What The ____, TaylorMade?

Written By: Tony Covey

My reaction upon entering TaylorMade’s scaled down booth at the 2015 PGA Shows was a deflated what the… (rhymes with a certain subfamily of waterfowl. Hint: it’s not ptarmigan).

Trying to decipher the particular whys of the booth’s design is an exercise in contradiction.

Cunningly calculated or cost-dictated?
Well-conceived educational experience or barren equipment wasteland?
New CEO Ben Sharpe’s vision or Ben Sharpe’s distraction?

By any measure, the 2015 booth wasn’t what we’ve come to expect from TaylorMade.

Nearly every element of the booth’s design could be explained from one of two completely opposite positions, and while I could make a good faith argument for either, the reality of the situation is likely far less simple than the booth itself.

A Great Disturbance in the Force

It is a time of transition for both TaylorMade and Adams Golf. It is, by most accounts, an interesting time inside the company. For everything publicly discussed; Adams HQ closing, getting kicked in the mouth (financially speaking), listening to the golfer, a newly stated commitment to responsibility…yada, yada, yada, there are plenty of things happening behind the scenes that most golfers will never hear about.

Over the last several months, a number of senior level and/or long time TaylorMade Guys have left the company – some by mandate, others by choice. There are new faces in new places. The old guys are being replaced by Ben’s guys.

From the outside, waters appear turbulent.

That’s just one way of looking at it.

As easily as I could argue that the turnover is a sign that some clearly believe it’s better to jump before the ship hits the rocks, I could just as easily argue that this is nothing more than exactly the sort of thing that happens any time a new boss starts to make his presence felt in earnest. The company is putting the right people in the right places.

Whichever is closer to reality, I can assure you that this new boss is most definitely not the same as the old boss.

This isn’t Mark King’s TaylorMade anymore.

Nowhere was that more apparent than inside the company’s PGA Show booth. The adjective you’re looking for is either barren or focused. The more accurate choice is a matter of perspective.

The Baddest Booth on the Block

In recent years, the TaylorMade Wing at the annual convention has served as a monument to opulence, excess, and bloviation; a neon-lit tribute to fiscal irresponsibility and corporate Kool-aid.

Nobody spent and nobody drank like TaylorMade.

The non-stop booth parties were trumped only by the annual blowout bash. George Thorogood, go-go dancers, open bars and buffet lines; TaylorMade lived high off of 17 more yards, Driver Love, and IER. Even the Hack Golf debacle was good for a glass of chardonnay and a cheese plate.

A Different TaylorMade

This year TaylorMade’s booth was…well…different.

Conceding the excess to Callaway, and in stark contrast to years past, TaylorMade’s booth was simple, well-lit and completely devoid of neon. For the first time I can recall inside a TaylorMade booth, I could actually see who I was talking to. It was as if the company had literally emerged from the shadows.

Of course, one man’s focused or responsible is another’s sparse or characterless. Take your pick from the four. Frankly, I’m not entire surely which tells the real TaylorMade story.

Product and people (including CEO Ben Sharpe) were accessible within the booth’s wide-open space, and for those looking for hints of a new company attitude, it’s perhaps noteworthy that the staff’s signature black suits had been replaced by a more (business) casual attire for the duration. Everyone was dressed for the course. Corporate suits swapped out for golfers.

Quite frankly, other than the booth’s location, the indoor driving range, and Tom Kroll’s hair, everything, including the mood, was different.

All of this helps make the point that, while the company’s largest competitor literally put on a show (filming several Callaway Talks segments over the course of the first 2 days), TaylorMade went out of its way to avoid both literal and figurative spotlights.

It was weird, unnerving, and even a little disappointing (no sushi bar this year?).

As usual, the lines to get fit for the latest TMaG products were often long, but even in the midst of playing “let’s see how far you can hit this“, the anecdotal evidence suggests a TaylorMade shifting its focus from hyperbolic bullshit to more tangible things.

Little in the TaylorMade booth suggested a company hell-bent on being longer or faster. Outrageous isn’t in the vocabulary. And while the new drivers are apparently #MadeOfGreatness, much of TaylorMade’s signature hype and hyperbole was replaced by actual information, including daily PGA accredited seminars and an area devoted to short game awareness (backed by data from Mark Broadie’s Every Shot Counts).

Product and education, remember that.

Fore Right, Fore Left

As much as you could sell me that the understated booth signals a new direction at TaylorMade, one could just as easily argue that the company over-corrected; the pull hook after the slice.

Hints of a new company vision, or booth design brought to you by the bottom line? Perhaps a bit of both.

We’re a long way removed the days of the 52% share of the metalwood market that TaylorMade once enjoyed. If sacrifices needed to be made, it would certainly make sense to start with the neon.

Whether the simple (or tastefully understated…again it’s all perspective) nature of the TaylorMade booth was by design or by necessity, it’s a safe assumption Ben Sharpe will be a bit more careful with the beans than his predecessor.

What’s less certain is the larger message.

You can almost certainly make a well-formed argument for a company that has lost its way and its identity. It’s definitely possible. I’d certainly hear you out.

I believe the booth signifies the beginning of a subtle rebranding effort. TaylorMade sees itself as a serious golf company for competitive golfers. To fill that role we’re going to see a dramatically different approach to the golf business and a much different narrative.

Success will be determined by TaylorMade’s ability to position itself as golf’s innovation leader in a way that doesn’t trade in or rely on an abundance of bullshit.

TaylorMade will need to play the straight man; Titleist with more flair.

That’s a huge order considering the history of the last decade.

An upside to the disaster that was 2014?

By taking a forced step backward, TaylorMade may actually find itself ahead of a curve whose path won’t be realized for another 2 years or more.

The nature of golf retail is changing rapidly, and what I saw inside the toned-down TaylorMade booth suggests a company that has come to terms with the new reality and is preparing for the next phase.

This is a new TaylorMade with a new identity and a new plan.

TaylorMade’s story could be any or all of that, or it could be that sometimes an empty booth is just an empty booth.