Welcome to this year’s Golfer’s Choice Awards.
There’s a quote we refer to often at MyGolfSpy: “Brands are not just what they say they are. Brands are what consumers say they are.”
That’s certainly true in the golf world where companies tell us who they are— or at least who they want us to think they are all of the time.
Does that really matter? What do the golfers who buy their products think? More aptly, of whom do they think?
To find out, we asked golfers to tell us the first brand they think of when they hear some of the golf equipment industry’s most powerful words.
After nearly 10,000 responses, here are the brands our readers believe represent the golf equipment industry’s ideals.
Performance
Returning to the top spot for the first time since 2018, MyGolfSpy readers selected Titleist as the brand they most associate with quality in 2022. Receiving 31 percent of the votes—a 55-percent increase from the previous survey—the company was selected more than twice as often as the runner-up.
Winner: Titleist | Runner-Up: PING | Third Place: TaylorMade
Quality
As prices continue to climb, more than ever, golfers expect the quality of the products they buy will measure up to the cost.
For the second year in a row, MyGolfSpy readers selected Titleist as the leader in quality. The result follows a series of mostly strong results from the MyGolfSpy Ball Lab. Titleist received 33 percent of the vote (up 20 percent from the previous survey). It’s notable that the company has never finished worse than second for Quality each year we’ve conducted our consumer surveys.
Winner: Titleist | Runner-Up: Mizuno| Third Place: PING
Innovation
What company is ahead of the pack when it comes to Innovation? Our readers selected TaylorMade as the golf equipment industry’s leader in Innovation.
Grabbing 33 percent of the responses, the company was selected 63 percent more often than in our last survey and more than doubled the votes of the runner-up. After finishing second in the first two years of the survey, this is the second year in a row TaylorMade has finished in the top spot.
Winner: TaylorMade| Runner-Up: Callaway Golf | Third Place: PING
Integrity
Integrity is essential in any business. Consumers need to know they can trust the brands behind the products they spend their money on.
In 2022, our readers identified Titleist as the brand they associate with integrity. After three consecutive second-place finishes, the company claims the top spot with 33 percent of respondents choosing the brand. That’s about five percentage points higher than the second-place finisher and represents a 20-percent increase from survey to survey.
Winner: Titleist | Runner-Up: PING | Third Place: Mizuno
Industry Leader
While the influence of the PGA TOUR has waned a bit, Titleist remains the leader or among the leaders across every equipment category. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that our readers selected Titleist as the industry-wide leader in the golf equipment space.
The company was a dominant first choice, selected by 42 percent of readers and nearly doubling the total of the second-place finisher. With a 37-percent boost from the previous survey, Titleist claimed the top spot for the second consecutive year.
Winner: Titleist | Runner-Up: TaylorMade| Third Place: Callaway
More to Come
The full results of the 2022 Golfer’s Choice “One Word” Survey will be published next week.
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Mike B
2 months agoTried the Maxfli Tour ball after seeing your report. & loved them. Previously played Titleist Tour Soft as my game couldn’t justify the Pro V1 cost. Found the Maxfli performed better than the Tour Soft and as good as the occasional “found” Pro V1’s. Since then two of my buddies that were long time Pro V1 users have also become Maxfli converts.
Kelly
2 months agoWhat Curt said-Maxfli Tour is an excellent golf ball.
HAC
2 months agoMy guess is that some of the negatives on Callaway deal less with their clubs or Top Golf and more with the issues they have had the last few years on quality control of their golf balls. This likely comes from the MGS tests and is most important to MGS readers as few others know about this.
Kevin
2 months agoI love it when people ask if you are getting paid to promote a particular brand with a good review. It’s like getting the “are you still beating your wife” question. No answer will suffice, no answer will make everyone happy. Instead of “i’m not so sure about your conclusion because I have tested XXX different clubs/balls/tees/shoes/golf-products myself and now I am a data driven expert like you so my opinion obviously counts as much as yours” you get “you are wrong because I say you are and also you MUST be getting paid under the table for these reviews because I disagree with your opinion”.
Props to MGS for putting up with it, and continuing to try to do the job they set out to do.
Christof
2 months agoCan only conclude that it is brands that spend the most on marketing. If tomorrow Tiger Woods or Rory Mcilroy start playing with Wilson or New Level a very different outcomes are going to be seen. See what the results say for next week.
Christof
Pat Mooney
2 months agoCan only conclude that in your opinion we the readers are not smart enough to have an option of our own we are just sheep even though we know that the products available to the consumer are totally different than what a tour player has available to them
Jake
2 months agoDon’t be that guy
Gary McLellan
2 months agoReally surprised that Titelist got an award for integrity. Got fitted for irons and wedges and within weeks they introduced the new updated T300 irons. I contacted them about updating the irons and they basically said there was no difference. Even though they advertised 40% more titanium. Would never deal with them again
Will Kinneen
2 months agoReally that’s your fault for not doing your research.
Mike
2 months agoThat’s too bad, but you have to be aware of product release cycles. If you bought those at the very end of the cycle, I’m hoping you got a good discount. If you didn’t, then you need to do some more research before your next purchase. I can’t imagine any club company taking them back and shipping you new ones.
Pat Mooney
2 months agoDue diligence
Steve B
2 months agoI love that Ping and Mizuno are well represented here. They are great companies and make great products. Ping spends a lot to get their name out there but not what Titleist, Callaway and TaylorMade do and Mizuno certainly doesn’t have the marketing budget the others do but they make great quality products. and it is good to see that others agree.
MrHogan
2 months agoCan’t help but wonder how much of the survey results was based on ball testing vs equipment.
MarkM
2 months agoI’d say it’s based on whatever knowledge, experience and bias the people filling out the surveys have.
Golfinnut
2 months agoIt’s not surprising. But are advertising dollars closely associated with these figures? What brand do you see most often? I would think it would be Titleist. So that perception is there. Does it have any influence on everyone’s thinking?
Bob Oden
2 months agoNot sure about you guys but I see way more PXG commercials and advertising than any other brand. Only reason they are relevant is because of their marketing campaign and the fact that they discount their clubs like crazy now.
Mike
2 months agoHave you ever hit their clubs or gone for fitting? I used to be a PXG hater until I did that. Just replaced all 3 hybrids for half of what I would have paid for an OEM brand & the PXG ones tested better. Their current driver, for $299, is, for any bogey golfer, as good as spending twice as much on an OEM brand. Oh, and they still have the more expensive clubs. I think you’re missing the point here. PXG is doing what the OEMs did 10 years ago. Specifically, put out an “expensive” (adjustable) model & a lesser-priced simpler (non-adjustable) one. I think it’s a great market strategy. Do bogey golfers & up really need to drop $600 on a new driver? It ain’t going to help your game that much (if at all)..
Dan Zimmerman
2 months agoI’ll stick with PING… Best long haul R&D with no misses year-to-year, just consistent slow-and-steady improvements.
Dick
2 months agoBest ball I have played this year is the Taylormade TP5. It is incredible in the wind!
Everardo
2 months agoPing was oh so close to being the only manufacturer in the top 3 for every category. That speaks volumes as well.
Gerry T
2 months agoI only play Cobra and was surprised they weren’t at the top! I will always play my Cobra irons with great pride! Mizuno isn’t on my radar. TaylorMade is good, but not as good as Cobra for my consumer dollar. Titleist is the Vokey wedges company. Other than that I will stick to Cobra Golf. I see my best golf to come with Cobra Golf. I think overall TaylorMade is overrated.
Tom DeNigris
2 months agoBeen playing PING clubs for past 15 years and love them. As for golf balls, never a huge fan of the popular Titleist balls. But can tell you VICE golf balls are tremendous but will admit that sometimes I decide to play my Top Flites!
mike
2 months agowow!
this is the first time I’ve ever been in the majority of any survey….
Ned
2 months agoMakes me wonder why they line up like this when Callaway’ revenue is more than double the next company Mizuno and three times the third place Taylor made and 450 times that of Titleist. Doesn’t add up.
Brian
2 months agoBecause 99% of the golfing public doesn’t participate in these polls. This represents the opinions of the 1% of the golfing public that are hardcore enough about the sport to vote in these types of polls. This is why you see Mizuno show up on these lists and not in the bags of hacks at public goat ranches.
Rob
2 months agoHitting 1% of the golfing public would be an incredible sample. They said around 10k folks took the survey. There are 10s of millions of golfers.
Mike
2 months agoMizuno is incredibly overrepresented on MGS. Maybe at country club’s more people play mizunos but on most public courses, it’s far from the most popular brand.. Yet on MGS, it reads that every 4th person plays mizunos!
Lee
2 months agoDoes Top Golf ring a bell?
bob
2 months agoIs Titleist just that amazing or are these results more of a testament to the value of spending big ad dollars, image, high prices and perception versus the reality of the products? Just asking. I’m sure there are plenty of devoted Titleist users who will ridicule this idea.
Steve
2 months agoI think it is both. They make great products and they flood the market telling you that they make great products. Callaway spends a ton of money advertising as well but in my opinion, they don’t live up to the marketing like Titleist does.
Dave Carnley
2 months agoSteve—ditto on your comment. I will say I have playing golf over 50 years—since 1965 and Titlest was considered top of the line in equipment and golf balls even then. While hood marketing can carry a bad product for a short time—for me there has to be good reason why 50 yrs later Titlest is still top of the line—
Stuart Braham
2 months agoBeen playing for 50 years Titelist makes a great hard golf ball nothing else except Vokey brand but gotta pay tour pros As far as clubs Ping Mizuno and Taylormade its not how much you advertise
No iron feels better than Mizuno Props to PXG
decent and military discount
Michael M
2 months agoNot really surprising- Titleist is a first class company (I have no affiliation with them).
Michael Carboni
2 months agoIt may be associated with having the #1 ball on tour forever and winner of the best ball on majority of testing comparisons. The average golfer doesn’t want to spend over $50 for a dozen but may be influenced in the survey’s questions.. Their spending decisions obviously don’t jive with the survey’s outcomes.
Curt Weaver
2 months agoYou do not have to spent $50+ for a performance golf ball…Maxfli Tour’s. can be bought for $25 / doz in a quantity purchase. Love this ball.
Dr Tee
2 months agoditto on Carboni and Weaver’s comments–unless you’re playing on the tour, you can get a great ball which meets your playing needs and budget without spending $50 bucks per dozen. The ProV’s I play are the ones resort guests at my club have hit into the desert for me to find !!!
mizuno29
2 months agoThey will be shocked that the new Pro V will be $55