:

If this did violate Titleist patents, why not file directly in court? Why send a letter to Costco if you know that they have infringed on the patents? Shouldn't the Acushnet suit be directed at Nassau if that is in fact where these balls came from?

Most patents don't have enough meat in them to be enforceable.

2 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

Usually a claim starts with a letter. If the other party backs down then legal costs are minimized. 

Yeah, I'm not sure Costco will back down until it gets really bad for Titleist, then walk away from the case with customers who think they are getting Titleist quality product for 1/5 the price. . .

All I can say is this is great marketing for Kirkland.

Edited by Lihu

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
TM Rac 60 TT WS, MD2 56
Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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Note: This thread is 1491 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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