I knew Ping was strict....

[SiberianDVM]

but if they keep this up, they aren't going to have many distributors.

Last evening I was at my range, and the pro told me he was selling all of his remaining Ping equipment at cost, as Ping had closed his account after 35 years.

Six months ago he sold a Ping driver for the correct price, but gave the guy 2 free buckets of balls to hit to make sure it was what he wanted. Of course the guy was undercover and reported the "free balls" as being a discount.

So much for a free market economy.

 

[warbirdlover]

That's a pretty good way to guarantee you won't be in business in ten years!!! What could they possibly be thinking of? I got my pings for $50 less then the discount places from an authorized Ping dealer. I got my G5 driver $30 cheaper then what they sell for in the discount places. Big deal. The guy made money. He's happy. I'm happy. Ping sold the clubs, they should be happy?

I would think if this dealer sent the Ping CEO a letter detailing this and the name of the guy he sold that to he'd still be a Ping dealer and that guy would be looking for a new job.

 

[SiberianDVM]

He did send them a letter. He showed both the Ping letter and his response to me: no dice.

A Marine posting over on the GEA forum said Ping had closed the account at his base because they sold a driver for $299 instead of $299.95. I told him I thought that in a fair fight, the Marines could probably take Ping, but he didn't seem to think that was funny.

So anyway, Alex has several sets of i5s, G5s, putters & woods that will be going to someone for a very good price.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Yeah, I would say that is getting a little carried away, as you can go to anyplace with a launch monitor and demo clubs. It actually annoys me that I go to a local range and have to spend $6 on there smallest bucket of balls, to demo a club. Enough so that I did not buy from them last time, even though I demoed the club I bought there first. I figured since they didn't have alot of the clubs I wanted to dem, and had to go to a launch monitor at Golfsmith, I bought it at golfsmith. I normally would drive back, but I figured they made their money off me at the range, and saw no need to spend $20 in gas money to drive back when I did demo it at Golfsmith as well. Had I known this kind of stuff happened, I likely would have driven back.

This is really sad, because I carry Pings and love the clubs, but they are becoming harder and harder to find. I think if they keep running off their distributors they will soon realize that even a Big name can lose money. I know I currently have to drive between 1 and 2 hours to find a decent selection to hit them when I can compare to other name clubs.

It is unlikely I will buy Ping clubs again because they market to such a small number of distributors in this area. Now knowing why it is so hard to find them, it is even more unlikely I will go out of my way to find them. Personally my i3+ irons are great clubs, but I would rather have MP-60's at this point. My G2 driver is fantastic, but if I bought again it would likely be Cleveland. My G2 Fairway woods, I just flat out hated and replaced with Hybrids. They have great clubs, but not good enough to put me at that kind of inconvenience to find. I would likely buy their putter when I replace mine only because they carry Pings in my Pro shop, and they deserve my business, plus as a member you get 10% off. It is strange that they let private clubs give member discounts, but not ranges. It is also unlikely that private clubs would do away with member discounts, which would p.o. the members. Much easier to just carry another decent brand.

Edit 1 - I guess the only way Ping could catch them on this is to pay for a membership.

 

[DaveE]

Six months ago he sold a Ping driver for the correct price, but gave the guy 2 free buckets of balls to hit to make sure it was what he wanted. Of course the guy was undercover and reported the "free balls" as being a discount.

So much for a free market economy.

Not that I've ever thought about buying Pings but now it's a guarantee that I never will. This kind of thing shouldn't be allowed to happen.

 

[SiberianDVM]

It's a shame, and too bad, because Ping is still made in America. I hate buying stuff made in China, but the choices are getting fewer and fewer.

 

[Rockford35]

Ping has always done this.

And this very reason is why I would NEVER buy a set of Pings to save my life. Supporting a price fixing game like that is total bullshit.

Yes, they want to maintain a certain level within the market and not allow alot of what goes onto E-bay to become Ping product. But you know what? Most of the guys on E-bay selling Launchers and Callaways aren't losing money.

As an aside, it should be pointed out that any account, whether it's $500 or $500,000 worth of Ping merchandise recieves no bulk discount either. They all pay the same amount. So what's the bloody incentive to carry this worthless set of clubs?

I hope Ping goes under and the guys from Cleveland, Cobra/Acushnet, Callaway and the like buy all the shit at Karsten's estate sale.

Bastards.

R35

 

[Davebud]

Tell us how you really feel Rock. One of my neighbors is constantly on about his Pings and how Cleveland is a second tier company, drives me nuts.

 

[obagain]

We had our slazenger account pulled years ago because some of the balls we sold at retail showed up at another retailer.
How can we tell anyone what they can do with golf balls after we sell them.
We gave away all our remaining stock and bought more titleist.

 

[BigJim13]

Yeah, I would say that is getting a little carried away, as you can go to anyplace with a launch monitor and demo clubs. It actually annoys me that I go to a local range and have to spend $6 on there smallest bucket of balls, to demo a club. Enough so that I did not buy from them last time, even though I demoed the club I bought there first. I figured since they didn't have alot of the clubs I wanted to dem, and had to go to a launch monitor at Golfsmith, I bought it at golfsmith. I normally would drive back, but I figured they made their money off me at the range, and saw no need to spend $20 in gas money to drive back when I did demo it at Golfsmith as well. Had I known this kind of stuff happened, I likely would have driven back.

This is really sad, because I carry Pings and love the clubs, but they are becoming harder and harder to find. I think if they keep running off their distributors they will soon realize that even a Big name can lose money. I know I currently have to drive between 1 and 2 hours to find a decent selection to hit them when I can compare to other name clubs.

It is unlikely I will buy Ping clubs again because they market to such a small number of distributors in this area. Now knowing why it is so hard to find them, it is even more unlikely I will go out of my way to find them. Personally my i3+ irons are great clubs, but I would rather have MP-60's at this point. My G2 driver is fantastic, but if I bought again it would likely be Cleveland. My G2 Fairway woods, I just flat out hated and replaced with Hybrids. They have great clubs, but not good enough to put me at that kind of inconvenience to find. I would likely buy their putter when I replace mine only because they carry Pings in my Pro shop, and they deserve my business, plus as a member you get 10% off. It is strange that they let private clubs give member discounts, but not ranges. It is also unlikely that private clubs would do away with member discounts, which would p.o. the members. Much easier to just carry another decent brand.

Edit 1 - I guess the only way Ping could catch them on this is to pay for a membership.

I am kind of in the same boat with Hogan. I have an older set of Apex pro's and man i love them. Problem is that since callaway bought them i cant find them anywhere within reasonable driving distance from me. I guess i could always order over the internet but it would be nice to hit them at least once. I guess the Hogan name is a dying brand...sad really because i really like the look and feel of the clubs.

 

[ezra76]

Their strategy of maintaining the brand prestige is a little over the top. There is simply too much competition for them to continue selling cast irons at top dollar. The trend towards forged will continue, Mizuno and Titleist lead the way. There is also too much competition in the high-end irons coming from Japan. With the influence of the internet market, these brands are now available worldwide.

 

[Rockford35]

Tell us how you really feel Rock. One of my neighbors is constantly on about his Pings and how Cleveland is a second tier company, drives me nuts.

Tell your neighbour that he molests collies, and then show him my signature inside the cover of the book.



R35

 

[sidvicious]

it sounds to me as though ping is going to become a company store, where you can eventually purchase the product only from ping, and not a dealer.

 

[Rockford35]

it sounds to me as though ping is going to become a company store, where you can eventually purchase the product only from ping, and not a dealer.

Fine by me.

Goodbye Ping. Even Lambourghini has retail stores.

R35

 

[sidvicious]

i'm not an anti or pro ping person. i do have two ping woods and a few putters. i'm also the guy who talked about how ugly some of the irons are.

but i also said that i see TONS of ping irons where ever i go. i'll guess that at least 40% of the 3-9 irons i see are some variety of ping.

most of the sets are obviously several years old. query: how did ping get them so deep into the market?