Equipment
Costco chairman: The Kirkland Signature golf ball will be back
If you didn’t get a chance to jump on the Costco Kirkland Signature golf ball bandwagon before the train left the station (to mix metaphors), don’t worry.
Per SeattlePi.com, Costco co-founder and chairman of the board Jeffrey Brotman dropped the site a line in response to the grim news, which we also covered at the end of December: the balls were sold out.
The Kirkland Signature four-piece cupboard was bare for weeks ahead of Christmas, only to be restocked online December 20 and sell out again within a half hour, with eager golfers crashing the site in the process. Until now, it had been assumed Costco would contract South Korean manufacturer Nassau Golf for another cargo ship full, but no official word had been received.
Consider this the official word. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Brotman wrote an email saying in part, “the golf balls will return.”
Of course, we’d like to have a more specific idea of when they’ll line the discount warehouse’s shelves, but we take solace in the fact they’ll be back.
The $30-for-two-dozen four-piece urethane balls caused quite a stir in the golf equipment community last year. Our Andrew Tursky rounded up some of the considerable enthusiasm from the forums in this piece.
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Whats in the Bag
Russell Henley WITB 2024 (March)
- Russell Henley WITB accurate as of the Cognizant Classic.
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX
3-wood: Titleist TS3 (16.5 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX
Hybrid: Titleist TSi2 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT Hybrid 100 TX
Irons: Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (7-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 50-08F @51, 54-10S, @55, 60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Scotty Cameron T5 Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
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Whats in the Bag
Vince Carter WITB 2024 (March)
- The NBA legend was teeing it up in the Arnold Palmer Invitational Pro-Am.
Driver: Ping G430 Max 10K (9 degrees)
3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees)
7-wood: Ping G430 Max (21 degrees)
Irons: Ping i230 (4-PW)
Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (50, 54, 58)
Putter: Ping
Ball: Renegade Mbu
Check out more photos of Vince Carter’s WITB here.
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Equipment
From the Forums: I need more forgiveness in my irons – Looking for recommendations
In our forums, our members have been discussing the most forgiving irons currently on the market. WRXer ‘TheShark1’ is on the hunt for a new set of irons, saying:
“Currently gaming the Mizuno Pro 225’s but think I need more forgiveness in my irons. My well struck shots are real nice, but my mishits are not performing as good as I had hoped anymore. I really like hollow body irons so if I could find something more forgiving in a hollow body iron that would be great.
Open to any and all recommendations other than Ping. Can’t hit Ping irons at all.”
And our members have been sharing their best suggestions in our forum.
Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- AvidSwampThing66: “Another vote for the super forgiving and fast Paradym irons. They look really good for being a GI iron.”
- bobfoster: “I just went from MP20 MMCs to the new 245s in my scoring irons (just played my first round with them today). If you have a chance to try them, you might find them worth a serious look.”
- vman: “Shoot me down, but spend the money on lessons.”
- J_Tizzle: “i525s are great off the heel in my opinion.”
Entire Thread: “From the Forums: I need more forgiveness in my irons – Looking for recommendations”
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Turk20
Apr 4, 2017 at 6:52 am
Both Taylor made and maxfli had golf balls in their mid range price that were better than their top lines both ‘sold out’ and came back as inferior balls. We will see what happens but I will not buy more than minimum to check them out first. COSTCO really screwed up on golf gloves when they dropped the leather ones and now only have the synthetic. After years of buying them would not go near current product.
stan markowski
Mar 12, 2017 at 9:03 pm
I like Costco they are a good company,their quality is also very good I am waiting for their golf balls I”ll take mine in yellow please…stan
JT Reese
Feb 12, 2017 at 1:19 pm
Bottom line is this. As a consumer paying $45-50 a dozen for a pro-line ball is insane! The MG (Master Grip) also has close specs to the PRO-V, for $19.99 per doz. Like anything else you pay for the name. It’s time there is some competition that may drive the prices down. Personally, I play the Prov, only because I have a contact who is a ball hunter guru! No water balls. So $20 a dozen for mint, this is what I do. Ain’t paying their price!
Ivor Robson
Feb 3, 2017 at 7:58 pm
Can’t wait to buy the k sigs at the wembly stadium location
Deadeye
Jan 31, 2017 at 6:32 pm
I just changed from Prov1 to Callaway super hot 55. Great feel, at least ten yards longer and available at Costco for fifteen dollars a dozen. Not as much spin around the green but flies straighter and holds greens. Nice soft feel on all clubs. So, bring back the four piece ball if you want but I am staying with my new best ball.
DTrump
Jan 31, 2017 at 4:03 pm
The Kirkland Signature ball is a great ball, which was made to fire the first shot towards the big boys. This ball is the official ball of Kim Jong Un and it says right on the box, guaranteed 2 Hole In Ones per dozen purchased. This ball will bring the Koreas together once again.
I will not play this ball, because it doesnt say Titleist.
DJT
Jan 30, 2017 at 2:51 am
For far too long South Korean ball companies have been killing U.S jobs and destroying our domestic golf ball industry. My administration will be taxing these balls %200 to level the playing field with the U.S made ProV1 (which is fabulous ball, amazing really.) This undercutting stops NOW. My team is also considering ban on foreign players so all PGA events are won by U.S PLAYERS ONLY. #fakeballs #muricafirst #MPGAGA
Rick
Jan 30, 2017 at 4:07 am
When I read stuff like that all I hear is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zbjGUmI4Js
Rick
Jan 30, 2017 at 4:14 am
Obviously the English version haha, or as you would probably rather say the “murican version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyrNktD_PwA
DC1
Jan 31, 2017 at 2:21 pm
Hilarious! First Trump related laugh I have had since the election!
Golfer
Aug 20, 2020 at 2:45 am
Hate to break it to you, but the ProV1 is not made in the US anymore
Randel
Jan 29, 2017 at 8:36 pm
Very simple, how many new Costco Members will be plunking down $50 or more for a membership so they can buy Kirkland balls? Once in the store do you think a $30 dollar purchase is all that they will buy? Costco now knows these balls will bring in more customers and any item that is a sure fire draw will of course be a priority for them….
Grizz01
Jan 31, 2017 at 7:21 pm
I love the free market!
BooBunkie
Jan 29, 2017 at 5:28 am
Ooooh Peter’s Dad is on line 1! The duuuuuude!!!
Jim
Jan 29, 2017 at 12:51 am
I would imagine there are plenty of ball manufactures in China, South Korea and even Taiwan that can make a ball very much like or exactly the same as Costco sold as Kirkland..and they would be very happy to sell a few million to Costco any day of the week. If you had the rights to a ball Costco would buy a couple million of what would you do? Callaway, Taylormade, Titliest all make most of their high end balls in the U.S. with a small portion and cheaper models coming in from over seas. There has to be some manufactures that have room for others, I did some searching and found 2 companies in China that were offering a 3 piece urethane ball with any name you wanted printed on it in lots of 10,000 or more…about .55 cents each????
The dude
Jan 29, 2017 at 7:36 pm
Nice research!!
Golfer
Aug 20, 2020 at 2:47 am
This is actually incorrect, all of the premium balls you listed are currently being made overseas either entirely, or only the urethane cover is made in the US. Check the side of the box…
TonyK
Jan 28, 2017 at 11:13 pm
If Kirkland Signature balls come back, it won’t be the same ball by Nassau Korea. According to a Korean golf forum, currently Nassau Korea are not making the KS balls any more and they do not have a plan to make them in the near future.
Sean
Jan 30, 2017 at 3:19 pm
Source?
BooBunkie
Jan 28, 2017 at 4:13 pm
These my friend are Pro V’s with masquerade masks on. Think Phantom Of The Opera.
The dude
Jan 28, 2017 at 5:26 pm
Not even Close….
– Wally Uilhein
Obee
Jan 30, 2017 at 10:57 am
The spin data seems far different on full wedge shots. At least the data I saw.
David Montgomery
Jan 28, 2017 at 3:17 pm
Is it true that Costco bought a bunch of unwanted balls from TayloreMade for really cheap and they just re-branded them with their logo? That would explain why people love the feel and especially the price.
Joseph
Jan 28, 2017 at 7:16 pm
Costco buys a lot of overruns, closeouts and gray market product intended for other markets, not the US Costco may sell golf balls called Kirtland, but you can be certain that it will not be the same ball from the same factory’s that was sold last year. Why? Because whoever those balls were actually made for will cut off the factory if they ever dump product to Costco again. If Costco was selling them for $14 a dozen, that factory wasn’t making much on the deal anyway, just getting rid of excess inventory.
Jack
Jan 29, 2017 at 6:33 am
Really.. interesting as I thought Costco mostly buys stuff in bulk and brands create specific products to work in their stores. Kirkland products are specifically designed for Costco as that’s their store brand. I highly doubt they went into this only thinking short term. Kirkland products don’t change that often. Golf balls though might since they probably never imagined people paying so much attention to them. If the current supplier changes their mind, I’m sure there are other suppliers willing to do the same if they have the excess capacity. Which I think is what happened. The current supplier ran out of capacity and Costco couldn’t find another one soon enough to produce an identical product.
DC1
Jan 31, 2017 at 2:24 pm
Bingo. Don’t sell costco short, they are a very smart retailer who takes the long view. If they say they are coming back, they are coming back. They know the balls are really good, they won’t come back with an inferior product. That’s not how they work.
Golfgirlrobin
Jan 29, 2017 at 5:57 pm
All Kirkland branded product is designed and made specifically for Costco. They’re not cheaper because they’re overruns or rebranded, Kirkland is cheaper because there are virtually no marketing costs and they control the entire production chain.
Tazz2293
Jan 30, 2017 at 7:20 am
The Costco Golf R&D Department is really pumping out golf ball innovation as we speak.
Lance
Jan 28, 2017 at 12:20 pm
Why not link to the source?
toad37
Jan 28, 2017 at 3:14 pm
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Costco-says-golf-balls-will-return-10883759.php