Today, you’re not only going to see something the industry doesn’t want you to see, you’re going to see why they don’t want you to see it.
The information we are publishing today is typically only something the manufacturers get to see and they pay handsomely for this type of information. But at MGS we base things on truth not hype, performance not marketing. Invaluable as it may be, we’re sharing our results (free of charge) with you and the golf companies.
Just over a week ago we asked you to predict what you think will be the best selling and best performing drivers of 2015. And you sure did. Your participation in this survey was immense, and we think that’s awesome.
Believe me when I tell you that the golf companies follow these results carefully. They definitely want to know what all of you think about their brands and their products. By continuing to participate, you’re ensuring that your voice will be heard by nearly every company in the golf industry.
That’s part of how we intend to give the power back to the player.
Results: Best Selling
The reality is, the business of golf isn’t all about performance, it’s about perceptions. It’s about what the masses will buy and how golfers view and respond to a given company’s marketing efforts (even if some of us think we’re immune to them).
Here’s what MyGolfSpy’s readers believe will be the best selling drivers of 2015.
Insights:
- 36% of you believe TaylorMade’s R15 will be the best selling driver of 2015. That’s equivalent to the number that selected the PING G30 (16.5%), Titleist 915 (13.9%) and the TaylorMade AeroBurner (5.7%) combined.
- After the Top 3, no driver received more than 6% of your vote. By the time we get to the 8th ranked club (Cobra FLY-Z) we begin to see how tightly a group drivers in the middle are.
- Leading the Callaway pack was the Big Bertha 815 Alpha (no black diamonds) at 4.2%. The 3 Callaway Big Bertha Series drivers on our list combined for only 8.3% of the vote.
- By way of comparison, Cobra’s FLY-Z Series accounted for 7% of your votes while Nike’s 3 Vapor offerings combined for 6.2%.
Results: Best Performing
How deep is your personal demo list?
If a golfer doesn’t believe a driver will be among the top performing, how likely is he to actually take the time to find out?
This is exactly why initial performance perceptions matter, and why we think our chart is likely very good news for some, and maybe not such good news for others.
Here’s what you anticipate will be the best performing drivers of 2015.
Insights:
- Although 36.1% of you believe TaylorMade’s R15 will be the best selling driver of 2015, less than half that number (15%) believe it will actually be the best performing. While that’s still good enough to rank 3rd, we think this speaks to the belief some hold that TaylorMade’s marketing might be stronger than its performance.
- The tagline is Titleist is Performance, and so I suppose it at least fits that the highest percentage of you believe that Titleist’s 915 Series will be the best-performing drivers of 2015.
- To put that 21.8% in perspective, it’s only .02% less than the bottom 14 on the list combined.
- And speaking of the bottom…Cleveland’s .6% is more than doubled by sister brand Srixon (1.3%). While you guys are more in the loop than the average consumer, odds are most in the US have never hit a Srixon. The numbers would seem to support Cleveland’s decision to focus its metalwood efforts on a narrower demographic.
- While 1.1% isn’t what we’d call a strong showing, it’s interesting that more of you believe Callaway’s XR, for which there are nearly zero details currently available, with outperform TourEdge, Wilson, and Cleveland.
- Of the companies with a 3 driver ‘series’, Cobra led the pack with 15.8% of the total vote (FLY-Z), followed by Callaway at 8.7 (Big Bertha), and Nike at 8.2 (Vapor).
More to Come
These numbers barely scratch the surface of what we learned from this survey. You won’t believe what we discovered when we segmented the data by age and handicap.
Jay
9 years ago
Went last weekend – hit the Cobra Fly Z +, Titleist 915 D2 and Callaway XR
I love the cobra shaft but the distant numbers were dissappointing on trackman.
Down to 2 – the 915D2 and XR. Have to go back again to get more results.
Bottomlne is distance – I have control. I play the XHOT2 – but I am not brand loyal
Good luck in yr search