Welcome again to a different version of #AskMyGolfSpy the place readers such as you submit your prime inquiries to our specialists right here at MGS. You possibly can cross alongside your inquiries to the workforce on Twitter, Fb, Instagram or proper right here within the feedback part under!
Usually, we reply a handful of questions in these mailbag articles however this week we’re going to spend our time on only one.
“Are golfers lastly beginning to balk at driver costs?”
I plucked this query from @GolfSpy_GC2 out of the MyGolfSpy discussion board. Along with serving to out with the discussion board, Robert is a long-time golf course worker who has noticed that golfers look like shopping for fewer new drivers.
Granted, it’s early within the shopping for season however let’s, for the sake of debate, assume Robert’s commentary proves to be spot on.
Is price the rationale?
Frankly, I don’t consider $600 drivers are the issue.
For positive, we’ve all had our fill of inflation and better costs on the issues we want make it tougher to afford the issues we would like however, for a good portion of {the golfing} inhabitants, $600 for one membership isn’t a deal-breaker.
In my estimation, golf doesn’t have a worth downside. It has a patio furnishings downside.
A what?
Let me put this in context.
Some time again, I caught a narrative on the radio a few patio furnishings seller who’s making an attempt to determine tips on how to navigate a major decline in gross sales. I’m not an knowledgeable on the patio furnishings market however I feel we will fairly assume that, like every little thing else, the price of patio furnishings has risen in the previous few years.
In case you geeked out on patio furnishings like many people geek out on golf gear, the query you would possibly end up asking is, “Are out of doors dwelling lovers beginning to balk at Adirondack chair costs?”
I doubt it.
Because it seems, the most important cause why customers aren’t shopping for patio furnishings proper now could be that they have already got new patio furnishings.
The COVID Increase
Flash again a few years to peak pandemic. We had been all spending extra time at residence and due to that, the collective we spent some huge cash on residence enchancment and yard luxurious tasks.
I wager you could have various mates who had swimming pools put in. You most likely know anyone who purchased patio furnishings.
You may additionally recall that golf loved an honest run as, fairly actually, the one recreation on the town.
Gyms? Closed.
Youth sports activities? On hiatus.
Your native golf course? Packed. No tee occasions earlier than 4 p.m. … and that’s on a sluggish day.
You don’t want me to inform you that, because of COVID, participation in golf elevated dramatically and golfers, each new and current, spent an enormous sum of money on golf tools.
Chances are high the clubhouse at your course is filled with faces you don’t acknowledge. You undoubtedly know anyone who purchased a complete new bag of golf equipment. You most likely know anyone who did it twice.
A couple of of these new faces could disappear however, aside from lingering excessive costs, the world (reminiscent of it’s) has kind of normalized and I think that signifies that, for the golf tools trade, the day of reckoning is nigh.
Some on the within have already instructed me as a lot.
Clues may be present in tools shopping for habits through the pandemic.
Accelerating the Cycle
Portray with broad strokes right here: There’s loads of historic information to recommend golfers sometimes purchase new drivers roughly each 4 years. For irons, the shopping for cycle is understandably longer: 5 to 6 years on common.
Throughout COVID, nonetheless, issues went positively bonkers.
The inflow of recent and returning (aka “lapsed”) golfers accounted for a major uptick in new tools gross sales.
What’s talked a few bit much less is that the inhabitants of already avid golfers additionally purchased new tools at accelerated charges.
The everyday substitute cycles acquired tossed out the window.
From our surveys, we all know that the everyday MyGolfSpy reader replaces tools extra ceaselessly than “common” golfer however, for our final two surveys, 50 p.c of golfers reported shopping for a brand new driver inside the final yr.
For irons, the place, once more, typical substitute charges are nearer to 6 years, in our two most up-to-date surveys, practically 40 p.c of respondents bought new irons inside the final yr.
Even in classes like fairway woods and hybrids the place shopping for cycles are typically longer, substitute charges had been considerably increased than we’ve ever seen.
Once more, portray with a broad brush, we’re principally rising from a two- to three-year interval the place practically everybody who performs golf purchased new tools—a complete bag full in lots of instances. That’s clearly not sustainable so it appears affordable to imagine {that a} return to typical shopping for patterns is inevitable.
The problem producers will face is {that a} wholesome share of golfers are resetting their cycles at roughly the identical time.
Inflation, the widely increased price of golf tools and the fact that there’s typically not a major enchancment from one mannequin to the subsequent, isn’t serving to something however the major cause why I anticipate golfers will purchase much less new golf tools in 2023 is as a result of they have already got new golf tools.
This isn’t a golf downside or a patio furnishings downside. It’s doubtless true to some extent in each client trade.
Now What?
The million-dollar query is, “What occurs subsequent?”
Time will inform which firms have completed one of the best job of forecasting however for manufacturers who get it flawed, we would see a return to steep mid-season reductions—at the least within the quick time period.
Prolonged product cycles are additionally a chance.
Titleist runs two years and Mizuno has stated it’s going to do the identical with its drivers. PING sometimes runs about 18 months between releases. May the remainder of the trade prolong equally?
Possibly—however I’m not holding my breath.
The reply may very well be present in consumables.
I suppose lighter beer, fajitas and a pair hours at Topgolf rely however not everyone seems to be as strongly positioned as Callaway.
Titleist has raised costs on golf balls, PXG simply launched its first golf ball with the hope that loyalists will purchase them by the gross and whereas methods elsewhere could take time to materialize, it’s going to be fascinating to see how your favourite manufacturers pivot to account for what I’d wager will likely be a two- to three-year slowdown whereas the market resets and finds a brand new regular.
As all the time, in case you have any questions for the MGS crew – drop them under for an opportunity to be featured in subsequent week’s #AskMyGolfSpy!
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