[barbajo]

Chip Brewer's not wasting any time...

http://www.golfdiges...l#ixzz20VlMNGKN

The guys in charge of domestic operations and sales are among those who got aced. According to the article - very few cuts in R&D.

[revkev]

Don't let the Rev fool you - I'm a Rev some of the time but being the Senior Pastor at a church with a school means that I also am in charge of running a small business with a 2 million dollar budget. We rely on income from donations and tuition from our school - costs are rising particularly in the area of employee health benefits at a rate that costs us one administrative level job or two teaching jobs a year - it's brutal.


Not Callaway but.......... the economy over the last five years has been particularly challenging - I can't imagine it's any easier for someone running a large business than it is for those of us who run small businesses.

Leaner and meaner is the way of the world - fewer employees and yet greater productivity expected of them. Good luck -

[R.P. Jacobs II]

Tell me about it...I'm holding off hiring right now because of the health care issues & if Obamacare gets fully implemented, I'll be letting go of 3-4 people..That may not sound like much but these are "real" middle class jobs($58-72,000/year)...

I wouldn't want to be sitting in Chip Brewer's chair...Let's hope Callaway weathers the storm....

Fairways & Greens 4ever......

[Gaijin_Golfer]

Not surprising considering that Callaway's pros arent winning on tour much and they havent really come out with anything new thats all that revolutionary.
IMO, you cant blame it so much on the economy because every other golf company is in the same boat. The fact remains that Callaway hasnt been a leader in recent years and thats why they are struggling.
Definitely agree that all companies are having to do more with less. Until our government wakes up and starts working together instead of having all this partisan bullheadedness, its not going to change though.
Im not looking for this to turn into a political debate but you could just as easily blame the Republicans for being stubborn and not willing to compromise as you could Obamacare, IMO.

[R.P. Jacobs II]

Let's just leave it at Callaway lost their leadership position and direction...The muddle if the pack is no place to be, especially if you have the infrastructure of one of the industry leaders....

Something's got to give.....

Fairways & Greens 4ever.....

[Gaijin_Golfer]

R.P. Jacobs II, on 15 July 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

Let's just leave it at Callaway lost their leadership position and direction...The muddle if the pack is no place to be, especially if you have the infrastructure of one of the industry leaders....

Something's got to give.....

Fairways & Greens 4ever.....

I think thats something I think we all can agree with.

[RoverRick]

Gaijin_Golfer, on 14 July 2012 - 11:48 PM, said:

Not surprising considering that Callaway's pros arent winning on tour much and they havent really come out with anything new thats all that revolutionary.
IMO, you cant blame it so much on the economy because every other golf company is in the same boat. The fact remains that Callaway hasnt been a leader in recent years and thats why they are struggling.

I would not say that Callaway is winning less on the worldwide tours than any other OEM. They won the Scottish Open today, the US Women's Open last week, and their ball was played by the winner on the Champions tour, just to name a few wins. They may not be doing much on the PGA Tour but that is the people not the equipment.

Anyone who says that the Razr Fit and other current designs are any thing less than as good or better than the others I would have to say is wrong also. The Razr Fit driver is as good or better than the R11s and much easier to set up. I do not need 63 setting to tweek and screw around with. I set mine up, it was easy to find the right one for me and stuck with it. It did not work out too well for me today but that is the exception.

However, the fact that Callaway leadership and marketing have missed the boat is equally true. They decided in the last decade to move from a game improvement to a players and GI. The problem is they owned the rights to the greatest name in player's irons, when they bought Ben Hogan Company. They killed the company and tried to build their own nitch in the player's market. The stupidity of that is that they alienated a portion of the very consumers that they wanted to attract. They could have had the Callaway Ben Hogan Line of players clubs as early as 2007 which is when they first came out with a forged players club. Had they taken advantage of the Hogan resourses and name they would now be the number 1 golf manufacturer certainly in the players department. They have alway been good game improvement clubs. Hogan was all about innovation and areodynamics and stuff well before his time. *Speed Slots on woods etc...) they missed this boat and are now paying for it.

They could have easily done what Titleist has done with the Cameron and Vokey names and would have created a huge brand following. But instead tried to beat TMag at its own game, and what is worse they were not even playing by the same rules until late in the game. They did not realize until the whole Diablo, and Octane fiasco that you really did not have to make a better club to say you have made a better club. Just do it. (Oops. wrong slogan.) But hopefully, they will right the ship and me and several other hundred people sit and wait for someone revive Hogan.

As far as the politics of it, there are other sites better suited to express an opionion on than this golf site.

[barbajo]

RoverRick, on 15 July 2012 - 11:05 PM, said:

I would not say that Callaway is winning less on the worldwide tours than any other OEM. They won the Scottish Open today, the US Women's Open last week, and their ball was played by the winner on the Champions tour, just to name a few wins. They may not be doing much on the PGA Tour but that is the people not the equipment.

Anyone who says that the Razr Fit and other current designs are any thing less than as good or better than the others I would have to say is wrong also. The Razr Fit driver is as good or better than the R11s and much easier to set up. I do not need 63 setting to tweek and screw around with. I set mine up, it was easy to find the right one for me and stuck with it. It did not work out too well for me today but that is the exception.

However, the fact that Callaway leadership and marketing have missed the boat is equally true. They decided in the last decade to move from a game improvement to a players and GI. The problem is they owned the rights to the greatest name in player's irons, when they bought Ben Hogan Company. They killed the company and tried to build their own nitch in the player's market. The stupidity of that is that they alienated a portion of the very consumers that they wanted to attract. They could have had the Callaway Ben Hogan Line of players clubs as early as 2007 which is when they first came out with a forged players club. Had they taken advantage of the Hogan resourses and name they would now be the number 1 golf manufacturer certainly in the players department. They have alway been good game improvement clubs. Hogan was all about innovation and areodynamics and stuff well before his time. *Speed Slots on woods etc...) they missed this boat and are now paying for it.

They could have easily done what Titleist has done with the Cameron and Vokey names and would have created a huge brand following. But instead tried to beat TMag at its own game, and what is worse they were not even playing by the same rules until late in the game. They did not realize until the whole Diablo, and Octane fiasco that you really did not have to make a better club to say you have made a better club. Just do it. (Oops. wrong slogan.) But hopefully, they will right the ship and me and several other hundred people sit and wait for someone revive Hogan.

As far as the politics of it, there are other sites better suited to express an opionion on than this golf site.

The whole Hogan fiasco never fails to rile me up. Have heard (might have been here) that what Callaway really wanted was some of the new Top Flight ball technology to challenge Titleist, and had to take Hogan as part of the deal. Not sure how true that is -- but they apparently did use Hogan to get into the forged player's market - but not under the Hogan name. And now the Hogan brand is on the scrap heap - unless you're looking for a nice sweater or a bottle of wine.

Forgot about the Speed Slots Rick -- that goes back to the 60's, doesn't it? Talk about being ahead of the game!

To quote Captain Binghampton, I could just scream...

That said - I've yet to see or test a Callaway product that flat out sucks. They've been putting out some pretty good sticks the last couple of years - but it sure seems like they have too many choices. I mean, how many different RAZR iron sets do you need? This guy Brewer seems to be willing to make some tough decisions - can't be easy cutting 250 jobs - and he has an appealing track record.

[jmiller065]

Well think about this and what companies you feel have a very big market share in some areas of equipment.

TMaG / Adams ~ Drivers, Fairways, Hybrids, S/GI, Ladies

Titleist ~ Players Irons, Wedges, Putters, Premium Golf Balls

Cleveland ~ Wedges, S/GI irons

Mizuno ~ Players Irons, Wedges (more pull over the pound I think)

Ping ~ GI, SGI irons, Players CB irons

Callaway ~ ???, nothing they have really stands out to me, Wedges maybe with the new forged wedge.


I think the Callaway issue is approach to the market, they need to come up with something that creates buzz with appearance or technology, their stuff looks very bland and traditional, maybe some people like that but most people guess for looks over performance look at TMaG and their market share of drivers. R11s is not even that great of a driver, the white head idea has sold it for TMaG it really took off.


I personally don't take appearance into consideration when looking at equipment unless it effects the way I make contact with the ball. Callaway aims more at the traditional line up and nothing really new, that doesn't market well to the average golfer they want something neat and cool that creates buzz. TMaG nailed it with the white crown. I personally have not had a TMaG driver preform well for me since the 460 SuperQuad back in 2008. I associate the white crown with hackers, it seems like 90% of the people that play one are bad golfers. Probably a fair assessment as that is where TMaG markets the best.

Callaway is just left dangling in the wind in all areas, they seem to be a step behind everyone in pulling new buyers from other companies and keeping the buyers that they have. Hop that they figure out an approach to marketing and product lines that create buzz in the golfing communities and with average players.

[RoverRick]

Top Flight under the Hogan Tour Deep brand had a ball with hex shaped dimples and 6 very deep dimples or whatever that was a tour ball that could rival and beat the new Pro V1 but lacked the marketing back when Callaway had crap. This has now evolved into the Callaway Tour line, but because they changed the cover it is not as good. I find it idiotic that you have the greatest name in golf and squander it.

They will not be talking about Tiger Woods and using videos of his swing 50 years from now. Which swing? At least the way they still do Hogan.

All the different Razr irons are actually ok in my opinion. They have different features, advantages, and benefits for all the different golfers. I believe that Callaway is more innovative than most of the other companies out there. However, my point is how much more market share would they have had if they would have tied all of these new features to the Hogan name. Pairing the two names and proper marketing of Callaway/Hogan would be synonymous with innovation/quality.

Of course this option is no longer available to Callaway, but IMO the people that let this slip by should be the first to go.

[RoverRick]

barbajo, on 16 July 2012 - 07:51 AM, said:

Forgot about the Speed Slots Rick -- that goes back to the 60's, doesn't it? Talk about being ahead of the game!

It was easy for me to remember the speed slots because yesterday I gamed my Hogan/Callaway/Odyssey set of clubs and the 3 wood and hybrids have a speed slot on them. Hit the Callaway driver horribly yesterday, not Callaway's fault, but crushed the 3 wood. I put a 42" UST Axivcore Red XS shaft in it and have never, never ever, ever hit a 3 wood as well. And this is a C455 Hogan from 2004? or something like that.

[jmiller065]

Titleist is the number 1 ball in the public's eyes, I mean there are the communities like this one that might say something different but that's just how it is... Same thing for TMaG and Drivers, they might be the best preforming thing in the world but people outside of the golf industry that are not equipment junkies don't know it...


The point I am making are sales and bottom line numbers come down to what you can make people think about your product rather then what it actually does.

[barbajo]

jmiller065, on 16 July 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

The point I am making are sales and bottom line numbers come down to what you can make people think about your product rather then what it actually does.

Boy oh boy, ain't that the truth!

Fighting this battle every day in my "real" job...competition has done a better job of telling my market that their "European" product is the cat's behind, while our "American-made" product is yesterday's technology. None of it's true, but once you throw a label around something, it's hard to get it off.

I'm guessing the folks at Callaway are thinking the same thing. Much of the buying public thinks TMag is all "kittens and rainbows." Now Callaway has to prove that not only are their products "kittens and rainbows," but "puppy dogs and sunshine" as well...

[BK in Wisconsin]

RoverRick, on 16 July 2012 - 09:44 AM, said:

I find it idiotic that you have the greatest name in golf and squander it.

I sorta see your point....thing is.....to the everyday golfer (not one who researches, partakes in online forums, etc) if you put a set of Callaway irons and a set of Hogans in front of them....with the same or similar price....I bet they would pick the Callaway every single time. Callaway may not be the King of marketing, but they ain't terrible either.

It has to be a very small percentage of the overall golf population who associate Hogan Clubs with quality.

[RoverRick]

barbajo, on 16 July 2012 - 10:15 AM, said:

Boy oh boy, ain't that the truth!

Fighting this battle every day in my "real" job...competition has done a better job of telling my market that their "European" product is the cat's behind, while our "American-made" product is yesterday's technology. None of it's true, but once you throw a label around something, it's hard to get it off.

I'm guessing the folks at Callaway are thinking the same thing. Much of the buying public thinks TMag is all "kittens and rainbows." Now Callaway has to prove that not only are their products "kittens and rainbows," but "puppy dogs and sunshine" as well...

I agree with both of you, you and JM, and I love the Kittens and rainbow, and the new puppies and sunshine.


And JM said it in his other post about the different brands being precieved better at certain things. At the end of last year I had an all Callaway bag, and the only thing that was not the best was the bag itself. Hard platic top that damaged graphite shafts. But the are not precieved as the best. Several times a month I catch someone turning up their nose at my Razr Fit and migrating to someone's white driver just to see how good it is when in actuality it is certainly no better. IMO not as good, but they consider the fact that I out drive them to be me. But they want the white club.

However, if they were to hit my driver the 2* open face and fade oriented weights and 70 g XS shaft would problably not yield good results but no one even gets that far. White is precieved as modern.

As a side note, a friend found a white Optimar head in the bushes. I put a short Fubuki shaft on it and gave it to his daughter. Someone else was playing with us this weekend and hit her driver and remarked about how great those TMag drivers were. I kept my mouth shut, but he hit it worse than he did his own, and it is not even a TMag, but because it is white he thinks it is kittens and rainbows.