WINNING COUNTS - 2012 Wyndam Championship

[GolfSpy_X]

WINNING COUNTS - 2012 Wyndam Championship

In the 156-player Wyndam Championship field here were the equipment leaders:

 

Drivers - Taylormade (65)

 

Fairway Woods - Taylormade (86)

Hybrids - Taylormade (48)

Irons - Titleist (38)

Wedges - Titleist (144)

Putters - Titleist (61)

Golf Balls - Titleist (108)

 

Footwear - FootJoy (95%)

Shafts - Aldila

[RoverRick]

Those are impressive majorities. Especially in wedges, balls, and shoes.

[GolfSpy WD]

I knew Titleist was dominant in balls, but I didn't realize how dominate they were for wedges and shoes. They must pay well for pros to use those wedges. Personally I've never found Vokeys to be anything special compared to other clubs and I absolutely love my Dynacrafts.

[Tony Covey MGS]

Always interesting what these type of stats reveal about consumer buying habits. I'm sure no one would be surprised to see TaylorMade #1 for both Drivers and Fairway Woods. The hybrid is a little bit of surprise, not because it's TaylorMade, but rather because you simply don't hear much about them (for all the hype the build, I don't think they do enough to promote their hybrids...their really good hybrids).

 

The irons are a little bit of a surprise, but I suppose when you consider that TaylorMade and Titleist have the two biggest Tour Staffs, nothing here is truly surprising. It's a numbers game, and he who PAYS the most PROS wins (and every OEM knows it's money well spent so long as the tour pro remains on top of the pyramid of influence).

 

Where the numbers get really interesting is when you see listing for the closest competitor. The Pro V1(x) series kill the competition, not even TaylorMade's outstanding Penta has been able to make a dent. Same with FootJoy on the footwear side. I see this every day at my club. The proshop sells ONLY FootJoy, and the membership trusts the brand implicitly. Hard to argue (or compete) with decades worth of happy customers.

 

Putters....meh...the Scotty phenomenon. The story starts and ends there. Titleist is #1 in putters based on a contract. The day will come when Scotty leaves, and then we'll really have a story about little independent Scotty Cameron dominating on tour.

[RoverRick]

Titleist should never ever ever let Scotty Cameron leave the fold. And why should he want to. The two together, Cameron and Titleist are number 1. Why would either of them want to take the chance of becoming number 2.

 

I always thought that the Scotty Cameron putter was much ado about nothing. I have owned two and was not that impressed. I have made the statement on this site a couple of times about them being over priced Ping Ansers. I went through a putter change last week and have had my new putter for two days. It is a Scotty Cameron and the finest putter I have ever touched. I played yesterday and had 22 putts. 14 one putts from all over the green (well, nothing over 50 feet.) I shot a 34 on the front and went OB on 4 out of 5 holes and in the water 2 times all on the back and still managed bogies on these holes for a 43. The putter felt awesome, even the misses were good.

 

Ping putters felt dead, Taylormade felt too hot, Odyssey felt pretty good, but not as good as the Scotties, and Yes, Seemore, and other small companies felt really good but this Scotty style felt perfect to me. I really liked a Bettinardi that I hit but it was a wee bit expensive.

 

While I ended up with an older one, I also really liked the newer Scotties also. But the GSS insert on this with my swing was perfect distance almost everytime. But the Honeymoon is not over.

[Matt Saternus]

 

Putters....meh...the Scotty phenomenon. The story starts and ends there. Titleist is #1 in putters based on a contract. The day will come when Scotty leaves, and then we'll really have a story about little independent Scotty Cameron dominating on tour.

 

You think he'd dominate ANYTHING without Titleist's money? I'd take that bet for any amount of money you want. If it were really about craftsmanship, you'd see the tour guys playing Bettinardi, Byron Morgan, and countless others. They play Cameron putters for the same reason they play TaylorMade drivers: $$$$.

[Tony Covey MGS]

You think he'd dominate ANYTHING without Titleist's money? I'd take that bet for any amount of money you want. If it were really about craftsmanship, you'd see the tour guys playing Bettinardi, Byron Morgan, and countless others. They play Cameron putters for the same reason they play TaylorMade drivers: $$.

 

Yes I do. It's not about craftsmanship, but it is about reputation. Scotty's reach extends far beyond the Titleist brand. There are a huge number of non-Titleist staff members that play Scotty Cameron, not because they're paid to do so, but because for whatever reason, they truly believe it's the best putter in golf. The kool-aid is powerful. It's a cross-staff phenomenon you don't' find with any other club. His putters are like crack to these guys.

 

I've spoken to more than one OEM rep who has told me basically 'we'd love to put our putter in his bag, but we can't get him to drop the Scotty'. It took a scandal before Tiger was willing to drop his, and you have to believe there was some behind the scenes dealings that offered unwavering support from Nike in exchange for dropping a Method in his bag.

 

Bettinardi, Morgan, and TP Mills all make outstanding putters, but there's an entire culture around Scotty Cameron that simply does not exist with any other brand in golf. It extends from the Tour Pro to Jimmy Shankstoomuch on Saturday, and yeah...the Titleist partnership certainly had something to do with building the reputation, but it has now taken on a life of its own. The following is strong, hell...it's probably even growing.

 

I think Vokey need Titleist, Scotty...not so much.

[RoverRick]

I sold a Scotty today on eBay and made $40 more than I paid for it. The Scotty is the only club that I ever bought used and then sold for more money than I paid for it.