Mark Crossfield vs. TaylorMade

[StefanUrkel]

They have serious beef for years.  Mark Crossfield signs with TItleist.  Deal says he can still review clubs "unbiasedly"  Taylormade will not send him clubs anymore. What are your thoughts?

[iacas]

I don't care enough to have thoughts. TaylorMade can send product to whomever they wish.

[David in FL]

2 thoughts.

1.  TM doesn't do themselves any favors by refusing to provide Crossfield with product to review.

2.  By "signing" with Titleist, Crossfield damages the perception of his impartiality in the reviews he conducts.

[Vinsk]

40 minutes ago, David in FL said:

2 thoughts.

1.  TM doesn't do themselves any favors by refusing to provide Crossfield with product to review.

2.  By "signing" with Titleist, Crossfield damages the perception of his impartiality in the reviews he conducts.

2. Yes. The whole bonus of a review is when you have an unbiased assessment. But as large as TM is I doubt they have any damage from MC regardless.

[RussUK]

From what i understand its only TM that wont send him clubs to test and they are using him signing with Titleist as a bit of an excuse. Last year they refused to send him the M2 (think it was this club) to test and he wasn't affiliated to any supplier.

Sour grapes from TM imo. The other companies have been dealing with him long enough to know he'll give a fair unbiassed review of their clubs. But to be fair i've yet to hear him say a club is a pile of doggy-doo doo yet. 

[Dinoma]

Very much like I don't much care what driver Dustin Johnson is using or what he thinks of it, I don't care what Mark Crossfield thinks of that driver either. 

Whilst Crossfield is free to take whatever money/goods are coming his way from Titleist, and good luck to him, I feel it weakens his position as an impartial pundit no matter what the rhetoric is from him and/or Titleist.

People can say its sour grapes or whatever from TM, but it's their product and they can handle the distribution for it however they like. I find Crossfield's bleating on about it tiresome and childish.

[Moxley]

It is fair enough for MC to boost his revenue by signing with a brand, it's his business and he should do what is best to monetise his reach. It's equally fair that some will rightly judge that he cannot be truly impartial as a result. He can't expect to have his cake and eat it.

[WUTiger]

Crossfield could always buy new TM products on open market, test them, and then sell them off.

Or, he could cultivate links with with die-hard TaylorMade golfers, and seek to borrow their clubs for tests (maybe give them a lesson in trade-out).

Still, some (but not all) may question his reviews because of the Titleist link.

[klineka]

8 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Crossfield could always buy new TM products

Still, some (but not all) may question his reviews because of the Titleist link.

He has stated he will be buying the new clubs on his own to test so that will be interesting to see.

While there are numerous people here and in his video comments that think it will affect his reviews, I think that is an unfair assessment to make since he hasnt even posted many (if any) reviews that were filmed after he signed with Titleist. Now lets say he reviews the M3 and says its the worst club he's ever hit while the 917 D2 is the best club he's ever hit, then sure, you can say he has been influenced, but until he shows bias, I think the years of quality content and club reviews he has done should speak for itself. Innocent until proven guilty so to speak.

On a side note, is it just me or does anyone else get really jealous when they see the amount of free clubs, balls, clothing, etc that these guys (Crossfield, Rick Shiels, Peter Finch, etc) get sent!?  

[Moxley]

1 minute ago, klineka said:

He has stated he will be buying the new clubs on his own to test so that will be interesting to see.

While there are numerous people here and in his video comments that think it will affect his reviews, I think that is an unfair assessment to make since he hasnt even posted many (if any) reviews that were filmed after he signed with Titleist. Now lets say he reviews the M3 and says its the worst club he's ever hit while the 917 D2 is the best club he's ever hit, then sure, you can say he has been influenced, but until he shows bias, I think the years of quality content and club reviews he has done should speak for itself. Innocent until proven guilty so to speak.

On a side note, is it just me or does anyone else get really jealous when they see the amount of free clubs, balls, clothing, etc that these guys (Crossfield, Rick Shiels, Peter Finch, etc) get sent!?  

 

It depends on what people are saying. If they are saying that they think it will affect his reviews, then I agree that there is no evidence for that. If people are claiming that the potential now exists for bias because of the link, I think it's fairly logical and obvious argument. 

[saevel25]

6 minutes ago, klineka said:

I think the years of quality content and club reviews he has done should speak for itself. Innocent until proven guilty so to speak.

That is a matter of opinion. Joking!

7 minutes ago, klineka said:

On a side note, is it just me or does anyone else get really jealous when they see the amount of free clubs, balls, clothing, etc that these guys (Crossfield, Rick Shiels, Peter Finch, etc) get sent!?  

Be a content creator

---

From watching Mark's equipment reviews. He's pretty fair. He really pushes getting fitted and getting the numbers right for your swing. He doesn't really upsell the clubs past looks and feel. Most drivers perform in that same tight spectrum on quality hits.

[iacas]

27 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Crossfield could always buy new TM products on open market, test them, and then sell them off.

His reviews will be late, though.

11 minutes ago, klineka said:

On a side note, is it just me or does anyone else get really jealous when they see the amount of free clubs, balls, clothing, etc that these guys (Crossfield, Rick Shiels, Peter Finch, etc) get sent!?  

No. As someone with my fair share of free stuff… it takes a LOT of work to write a solid review. A lot. It disrupts your normal game as you  have to swap out your "gamer" for this club or clubs, you have to test it on launch monitors, you have to play with it in different conditions, take photos/film video, and then you have to compile all of that into several thousand words of writing (or a lengthy video).

If you value your time at minimum wage, it's often cheaper to just buy the clubs you want.

[klineka]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

No. As someone with my fair share of free stuff… it takes a LOT of work to write a solid review. A lot. It disrupts your normal game as you  have to swap out your "gamer" for this club or clubs, you have to test it on launch monitors, you have to play with it in different conditions, take photos/film video, and then you have to compile all of that into several thousand words of writing (or a lengthy video).

If you value your time at minimum wage, it's often cheaper to just buy the clubs you want.

Great points. I guess as a consumer/viewer I only really see the "fun" parts of the process, the unboxing of the new toy, and the actual hitting of the club or using the product, not necessarily the hours that gets spent writing the review or planning/editing the content.  

[lastings]

Mark Crossfield has been playing Mizuno MP5s for the past couple years as his "gamers" and swears by them.    It will be interesting to see if he miraculously decides that he needs some Titleists in has bag as his gamers this summer.  

Edited January 10, 2018 by lastings

[Dinoma]

As a side note - kudos to Titleist for realising that more and more people are consuming content from youtube etc and using that to promote their brand rather than more mindless tweets about the winner of this or that tournament only won because of their clubs/balls whatever.

[RussUK]

6 minutes ago, lastings said:

Mark Crossfield has been playing Mizuno MP5s for the past couple years as his "gamers" and swears by them.    It will be interesting to see if he miraculously decides that he needs some Titleists in has bag as his gamers this summer.  

He is using almost a full bag of Titleists . Only one club isnt a Titleist but not sure which one it is. The Mizuno's are probably in his shed!

Also gone fromn Chromesofts to Pro V's

Edited January 10, 2018 by RussUK

[mchepp]

I watch Crossfield from time to time because I like how he integrates parts of his life into the videos. Like we occasionally see his daughters and son and a mix of golf instruction to boot. I first saw the video where he is being sponsored by Titleist but I didn't really watch it, I just skipped through to the announcement and I thought when I first saw it that he would stop some of the reviews once he made this decision. I guess naively. 

Then I watched the full TaylorMade video and I don't completely agree with Mark. For one, he should not expect if he is going to take sponsorship money from someone that he should get to continue to get equipment from other manufacturers. Although he does tend to be fair in his reviews, it is just hard for me to completely believe he is being impartial knowing he has a lean towards one manufacturer. If I was head of TaylorMade I'd probably do the same thing.

The one thing I would not do, is send a letter saying it was because he was sponsored by Titleist. I would have rather sent a letter saying something like sorry we don't have any more to give you. Just to avoid letting him act like a martyr as he is now. "TaylorMade hate me" is probably a highly watched video just because of the name. By sending the letter they let him capitalize on what he claims is their bad will. I think this was a marketing miss on TaylorMade's part. 

[lastings]

23 minutes ago, RussUK said:

He is using almost a full bag of Titleists . Only one club isnt a Titleist but not sure which one it is. The Mizuno's are probably in his shed!

Also gone fromn Chromesofts to Pro V's

Ha!, that was quick.   He was still using the MP-5s as of whatever date he reviewed the Mizuno MP-18s.   and at the end of that review, he mentioned he'd be sticking with the MP-5s..  

Edited January 10, 2018 by lastings