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.
Mike B
1 year ago
Tried 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.