Mark Crossfield Annoyed at TaylorMade for Not Giving him Free Stuff

[StefanUrkel]

They didn't send their new clubs to be reviewed by Mark Crossfield and a website that does independent testing.  Not smart. 

[Hardspoon]

Source?

[saevel25]

4 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

Source?

Mark did a video on youtube basically bashing Taylormade for not reaching out to him to test their new clubs. I am not sure about them just not giving out clubs to all independent reviewers. I know few other golf youtubers have done reviews already. 

[Hardspoon]

5 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Mark did a video on youtube basically bashing Taylormade for not reaching out to him to test their new clubs. I am not sure about them just not giving out clubs to all independent reviewers. I know few other golf youtubers have done reviews already. 

Ah, gotcha.  Thanks.  Here's the video:

Haha, I find him irritating at times, but this is actually pretty funny.

[Papa Steve 55]

If they want to be true independent testers they should do what CR does, go out and buy the stuff they test so they know its the same the consumer's buy.

[boogielicious]

He could have just gone the M1 media event last year. The Sand Trap was invited, I'm sure he was too. I went and got an M1. I think he a bit miffed he wasn't treated special.

We also got the M2 to review here.

https://thesandtrap.com/b/reviews

[saevel25]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

He could have just gone the M1 media event last year. The Sand Trap was invited, I'm sure he was too. I went and got an M1. I think he a bit miffed he wasn't treated special.

We also got the M2 to review here.

https://thesandtrap.com/b/reviews

Mark reviewed last years M1 and M2. He is talking about the new M1 and M2's coming out next year which have been reviewed now by other youtubers. 

[Jeremie Boop]

16 hours ago, StefanUrkel said:

They didn't send their new clubs to be reviewed by Mark Crossfield and a website that does independent testing.  Not smart. 

Meh, they aren't avoiding negative reviews because he didn't give them a negative review last year....

[Shark9]

Mark is one of the largest independent club reviewers on youtube.

Really do think it is poor from Taylormade not to reach out to him.

Don't think I would ever buy a product new from TM anyway, they do seem to recycle the same gear every year and pay people to say it goes 30 yards longer. Just look at Peter Finch's new video.

[chilepepper]

Well I sure wouldn't buy $900 irons or a $400 driver without hitting it/them many times myself. Reviews are just one persons opinion. What counts is my how they look feel and react to me and my swing

Edited December 11, 2016 by chilepepper

[Hardspoon]

Whichever moderator changed the thread title hit the nail right on the head (not sure how long ago it was; I just noticed).

[Rainmaker]

The first couple minutes were just like any of his club reviews . .you could use that exact dialogue and put any club in his hands.  Looks good down by the ball . .feels solid (love that one) . . .yeah . . .

I do watch his reviews and enjoy them - but he says a lot of the same things about a lot of clubs.  The primary value of his reviews for me is just getting a better picture of what the thing looks like . .seeing it in a persons hand vs by itself in an ad display, etc.  

IMO he's over-reacting . .I am guilty of some skimming this video - but it seems like he's mad TM didn't reach out to him personally and send him one.  Why not just ask for one?  If he asked for one and they said "No" . . then I still think he has nothing to be upset over . .but it didn't sound like that's what happened. 

Anyway - I like Mark . .like his videos (review and instructional - not so much the course v-logs, course reviews, interviews, contests, etc). .think he's probably a little annoying in real life, lol . . .but overall a good guy.  He obviously works quite hard on his channel, puts out some decent content, gets a lot of viewers . .if I were TM, I'd give him a driver to review . .but if I, for whatever reason, chose not to . .. I think I'd be well within my rights.  

It's a big, fat "who cares" for me, lol.  

[Hardspoon]

5 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

I am guilty of some skimming this video

That's understandable, considering it is a 5-plus-minute video and he never even reviews a club.

[mvmac]

Crossfield's reviews are ok, it's basically just him hitting the clubs and giving his take but they do get a lot of views. Weird that TaylorMade wouldn't send him a couple drivers, it's well worth their cost.

I'd guess someone at TaylorMade or their agency just screwed up. Having been on the reviewer side of things, your contacts at TM can change a couple times a year and independent reviewers aren't a priority. 

[saevel25]

im not a fan of his reviews. most youtube reviewers are not willing to lay out a bad review. Though most clubs are pretty decent as long as you get fitted. 

[Lihu]

23 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

Haha, I find him irritating at times, but this is actually pretty funny.

I don't really watch Mark's videos any more (or any golf videos), but I probably should.

[OrangeHog]

I like watching Crossfield and Shiels reviews of clubs.  They seem to present the performance data in a relatively unbiased manner.  That said, it's pretty poor on Taylormade's part not to 1) invite him to the launch event in Florida or 2) at least send the guy a couple of clubs to test/review.  The reality, and you can see this in other YouTube reviews, is that the "new" M1/M2 drivers don't perform any differently than the current models.

Peter Finch got fitted for an M1 and then tinkered on his own afterward to get some good results, but he wasn't properly fitted into the M2 he's been gaming so it's not an apples-to-apples compairson.

Crossfield might be whining to an extent but the point he's trying to make is that it seems like Taylormade doesn't truly want an honest, unbiased review done on these clubs by him or a certain website/forum (who also didn't receive any test equipment).  It's shady on TM's part and seems like they are hiding something.

There's absolutely nothing in the "new" M1/M2 drives to make me switch from my current M2.  Looks the same except for the sole and I suspect that if I demo'd it the performance would be nearly spot on.  All that begs the question - why even launch an update to the M family drivers?  If I'm TM and I know that Cobra and Callaway are coming to market with new gear in a few weeks then my game plan would be to offer discounts or bundles across the entire M family of wood/hybrids for the entire month of January.  If I saw a deal for "Buy any M1 or M2 driver and get your choice of a free fairway wood or hybrid for $499" right next to the new Callaway Epic driver for $499 I'd be going TM all day long.  Just one example, but I would think that'd be massively impactful to your share in the woods segment and defend your turf against Callaway, Cobra, etc. in their new launches.

[RussUK]

Huge fan of Crossfield and while i can see that its pretty annoying to get snubbed by a manufacturer that has always dealt with him in the past at least the dissapointment was offset by him going to Maritius with Coach Lockey to cover the senior event their. Every cloud and all that