What Do You Make of this Letter from TaylorMade CEO David Abeles?
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What Do You Make of this Letter from TaylorMade CEO David Abeles?

What Do You Make of this Letter from TaylorMade CEO David Abeles?
So get out, play, have fun, and enjoy the game we all love so much

Given some of the history, it’s nice to receive a letter from someone at TaylorMade that doesn’t include the phrase cease & desist.

So right out of the gate, for me anyway, the letter/email TaylorMade CEO, David Abeles, sent to TaylorMade email subscribers today was encouraging.

Motives for the e-blast aren’t crystal clear, but it likely has something to do with with keeping the TaylorMade name fresh in our heads, creating an opportunity to position Abeles as the leadership face of the brand, and generally kicking-off 2016 for TaylorMade fans.

Whatever its purpose, the letter doesn’t push TaylorMade products with any degree of force (no mention of the impending completion of the M family), which is nice. I’d characterize the general tone as optimistic, yet not delusional, which is also nice.

In one context or another, 2016 is going to be a busy year for TaylorMade. If the tone of the letter holds, we should expect the company to be more measured and less chaotic this year.

letter-from-david

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Tony Covey

Tony Covey

Tony Covey

Tony is the Editor of MyGolfSpy where his job is to bring fresh and innovative content to the site. In addition to his editorial responsibilities, he was instrumental in developing MyGolfSpy's data-driven testing methodologies and continues to sift through our data to find the insights that can help improve your game. Tony believes that golfers deserve to know what's real and what's not, and that means MyGolfSpy's equipment coverage must extend beyond the so-called facts as dictated by the same companies that created them. Most of all Tony believes in performance over hype and #PowerToThePlayer.

Tony Covey

Tony Covey

Tony Covey





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      Davel

      8 years ago

      I used to work at TMag. David is a genuinely nice guy and I believe he is trying to make the company more customer friendly/focused.

      Reply

      choppers make me laugh

      8 years ago

      TM has been sold to a group in Asia. This will be announced once all the formalities have been sorted through…

      The letter is like most other things they do, smoke and mirrors to distract you from whats really going on..

      I do think the M1 is the best they have made in a looooong time, maybe since R7. Truth is I didn’t win the powerball, otherwise I would buy them, find a better goo than PXG did, and rename them TXG, cause i could…

      Reply

      Jim Koppenhaver

      8 years ago

      Concur with most of the more realistic (pessimistic) observations above. None of the factors cited (golf Olympics, PGA TOUR stars and season, youth increases) are correlated to the health of the operational side of the business (i.e. folks who run golf facilities and have the biggest impact and influence over whether golf grows or not) which ultimately grows the consumer equipment side of the biz. Rounds for the past 3-5 yrs have simply followed weather, the golfer base continues to shrink as the Baby Boomers play more but we lack Millennials in any significant number at the early lifestages of golf so we go sideways or down, our fate resting in the hands of my (BBoomer) generation for the near future. Equipment sales for ’15 will be up slightly but still off 5% from the ’07 benchmark year so we’re just shuffling around deck chairs on the Titanic of rounds, golfers and equipment dollars until some catalyst arrives that fixes one or more of golf’s fundamental challenges. For equip mfrs, it’s about balance sheet management and stealing share (see Callaway). Sorry for the long post…. Jim K.

      Reply

      dg7936

      8 years ago

      Just some vague silliness that is “marketing lite”. TM has figured out they can no longer buy market share and are going the touchy-feely route to gauge loyalty. Seems like they’re trying to take the temperature of the market before doing anything drastic. Does not make me feel they are sure of their strategy.

      Reply

      Regis

      8 years ago

      I got a copy of the letter. I guess because I purchased some products from their website. I thought it was nice nothing more. Actually, compared to a lot of ‘Letters’ I receive that are not so cleverly disguised sales promos (including an occasional MGS alert) I thought it was unique. And if nothing else it gave the groupies of other brands a chance to break their winter doldrums and practice for their regular season TMAG bashing

      Reply

      Rod_CCCGOLFUSA

      8 years ago

      At the PGA Show, pull yourself away from the TM beer stand and walk over to the Honma display. The astounding difference in craftsmanship is just a surface indicator of the engineering that goes into a product that depends more on performance than marketing. TM chooses to buy as many pros as it wants to endorse its product, but it does not show comparison test data based on 13-handicappers with a 92mph swing speed. It’s useless to argue with them because you are trying to out-hype the industry’s premier hipsters.

      Reply

      Who’s The Best Golf Player

      8 years ago

      Nice info thanks a lot :p

      Reply

      Chad Mardesen

      8 years ago

      Purple monkey dishwasher!

      Reply

      Filtr

      8 years ago

      I would love to see their top executives’ take a pay cut a keep the workers working that what makes the bussiness not the executive who has no clue but the stock price that he worries about

      Reply

      Scotty Michaels

      8 years ago

      Desperation to re claim market share????

      Reply

      Darrell Taylor

      8 years ago

      Please buy our crap!

      Reply

      MyGolf Spy

      8 years ago

      Let’s hear your incredibly insightful thought on this. Please. We must know.

      Reply

      ComeOnSense

      8 years ago

      When I started reading this letter the M1 was mentioned ,but by the time finished reading the M2 was out.

      Reply

      dr. bloor

      8 years ago

      Well-played.

      Reply

      Chad Mardesen

      8 years ago

      PS: sorry I lost so much money and fired all them folk.

      Reply

      Ted Neville

      8 years ago

      #damagecontrol

      Reply

      Josh Gold

      8 years ago

      He gets paid for this? Go build some clubs and earn your money…

      Reply

      Mike Truran

      8 years ago

      Still waiting to see who Purchased Taylor Made. Understand Adams will only make cheaper Box sets of Clubs.

      Reply

      I Love Golf

      8 years ago

      I always adore everything like this

      Reply

      Chad Mardesen

      8 years ago

      Monkeys are fun!

      Reply

      I Love Golf

      8 years ago

      Erm? :/

      Reply

      Kenny B

      8 years ago

      So does this letter imply that Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, and Justin Rose are off the table for PXG?

      Reply

      Tony Covey

      8 years ago

      All four are still under contract with TaylorMade through this season. Nobody I’ve spoken with believes that, given its current financial situation, it will be able to keep all four.

      I’ve been told that Day in particular is looking for “Rickie Fowler type money”.

      Reply

      Ryan

      8 years ago

      Well Tony, if that’s true they need to pay that man whatever he wants. Of the four I have to think Rose is the most likely casualty, followed by DJ.

      Bony

      8 years ago

      I hate TaylorMade

      Reply

      Bob Mitchell

      8 years ago

      new salesman in new territory – send letter to customers – back to basics

      Reply

      Trevor Carter

      8 years ago

      Trying to be positive in an industry too focused on negatives.

      Reply

      I Love Golf

      8 years ago

      Agreed :)

      Reply

      Steve Mallin

      8 years ago

      These guys created most of the negatives in the industry!! Product cycles every 3 months

      Reply

      Joe Green

      8 years ago

      Not really sure why this was posted? Useless…

      Reply

      I Love Golf

      8 years ago

      I agree :

      Reply

      Who’s The Best Golf Player

      8 years ago

      Yeah :

      Reply

      David Bell

      8 years ago

      My take on the letter: This will be the year they let go of Adidas.

      Reply

      Brad Wuhs

      8 years ago

      Other way around – Adidas will let go of Taylor Made.

      Reply

      David Bell

      8 years ago

      I stand corrected. I really need to stop this ‘no coffee’ thing I’m trying.

      Reply

      Guy Crawford

      8 years ago

      Trying to be nice?

      Reply

      hckymeyer

      8 years ago

      I like it, starts the year off with a nice note and gets the “new” face of the company out in front of it’s customers.

      Now let’s just hope it’s not a cover up while Adidas shops for buyers :)

      Reply

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