Callaway is the King of All Distance

Written By: Tony Covey

Do you want more distance off the tee, and fairway, from the bunker, and even from the woods? Sure, we all do (even if some of us won’t admit it). When it comes to the golf equipment game, distance is…and always will be king, so if you’re a golf company, and you can get golfers to believe that you’re the King of Distance, well…you can see where this is going.

Callaway (like almost everyone else…even those who won’t admit it) wants you to know…or at least think, that their clubs produce more distance than anybody else’s.

Case in point…some Trademarks that Callaway recently applied for basically prove what we already knew; Callaway is hellbent on laying claim to the distance crown.

I’m Telling You . . . It’s Not True

Golf myths take on a life of their own. Lots of you reading actually believe that golf companies (specifically TaylorMade and to a lesser extent Callaway) have been promising you 10 more yards for years.

You’re wrong.

When you actually look back and a decade’s worth of ad campaigns for drivers you’ll find that actual specific distance claims…the “10 more yards” stuff, almost never happened, and never to the extent that so many believe. Seriously…

Instead, golf companies speak in much broader terms. They say things like “our longest driver ever”, or “the longest driver in golf”. They’ll talk about how they improved performance through CG placement, improved forgiveness through the reallocation of discretionary weight, and they’ll talk about all the wrench-required features of the new club that make it the most adjustable, most customizable in golf.

They’ll do all of that and more, but when it comes to drivers, they almost never give you a specific number.

Absolutely, companies have made specific claims that their driver is longer than their competitors (Callaway claimed RAZR Hawk was 6 yards longer than TaylorMade’s R11), but unless they’re specifically refuting somebody else’s claim, or trying to positively differentiate themselves from a club that’s got more buzz, it’s more advantageous to speak in broad, almost meaningless generalities.

Longer, straighter, and more forgiving. That’s all you need to know. There’s no advantage in specifics.

And all of that brings us back to 3 Callaway Trademark requests that were filed last week.

While you were watching Tiger Woods make a serious run at 59, Callaway began to seek approval to potentially brand itself thusly:

• KING OF DISTANCE
• KING OF ALL DISTANCE
• KINGS OF DISTANCE

No word yet if TaylorMade will demand that Callaway submit bloodwork to prove its royal lineage.

A New Identity

This Callaway = Distance thing has been (not-so) subtly building for a year.

There was the afore mentioned “Longest Driver in Golf” claim that raised the ire of TaylorMade. Then Callaway announced that they’d signed as many of the biggest hitters on tour as they possible could (the list includes Gary Woodland, Nicolas Colsaerts, and Luke List).

They started giving out XHot Bomb patches for long drives and issuing Wrestling-inspired belts to their bombers (and damned if golfers didn’t start to take notice).

They signed Jamie Sadlowski, the most recognizable name in Long Driving. They signed a partnership agreement with RE/MAX to be the exclusive club sponsor and official driver of the World Long Drive Championship and Long Drivers of America, and if that wasn’t enough, they signed another dozen Long Drive guys, including former Champions Mike Dobbyn and Carl Wolter (neither of whom is pictured above) to their X Hot Long Drive Team.

From a staffing perspective, Krank and Geek got looted. Those guys…the longest hitters in the world…they play Callaway now, and they do so in in the interest of helping you understand that Callaway is…well…the KING OF ALL DISTANCE.

A Taste of 2014

I’d be lying if I told you that this new King of Distance stuff didn’t fill my head with disturbing images of that creepy, giant-headed, Burger King dude crushing the new Hex Royal ball (I made that up) with a Callaway Big Bertha Alpha Driver (that one’s probably real). There’s definitely a cheese factor to the new Trademarks.

Xbombs were cheesy too…so are the belts. And you know what…they’ve proven to be pretty freakin’ brilliant too.. Cheesy and genius are not mutually exclusive.

When you’re trying to invent new ways to suggest you’ve got the longest drivers, fairway woods, and potentially irons in all of golf, what’s better than being the King?

Nothing…that’s what.

Given that the new Trademarks are just a few days old, it’s no surprise that we haven’t seen them in print yet. My suspicion is all of this King stuff provides the briefest of introductions into how the 2014 line is going to be marketed. Callaway’s 2014 lineup will be the first complete lineup of the Chip Brewer era, and it needs to set the tone for the next battle in Callaway’s Five Four Year War.

Whether or not you, me or anybody else buys into the idea that Callaway is the KING OF DISTANCE…well, that comes down to execution, and a long objective look suggest that while Callaway still has some work to do, in 2013 they executed as well as anybody, and that’s saying a lot for a company that lost its identity for the better part of a decade.

Have Your Say

You tell us…can Callaway convince the average golfer that they are the KINGS OF ALL DISTANCE?