What a start to the year! The major manufacturers announcing their new technology for 2018 and how it will help golfers of all abilities. Along with Christmas, this is the most wonderful time of the year as it is truly exciting to see what the experts in the industry have come up with to enhance the enjoyment of the game for every golfer in the land.
The likes of TaylorMade for example have recently announced the new technology in their driver called 'Twist Face', whereby the face of the club has been manipulated to ensure that even off centre strikes go straighter than a normal 'bulge' faced driver. Note: This technology has been around since 2012 in a Cobra driver but we won't mention that!
What has intrigued me and a lot of others in the industry is the 'feud' (I might be overdramatizing it but feel free to insert your own word here) between the most Googled golf coach in the world, Mark Crossfield, and TaylorMade themselves.
Let me give you a brief background. Mark reviews clubs and creates unbiased content that is informative to the golfer and therefore has gained an incredibly large following. Mark has just signed a deal to play Titleist clubs during 2018. A good move in my opinion from Titleist from all the exposure he will create for them.
However, the hierarchy at TM were unhappy with this and will not give MC any clubs to try and test for his viewers stating he will be 'biased' towards Titleist owing to the new contract.
Now, the interesting thing here is TM'S approach to Crossfield and the new contract he has with Titleist. It appears that TM are not trusting the viewpoints of MC and fear he will be biased towards Titleist. This is a guy who has (at time of writing) over 233,000 subscribers on YouTube and, in one of his latest videos posted on Facebook regarding this issue, has had 158,000 views. That's a fair chunk of golfers who are engaged with Crossfields content. What I don't get is why TM don't want to be a part of it?
I'm guessing the vast majority of subscribers to Marks YouTube channel are golfers and not 'paid for' fans with names such as Busty Brenda or anyone like that, they are all true golf fans who want a part of the game and a part of new technology available to them.
Of course, I am not naïve enough to not suggest TM might be questioning the integrity of MC now who has signed (I presume) a paid deal with Titleist (but obviously none of our business), but still, the exposure he creates for any golf brand will surely be worth placing their product in his hands to show the golfing world and encourage the sales they need after a poor couple of years financially for the company.
TM are missing a trick here and limiting their audience. A slightly closed mindset has taken place and the blinkers have come on.
Yes, they have enormous clout with the likes of Tiger, Rory DJ and Rose on-board their gravy train, but they are paid to play it and talk about how good it is. Their view will be as biased as anyone's with the millions being paid to each of them to play the equipment. Mark on the other hand has always given the golfing public the truth about clubs, instruction and equipment and that's why he has had success, he hasn't sugar coated anything. Just simply given his audience information that will help them make an informed decision themselves.
Consumers these days are not stupid. Yes, the temptation of new toys that will revolutionise their games still make us part with our hard earned cash. But, we can still see through the sellers and biased views on a certain product which can sometimes have the opposite effect and put us off that product and, even worse, stop spending with the company who have designed and manufactured it.
A truthful, honest viewpoint is desperately needed to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Manufacturers, if you believe in your product, put in the hands of influencers in the industry and let them talk about it. Your brand depends on it!