Golfweek

Cobra Golf’s strength has fluctuated over the years, but the brand is on an upswing with its flashy staff players such as Camilo Villegas and Ian Poulter making emphatic statements on leaderboards of late.

So why would parent Acushnet Co. agree now, of all times, to sell Cobra to Puma AG?

Especially after investing in the brand for 14 years since its acquisition in 1996?

More than ever, Acushnet chief Wally Uihlein wants to focus on his signature assets: Titleist and FootJoy. In a tough economy and a stagnant golf market – where share gains come only at the expense of others – protecting these franchises clearly is job No. 1.

And the very definition of that mission reveals an underlying reason why it’s probably best to sell Cobra: It’ll always be No. 2.

Within Acushnet, Titleist and Cobra have operated autonomously. But with each striving to grow its respective market shares, it would become inevitable that they would try to expand beyond their respective niches. Though Cobra initially leaned more toward game-improvement products, its recent success with tour players helped make its gear resonate with better players as well. Meanwhile, Titleist, always associated with elite players, redesigned its ...

Given the economic climate, some would see it as the worst time to take on marketing endeavors. Jay Monahan disagrees.

“It’s a challenging time, but I like that aspect of it,” Monahan said. “I’m excited about the opportunity, because I believe in our product.”

Monahan, 40, will become the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of business development. He will complete his duties as executive director of The Players Championship with the May 6-9 event.

Matt Rapp, a vice president in business development, will succeed Monahan as executive director of The Players.

“We are very fortunate to have a talented team in place that will allow us to make these changes in a seamless manner,” Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.

Monahan will report to chief marketing officer Tom Wade. He replaces Jon Podany, who was named the LPGA’s chief marketing officer.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – It’s been all quiet on the grooves front since the USGA and Karsten Co., makers of Ping equipment, met in Dallas on Feb. 11.

It would seem like a no-brainer that with PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem in town for the Waste Management Phoenix Open he would schedule a visit to Ping headquarters, only a short drive to Karsten Way, to iron out a resolution regarding pre-1990 Ping Eye2s, which represent a glaring loophole in the new groove rules. (Do we need to get President Jimmy Carter involved in these peace talks?)

But Finchem said he hadn’t met with Solheim, nor was he planning to do so during this trip. In fact, Finchem suggested the Tour didn’t have a role in the negotiations.

“We actually are not at the table in discussions with John Solheim,” Finchem said. “Those discussions are between Karsten Manufacturing, John Solheim and the USGA.”

Finchem reiterated if the language in the antitrust agreement between those two parties were to change, it would permit the Tour to adopt a different rule for the Ping Eye2s and make them ineligible for use.

“It’s really up to John Solheim,” Finchem said. “As I ...

SAN DIEGO – The way Bruce Charlton tells the story, the global business that now is Robert Trent Jones II emerged almost accidentally – the result of slightly different interpretations of geographical boundaries between the firm’s patriarch and his son.

When Bobby decided to follow in his famed father’s footsteps, Robert Sr., known as Trent, set a friendly noncompete: I’ll stay east of the Mississippi, and you stay west of it.

“But what (Trent) didn’t realize was, that if you keep going west, it eventually becomes the Far East,” said Charlton, the firm’s president and chief design officer.

Four decades have passed since the younger Jones first trekked to Asia. Though the opportunity for new business certainly appealed to Bobby, Charlton said, what really sent him packing was a passion for world culture.

It’s a premise that hardly resembles the motivations driving golf’s version of a gold rush to the Far East. Indeed, an anemic U.S. golf market, further weakened by the recession, has triggered a scramble to cash in on golf’s potential in Asia. But Charlton’s insight – shared at Golfweek’s Roadmap to Asia, a symposium co-hosted with Asian Golf Monthly ...

General Motors, lacking a title sponsorship on the PGA Tour for the first time in more than 50 years, wants back.

“Give us a few months,” said Ed Whitacre Jr., chairman and chief executive of a GM that is paying back federal bailout money after having emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization. “Hopefully, not in the too-distant future we’ll maybe get back in some of those.”

Since 1958, GM’s Buick brand had been a mainstay of the PGA Tour, sponsoring as many as four events in the mid-’90s. Buick’s former role as official car of the Tour and its endorsement of Tiger Woods elevated the company’s visibility. That ended last year, when the final Buick Invitational was played at Torrey Pines and the Buick Open, a staple for 52 years, pulled out of the Detroit area in the wake of the automaker’s plea for a federal bailout.

GM is scheduled to pay back the $6.7 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program loans by this summer, four years ahead of schedule. Taxpayers gave GM a total of $52 billion, including $45.3 billion in exchange for a 61 percent equity stake in the automaker.

Earlier ...

Is the USGA guilty of a “lack of transparency” in its dealing with equipment makers?

Phil Mickelson sure thinks so.

During his press conference on Feb. 3, Mickelson criticized the USGA and charged Dick Rugge, the association’s senior technical director, of acting as prosecutor, judge and jury.

“It was an attempt to show power,” Mickelson said. “The arbitrary judgment of one man can take a conforming club and rule it non-conforming based on his emotion. This type of lack of transparency has got to change. It’s killing the sport.”

Mickelson’s primary beef is over the USGA’s decision to declare nonconforming the grooves on a set of Callaway prototype irons he intended to use at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Mickelson told Golfweek in August that the grooves conformed to the new rule, but they were banned because they violated the spirit of the rule by imparting spin comparable to the old square grooves.

The USGA issued a notice to equipment makers in late July reserving the right to judge equipment based upon the physical specifications as well as the intent of the rule.

It doesn’t take a triple-jump of the imagination to picture the USGA resorting ...

Sitting in the rain at Riviera, I thought it might be nice to spread some good news about the golf industry, for a change.

Jeff Shain, formerly of The Miami Herald, has hooked on at the Orlando Sentinel as – believe it or not – the newspaper’s golf writer.

Now this is real news, a welcome change from what we had become all too accustomed to hearing with newspaper after newspaper dropping golf writers and a considerable amount of golf coverage.

This week alone, outside of the local newspapers, only Larry Dorman of The New York Times is covering the Northern Trust Open.

In the old days, newspapers from places such as Boston, Orlando, Washington, San Francisco and Dallas used to make the trip on an annual basis.

With the fact that the Florida papers have not seen a PGA Tour stop in a long time, having Shain joining the Sentinel - despite the fact that his duties will include more than golf exclusively - can only be a plus for golf coverage.

It might be a stretch to say Ted Fletcher has a “Fowler cam” at PGA Tour events to keep tabs on his marquee endorser rookie Rickie Fowler. But it’s not much of one.

Fletcher, president of Puma Golf North America, keeps close tabs on Fowler, whom Puma is counting on to spark sales on this side of the Atlantic.

“For this thing to really, really kind of explode and be what it really should be, can be and will be, it has to be more American-based,” Fletcher told Golfweek recently, when asked about Puma’s decision to part ways with Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy. Much of the decision came down to marketing.

Puma announced the creation of Puma Golf North America at the end of last year. Fowler is the first PGA Tour player to wear Puma headwear, a key piece for the brand’s marketing plan.

“He’s the perfect fit for us,” Fletcher said.

Puma plans to grow in the U.S. by focusing on green-grass accounts. The brand won’t be found in department stores or lower-level retail.

“We believe in the philosophy that shortage creates demand,” Fletcher said.

Track and field superstar Usain Bolt and ...

What do Phil Mickelson and the Super Bowl have in common?

The Callaway Golf pitchman is scheduled to appear during the Super Bowl XLIV pre-game show Feb. 7 as part of the company’s advertising buy.

It’s the first time a standalone golf company has sponsored a portion of the Super Bowl telecast.

Callaway will promote its new Diablo Edge line during the 5-5:30 p.m segment. The sponsorship includes a Callaway-themed opening to introduce the company’s presence, as well as product and branding exposure on the CBS set throughout the half hour.

Callaway also will debut an ad campaign that will feature the company’s focus on technological innovation and its 2010 products.

Terms were not disclosed.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Steve Boccieri, creator of the Heavy Putter, has a dream: to bring a driver to market and sell a full line of equipment to golfers.

Five years ago, Boccieri debuted the Heavy Putter at the PGA Merchandise Show with intentions to create “the great weight debate.”

In fits and starts, his putters have gained acceptance in the marketplace, albeit still a small piece of the piece. As of October, Boccieri’s putter marketshare at on- and off-course retailers climbed to 1.9 percent, up from 0.8 percent a year ago, according to the October Golf Datatech.

Some start-up equipment makers have made the mistake to grow too fast. Boccieri’s smart enough to know that he couldn’t dive straight into the deep end that is the driver category.

“To enter that market as an individual with one product is a sure loser,” he said.

But he also believes the time is ripe to grow.

“It’s time to go vertical,” he declared. “You can’t add too quickly or you will go bust. You have to get enough footing to be able to go back to the till. Now I have my cult following of customers ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sponsor defection from the world of golf has made headlines of late, but declaring it a trend is premature.

Such casualties often are inevitable during a recession, but their occurrence shouldn’t be interpreted as golf’s loss of value or appeal. The fact remains the sport delivers a desired demographic and can provide sponsors tremendous broadcast exposure and access to grass-roots initiatives.

That point was underscored when the PGA of America announced Jan. 28 at the PGA Merchandise Show the signing of the Royal Bank of Canada as its third “official patron” – the association’s highest level of partnership. (Mercedes Benz and American Express also are PGA official patrons.)

In addition to gaining status as the official bank of the PGA of America, RBC will be associated with properties ranging from the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup to Play Golf America Days, a popular grow-the-game initiative held at golf facilities nationwide. RBC officials found the branding opportunities compelling, and they seized on the chance to partner with the PGA’s 28,000 members to grow its business neighborhood-by-neighborhood.

“In short, we view the recession as a leadership moment to step up,” said Jim Little of RBC ...

If President Barack Obama is offering a stimulus package, the golf industry wants a piece of it. At the very least, it doesn’t want to be left out of consideration for federal relief.

With that goal in mind, a handful of key golf organizations have banded together and hired an essential catalyst for success in D.C. – A lobbyist.

Enter the Podesta Group, a bipartisan government relations firm that principal David L. Marin says does everything from “policy making to political maneuvering.”

The need for Capitol clout became apparent shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. To the shock of many industry leaders, golf courses were excluded from federal aid packages designed to rebuild businesses. Since then key golf officials have visited D.C. annually to tout golf’s contributions to the economy, charity and the environment. But they concluded they need professional help.

That’s why the PGA of America, the National Golf Course Owners Association, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and Club Managers Association of America pooled $100,000 and solicited another $100,000 in donations to retain Podesta.

First and foremost, Podesta will try to counter a troubling perception among some Congressional members ...

First, there was no Chrysler, let alone any title sponsor, at the Bob Hope Classic. This week we say good-bye to what formerly was known as the Buick Invitational. (But the event has resurfaced as the Farmers Insurance Open.)

But could it be possible that automakers – written off as possible sponsor candidates – are ready to team again with golf? There are at least two car manufacturers pursuing a deal to sponsor a PGA Tour event, Golfweek has learned.

The PGA Tour’s chief marketing officer, Tom Wade, declined to comment.

But two sources say Hyundai Motors considered sponsoring the San Diego tournament, but was unable to hammer out a deal in time. Hyundai also has considered becoming the official car of the PGA Tour, a marketing opportunity vacated by Buick last year. (It’s a move that would help Hyundai keep pace with its Korean competitor, Kia, which is the official car of the NBA.)

It’s also not farfetched for Ford Motors to renew ties with the Tour. The company avoided federal bailout last year and appears to be turning the corner. Plus, Alan Mullaly, Ford’s president and CEO, is an avid golfer. During better times, the automaker ...

What goes around, as they say, comes around. And around and around and around, it seems.

I was reminded of that fact yesterday when I received a press release from Powerbilt touting its new line of Air Foil irons. The heads of these irons are “nitrogen charged” – literally, pumped full of pressurized nitrogen. Powerbilt insists the technology will do wonders for your game.

This got me to reminiscing, as I’m wont to do. Powerbilt first introduced the Air Titanium driver at the 1996 PGA Show that was held during late summer in Las Vegas. At the time, I was covering the equipment industry for a New York trade magazine that, shortly thereafter, went out of business. (I’m relatively certain that fact was unrelated to my presence on the masthead.)

Anyway, Powerbilt had invited the golf media to one of the courses in town – Las Vegas CC, as I recall – to test the new club. The event attracted a big turnout of golf writers, some who were curious, others who were just hoping to score a free driver. It’s important to remember that this was the dawn of the Titanium Era. Manufacturers were flooding the market with product ...

With all the talk about the U.S. Golf Association’s new groove rule, one would think PGA Tour players would be lining up to make sure their grooves conformed. Think again.

Dispatched to Hawaii by the USGA to help the Tour abide by the new grooves rule, Jim Hubbell had plenty of time to watch the waves crash into Waikiki Beach.

He performed club tests for just a handful of players.

“I jokingly refer to him as the Maytag repairman because he didn’t have much to do,” said Dick Rugge, the USGA’s senior technical director.

Rugge offered two explanations for the lack of activity. First of all, the USGA began testing at professional events in late August – The Barclays was the first – so many players already have checked their clubs. Secondly, equipment manufacturers all have the portable testing device and have examined the clubs of their staff players.

Rugge predicts the whole issue of groove testing soon will die down or disappear entirely, much the way testing for a driver’s spring-like effect faded.

In 2004, after the USGA adopted a new rule to measure a driver’s coefficient of restitution, the Tour provided a portable spring-like ...