What Happened To Nike Golf? | A Short Golf Documentary

Nike golf burst onto the scene late to the market wanting to make a huge impact, fast forward 40 years and the brand is slowly slipping out of golf.

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It’s the 15th century in the Middle Ages of Scotland golf has become so popular across the country that the Scots parliament of King James II has ordered the holding of who shs four times a year and golf would be banned to concentrate on archery in those early days players

Would attempt to hit a pebble over sandunes and around tracks using a bent stick or club by 1502 the ban was largely ignored and the game gained a royal seal of approval when King James IV of Scotland became the world’s first golfing Monarch back then your average

Player would carve their own clubs from pretty much anything they could find and put together what would be the first ever golf clubs as the past time got more competitive and the Royals had now taken it as their own sport King James IV was the first ever person to have a

Set of golf clubs professionally made he commissioned a bowmaker from the city of Perth to put together a set of golf clubs that would evidently Kickstart the first ever Golf Club manufacturer the king’s set was put together to give him a competitive advantage over any peasant

That may come his way the bag consisted of long noses for driving grass drivers for medium shots spoons for short shots niblicks for wedges and a putting cleck after his revolutionary Advantage players began looking for professional help which saw Carpenter’s business across the country begin to Boom interestingly by the 1800s the top

Golfers in the world Alan Robertson old Tom Morris and Willie Park Senior began making their own golf clubs and golf balls in their very own workshops because of the Rich history of the sport people looked at Scotland for golf as many people looked at Switzerland for time pieces people wanted the best and

The Morris family and the Parks family were now involved in a very lucrative Market exporting their golf clubs all around the world with good business becomes big competitors and with an expandable Market began the first boom of golf manufacturers Burton package shoe company later known as footj began

Making golf shoes and American Sports giant spolding switched from baseball to Golf and became the first American manufacturer to sell golf clubs in the US and the UK from there it was a domino effect Brands began popping up everywhere and each one was trying to enter the market in their own unique way

In 1897 McGregor switched from Footwear to golf clubs and began signing players to use their golf clubs they’d go on to sign big names like Jimmy dearit Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan by the 1900s Pimon imported from America had replaced Beach and other had Woods as the material of

Choice for manufacturers and the evolution of golf was expanding in 1914 Wilson golf signed with genan sarzen who spent 75 years with the company designing golf clubs like The Sand Wedge and began implementing aerodynamics from Planes into their driver heads these companies were the backbone of the sport

And without them golf would have never got its big leap into the global stage titlists were later Rivals who brought another modern look to the game and even professional golfers like Ben Hogan and Jack Nicholas fancied their chances at creating their own golf clubs so from

King James IV to Ben Hogan the game had grown beautifully over the last 400 years however World War II had a significant impact on the growth of golf during the war many golf courses were converted for agricultural use or repurposed for military training affecting the availability of courses for players additionally resources and

Manpower were diverted away from Ledger activities like golf towards the war effort impacting the sports growth and development during that period after the war golf experienced a Resurgence as courses were restored in interest in the sport renewed the war was a big blow for the sport people were as poor as ever

And the game was once again targeted towards the rich as it seemed to do a full 360 having said that the game still had so much room to grow and with the opening of the Chinese market big Brands were popping up every decade now supplying affordable golf clubs for

Every consumer humor and technology that made the game more exciting late to the market and with years of catching up to do was Nike or Nike to please the majority we’ll go with Nike the Giants were huge in the 1980s sponsoring iconic athletes like Michael Jordan tennis star

John Mack androe track and field athlete Kyle Lewis and footballer Bo Jackson these sponsored athletes significantly contributed to Nik his rise in the sport apparel industry knowing they had some catching up to do and following their previous business model of sponsoring the sports top athletes 1985 saw Nike

Sponsor their first athletes the 1984 open champion seevi balleros and the 1985 PGA Tour leading moneyist star Curtis Strange having grabbed top tier players in their first signings Nike were now looking to expand across Golf and Target upand cominging players as well as college teams Julie iner was the

First woman to sign with Nike followed by Kathy Baker in 1985 the first first Collegiate team to sign with the brand was the University of Georgia women’s golf team in 1986 followed by the Oklahoma State University men’s team in 1987 which went on to win the NCAA

Championship that year Nike was in quick and was showing all the other brands with huge history they were here and here to stay in 1989 they released their first Golf Club along with towels and many other accessories and we’re really starting to dominate The Apparel side of

The sport Domina on one side but nowhere to be seen on the other Nik knew they needed to do more than sell t-shirts and gloves if they were to take over with their bigname sponsors starting to slow down Nike continued its strategy of signing top athletes by signing

20-year-old Superstar Tiger Woods to a record-breaking 20year $40 million endorsement contract even though they still weren’t producing balls or clubs at this point his contract was unprecedented at the time and the brand used his hello world comment in various marketing campaigns to let the world know that tiger had arrived with tiger

Set to dominate night golf officially established itself as a golf brand in 1998 and to celebrate released its first set of golf balls to the market The Knack Precision T control spin control distance control and precision control Woods put Nik equipment into play in 2000 when he won the memorial with the T

Accuracy after that Victory he employed Nik as his fulltime ball and then went on to win the next four majes completing the tiger slam the golfing Market was sky rocket in and tiger was a huge factor of that everybody wanted to wear what tiger was wearing and everybody

Wanted to use what tiger was using the meteoric rise for Tiger was a meteoric rise for Nike they were now the number one golf apparel brand globally and were now the second best selling shoe in golf behind one of the oldest companies in the game footj and as of now we’re

Flying in the industry if there was ever a time to get into the golf equipment side it was now the announcement came in 2001 and by 2002 stock had hit the shelves worldwide it wasn’t long before they had their first winner either tiger had driver irons and wedges in play when

He won the WGC American Express event in Kilkenny Island and David Deval had a full set when he won the 2001 Open Championship the equipment came thick and fast but the company’s metal woods were not good enough they were loud ugly and for many not very long the other

Clubs weren’t too bad the irons were greatly suited to players of a higher handicap who struggled to get the ball in the air but generally speaking Nike largely missed the mark with woods and with that the mass Market too problems started when their poster boy couldn’t

Even get on with the clubs Now Tiger definitely wasn’t the straightest of drivers but the equipment certainly didn’t help the only piece of equipment that was in the bag that kept getting him out of trouble wasn’t even made by Nike rumors also started that tiger wasn’t even using Nike irons and that he

Was using another brand just with a Nik swoosh stamped on this arrogant approach from Nike trying to completely change the game by themselves was very risky and frankly didn’t work the first Sumo driver that was released to the market was banned by the USGA after the spring-like face was non-conforming

Although Nik did fix this and continued to sell the model however the funky square look and piercing sound could be heard from the other side of the golf course and to this day still manages to find itself inside the top spot of the ugliest golf clubs ever to be made the

Clubs were definitely a niche product they didn’t fit the majority of golf as well and with a sport that is mostly played by older Generations the flashy odd looks and bright colors didn’t fit well with the traditionalists Knight could push on though their mission to bring their style to golf rather than

Bring people what they wanted was a bitter pill to swallow for some people their colorless shirts that didn’t conform with a lot of golf clubs was done way before its time and something Taylor Made found out with their hoodies the mission to influence and pushed the envelope long before it had found a

Solid footing in the golf equipment space simply put Nike golf was Innovative before it earned the right to be it continually pursued non-traditional products apparently believing that being n could be enough to drive sales a notion categorically rejected by the consumer it’s a hard point to quantify but Nike never acted

Like its competitors in fact they never acted like a golf company they just assumed golfers would eventually come round to the Nike way but most consumer are reluctant to change to a brand once they find one they like so being last at the market made it even harder for them

To build relationships when things weren’t going their way the last thing they needed was a slump and the thing they was actually good at a huge marketing stump was planned out for the new tigerwoods 15 gold shoes which they spent millions in advertising designing and putting tiger as the main selling

Point only for Tiger to say he didn’t want to wear them and sales never took off leaving shoe boxes and Pro Shops all around around the world Nike had bought the themselves into the industry got as far as they could but couldn’t buy themselves any further with their poster

Boy doing things he shouldn’t and his game taken a downward spiral Nike were left swimming with the fishes with their main man out of action Nike continued its proven strategy of signing upand cominging Stars by signing northern islands Rory mroy for 10 years the recipe didn’t taste well and nobody at

The company was willing to change the recipe Nike constantly lifted its foot from the G pedal the established pattern was to announce products in the late fall early winter often with huge media events and advertisements and then totally disappear the marketing was then left to the buzz of the PJ tour which I

Suppose was very successful when tiger was at his Peak and the logo was lifting every trophy going but when tiger wasn’t winning Nike didn’t win either in other sports Nike’s success relied on two critical factors exposure and winning the defining characteristic of their athletes is that they win and win often

In basketball the top teams win 80% of the time or more track and field the same in golf that’s just impossible tiger got as close as it gets but when Tiger’s career began to go downhill because of injury so did Nike and they just never figured out another way to do

It they tried signing more players but even they would get injured and the realization that the strategy wasn’t working was real towards the end of the road and yet another embarrassing story Nike looked towards the 2016 Olympics in Rio Brazil the company went with blue colors for their new drivers Fairway

Woods and hybrids showcasing the colors of Brazil and you can imagine their faces when none of their players turned up to the Olympics if they made a Black Version and made the blue a limited edition version they may have escaped that bad marketing stunt because the driver itself was actually pretty good

Up to this point Nike had not made a single profit from selling golf clubs and they knew the exact same was going to happen the following year that year 2016 Nike golf shocked the sporting World by announcing it would no longer produce golf equipment instead the Giants would focus on golf shoes apparel

And accessories the arrogance and their refusal to listen to their customers and some of their staff ultimately LED their departure and confirmed many country clubs decisions in not carrying their products they were by far the best at making commercials and signing top players but in the end they just

Couldn’t make the best clubs for their players at the beginning of the pandemic it looked as though Nike had got out at a brilliant time but after the post pandemic boom that has seen golf take off into New Heights and seen record-breaking numbers of new people playing the game they may be wishing

They held out just a little longer with rumors still flying around wondering whether they’ll make a return now the market is more stable Still Remains a mystery personally I just don’t think it fits the Nike model they like to do things their own way way and in golf it

Just doesn’t work like that but to be honest I think we’re happy with the big Brands we have and the market of both ends is creating unbelievable equipment so no I don’t think we’ll ever see Nike make golf clubs G but I also don’t think Nike failed there’s still a huge part of

The golfing world and they just didn’t want to battle it out with all the other brands and perhaps pxg should take a leaf from their book or we’ll be making a video on them very shortly now as I thought this video was going to end here Nik have just announced that

Tiger Woods will end a 27-year $500 million relationship as of now Woods is yet to announce what Brandy will wear when he next takes to the course he is due to play his first PJ Tour event of the year at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles for the Genesis Invitational in

February as he continues his comeback from ankle surgery but where does this leave Nike this is a complete shock to the world and one that leaves Nike in a very weird situation their philosophy doesn’t work in golf and if they are to stay they might just have to accept that

But with tiger gone is Nike also gone