Nike Golf never profitable, Even with Tiger

dlygrisse · June 29, 2017

http://www.golf.com/tour-news/2017/06/29/what-tiger-effect-nike-lost-money-two-decades-golf-business-accorinding-co-founder-phil-knight

dlygrisse · June 29, 2017

So does this surprise anyone? Bad marketing or bad product?

dellurich · June 29, 2017

I was so excited for their first set of irons. Excited. Gorgeous. And exactly the type of product you launch your line with. Forged blades. Classic. Just a swoosh on them. Had Tiger, Duval, several others.

......and then I hit them. And they were Walmart quality castings. Without doubt the worst blade I have ever hit. And I play blades.

They never really turned that around. They definitely hit on some "good looking" equipment-----and that does matter-------but in terms of "feel", they were severely lacking.

Golf is a tough business. Several companies have made GREAT products (at least for a time) and not made it. Sonartec. Orlimar. Nickent. Macgregor. Scratch.

TheMoneyShot · June 29, 2017

I was so excited for their first set of irons. Excited. Gorgeous. And exactly the type of product you launch your line with. Forged blades. Classic. Just a swoosh on them. Had Tiger, Duval, several others.

......and then I hit them. And they were Walmart quality castings. Without doubt the worst blade I have ever hit. And I play blades.

They never really turned that around. They definitely hit on some "good looking" equipment-----and that does matter-------but in terms of "feel", they were severely lacking.

Golf is a tough business. Several companies have made GREAT products (at least for a time) and not made it. Sonartec. Orlimar. Nickent. Macgregor. Scratch.

To each his own.

I thought the original swoosh blades were great feeling and looked even better.

dlygrisse · June 29, 2017

I thought the blades were sweet. But I bought their first offering of fairway Woods's. Awful. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against them. But they had some great products and awful ones. They had , Tiger, Duval and a stable of really good players, they had clubs and good balls.

EaglesGolf99 · June 29, 2017

I had the OG Nike Blade 2-P. Enjoyed them. Dead sexy too!

Had the Split Cavity (Miura) Protos 2-P. Again, enjoyed them. Dead sexy again too!!

... And lastly I had the CCI Forged 2-P. Enjoyed them. Least sexy of the three. But my handicap got to its lowest point EVER with these in the bag.

Outside these three, nothing much fit my eye from Nike in terms of irons. I guess you can say the Proto (Miura) Full Cavity was pretty sweet, as was the MM Proto s, but I wasn't in need of irons when I had the opportunity to obtain either of them.

Like many have said .... There are/we're a few companies that made quality products that just didn't make it. Hell ... There ARE only so many golfers in the world.

BlackM00Nlight · June 29, 2017

Definitely all based on the player. I tried the covert lines, were shorter than others. Then tried vapor lines and was blown away. The Vapor Pro Combo irons are as smooth and my last 4 sets of Mizzy forged irons and easily better for me. I can hit an 18* 2 iron 245 yards for crying out loud. I used to bag driver then 5 wood because I couldn't hit a 3 wood or 4 wood and hated 3 irons equally. Not anymore.. their clubs were finally perfect for me when they called it quits.

putts4bogey · June 29, 2017

Heard a couple of guys talking about this at the driving range. They said they were pretty sure Tiger would have already broken Jack's record had he stayed with Titleist.

anth · June 29, 2017

I wonder what the P & L would look like if they included Nike's golf apparel as part of their overall golf business?

EKELLY · June 29, 2017

Maybe when Phil was quoted as saying it was junk, people listened!......

jmar87 · June 29, 2017

Probably just the decline in the industry. The future doesn't look much better, so Nike got out quick.

dmeeksDC · June 29, 2017

People got down on Nike golf no matter what they did.

The Nike Vapor Pro Combos are excellent. Feel great, play great. The 440 Flex driver they released in 2015 is a classic. Remains competitive. Some of the Method putters were strong, as were the Engage wedges.

They made a number of clubs that would have drawn rave reviews if they had come from a more established golf OEM. On another thread another player was just noting that the Titleist Vokey SM6 K grind low bounce that is all the rage is very similar in grind and specs to the Nike x3x Dual Wide sole wedge of 2014.

Pure745 · June 29, 2017

So does this surprise anyone? Bad marketing or bad product?

Both, with glimpses of hope and then completely going the other way anytime they had momentum.

Juice__25 · June 29, 2017

I don't think it's necessarily bad marketing or product. I think the problem in the golf equipment industry is R&D and product life cycles.

dlygrisse · June 29, 2017

Probably just the decline in the industry. The future doesn't look much better, so Nike got out quick.

They lost money 20 years in a row including many of Tigersprime years.

dlygrisse · June 30, 2017

I don't think it's necessarily bad marketing or product. I think the problem in the golf equipment industry is R&D and product life cycles.

Research and Development is a problem? How about lack there of?

soregongolfer · June 30, 2017

I had their first wedges and they were junk. I never looked at a Nike golf club again after that.

mallrat · June 30, 2017

I wonder what the P & L would look like if they included Nike's golf apparel as part of their overall golf business?

They do. That's why Nike Golf has been profitable the apparel made up for the losses in equipment.

mallrat · June 30, 2017

I don't think it's necessarily bad marketing or product. I think the problem in the golf equipment industry is R&D and product life cycles.

Research and Development is a problem? How about lack there of?

No offense but you are so off base.

Their biggest problem was they spent money like drunken sailors. Between the Oven, Oven West, the Clubhouse and Rock Ishii they didn't approach it like a new business. They approached it like they had all the money in the world backing them. Very few if any fiscally responsible decisions were made.

I could tell you stories.

mallrat · June 30, 2017

Probably just the decline in the industry. The future doesn't look much better, so Nike got out quick.

They lost money 20 years in a row including many of Tigersprime years.

Once again, notice he says "equipment". Clothing and shoes didn't lose money, it was just the equipment side and their ball program may have been a bigger loss than clubs.

I actually think the ball program was the worst run part until they got to the RZN tours. The Tour D's were ok but nothing better than what was out there but the 20xi's were basically rocks.

RogerinNewZealand · June 30, 2017

Had the 10.5 Nike VR Tour 420cc head, from 2011?? last of the glued.

That was Sweet !!!

Golf64 · June 30, 2017

Is it just me, or are the old Nike staffers playing better with their new equipment? Just saying' ;)

BlackM00Nlight · June 30, 2017

Is it just me, or are the old Nike staffers playing better with their new equipment? Just saying' ;)

Rory went from winning majors to not making the cut at majors. Tiger went from playing to golf to watching golf after his switch from Nike. And a few guys still use their Nike clubs. Just saying ;)

Shilgy · June 30, 2017

Is it just me, or are the old Nike staffers playing better with their new equipment? Just saying' ;)

Like Tommy Fleetwood?? Oh wait............

Randy_Bobandy · June 30, 2017

Is it just me, or are the old Nike staffers playing better with their new equipment? Just saying' ;)

Brooks Koepka won the US Open with a Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron in the bag, so...

raynorfan1 · June 30, 2017

Excluding the profits from the apparel/soft goods business while apparently including the cost of the Tiger Woods endorsement contract makes the accounting pretty suspect.

Kingcat990 · June 30, 2017

I was so excited for their first set of irons. Excited. Gorgeous. And exactly the type of product you launch your line with. Forged blades. Classic. Just a swoosh on them. Had Tiger, Duval, several others.

......and then I hit them. And they were Walmart quality castings. Without doubt the worst blade I have ever hit. And I play blades.

They never really turned that around. They definitely hit on some "good looking" equipment-----and that does matter-------but in terms of "feel", they were severely lacking.

Golf is a tough business. Several companies have made GREAT products (at least for a time) and not made it. Sonartec. Orlimar. Nickent. Macgregor. Scratch.

At least you didn't sucker yourself into their overpriced, over exaggerated "oven" protos.

ElJefe26 · June 30, 2017

Excluding the profits from the apparel/soft goods business while apparently including the cost of the Tiger Woods endorsement contract makes the accounting pretty suspect.

How does that make the accounting suspect? Phil Knight said they never made money on equipment and balls, it was going on for 20 years, and the next year looked to be the same, so Nike got out of equipment and balls. Sounds like the accounting and related decision is spot on. To make better decisions, you work in smaller increments, not larger.

JJuel5 · June 30, 2017

How many companies are making a profit on their equipment? I mean clearly TaylorMade wasn't doing great otherwise Adidas wouldn't have sold it.

bodhi555 · June 30, 2017

I was so excited for their first set of irons. Excited. Gorgeous. And exactly the type of product you launch your line with. Forged blades. Classic. Just a swoosh on them. Had Tiger, Duval, several others.

......and then I hit them. And they were Walmart quality castings. Without doubt the worst blade I have ever hit. And I play blades.

They never really turned that around. They definitely hit on some "good looking" equipment-----and that does matter-------but in terms of "feel", they were severely lacking.

Golf is a tough business. Several companies have made GREAT products (at least for a time) and not made it. Sonartec. Orlimar. Nickent. Macgregor. Scratch.

I was incredibly excited for their first line too - a simple blade, used by Duval to win the Open then bagged by Tiger.

And then I tried them. Incredibly easy to hit, felt very similar to the Hogan Apex '99's I'd been trying previously, more accurate than my existing TaylorMade 300 Forged. I snapped them up in a heartbeat, and 13 years later I still haven't found anything outside of Miura to replace them with.

Shame the woods they released them with at the time were garbage, but by the Ignite range they were as good as anything else on the market - even better in some cases. Only other negative Nike experience I had was a CPR Rescue Club, which didn't suffer becuase it was a Nike, but becuase it was a hook machine like any other Rescue Club, hence why I have never touched one since.

Over here in the UK the only real negativity around Nike clubs I heard was from the Club Pros themselves - I had one call them "inferior garbage" whilst he was trying to sell me something else - whilstI had my Nike 6 iron in my hand (needless to say I made my excuses and walked out), and another who reckoned Rory's VR Tours were made by Miura (still not sure why this is a bad thing?). However go to one of the big discount stores, where staff get paid the same no matter what brand they sell, no issues. Bit of a shame certain pros had to do themselves out of £900 worth of business (after the inferiror garbage comment I bought 3 Engage wedges and my Vapor Fly fairways from somewhere else), but never mind - his loss I guess.