TaylorMade - Marketing 101

You have to hand it to the west coast dudes at TaylorMade Golf, because once again they have come up with something that has the golf world buzzing. Over the last few days it's been hard to avoid the name of their new club in the chat rooms and online golf sites. ROCKETBALLZ! Yes, you read that right, Rocketballz! That's the crazy name that allegedly came through their R & D department and some how stuck as the club went into production.

Personally, I think the name is awful and the "RBZ" on the bottom of the club would have been better, but the name generated the PR they were looking for, so good luck to them. What I do like is the look of the club and like everyone else, the possibility that it will hit the ball that little bit further is intriguing. They are claiming 17 yards, which I did find doubtful and upon investigation found that was with a launch monitor under ideal conditions. Still, even 5 or 10 yards will appeal to most club players.

TaylorMade has always been a company willing to "put it out there" and I particularly like the way that they have engineered a scenario in which they "own" the color white in golf clubs. They weren't the first in the game (white clubs existing 80 years ago and remember John Day using a white Cobra in his 1991 PGA Championship win) but they are now the undisputed number one driver on Tour and each and every contract player is recognizable on the tee with their white golf club. There were many sceptics when the R11 came out, but the sales numbers don't lie and the RBZ is a natural line extension that will keep white front and center in the game.

It's oficial - Tiffany owns light blue, The Masters owns green and now TaylorMade owns white.