Who makes the #1 Driver on Tour? Who makes the #1 Ball in Golf? The #1 shoe, shaft, towel…ball retriever? Who the hell cares.
What if I told you there is a golf company that isn’t interested in topping some survey, counting trivial things, or being the #1 whatever, wherever. What if there is a golf company that focused the whole of its efforts on making cool stuff that works, and making the game more fun for everyone?
That company exists, and while perhaps they spent too long cooling in the shade (under Titleist’s umbrella), things have changed drastically in just two and a half short years. While the commitment to making the best performing equipment in golf has never wavered, the company finally has its own time in the sun, and – holy Rickie Fowler’s pants – is it ever showing off its color.
The company I’m talking about is Cobra-PUMA Golf (obviously), and believe me when I tell you, if you haven’t been paying attention, it’s time that you start. Their 2013 lineup is innovative, colorful, and totally unlike any other. It also happens to be really…really good.
CELL-ebrating 40 Years
Not long ago I had the chance to attend what is well on its way to becoming an annual (this was the 2nd) open house at Cobra-PUMA headquarters in Carlsbad CA.
The purpose for this year’s event was to celebrate 40 years of Cobra Golf, prepare top dealers from all over the world to CELL sell the new lineup, and to give some lucky contest winners the chance to chill at Cobra-PUMA for a couple of days. It also presented a rare opportunity for a few of us media types (that’s right…I’m The Media…at least that’s what it says on my badge) to get at true behind the scenes look at perhaps the most interesting company in the golf business today.
The event included some one on one time with the boss, a tour of Cobra-PUMA headquarters, demo day, product presentations, a round table discussion, golf at La Costa’s South Course, and plenty of good food and drink.
Also, they gave me a backpack filled with some really cool stuff.
An “Idiot” and An Idea
Shortly after my arrival at Cobra-PUMA HQ, and before I got my ass handed to me at foosball (by a girl no less) I had a chance to sit down with Tom Crow, Cobra’s founder, and the guy who invented the original Baffler.
When you’ve been in the industry as long as Tom has, you live what eventually becomes a series of great stories. Some of those stories, unfortunately, aren’t fit to print…even on MyGolfSpy, but the ones that are, particularly those surrounding the origins of the Baffler are absolutely fascinating.
You might be surprised to learn that the inspiration for the Baffler came largely from the sand iron; a club with enough bounce to allow the club to skid across the ground, rather than dig into the turf. After spending time with the club designers at several different golf companies, Crow was able to refine his design and ultimately bring his vision for what really did amount to a high-bounce fairway wood to life. It wouldn’t be a stretch to describe the original Baffler as a sand wood.
At the time it was a revolutionary idea, but as Crow told me, “I was one of those idiots who thought you could do things differently”.
As different as the Baffler was, Crow had almost no trouble selling his idea to the local golf shops. He’d simply drop a ball onto the pavement in the shop parking lot, and ask the owner to hit towards the Carlsbad hills. Once they did, and saw how easy it was to launch the ball high, they placed their orders.
In the 40 years since Tom Crow created the original, the Baffler’s rails have become quite a bit less pronounced, and Crow was quick to tell me that if it were up to him, he’d raise the rails again to make the modern Baffler look and play more like the original.
Evolutionary design changes aside, 40 years later, Tom Crow’s idea looks anything but idiotic, and the Baffler remains the signature product in the Cobra lineup.
Getting to Know Cobra-PUMA
While the origin of the Baffler is a great story, I know most of you are probably more interested in Cobra’s 2013 lineup – the Amp Cell and AMP Cell Pro irons, the AMP Cell Driver, fairway woods, and hybrids, and perhaps even a new wedge.
I’ll touch on some of that, but for me these OEM visits usually aren’t about specific pieces of equipment, but rather are an opportunity to learn more about a company, its present, its future, and most importantly, its people. And if I happen to score some orange pants while I’m there…that’s just a bonus.
Sitting down with Bob Philion, President of Cobra-PUMA, golf for 20 minutes gave me the opportunity to do just that (learn about Cobra-PUMA…not the pants thing).
Bob Philion joined PUMA in 2005 to head their golf division. At that time PUMA’s golf offerings were limited to apparel, footwear, and accessories. When PUMA acquired Cobra in 2009 it was Philion who was tasked with transitioning Cobra Golf into the PUMA family.
Calmness, Freedom, and Performance
When asked what’s changed since PUMA grabbed the reins at Cobra, Philion told me that the last 2.5 years have gone by extremely fast and that the biggest difference between day one and now is what he calls “operational calmness”.
The fact that things have settled down and that Cobra is fully absorbed in the PUMA culture is reflected in more recent products like the AMP and AMP Orange Driver, Long Tom, Rickie Fowler’s mustache (technically not a Cobra-PUMA product – and yes, I know he shaved it), and without question, the upcoming AMP Cell lineup.
While some might look at these products and assume they’re largely the result of PUMA’s colorful influence, Tom Preece, Cobra’s VP of R&D left little doubt that stepping out from under the Acushnet/Titleist umbrella provided the R&D team with much greater design freedom.
As he explained, “Cobra R&D was always separate from Titleist R&D. We always had our own team, yet Titleist still was somewhat hands-on when it comes to product from a branding perspective, a design perspective, and now that PUMA is our parent we have a lot of freedom to design the type of products we want to design; the look we want them to have. But the most important thing to remember is performance is still going to be first and foremost on our mind…Performance has always driven everything we do in R&D. Despite all the pretty colors you see, we’re the most proud of how our products perform”.
Bob Philion echoed much the same sentiment, telling me that for every Cobra product they “make sure it starts in performance, functional, innovation, and that it looks better than the competition”.
A Splash of Color
Performance aside, color remains where PUMA, and now Cobra have forged their identities in the golf business, and nowhere is that more apparent than the PUMA apparel lineup.
The golf apparel market is exploding. PUMA is arguably on the leading edge of the trend, which in-part explains why the apparel lines account for the lion’s share (sorry) of the Cobra-PUMA empire. PUMA’s golf apparel isn’t just succeeding; it’s growing significantly year-over-year, and the end is nowhere in sight.
Perhaps most surprisingly, despite perceptions to the contrary, PUMA’s appeal is not limited to the Rickie and Lexi crowd. Young at heart fans of all ages are embracing the PUMA culture.
While we’ve come to think of the PUMA, and by extension, Cobra as being targeted at a younger generation of golfers with what is clearly a more youthful message; Bob Philion suggests his brand more accurately targets what he calls “youthful mindsets”. According to Philion, the brand’s appeal is “broader than people may think…we want everyone to enjoy the game more”.
Speaking from experience; it’s impossible not to enjoy the game when you’re wearing orange pants.
Some have speculated that Cobra-PUMA’s flirtation with a younger crowd, which includes not only the apparel lineup, but also the introduction of color (and plenty of it) into the equipment lines, coupled with the lack of what one might consider a traditional looking (black) club, would ultimately cost them the brand loyalists who, in some cases, have quite literally played Cobra’s clubs for decades.
Philion explained that the company actually worried about the opposite. “Our concern was losing through lack of innovation and freshness. There was a bigger concern [we’d] lose some of our core demographic because we weren’t innovating and staying fresh…We actually feel like we have a chance to get back some of those consumers”. According to Cobra’s own research, he added, “north of 60 doesn’t want something boring”.
Neither does just south of 40. I’m just sayin’.
Becoming the Most Desirable
Within the context of our conversations around youthful mindsets, and retaining, and re-engaging longtime Cobra players, I asked Philion to tell me how he views Cobra-PUMA’s place in today’s equipment marketplace.
“We are”, he said, “a reflection of the consolidation in golf…a major player with a strong parent company that’s here for the long haul”.
While, as Philion explained, “the consumer has more influence on our line and business than anything else”, a strong Tour presence remains essential to the success of the Cobra brand. Adding, “we have an advantage that we’re not counting balls, and shoes, and drivers”.
With desirability trumping survey numbers, Cobra doesn’t necessarily need to leverage the tour in the same way as some of its competitors. Rather than trying to generate as much Tour spread as possible, Cobra limits its focus to the select few that fit well with the brand’s identity. Said Philion, “We’re trying to have only those players that resonate with our DNA”.
Oops…Then Again, Maybe Not
One of my favorite things to do on these visits is to ask the golf company guys if they’ve released anything over the last few years they’d consider a failure, or might like a do-over on.
To this day I haven’t had anybody tell me “yeah…we really [expletive deleted] that one up. It was a total piece of crap”, but when pressed, most will admit that market receptions could have been better for certain products.
When I asked Bob Philion that very same question, I had the Long Tom driver in mind. Even with the obvious acknowledgement that Long Tom was never supposed to be the top dog in Cobra’s driver lineup, I have wondered if the retail numbers were perhaps at least slightly disappointing.
His response not only dispels any notion of failure, it also happens to provides us with tremendous insight into Cobra’s approach to product development and where it wants to position itself in the market.
“The answer is no. We’re not trying to be the biggest. We’re not trying to hit home runs with every product. Every product has a reason for being in our line and some of those are to push the envelope, and to really try some out of the box innovation and something that’s new, that may or may not work, but we always talk about learning fast. So, I think…not everything is going to be a hit, but when you’re trying to be the most desirable vs. the biggest, you’re going to send some flares.
We talk about our positioning not being in the fairway. We can’t be out of bounds, and we kind of live in the rough and so that positing tells us we’re going to have some products that are in the deep cut of rough, and again, those products have a reason for being in the line.” – Bob Philion
According to Philion, “Making cool stuff that works” is Cobra-PUMA’s Mantra.
It’s this unique mindset that allows Cobra to make that “cool stuff”, while at the same time helping golfers enjoy the game more. If living just beyond that short grass is what it takes to make it happen, then it would seems Cobra-PUMA is more than happy to do just that.
It’s absolutely a bit of an unorthodox approach for a golf company – especially when nearly everyone else in the industry seems driven to be #1 at something, but it’s clearly an approach that resonates with consumers, as more and more golfers are drawn to what Cobra-PUMA is CELLing. That one was shameful.
But…But…But What About the Equipment
I know you guys want to know more about the equipment.
Sitting in a Cobra product presentation and talking Cobra gear with Tom Preece, and Cobra’s Director of Product Marketing, Jose Miraflor has provided me with a pretty solid understanding of Cobra’s latest technology, especially the CELL technology found in the new drivers and irons, but I’m going to back pocket those until it comes time to fully review both (which will happen).
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this list of things that might happen in 2013.
The Cobra-PUMA Rumormill
- Look for Cobra-PUMA to add someone to their Tour Staff. It’s not going to be Rory McIlory, but it will be a name you’re likely to recognize.
- A new wedge? That’s probably happening.
- A new putter? That’s not happening …at least not yet. Bob Philion told me that putters “represent an opportunity for the future”, while adding, “We’re not going to make a putter to have a putter in the line. It’s got to have a reason for being”.
- There will be even more Limited Edition Products, the timing of which may or may not coincide with USGA and PGA Tournaments of significance.
- PUMA spikeless street-style golf shoes are coming (to my house, I’m told) … soon
- Orange isn’t going away, but it’s not going to be at the forefront of the Cobra-PUMA lineup this season. You should still buy the pants.
- Cobra will release a mobile app to help you determine proper gaps, and put the right Cobra clubs in your bag.
- PUMA is going to sign me to an endorsement deal (this is totally fabricated)
- The Rickie blades are coming (you probably already knew that). You will finally be able to order exactly what Rickie plays through custom. More sensible players can pick up a slightly more forgiving progressive, or flow set, at retail.
Finally… What’s Your Fly?
Expect to hear that question quite a bit in the coming months as Cobra starts spreading the word about the new AMP Cell driver.
My Fly…it’s likely going to be the Pro model set at 8.5° in blue (which wasn’t the original plan, and technically doesn’t exist…yet), and in the spirit of a true you had to be there moment, I’ll call her Jamie Lynn. This is going to happen, right Jose? Right?
I know Cobra-PUMA doesn’t make as much noise as some of the other guys, but listen to me when I tell you that we all need to be a bit more appreciative of this company that isn’t afraid to take some chances, try something different, and have a little fun – and do it all while wearing orange pants. I promise you, this is where real innovation comes from (risk taking and out-of-the-box thinking, not the pants).
During a Cobra product presentation, one of the first things Tom Preece said “It’s a really cool time to be a Cobra guy”. While that’s no doubt true, it’s a pretty cool time to be a Cobra fan too.
Cobra-PUMA Open House Gallery
David W
11 years ago
Color is nothing but a preference, it has absolutely nothing to do with ruining golf. That’s like saying the option of purchasing a yellow car is ruining the automobile industry. I personally would never buy a yellow car but it doesn’t change anything in my life that has to do with automobiles. If you like black drivers you choose a black driver. If you like colored drivers choose a colored one.