COMMUNITY

On tour it really just comes down to what company will pay the most. That is also why one brand might cost more than another. The companies offset the cost of what they pay the pros to play their gear with higher club prices.

What you are observing is both the impact and limitations of marketing. People buy Mizuno irons because they are great clubs, not because a bunch of the tour guys play them. Nike doesn't dominate club sales because in spite of their paying many of the top players in the world to play them (starting with Tiger Woods) their product generally hasn't been as good as some other of the top brands. Wilson and McGregor almost disappeared from the scene because for many years they had neither the product, nor the sponsorships to compete with the other brands.

No bucks...no Buck Rodgers!

Most of the big boys are owned by someone else. Wilson and MacGregor were late to adjust to new technologies which in a game where there seems to be something new every 2 years is a death sentence.

From a historical standpoint the name of brands that dominated the market and that now are a historical footnote is a long one. Stop me when you recognize one...
Hugh Philp
Carrick
Robert Forgan
Wm Park and Son
Tom Morris
Robert White
Tom Stewart (the Titeist of hickories from 1890-1935)
William Gibson (the most prolific hickory clubmaker of all-time)
Wright and Ditson
Herd and Yeoman

I would venture to guess that the clubmakers above made more clubs that Callaway and Titleist combined. And the clubmakers above have probably won more majors that any company on the market today. Tom Stewart, a personal favorite of mine made clubs for Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Tom Morris, Harry Vardon, JH Taylor, James Braid, Tommy Armour, Francis Ouimet, Ted Ray and on and on...he was the best in his day but you can't find a club made by Tom Stewart which dates beyond the 1930's. Why? Because Tom Stewart was married to hickory shafts and was too late to make the adjustments. Tom Stewart was also married to hand forged personal attention when the age of automation kicked into the golf industry.

Not what you were asking, but it gives you historical perspective.

I really think it comes to who pays the players the most. The same club they use looks nothing like the club they sale to the public.

BINGO!!!!!!! Bubba Watson says it in his Ping commercial.

That's something else I noticed, on every TM commercial all of the guys have the latest clubs when in reality 90% of them are playing 3-4 year old models that are beat up and ugly. Webb Simpson was in a panic earlier this year at one of the Hawaii events because his I believe 6 year old driver that a college buddy gave to him broke and he didn't have a backup. I knew those guys made a lot of clubs but didn't Sarazen help with the early development of Wilson staff? Especially the world famous first sand wedge.
That's very true too, Nike is somewhat a smaller brand that has TW and only a handful of other pros. Although I think since Tiger has switched to all Nike clubs now you will see more followers of him want to try their stuff.

my first set of clubs 25 years ago was a $90.00 set from McGregor brought at K-Mart.

Wilson is bigger in the UK for some odd reason and Hogan was bought out by Callaway.(I think)

Wilson clubs have won more majors than any other.

Mizunos are awesome. I'm surprised more tour guys don't use them. Sweetest clubs I have hit, which is why I bought the MP 32s.

Mizunos are awesome. But you shouldn't be surprised, the reason is simple. Mizuno doesn't do many sponsorships. The players play the brands they do because that is the brand that will pay them the most to do so. The exceptions to that statement are pretty rare.

So, if they never win, does it balance out???? I think that would be a good thread. Would you rather take the sponsorship check for using our brand or take a win? I know the sponsors are hoping for a win so they can sell more products, and what if you never win, just a bunch of cuts made and maybe a top ten or something.

This is a great discussion. If you go to Europe you see much more Wilson than here. They have very good equipment but it isn't easy to find at most places unless its the low end stuff. Mizuno is great equipment but you need to find those spots that will sell them and more importantly believe in them. They don't make as much selling them as much as the big brands so the push goes to the big boys. Sad but reality.