Not buying into the hype
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2007 7:22 AM
Tiger Woods drives Buicks to golf tournaments, not because a Buick is the best car on earth, but because he’s paid millions of dollars to do so. He hits a Nike driver and wears Nike clothes – again, not because they’re the best on the planet, but because he gets tens of millions of dollars to do so. It’s the same with his watch and various other products.
And now, for at least the next five years, Tiger is going to be drinking Gatorade on the course. He had been thinking of drinking Vitamin Water, but he ultimately decided on Gatorade because he found that the $100 million that the company offered him is more refreshing than the $75 million that Golfweek magazine says Vitamin Water offered him.
What Gatorade also offered was his own brand – Gatorade Tiger. And the company is making quite a fuss about the fact that it analyzed Tiger’s sweat in concocting the drink and the great man himself then helped pick out the flavors – cherry blend, citrus blend and grape.
I like Gatorade. I always have, but if the company charges extra for Gatorade Tiger, I’m not drinking that variety. Even if I like it and the price is the same, I don’t know if I’ll drink it. I’ve got an aversion to buying things that famous people are paid absurd sums of money to use – just so I’ll want to buy them.
This desire to buy things just because somebody famous tells us to is beyond my understanding. I’ve never figured out the basketball shoe business. Why would I want to pay absurd amounts of money for a shoe just because Michael Jordan’s name is on it? If I’m a great basketball player, I’ll be a hero even if I’m wearing Florsheims. If I’m not a great player, the shoes aren’t going to make me play better.
But a lot of people don’t see it that way. Nike created an entire golf division by the simple expedient of signing Tiger Woods to an enormous contract, designing some products, putting them on Tiger and raking in the money.
I’m not saying none of their equipment is any good – the soft version of the Nike ball plays well. And I’m sure Nike golf shoes keep your feet from direct contact with the ground. But I can say that every time I see a guy with a Nike driver in his bag, I can almost guarantee you he can’t hit it.
I haven’t swung one, so I can’t give you an opinion on how good it is, but I have a friend who has one and, while he hits the ball decently enough with his other clubs, he can’t hit that driver a lick. I asked him why in the name of belly putters he had a Nike driver. He told me somebody gave it to him. I suggested that maybe that should be a sign unto him.
And guess what, wearing Nike shoes and shirts and caps won’t make you play like him, either. Nor will it make you look cool. It’ll just make you look like someone who values someone else’s identity more than you value your own. It’ll also prove that you have way too much money, because you can get all of that stuff a lot cheaper – and as good or better – if you stop worrying about the logo.
The truth is that the Nike driver Tiger hits is custom-built for him, not for you. So go ahead and buy a club so you can look like him, but don’t be surprised if you can’t play like him.
If you want to hit like the pros, you’d be a lot better off going to a tournament and looking at what all the players – the bulk of them on Tour – who you don’t often see on the leaderboard play. These guys don’t get big contracts to hit clubs and balls, so they choose the equipment that works best, not the stuff that Tiger plays.
The most popular driver on Tour is TaylorMade, and the most popular ball is the Titleist Pro V1. The reason for that is that those are the best of their kind.
Other balls are also good as are other drivers, but those are the ones chosen by the people who are best qualified to judge them – touring pros. And from my own experience as the proud owner of a TaylorMade driver, I have to agree with them. In fact, when Tiger was an amateur, that’s what he hit – TaylorMade and Titleist.
That should tell you something. Don’t buy products because a guy’s getting paid $100 million to use that product. Buy them because they work.
