Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Why Can't Titleist Seem to Hold on to Young Players ?


Let me start this post by apologizing to you - because, generally people come to Bushwood for ANSWERS, dammit....not questions !  However, this is one that I have pondered for a while...

I've noticed a long time trend that is puzzling to me - tons of young players come up through the ranks (Amateur and Early Pro years) sporting the Titleist logo and/or being sponsored by Titleist. I get it that amateurs are not accepting sponsor cash, but if they are pimping someone's logo the chances are pretty damn high that they are using that type of equipment.  However, it does not take long before they switch.
David Dusek reports on the latest young gun to switch from Titleist to someone else - this time it is Danny Lee switching to Callaway.  And I don't mean just a partial switch either - it's the whole hog...balls, clubs, wedges, etc. (my boy Al Czervik says Danny even asked for some Callaway "naked lady" tees, but everyone knows those are a Bushwood exclusive !!!!)
Although I am only a middling golfer at best (8-11 handicap throughout the year), I am pretty specific about my gear, and pay close attention to it.  It's tough for me to imagine that people who are playing for millions would just switch - I know, I know, thay are GETTING big bucks to switch, but it just seems awfully strange.
Could Rory McIlroy be the next high profile defector ???

(postscript: I see that he has recently played Callaway irons..., but still it seems that Titleist would have really gone out hard to keep this guy in the stable...)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just found the site, Very cool.

Danny's been playing Callaway gear for the last couple of years. The Visor and shirts in the pic probably came from The Titleist Academy down here in NZ. The look after and supply the NZ Amateur Squads with equipment/clothing.