Cool Idea.... I think (Purchasing Golf Balls)

[bmaru99]

I dont know if this already exists but what i there was a company who had a mass inventory of  different brands and all of their respective golf balls (Realistically any golf store, Golf Galaxy for example since the have such a large selection.) Being the consumer, would you guys like to be able to customize your full package of golf balls. By this, I mean what if you could pick one sleeve of Prov1x, Snell Mtbx, Zstar XV and TP5x for example o create four different sleeves of golf balls. This would be a great way to see which golf ball best performs for you out on the course. I also just think it is a very neat idea considering you wouldnt be spending tons of money on a full pack of balls just to find out you dont like them after the first ball.

[hckymeyer]

I agree, that would be a cool idea.  Probably more for a site like golfballs.com or any of the various used golf ball sites.

The issue would be how to price it?  Most of those balls all have various prices per dozen so I can see it getting difficult to price out a custom dozen balls.

Most pro shops do sell balls by the sleeve though, they just tend to cost more than buying by the dozen.

But if a place figured out a way to do this without a mark up compared to the price of a dozen of all the same ball I'd probably try it out next time I'm looking for a different ball to play.

[Brian A]

If they can do create a 6 pack in stores, dont see why create a dozen is that tough!

[TR1PTIK]

OEM's set pricing for their product and most retailers and golf shops stick to it unless they want to loose their account or have a special going. The only way this could realistically be done is using 2nd-hand or refurbished golf balls which will never gain a ton of traction with mainstream golfers - especially knowledgeable golfers that understand the pitfalls of 2nd-hand and refurbished golf balls.

What would help though, is if retailers could/would offer more brands and models by the sleeve. Seems any variety of sleeves can only be purchased in green grass shops which is less than ideal, because few (at least in my area) carry more than 3-4 brands.

[bmaru99]

9 hours ago, hckymeyer said:

I agree, that would be a cool idea.  Probably more for a site like golfballs.com or any of the various used golf ball sites.

The issue would be how to price it?  Most of those balls all have various prices per dozen so I can see it getting difficult to price out a custom dozen balls.

Most pro shops do sell balls by the sleeve though, they just tend to cost more than buying by the dozen.

But if a place figured out a way to do this without a mark up compared to the price of a dozen of all the same ball I'd probably try it out next time I'm looking for a different ball to play.

When I was thinking about pricing here is what I had in mind. Depending on what sleeves they picked, you would take the price of the full box and divide ha by 4 (for one sleeve) and you do this for the whole pack. I would personally add a 2$ customization fee as well or something along those lines.

[bmaru99]

21 minutes ago, TR1PTIK said:

OEM's set pricing for their product and most retailers and golf shops stick to it unless they want to loose their account or have a special going. The only way this could realistically be done is using 2nd-hand or refurbished golf balls which will never gain a ton of traction with mainstream golfers - especially knowledgeable golfers that understand the pitfalls of 2nd-hand and refurbished golf balls.

What would help though, is if retailers could/would offer more brands and models by the sleeve. Seems any variety of sleeves can only be purchased in green grass shops which is less than ideal, because few (at least in my area) carry more than 3-4 brands.

Yes, I agree that would be nice. I understand that obviously the more you buy, the more you save theory bu sometimes I just wish I could pick up a sleeve for what it would actually cost (If we took the price of the box and divided it by four)

[PlaidJacket]

I like people thinking of ideas. That's how stuff is created. However... I can try out most any brand/models of balls without buying them simply by using the ones I find on the course. All brands pretty much. Like everyone I find balls all the time and many times they are brand new. And Free! That's kind of hard to compete against.

[bmaru99]

1 minute ago, PlaidJacket said:

I like people thinking of ideas. That's how stuff is created. However... I can try out most any brand/models of balls without buying them simply by using the ones I find on the course. All brands pretty much. Like everyone I find balls all the time and many times they are brand new. And Free! That's kind of hard to compete against.

Fair enough. Personally, for me, I have not had much luck with finding any of the golf balls I want to try on the course  

[null]

You're basically just asking big retailers to sell individual sleeves of balls.

Unfortunately, that is not how the OEM allows them to sell their product.  If you do want to buy individual sleeves, your best bet is pro shops.

[perseveringgolfer]

8 minutes ago, bmaru99 said:

Fair enough. Personally, for me, I have not had much luck with finding any of the golf balls I want to try on the course  

you need to hit your drives further in to the trees and rough. Fairways are over rated and rarely have 'free lost balls' 

[bmaru99]

11 minutes ago, jlukes said:

You're basically just asking big retailers to sell individual sleeves of balls.

Unfortunately, that is not how the OEM allows them to sell their product.  If you do want to buy individual sleeves, your best bet is pro shops.

Well, they should allow it. Lol im just kidding, thanks for the input and smashing my dreams

Edited August 14, 2019 by bmaru99

[PlaidJacket]

16 hours ago, bmaru99 said:

Prov1x, Snell Mtbx, Zstar XV and TP5x

Every ball you named plus many of the DTC balls such as Vice, Kirkland, MG, Cut, etc. etc. I've found on courses. Of course I find these out in the deep rough while looking for someone else ball.  

[bmaru99]

Just now, PlaidJacket said:

Every ball you named plus many of the DTC balls such as Vice, Kirkland, MG, Cut, etc. etc. I've found on courses. Of course I find these out in the deep rough while looking for someone else ball.  

I have found 0 of any of these on course. Maybe a couple ProV1X but definitely none of the other ones. Gonna focus on hitting into the thick stuff from now on, maybe I will find some

[Berg Ryman]

so bmaru, I like this idea, hell I'd go as far as to say I love this idea,but there's a reason beyond what others have mentioned as to why this isn't going to happen anytime soon, and it comes from the world of retail itself.

Sure, these golf ball companies would much rather have their big box companies sell their stuff by the dozen and that's true, but nothing would stop them from ordering sleeves if they wanted to either. This issue lies in inventory counting and potential theft, or what's more commonly called 'shrink' in the retail world. Having to account for individual sleeves of golf balls over boxes would make counting inventory a nightmare for a company like Dick's or a PGA SS, and imagine you make a mistake or you aren't keeping the closest of tabs on your inventory? That's room for a hell of a lot of people getting fired if numbers come back wrong and it shows you're losing money from the floor employees, to the lost prevention manager, to the store manager.

It's a great idea BMaru, and it would be awesome if the world worked like that where we could make our own trial packs, but because of the retail machine working the way it does and trying to minimize potential losses where they can, it'll never happen. 

[edingc]

I bet this could be done here on the forums if someone were enterprising enough to organize a thread (and if the mods approved). I'm sure we all have enough new balls laying around to send a sleeve to someone in return for another sleeve of something else we'd like to try.

For example, I have a ton of MTB-X currently, but would love to try the Z-Star XVs. But I like the MTB-X enough that I'm not going to buy a dozen of the XVs just to try them.

That way the cost is minimized to shipping only, which shouldn't be too much more than the cost of a single sleeve of premium balls at a pro shop.

EDIT: Should be roughly $5 to ship a single sleeve of balls in a padded mailer USPS first class.

[bmaru99]

28 minutes ago, edingc said:

I bet this could be done here on the forums if someone were enterprising enough to organize a thread (and if the mods approved). I'm sure we all have enough new balls laying around to send a sleeve to someone in return for another sleeve of something else we'd like to try.

For example, I have a ton of MTB-X currently, but would love to try the Z-Star XVs. But I like the MTB-X enough that I'm not going to buy a dozen of the XVs just to try them.

That way the cost is minimized to shipping only, which shouldn't be too much more than the cost of a single sleeve of premium balls at a pro shop.

EDIT: Should be roughly $5 to ship a single sleeve of balls in a padded mailer USPS first class.

Amazing idea! That's exactly what I was thinking. It would be very helpful to those who do not want to buy a full pack of balls just to try them out.

[edingc]

Paging @GolfSpy MPR, @GolfSpy Stroker, @Golfspy_CG2, @GolfSpy STUDque ...

Would a golf ball swap thread be something we could look at organizing?

[cnosil]

Interesting that people say retailers won’t break a dozen into the sleeves. Pretty much every golf shop I have been in has individual sleeves at the registers available for purchase. if the model I want isn’t there they go get a dozen and break it up a sell an individual sleeve.

[StrokerAce]

38 minutes ago, edingc said:

Paging @GolfSpy MPR, @GolfSpy Stroker, @Golfspy_CG2, @GolfSpy STUDque ...

Would a golf ball swap thread be something we could look at organizing?

Any swaps, trades, etc. can be done member-to-member on the classifieds thread.

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/forum/28-free-classifieds/

[chemclub]

1 hour ago, edingc said:

For example, I have a ton of MTB-X currently, but would love to try the Z-Star XVs. But I like the MTB-X enough that I'm not going to buy a dozen of the XVs just to try them.

This comment gets at a potential flaw in the business. Just how often is someone going to want a mixer pack? i'm just asking.

Serious golfers buy new balls. Once a serious golfer finds a ball they like, is the market really big enough for the few who want to keep experimenting? 

@edingc is not even willing to drop $25-30 on a dozen Z-Star XV to try them out. This isn't a knock against edingc. It's more a comment on how small the market might be for sampler packs.

[bmaru99]

2 minutes ago, chemclub said:

This comment gets at a potential flaw in the business. Just how often is someone going to want a mixer pack? i'm just asking.

Serious golfers buy new balls. Once a serious golfer finds a ball they like, is the market really big enough for the few who want to keep experimenting? 

@edingc is not even willing to drop $25-30 on a dozen Z-Star XV to try them out. This isn't a knock against edingc. It's more a comment on how small the market might be for sampler packs.

Extremely fair point, but there are constantly new golf balls coming out which may broaden the likely hood of people wanting to do something like this. There are also a bunch of cheaper DTC golf balls coming out onto the market. I believe the golf ball market is growing exponentially thanks o many studies and a ton of thanks to mygolfspy for all of their discoveries.

[ZJBogey2]

I think this is a great idea!

I think the golf ball industry will see a huge disruption when 3D printing becomes more commonplace. It will allow more customization options that are made specific to an individual golfer without a price increase.