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WINNER ANNOUNCED!
Exclusive: First Look at MGS
The new 2009 Cleveland CG 7 irons are saying hello to the world today. Not on a pedestal full of disco lights…but pretty close…check out the canary yellow costume and power red suit they are sportin’ to the dance. (picture at bottom of post)
But Is Srixon A Sleep At The Wheel?
We feel like Cleveland had a amazing opportunity this year to make a huge move up the ladder with their new iron release…their was room for a shake up this year. But…Cleveland’s new irons look more like a remake of the 2008 irons then they do of a new ground-breaking, game-changing technology for the 2009 season.
Maybe they didn’t have one…not many do actually…don’t get us started on that…but if they did and they were wanting to pick a year to unleash, this would have been it. We were hoping they would.
David vs. Goliath
Because, for some reason we always root for Cleveland here …we love the David vs. Goliath story. However, Cleveland is not on the same monetary level as most of its major competitors…so it is kind of not fair…they just don’t possess the same type of deep pockets as the likes of a TaylorMade or Callaway.
You Could Do Better Then This Though
But money shouldn’t have anything to do with creating an appealing looking iron. They can’t tell us they don’t have enough money for that…even companies like Versus Golf which wishes they had even half of what Cleveland has, can do that. Now…to market it and advertise it…well…that’s another story. But, the actual design…that is usually the easy part. With technology today you can draw a design up and have a prototype of it on your desk by the end of the day…hell maybe by lunch. So companies no longer have an excuse for not coming up with at least a sharp looking iron.
That’s Not A Cleveland…That’s a UMMMM
I feel like the CG 7 is another move in the wrong direction for the Cleveland iron heritage. They had created a cult like following with past irons…not a Callaway following, but still, a devoted following. Although, now every new year brings a model farther and farther away from their original brand. Not saying you can not change your look or advance in design, but you should always keep the remnants of an established brand in your future designs. BMW is a great example of this…actually almost all car manufacturers are prime examples.
P.S. or What I Call The “Payne Stewart Effect”
“The (P.S.) is such a small detail usually found at the end of a letter, although it is often seen and read before the letter itself!”
When a company comes to you and asks you to do a design…you have to take many things into consideration. One of the most important…which unfortunately has nothing to do with performance of the club at all, but is still one of the most influential when it comes to marketability…is PERCEPTION! You know perception…a customers first impression of what they are looking at. Do they like it…does it have too much of this or not enough of that.
It plays a HUGE role in what golfers decide to buy. Golf clubs are not what marketers consider a pure implulse buy, but they are close. So, that being said…one important pshycoligical factor involved when golfers decide which irons they are going to choose is what I call the “Payne Stewart Effect” or “P.S.”.
This means when a high handicapper sees a pro win with a club on tour…they feel more inclined to purchase that product. Kind of makes sense…they just made a cool MILLION with that putter and I just 4 putted with mine…so why not give it a try.
This story I am about to share is crazy, but true, when Payne Stewart won the US Open he was putting with a then unheard of putter company by the name of SeeMore…the day following his win, there was 30,000 SeeMore putter orders! So many putters were ordered that it actually made the putter company go under…they couldn’t fill the orders in time and never regained popularity.
BUT
The opposite is true for low handicappers…they don’t want to play the same clubs that they see the high-handicappers playing. And this is another major, yet most likely un-noticed mistake Cleveland has made with this years new iron line-up.
Explanation: Cleveland says that the CG7 Red (top iron) will be the iron that is pushed to their touring pros and the CG 7 Gold (bottom iron) will be their hacker club. See the problem yet? Remember that first impression thing we talked about earlier…well at first glance these irons look almost identical and even incorporate the exact same technology. So how have they separated or branded these clubs to the different type golfers we spoke about? They didn’t! A minor design flaw that causes major sales loss for a company.
You have to separate your designs from one market segment to the next. Look at other successful golf brands or any type of popular brands for that matter…almost all have different styled lines for all the different market segments. Maybe next year Cleveland…we’ll still be rooting for you!
Hello World! I’m The Cleveland CG7
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– Inside: The Cleveland Golf Tour Van
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nick
15 years ago
I wasn’t much of a fan of the old CG Red irons but they had a great feel to them. About these two irons looking similar… I have to say that the CG Reds to anyone who knows and takes golf seriously can see the difference and tell which one is the players club. I personally like this CG Red design better than last years design.