When PXG came on the scene a few years ago now, the introduction of price tags on high-end golf equipment that were anywhere from double to triple what the industry was used to blew people away. Due to a few solid clubs, and big marketing dollars, many people grew to accept these prices. While the narrative for awhile has been that people are spending less on the game and the industry seems to be in a decline, PXG seemed to prove there’s an appetite for these big price tags and slowly but surely, more competitors started to emerge.
Geoff Shackelford wrote on his website about some interesting points from a Wall Street Journal article by Brian Costa about Honma’s entry into the US market signaling the emergence of the high-end equipment market. The overall discussion is more around where this high-end gear fits into the industry, who is buying it, and why, but what caught my eye was this quote Shackelford cited from the WSJ article:
PXG still isn’t profitable. Parsons said it had revenues of around $80 million in 2018—roughly at break-even—and expects to grow by 50% or more this year by opening more stores and slightly reducing prices. But it has already gained wider appeal—including among an array of pro golfers—than many in the industry initially expected.
The working theory is pretty simple, and I’m sure what a lot of the poo-pooers already knew – the wider appeal is due to status. In Costa’s WSJ article, Mark King, consultant to Honma and former CEO of TaylorMade, compared it to the same reason people place a value on a Lamborghini and are willing to spend what they do.
“People don’t understand what’s under the hood, nor do they care. There is a certain status it represents.”
While I generally agree with King’s point, I don’t think it’s entirely true. Having spent many an hour at Club Champion over the years, I’ve watched plenty of fitting sessions result in players ordering PXG clubs. It all starts with the player getting the best performance data with the equipment and then wanting to learn more about their investment. I can’t think of a single time I saw someone go, “I’ll take those $3000 irons just because.” So to say they aren’t interested in what’s under the hood, I don’t agree. I’m not saying that’s the case for every single buyer, but I’d be hard pressed to think the majority of players aren’t interested in knowing more.
I’m really interested to hear what our readers’ perspectives are on this whole thing. I personally think there’s definitely a place for this high-end equipment, and it’s certainly a growing market, but I don’t think these brands can expect to have a massive share of the industry. While I’m not a big Parsons (the guy, not the brand), I think he was right early on in the PXG days when he would say things along the lines of, “we don’t want to be in every bag, we want to be in the right bag. We know who our market is.” He’s aware that his appeal is to a certain group and that’s who he targets. That said, I don’t see a majority of that current market hitting a point where they’d spend $50,000 on a set of clubs. But what do I know?
