Epic Irons

[Z1ggy16]

Are these truly meant to sell or are they more along the lines of the concept car to test new methods/technology and then measure receptiveness and all that marketing Mumbo jumbo.

 

Part of me thinks this is really a ploy to raise the value of the Apex/Steelhead line. Artificially inflate the prices of some of your goods, to increase demand for the lower priced options. As long as they didn't invest a ton of capital into the Epic iron manufacturing and acquisition process, not selling many sets might not matter a ton; they'd just need to pay for the costs of R&D and limited production.

 

This of course can always backfire and customers might get the impression Callaway is trying to rip them off, and go to other brands.

[SwingMan]

Are these truly meant to sell or are they more along the lines of the concept car to test new methods/technology and then measure receptiveness and all that marketing Mumbo jumbo.

 

Part of me thinks this is really a ploy to raise the value of the Apex/Steelhead line. Artificially inflate the prices of some of your goods, to increase demand for the lower priced options. As long as they didn't invest a ton of capital into the Epic iron manufacturing and acquisition process, not selling many sets might not matter a ton; they'd just need to pay for the costs of R&D and limited production.

 

This of course can always backfire and customers might get the impression Callaway is trying to rip them off, and go to other brands.

 

I think a lot of us underestimate the luxury market -- the PXG Irons blew our assumptions away. Spoke with my clubmaker recently and PXG is going strong.

 

I think Callaway fully intends to compete in this upper end market and the EPIC is designed to offer more performance than PXG at a below $300/iron price (I know, it seems ridiculous). The market exists and Callaway apparently wants to serve all markets.

[Lobber]

Simply put this is Supply and Demand. If demand exists someone will supply it. Makes perfect sense to see Cally jump in given success of PXG. Can't wait for the comparison wars between PXG and Cally to begin. Should be EPIC!

[Z1ggy16]

Are these truly meant to sell or are they more along the lines of the concept car to test new methods/technology and then measure receptiveness and all that marketing Mumbo jumbo.

 

Part of me thinks this is really a ploy to raise the value of the Apex/Steelhead line. Artificially inflate the prices of some of your goods, to increase demand for the lower priced options. As long as they didn't invest a ton of capital into the Epic iron manufacturing and acquisition process, not selling many sets might not matter a ton; they'd just need to pay for the costs of R&D and limited production.

 

This of course can always backfire and customers might get the impression Callaway is trying to rip them off, and go to other brands.

 

I think a lot of us underestimate the luxury market -- the PXG Irons blew our assumptions away. Spoke with my clubmaker recently and PXG is going strong.

 

I think Callaway fully intends to compete in this upper end market and the EPIC is designed to offer more performance than PXG at a below $300/iron price (I know, it seems ridiculous). The market exists and Callaway apparently wants to serve all markets.

 

I thought though the real "allure" so to speak with that high end market with PXG, Miura, Vega, etc is the fact it's exotic, hard to find (can't just walk into Golf Galaxy and try) and brand name.

 

Also, consider that Callaway has 3 fairly new brand names out now - Big Bertha irons (max GI), Steelhead/pro (GI) and Apex (semi GI/Players iron). Where does Epic fit? To me, it fits in with the Steelheads. So... You can't price your newest offering right inline with your latest of just a few months ago, so naturally the price must be higher. A full set of SH pro is still going to run over $1,000 so to not take market share away from its own product, the price needs to be artificially higher. Otherwise if it's not, they are walking down the same road Taylormade took years ago, and how'd that end up working out??

 

I'm just looking at this from a business mind. Technically, are people really buying PXG because it's technologically better? From the reviews I've seen online, their products really aren't much better, if at all, than your run of the mill OEM stuff. Did Callaway put a no holds barred R&D effort into these new irons? Probably. Is it going to amount to 2x the forgivness/distance/whatever it is guys want in their iron?? Meh. I am looking forward to seeing.

[lil'mike]

I have no problem with any company trying to get into each area of the market, in this case the high end iron market to compete with others that are there.

 

For me I personally judge but performance as in "cost vs rewards" when I buy stuff, especially golf stuff. If I hit irons that I like and they cost me $500 and I bought them, then that is good deal to me! Now that said if I am gonna consider replacing the $500 irons with a set that costs $2000, then to me they must be 4x better than the set I currently have which means longer, straighter, easier to hit, etc and not just look better. I have already somewhat failed at this by upgrading to clubs that cost 2x more than I paid for my last set cause I thought they would be better and guess what? This is what happens when I jump on the band wagon and throw my "cost vs rewards" concept out the window to try something different and I should have known better. A couple of examples below!

 

First one regarding irons. I had XR's and traded them in to buy Steelheads, what a mistake. I hit the XR's much better. In fact, I played the other day with a set of Lynx Predators which cost me all of $60 and they are in great shape and I scored the best round of the year which the Steelheads could not and have not come close too so this is even a bigger loss to me.

 

Second one regarding drivers. I have the XR 16 driver so what did I do, again I went out of my comfort zone and put aside my "cost vs rewards" concept that I normally live by and picked up the Epic driver which cost me 2x that of the XR 16. Well, I don't hit it as well as the XR 16 and when I do, the yardages are very, very similar if not almost exact but by rights I should hit it 2x better than the XR 16 since I paid that much for it.

 

Third one regarding putters. Just another quick example but I have the Odyssey Works 1 putter which for the life of me I cannot get the feel down and therefore cannot get the distance down so I will on Ebay and bought a $30 Ping B60 like I used to have ten years ago and BAM, I started draining long putts, making a birdie or two or three so guess which one is in the bag?

 

So I guess I am saying with all this rambling is that just cause you get the latest release, doesn't mean the game is gonna be easier or better and yeah I am a little bummed that I have some of the latest and greatest gear (about $1000 or so) just sitting in my basement that doesn't seem to improve my game or work for me! Lesson learned! I also know and understand that there is alot of folks that have more disposable income than me and will buy this stuff up and it will or may even helps some of them play better but so far for me I should have stuff with the prior gen stuff.

[new2g0lf]

Corporations don't like leaving money on the table. Callaway has observed JDM companies, PXG and Titleist release premium priced clubs and do well with them. The designers claim the Epic irons required some new R&D and manufacturing processes so they are pricing the Epics high to test the market and ensure they recoup their R&D costs.

 

Given the price increases for drivers, putters and wedges I'm not shocked we're seeing it happen to irons as well.

[Phreddy]

The assistant pro at our club hit them during a demo day. He was really impressed by the performance of the irons and was particularly enthralled with the hybrid.

 

I love the way my Apex irons perform, and wouldn't be in a rush to pay up for these, but I am also pretty sure there are enough people who will to create a viable market for these irons. I might have been swayed if they featured clean classic lines and hadn't stumbled and fallen into a bucket of ugly graphics. That is just a reflection of my tastes.

 

Phred

[ricklinens]

Too rich for my blood, unless it comes with a 2000 birdie guarantee.