The Wait is Over

In the US last year, TaylorMade grabbed 47 per cent of every dollar spent on woods, a remarkable achievement. Judging by the number of players one sees at Kau Sai Chau who wield the brand's clubs, that success has well and truly crossed the Pacific to Hong Kong too.

Here’s a dirty little secret from somebody who has written about golf equipment for the last seven years: every major manufacturer produces excellent golf clubs. It’s just that TaylorMade does a better job of getting people to buy their clubs.

In addition to designing technologically innovative gear, they’re marketing geniuses. They understand how to get people excited about using and buying their golf clubs, whether by putting a white-crowned driver in a long-driving Tour player’s hands, dreaming up a ridiculous name or creating an adjustable driver that promises to fix one’s slice without having to fix one’s swing. They know how to stand out from the crowd.

This has been their modus operandi ever since they released the R7 back in 2004 and they haven’t messed with it for this year’s offerings. As anyone who’s watched the PGA Tour this year can attest, TaylorMade’s marketing campaign is predictably aggressive and colourful. At last month's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, pros and celebrity amateurs sported yellow bucket hats as part of the company’s “One Bucket” marketing campaign. (The thought being that all you have to do is hit one bucket of balls with their new RocketBladez irons to make the switch to them.) TV advertisements have further emphasized distance gains and personalization in their innovative new products.

In yet another bold move, the company has introduced a new white-crowned driver (albeit with additional red, black and gray racing stripe graphics) that comes in only one model. Why just one model? Well, aside from saving on manufacturing costs, TaylorMade claims that 80 per cent of all golfers play drivers with the wrong lofts. With the new R1 you can find the loft that’s right for you because you can adjust it from 8-12 degrees. With a little bit of fiddling, the thinking goes, you’ll have your perfect loft. Additionally you can adjust the weight in the heel or toe and the face angle. Now, that’s a lot to tweak, of course, and it’s likely that few people will bother with too much adjustment, but TaylorMade is betting that people will want a club that does it all for you.