Are You a Brand Snob?

[Sandy Divot]

I'm not sure if I'm a snob, but I am loyal to Ping. Been playing with Ping clubs since the mid 80s, and have played fairly well.

[Swooshgolf]

I used to be a one brand man but I've had to mix it up lately.

Nike Vapor Pro

TM M3 3wood

TM p790 2iron

TM p730 3-pw

TM millgrind 56, 60

Nike ignite putter

[HJJ003]

Snob would be a strong word, but yeah I highly prefer Taylormade. 

[Bucki1968]

I had been a Taylormade loyalist for about 15 years. But in the past year or two I have completely removed all most all of them from my bag. I hit Ping irons now and Callaway woods. I still use Taylormade hybrids.  I have also realized that I'm not really a ball snob. I usually play the best ball I can get for the best price. There are still premium balls but it is usually all over the place (Snell, Chrome soft and even some of Maxifli balls from Dicks that are cheap and work pretty well).

[NM Golf]

I am a brand snob, I favor the big golf brands and I use equipment from them exclusively. One of the main reasons is I work in the golf industry and I get equipment from the big manufacturers at a huge discount. I pay less for Titleist AVX than I would for Snells. I also find that the big brands just work better. Someone gave me a Snell MTB to try out and I found it to be significantly shorter off the tee than my normal ball. I am not an equipment whore by any definition, I don't buy the newest and best every year, but when I do buy its always from the big manufacturers.

[Foot Wedge]

My signature might say I'm a snob considering I play big name brands, but I would absolutely play a smaller brand.  If only my ballstriking was up to snuff for those Wilson FG Tour V6's...

I think I remember seeing some beautiful Tour Edge X-Blades?  Too bad I suck.

[Piz]

To some degree.  While I assemble clubs from components, for the most part, I am picky about whose components I buy.  And I don't care for off-off brand anything.  That is a quality issue, however, and not brand specific.  An exception would be a brand, or product, that isn't up to snuff.  Really cheap golf balls would be one example.  I have one "big name" club in my bag (which I think I paid 20 bucks for) but that was a happy accident.

[GolfLug]

I would like to change my position on this. I think I am brand snob(ish). If you find my dead body near a 'Power Built' 7i is because some tasteless person has used it to take me down and forgot to get rid of the evidence. Yeah, and don't even get me started on RAM wedges with holes on the face instead of grooves. I completely expect to get run over by the stick that shows up with gun metal PXGs but can you imagine the shame if you get hosed by some one wielding a Top Flite chipper or dinking around Tommy Armor balls?? I wouldn't get out of bed for days. 

 

 

 

    

[Foot Wedge]

14 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

I would like to change my position on this. I think I am brand snob(ish). If you find my dead body near a 'Power Built' 7i is because some tasteless person has used it to take me down and forgot to get rid of the evidence. Yeah, and don't even get me started on RAM wedges with holes on the face instead of grooves. I completely expect to get run over by the stick that shows up with gun metal PXGs but can you imagine the shame if you get hosed by some one wielding a Top Flite chipper or dinking around Tommy Armor balls?? I wouldn't get out of bed for days. 

 

This post was hysterical.  I love the honesty.

[Dry Tortuga]

Haha. Good post.

 

I would also like to change my answer as I'm figuring out more what I like. I think I am actually a bit snobbish and prefer three companies: Ping, Cobra, and Callaway. Ping for metals, and Cobra and Callaway for irons and wedges. And I don't think I've tried enough putters to have a strong preference there yet.

 

I don't know what that says about me overall as I have not been a fan of the Titleist and Taylormade clubs I've tried, although objectively I know they are very good.

[fever]

I voted Ehhhhhh, but maybe turning into a snob. I just got back into golf this past spring and as the season progressed I started to change out some clubs. All my clubs were 10+ years old. The first swap was the driver, Cobra F7 replaced a Adams TL. Second swap was Cobra oversize 4 Hybrid for the 4I, I chose the Cobra OS Hybrid for one reason.... 0 offset, I can't hit an offset club for the life of me. Next was the putter, replaced a TM Nubbins with a Wilson Staff Infinite, the Beam model. The last change was wedges, replaced Wilson Be Cu wedges with Cobra Kings with versatile grind and they look so good with the black head and shaft. My irons are component clubs, XDS tour, they were the only 0 offset blades I could find that weren't going to cost me my left testie. The irons may change if I can find a set of forged 0 offset blades for $1000 or less. The only clubs that won't change are my Alien DS9 3&5 woods.

[Beastie]

 

I do like a Mizuno iron, ever since I got a set of Tp 9’s as a kid. After missing nearly twenty years of golf I went straight for the JpX 850 wanting as much help as possible. Got me some Benross wedges which are not a brand I had heard off. Really cheap price for a decent product. 

If you buy big name brands you are paying a supplement for the R and D department yes, but you are also expecting a consistent product. 

Gonna get some Callaway X forged next year or something similar now my swing is a bit more repeatable 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Beastie

[imsys0042]

I'm brand loyal, but not a snob.   I would put Snell and Vice against the Titleist ProV1s that I use and not have an issue.   As for equipment, I spent a lot of time going over what clubs worked for me, and what I wanted to hit.   I did not consider anyone out of the running, although some of the SGI and GI clubs were something that I did not want to go for.   But that stripes across companies big and small, doesn't remove someone from consideration.

 

I expect that my wedge, woods and irons will all be the same vendor when I refresh in several years.  I am extremely happy with my bag and unless they crap the bed with future releases, they have earned my trust.

 

 

[dbuck]

My original post in this topic was a little off the mark, and before the poll was added, so I voted yes, and am reposting.

I am a snob in that for a driver, fairway, hybrid, or irons, I would stick to a major brand, and I guess I have a preference toward Titleist, though I have no plans to trade my Callaway fairway anytime soon. In putters or wedges, I would use some of the boutique brands, though I am currently all Titleist in that area as well.  My bag is a current Titleist stand, but that is because I won it in a scramble (or should I say, my partners won it for me!). My prior bag was a Titleist Staff Bag, but I picked it up at Goodwill for $20.  I don't use the factory driver, fairway, or hybrid headcovers. I use knit headcovers that I had made.

I currently use the AVX as my primary ball, but I have been meaning to try the Snell, and would have no problem using it if it worked for me.

A side hobby is playing with vintage clubs, and I am less snobby there. I have tried some lesser known brands that were copies of well known classic clubs, as well as an assortment of odd putters.

I do consider Wilson a major brand, and am glad to see them having somewhat of a resurgence. I like the looks of the new "players" irons they have introduced of late-the V6's and their new blades. My first set of decent clubs was the 1979 version of the Staff Tour Blade that was very prominent on the tour in their day.

Edited December 3, 2018 by dbuck

[308 Ragin Cajun]

Back in the old days of persimmon and blades, I favored MacGregor persimmon woods and forged blades.  I could actually hit them back then, too. Today, my only real bias in Titleist drivers, and Vokey wedges.  My iron preference is forged cavity backs. I would play any set that looks and feels good.

[Zengolfer]

Nope.  My bag is full of clubs from Tour Edge, Bombtech, Nicklaus, Pinemeadow, Top-Flite and Wilson.  I used to be all about the big brands but then I realized that the big brands are made in the same foundries as the no-name brands and that I dont play any better or any worse with either clubs.  

Some would say that the big brands have better engineering, better quality, are more consistent and blah, blah, blah but for me, its all the same and Im much happier because I dont feel guility about spending thousands of dollars on more clubs that arent going to fix my game any better than my old ones did.

[Bo the Golfer]

I voted ehhh. In my bag is an Adams driver, a TM 3 wood, 2 Adams hybrids, Adams Idea Tech forged A4 5-pw, a no name gap wedge I can't recall, and Nike and Titleist sand an lob wedges. All of these go in a Top Flite stand bag.  I've had my irons forever and always buy second hand. Right now I'm looking at a set of T+ combination irons on ebay for $71 and a set on GigaGolf so it's fairly safe to say I'll give anything a look.

[80109golfer]

The shafts are what matter. Cheap club heads on shafts fitted specifically to you will outperform expensive club heads on ill-fitted off the rack shafts. Go to a clubfitter that can match you with the right shaft. Then try out different club heads. At that point, look and feel of the head is far more important than price.