Yale! Under Armour Moves Into "Aspirational Positioning"

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Eben Novy-Williams' Bloomberg story on Under Armour paying Yale $16.5 million annually over 10 years to form a partnership suggests they are not letting up in any way, with the suggestion that golf continues to be a big part of their thinking.

From the story:

So what’s in it for Under Armour? The Yale brand, said Under Armour Vice President of Sports Marketing Ryan Kuehl, who cited the powerful alumni network, its global footprint and its elite student body.

"The number of young people around the world who aspire to attend Yale University is mind-boggling. That aspirational positioning made the deal worth it," Kuehl said.

Add that gem to the jargon HOF! Oh, the golf component:

Under Armour may be particularly interested in Yale’s golfers, who are likely to keep playing long after they graduate. Yale’s golf course was recently rated the best university course in the country by GolfWeek magazine; Under Armour sponsors Masters champion Jordan Spieth and is building its golf business.

Parsons To Writer: "Brother, you need to get out more."

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Reading golf.com these days requires a motion sickness pill, what with the auto-play videos and other assorted pop-ups that have the text shifting everytime you try to scroll.

That said, the Josh Sens Q&A with Bob Parsons about his splashy new equipment company is most fun, in a combative, eccentric billionaire sits down with freelance journalist kind of way.


GOLF.com: Great feel. Great look. Longer shots. Isn’t that what every club manufacturer tells us? What's so different about that?

Parsons: What’s different is that our clubs actually do what we say they do. Have you talked to anyone who has hit them?

GOLF.com: Not yet.

Parsons: You haven't? How is that possible? Brother, you need to get out more.

GOLF.com: Well, you've hit them. What are they like?

Parsons: They do everything I just said.

GOLF.com: Give me an example. What sort of shots can you can hit now that you couldn’t hit before?

Parsons: One of the differences with me compared to many guys who have much lower indexes (Parsons plays off a 10) is that they will practice in order to hit a particular shot. I go out to see how a club feels. And the feel of these clubs is unbelievable. But you don’t have to believe me. You could talk to Ryan Moore. We shipped him a set with no expectations. We knew at the time they were pretty good. He called us two days later and he said, 'I just put them in my bag, and they’re not coming out.'


Helps he didn't have to pay retail for them!

Dreadful: Cobbs Creek Clubhouse Destroyed By Fire

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A terrible loss on many fronts, as the delightful clubhouse building at Cobbs Creek was destroyed in an overnight fire. (Thanks to readers Matt and Len for sending in links.)

The colonial clubhouse has stood for nearly a hundred years, sporting a classic Colonial style and set the perfect tone for the course, which has the potential to be one of the world's premier municipal courses (with a little dusting off.)

Here is a short Philly.com staff report with a surreal image of ice retaking the building after the fire.

NBC Philadelphia's report:


Footage of the fire:

Some of my photos from two years ago, in happier times...



Peter Kostis' Next Post-Round Interviews With Zach Johnson And Billy Horschel Should Be Pleasurably Awkward

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Peter Kostis, CBS on-course reporter, sometimes acknowledged member of Team Titleist who says the golf ball should not be blamed for distance increases, and Twitter motto-holder "Be positive, be happy," sounds really annoyed by players jumping ship to Parsons Extreme Golf.

He's even conducting a poll to confirm the sheer awfulness of the free-market at work.


The news broke Monday included these press release quotes from Zach Johnson and Billy Horschel: 

“The decision to put PXG clubs in play was not one I took lightly,” said British Open and Masters champion Zach Johnson. “My entire team, from caddie to coach, was part of the discernment process. We all agree that PXG is undeniably the best equipment to help me achieve my goals on the course.”

“Being part of PXG is like being part of a very special movement in golf,” champion golfer Billy Horschel added. “What the company has accomplished in its first generation of equipment is mind-blowing. I’ve been playing some really incredible golf with PXG clubs and I feel very confident that great things are to come.”

Now, he could be also referring to new Nike man Brooks Koepka, but based on his quotes reported by Rex Hoggard or in this Nike roundup from Kyle Porter, it would appear Kostis is especially upset with Johnson and Horschel. Can't wait for those post-round interviews with two players are generally most forthright in their assessments.

Will Parsons Disrupt The Equipment Industry With $700 Drivers?

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Long rumored and now reality, Parsons Extreme Golf (PXG) announced the signings of several players including Open Champion Zach Johnson. Not mention were the lucrative renewals or new players signed by players who might have borrowed Parsons as leverage. (BTW Nike announced the signings of Tony Finau and Brooks Koepka today. Finau moves from Callaway while Koepka is now a former Titleist man.)

Doug Ferguson has many quotes from Jim Parsons, the vision behind the newish high-end maker of clubs, who is also owner of Scottsdale National (and not afraid to write his members letters, as you may recall here and here).

Will Parsons serve as a positive disruptive source?

“Making money is not what I have in mind,” Parsons said. “My goal with this is to build some very incredible clubs without regard to cost, without regard to the process. I’ve been telling people what I’m doing and I’ve heard many times, ‘You’re nuts.’ That’s a very good sign.”

An even better sign for the people he's paying! For a while anyway.

Parsons is tapping the billionaire demographic that is tired of spending $250,000 a year on clubs only to hope they...spent more? Though hopefully there is also a level of craftsmanship to justify the price.

“It got to the point three or four years before I started the PXG venture that I would spend about $250,000 to $300,000 a year on equipment,” he said. “I bought pretty much everything and would hit it. I could tell you which irons, woods and all that … were real and what wasn’t. Most of it is gimmicky. You take any manufacturer and they say, ‘This will give you an extra 10 yards and 15 yards.’ If all that were true, we’d be hitting it a mile-and-a-half.”

GolfDigest.com's Mike Johnson weighs in on the signings of Johnson, Billy Horschel, James Hahn, Chris Kirk, Charles Howell III, Cristie Kerr, Gerina Piller and Alison Lee.

Loving Zach's b-speak jargon already...

The signings, terms of which were not disclosed, brings Parsons’ tour staff to an even dozen players who have combined for 55 tour wins, including three major titles. “The decision to put PXG clubs in play was not one I took lightly,” said Johnson, in a statement released by the company. “My entire team, from caddie to coach, was part of the discernment process. We all agree that PXG is undeniably the best equipment to help me achieve my goals.”

Not having a board or shareholders to report to should free-up Parsons to not oversaturate their audience who are paying a premium price. But $500 for a hybrid not jewel encrusted? (Golf.com has a photo of the hybrid here.)

But will they be able to resist the rapid fire product cyles that are now expected in the clubmaking world?

Dick's Sporting Goods No Longer Blaming Golf For All Problems

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I love the shopping experience at Dick's Sporting Goods, but longtime readers know how revolting I found it that the chain of sporting goods stores blamed the state of golf after going all-in on Taylor Made's three-drivers-in-one-year strategy.

So it was nice to see them at least not dump on the state of golf in their latest conference call and even suggest that the lowly "sport" of hunting was the real drag on sales (as golf stabilized). Overall, Dick's is taking a huge stock price hit and may still be feeling the karma after-effects for having blamed golf for all world problems.

From Tomi Kilgore's story, whcih was accompanied by, quite charmingly, a Callaway ERC II. Nothing like featuring turn-of-the-century drivers! (Thanks reader John for sharing this.)

The sporting goods retailer’s stock DKS, +0.51%  plunged 12% in active afternoon trade Tuesday, putting it on track to close at the lowest level since January 2012, after the company’s disappointing results and outlook. The stock has tumbled nearly 40% since the April 4, 2015 record close of $58.98.

Same-store sales at its Golf Galaxy stores declined for an 11th-straight quarter, but the company said that overall, sales of golf equipment and apparel increased and golf margins improved.

Chief Executive Ed Stack explained on a Tuesday conference call with analysts that while Golf Galaxy “ran a little behind” the results seen in Dick’s branded stores, Golf Galaxy represented only about 3% of the company’s total business, according to a transcript provided by FactSet. Stack said he saw reason to be optimistic on golf, given strong sales of new products, such as the M1 driver from TaylorMade and Callaway Golf Co.’s Big Bertha.

Stack said the golf business still won’t be a big growth area, “it’s just we think we’ve stopped the bleeding, so to speak, but it will be much more profitable.”

That's better!

Forward Press: Next Wave Of New Media Golf Content?

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With music mogul Irving Azoff capping off an impressive first season of Callaway Live Tuesday at 9 pm ET, I explore the ambitious first season as well as the possibility of other manufacturers getting into the content business.

Taylor Made is rumored to be looking at doing a similar show, while Titleist, PING and Cobra are already doing quality video content for their websites. Considering how much of Golf Channel's inventory is now devoted to live tournament action and with Back9 network long gone, viewers may have their appetite for talk, equipment design insights and lifestyle entertainment fed by the people who sell them clubs.

Also this week: Golf Channel's Jordan Spieth special and woohoo, opening day for the PGA Tour.