Why Did Danny Lee Pick Callaway?

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 22, 2009 10:41 AM EDT Comment 17 comments

Cash at Bushwood Country Club has a post up about Danny Lee signing a professional endorsement deal with Callaway upon turning pro the other day. In the piece, he wonders why Lee decided to sign with Callaway as opposed to Titleist. Lee had been wearing Titleist caps while he was an amateur.

I've noticed a long time trend that is puzzling to me - tons of young players come up through the ranks (Amateur and Early Pro years) sporting the Titleist logo and/or being sponsored by Titleist. I get it that amateurs are not accepting sponsor cash, but if they are pimping someone's logo the chances are pretty damn high that they are using that type of equipment. However, it does not take long before they switch.

As a former junior golfer myself, I remember Titleist having quite a presence in the amateur game. Lots of kids wore the Titleist caps because (a) they were free or (b) they played some form of Titleist equipment. That doesn't mean that these kids will become Titleist players for life, but Titleist certainly hopes that the connection made early on will carry through their golfing lives.

By and large, I think that Titleist still has quite a stranglehold in the market. They boast quite a list of staff players. Hell, Tiger Woods plays a Scotty Cameron and he is a Nike man.

In the case of Danny Lee, I think this had more to do with money. Callaway has been trying hard to get back on the professional map with their staff. They have Lorena Ochoa and Morgan Pressel on the LPGA side. They have Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els on the PGA Tour. I think they wanted to skew younger with men and probably threw a ton of money at Lee.

Given that these guys are incredibly talented and can have equipment created to their exact specs by almost any company, Lee was right to follow the cash.

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Comments

I hope he didn’t spend a whole lot of time pondering and writing on THIS topic…especially when all it took was your little elbow nudge and 5 words whispered in his ear…“umm, dude, it’s the money”…to answer the question.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 22, 2009 10:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

by the way – be sure to note that Callaway (and Nike. and Ping. and Taylormade. and most other club manufacturers) also has a strong presence in junior golf. It’s not all Titleist out there.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 22, 2009 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Courtgolf – Sorry you did not find my post engaging. Luckily, I did NOT spend too much time pondering it – however, I did spend a good bit of time watching Lee play today ( he lit it up for a cool 76, tied for 137). Looks like that switch to Callaway is working out pretty well, huh ? Seriously DUDE….I KNOW IT WAS THE MONEY….that was not the point of the story. The point was that Titleist seems to lose a lot of young players who I would think they want promoting their brand.

by Bushwood CC on Apr 23, 2009 9:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

come on Cash – don’t be so hard on yourself – the naked lady tee line was hilarious ! :-)

are you saying that Lee never had a bad round with his Titleist clubs ? How many great rounds did he have as a pro with them ?

Here’s the thing – Titleist isn’t the major supporter of junior golf anymore. There are 3 other major club makers spreading the wealth around that have more game improvement technology built into their clubs than Titleist. Titleist is also first and foremost a ball company. Clubs are still a sidebar to balls.

Very rarely do pros make a radical change in equipment and come out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Even Ernie Els hit a slow patch back when he switched. Give him a chance – he’s only 18 and just getting his feet wet in the pro game.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 23, 2009 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m trying to think of the name of an amateur that wasn’t wearing Titleist when they were an am before turning pro and I was thinking it was Michelle Wie, but I may even be wrong with that.

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 24, 2009 9:57 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you won’t find many women who played Titleist as amateurs except maybe the balls. Most women go with Callaway and Ping for game improvement. I only saw a handful of Titleist bags at The Dogwood last summer. A lot of the guys had bits and pieces of Titleist – wedges and putters mostly – but not head to toe Titleist. (by the way – Danny Lee was here for The Dogwood in ’08)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 24, 2009 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

ok, court you are right… IT just seems odd to me that T seems to lose a lot of players who they would want to keep. When I look at their staff player list, not a lot of representation in the top 20 or top 50. I now their balls, wedges (made by Vokey) and Putters (ditto, Scotty) are at the top of the heap – but their “staff” is not nearly as strong as TMs or Callaways…just seems odd…

by Bushwood CC on Apr 27, 2009 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

huh?

The last time I looked Lorena was hitting Pings.

Truth has a well-known liberal bias.

by dianemarie on Apr 22, 2009 10:57 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

she does play a Callaway ball – you’re right on the clubs.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 22, 2009 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

bingo, court. And, true on the junior presence. It’s not like it’s just Titleist, particularly now that junior golf is HUGE.

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 22, 2009 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Callaway and Ping and Taylormade have been huge in junior, collegiate, and other amateur golf for a very long time. it’s not a recent thing. They are just newer companies than Titleist. Wilson is also trying to rebuild their status in amateur golf.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 22, 2009 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

“Now” is relative for me :) I was a junior golfer almost 15 years ago, haha.

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 22, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So, has young Mr. Lee been playing Callaway all along? There are plenty of stories about players signing with a new club provider and are never the same again, fading into obscurity.

Truth has a well-known liberal bias.

by dianemarie on Apr 22, 2009 11:39 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

he was been a Titleist guy for most of his amateur career

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Apr 22, 2009 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

For Callaway, I think over 50% of their business comes from outside the US and a lot of that is from Asia so the interest from them is natural.

For Danny…I have read stories about the hardship his family has had maintaining an amateur schedule around the world so $2M guaranteed is probably all the reason he needed.

If he has not played with any Callaway clubs till now however, that may turn into a bad short term tradeoff.

by schultzmj on Apr 22, 2009 1:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, the kind of money that any family puts up to get their child to this point is really big. I wouldn’t be surprised if Danny did this to pay them back and then some.

by Ryan Ballengee on Apr 22, 2009 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Danny may have been using titleist balls, but he was driving tailormade when he won the US amateur (see link below for pic). During his interview when he got his callaway deal through IMG, he mentioned he had been using callaway irons for a long time and Callaway was his first choice in club manufacturer…. But I guess he would say that….. Whatever the case, he was hardly an exclusive titleist guy before going pro, maybe he was just using the number 1 ball in golf like most people!!!!!

http://www.golfdigest.com/golfworld/2008/08/20080824usamateur

by gappman on May 6, 2009 12:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs