Times They are A'Changin'

It's really interesting to me how the fortunes of golf equipment companies seemingly come and go with the tides. About 3-4 years ago, Titleist was on top of the world, with the "#1 Ball in Golf", probably the top driver in the world, and some of the biggest names in the game pushing their products. Now, it seems fortunes have reversed, as Callaway Golf, then the company who seemed to be turning into the "Weekend Golfer Brand", is now taking away all the top names from Titleist. First they had Annika, then they took Phil away from Titleist (who had previously made fun of Monty for playing Callaway clubs), and just this week they got the Big Easy, Ernie Els.

I have no idea who is the best, and probably in truth, there isn't one. Technology is such that there's really no one solution for everyone out there. I have been playing a variety of clubs over the past several years, from Titleist, to Callaway, to Taylor Made, and can't really say any one is better than the other in terms of quality. It all comes down to how the club looks to you and how it fits your game. And with the popularity of club fitting nowadays, it probably doesn't even matter what name is on the club, because you can get them custom fit to behave any way you want them to, regardless of manufacturer.

We all know that most of the time these endorsement deals come down to who can give you the best contract. Although with players like Ernie Els, one would think that he had to have had another reason other than money to switch to Callaway. Possibly he had a disagreement with some Titleist higher-ups, maybe doesn't like the direction of the company, or maybe he fiddled around with Michael Campbell's driver at some European event and was intrigued with what he saw.

At any rate, Ernie is a Callaway man now, there are a boatload of players on tour that are endorsing Taylor Made brand, and it seems I see fewer and fewer Titleist logos on hats from week to week. Titleist will be back, of that I have no doubt, and Taylor Made and Callaway will have their down years. It's just interesting to watch the ebb and flow of endorsement dollars and ultimately how they effect the weekend golfer and the clubs we "have to have".