Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Titleist is on a Small Roll...



Back in the day, one of my buds had a saying.... "I'm on a small roll". To the world, that meant "I managed to get a girl to talk to me more than once in a 72 hour period without slapping my face" - however, to Jim it meant " I am having a great deal of success with something that is my primary focus in life".
Well, based on the results thus far in 2010 on the PGA Tour, the folks at Titleist are "on a small roll"... Check This Out...

Event

Winner

Irons

Ball

Northern Trust Open

Stricker

Titleist 755

Pro V1

Farmer's Insurance Open

Crane

Titleist AP2

Pro V1x

Bob Hope Classic

Haas

Titleist CB Forged

Pro V1

Sony Open

Palmer

Titleist AP2

Pro V1

SBS Classic

Ogilvy

Titleist MB

Pro V1


No question, this is a pretty impressive showing. I've previously written about Titleist, and given them some grief for losing young players soon after they join the pro ranks (Danny Lee, etc.). However, in addition to the impressive list above, they have done a kick a$$ job in the last year snagging some real young guns....ponder this list:
  • Rory McIlroy
  • Rickie (Aerosmith) Fowler
  • Michael Sim
  • Nick Watney
They also migrated Geoff Ogilvy over from sister company Cobra (can Camilo,Ian, and JB be next ??). Hat's off to Titleist for keeping the pedal to the metal and setting the standard among the Tour players. Another thought provoking factoid:
- 2010 Results - 5 Winners, All played Titleist Irons and Balls
- 2nd half of 2009: 21 Winners, 4 played Titleist Irons, 9 Played Titleist Balls

For the Math nerds among us, that means that Titleist has improved their iron's success rate by more than 500%, and have ALREADY had more different Winners in 2010 than they had in all of 2009 ( 5 vs. 3). In addition, their ball success rate has improved by more than 2X.

Just curious about a couple of things...
(1) I wonder how long it will be until a ball made by anyone ELSE wins a 2010 event ? My guess... March.
(2) Could the new grooves have anything to do with Titleist's dominance thus far ? Are their balls performing better with the new grooves ? Are their "new grooves" somehow better ?
(3) Is this the Tiger effect ? (sorry, could not ignore that....)

And you thought Bushwood never did any real research....take THAT Waggleroom !

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