The High Heat Driver - Taking on the Big Boys

                                             

It takes brave souls in any business to take on the industry leaders, but in the golf business many would say you have to be certifiable. Well, crazy or not, two gentlemen, Dean Knuth and Steve Trattner decided to take on the behemoths of Callaway, TaylorMade and Titleist and launch a very cool and effective new driver. It's called High Heat and it is already making waves in the business. I'm told their first production run is already sold out and more drivers are on the way. And that's because it performs even better than advertised.

Both Dean and Steve have a long history in the game of golf. Dean is the "Pope of Slope" and if you have a USGA approved handicap you know his work, if not his name. He's the math whiz from the USGA who came up with the rating and slope system used in modern handicapping. His resume contains many extraordinary accomplishments (you can read it here) and suffice to say it was just a matter of when, not if, he created a great driver. His business partner is Steve Trattner and for full disclosure Steve is a family friend. He and Dean worked together for many years at the USGA where Steve was the intellectual property attorney (imagine the fascinating documents that came across his desk during that time). So, you know the patents and intellectual property for High Heat were in the best of hands.

Dean at a demo day

I have worked with golf club manufacturers for many years, so I try not to get too caught up in the invented buzz words and marketing speak which invariably come with new clubs. For me, it's much more about understanding the tech without getting too wrapped up in the terminology. Look and feel mean more to me and these are tough concepts to sell, but are the most important factors to me when testing a club. So, let's get the tech bit out of the way. Thankfully and rather wisely High Heat has kept the marketing speak to a minimum  - they focus on High Heat having a deeper and lower center of gravity and a higher MOI than the major brands. 

That's all I need to know, as I understand both concepts. So that should lead to improved trajectory and longer distance, right? Well, in my tests both indoors on a launch monitor and outdoors where I was simply watching ball flight, the High Heat beat my existing Callaway RAZR Fit driver by a solid 10-15 yards and the flight dispersion with the Fujikura Pro 63 shaft straightened me up too!

The other really cool element is the no groove, shiny face that allows you to see where you actually strike the ball on the club face. It had the effect on me of focusing on a pure strike, rather than simply just trying to smash it - a strange calm took over and I started swinging instead of simply hitting, with very positive results! (See below - hard to shoot a great picture, but you get the idea!) I asked Dean about the smooth face for clarification and here's what he had to say,

"Another benefit of the mirror face is that it helps to lower backspin rates. Too much backspin causes distance loss. Lastly, there are seven zones of internal thinness behind the face for increasing the size of the sweet spot zone and putting grooves over this area would have created variability in performance."

If you would like to buy this great driver, go to the High Heat site where Dean and Steve have a MacDuff Golf special. In the "How did you hear about us?" section check the "MacDuff Golf" box and you'll get a $50 discount reducing the price from $399 to $349. You will love this driver! Read more about High Heat here.

TaylorMade - Really, this is the best you can do?

The marketing department at TaylorMade must have been drinking too much coffee! What on earth possessed them to take four of the most well known and photogenic players in golf (Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose) and turn them into poorly made models as if they are from Thunderbirds? It may have seemed a good idea at the time and we get it - it's supposed to be funny - but it's not! The accents are appalling and the story line is weak. TaylorMade has access to the actual players on a weekly basis and they come up with this mess. Watch it soon, because it is going to get pulled. Let me know if you agree or if I am missing something.

TaylorMade - Awful...ier

TaylorMadeAdidasGolf (TMaG), the current undisputed golf-marketing champions have once again created a buzz with their "IER" campaign. Rather like technology, in marketing, just because it can be done, it doesn't mean it should be!

The awkward TV ads with the players clearly stifling their laughter and yet happily cashing the TMaG check, the dreadful "IER" hats, the dull print ads with simply the phrase "IER" added - all of it, just plain bad and not befitting or comparable with the other strokes of marketing genius they have pulled off in recent years. For example, the yellow bucket hat promotion earlier in the year was cool, contemporary and worked across different platforms. This is just plain terrible...ier!

A Tale of Two Golf Companies - TMaG & Callaway

Yesterday, industry giant, TaylorMadeAdidas Golf (TMaG is less of a mouthful) announced another stellar set of numbers. Proof positive that their aggressive marketing tactics, sponsorship of leading Tour players and sell though at retail show confirms there is life in the retail golf business. For the record, they reported iron sales in 2012 up 32%, with metal woods growing by 21% from the previous year. Footwear was up and even their golf bag sales grew 47%. In total, sales for the year were up $390 million at $1.7 billion - impressive numbers in a very tough market. Mark King, their head honcho said that sales of the new products, including the (ugly - my words - not his!) R1 driver, RocketBladez irons, and adidas Golf’s adizero footwear have also been very strong year to date. TMaG are hitting on all cylinders for sure, but these are really zero sum gains as the overall market is not growing - it would seem they are taking share from the other big boys in the market, Titleist, Ping, Cleveland, Nike and of course Callaway.

Speaking of Callaway, I read with interest that the have sold their only remaining ball plant in Chicopee, MA and become tenants. Probably a good idea and adding $3.9 million to the coffers won't do any harm - but on the day we are reading about TMaG's $1,7 billion it seems like a drop in the ocean. Callaway have a great product line up this year and the industry needs a strong number two to keep the number one on their toes. I expect to see a market share bounce back, perhaps in Q3 of this year as the first year of Chip Brewer's tenure rolls out and a terrific and simplified product line up sells through.