Blog Babble: What Happens When Costco Makes A Golf Ball?

Call me old fashioned, but I’m not jumping on the Kirkland Signature Golf Ball like so many other budget golfers are right now. If you want to know why, I’ll tell you, but you might not like my answer. I mean, for the most part, people have loved these things as much as their TaylorMade or Titleist balls, but they are a fraction of the price, so why wouldn’t everyone jump on board. My reason is more about the ethics of golf than it is about my pocket book, but you can decide if I’m right or wrong all on your own.

You see, back in the day, I spent $3 a ball on Maxfil HT100 Balata’s that lasted me about 3 to 4 holes before my blades had scuffed them up and my driver had knocked them out of round. That meant I was spending between $12-15 a round on balls. Of course, Titleist began to R&D better balls and out spend Maxfli like there was no tomorrow, which moved them from the second place tour ball down the list to being obscure. Nike then blew up the market by getting rid of the “wound ball” and nothing has been the same since. Manufacturers have made balls all over the world and they have never been a higher quality then they are today. Of course, it’s that R&D that got them there, and when someone comes in with a clone or a copy of something that someone else spent millions developing, pretty soon, there gets to be a major issue.

That major issue is that those front running companies begin to cut costs to get competitive on price. If Costco can sell a ball at $15 a dozen, why can’t I get a Pro V1x for the same price? They are made of the same materials, and you have to figure that Titleist can make them cheaper than Costco can purchase them for, right? Well, as we saw from Nike, everything can seem fine, until it’s too late. Nike, the maker of some of the best golf equipment in the game today, with names splashed through the list of the best golfers in the world using them, was losing money. The R&D costs were higher than the goods they were able to sell. When this flips over, smaller manufacturers like Vice, Snell and OnCore won’t stand a chance. Even companies like TaylorMade, Callaway and Srixon will feel the pressure and begin dialing back their research to save money. What’s left is a void in the next generation of equipment.

We have seen a huge leap forward in golf equipment over the last 15 years. Where 360cc drivers used to be considered gigantic, now 460cc heads are more common than bogeys on most courses. Where Tip Flite distance balls used to be the number one ball on your local course, there’s now so many different ones, most people don’t even have to mark them any more. Call me a doomsdayer, but when Costco imports a value ball that performs as well as a $50 dozen ball that is made here, there will be a serious fall out to those companies that make the $5 balls. My issue is that Costco didn’t have to work for that ball. They put zero effort into it and have no idea what they are selling. Someone in an office somewhere said, “Why are we selling Titleist balls when we could make a generic and sell it for less, and make more?” They hide under the umbrella of “saving their members money” but do they really? For me, my Wilson Zips are still cheaper and perform as well as I need them to.

My worry with the Costco ball revolution is that other retailers will jump on board when they see that Costco is having success. Wait until Costco, Walmart, Target and a few other retailers start private labelling their own balls and see what happens to the market share of Callaway, TaylorMade and some of the other ball manufacturers. Many of them are barely surviving the golf slump that is happening and any further blows will just knock them out out the game. That’s why I’ll keep buying a name brand ball, to encourage them to research the next level and continue to grow the game and the technology of the game. Without moving forward, we’d never get any better and if we aren’t getting better, why are we playing?

These are just my thoughts on this and hopefully it didn’t come across too babbly, but remember, when you don’t purchase (even a low end model) from someone that is developing what’s next, you might not have an opportunity to do it the next time you want to.