If golfers are keen on stockpiling the latest golf ball technology in the wake of the recent announcement of a rollback on the distance balls can travel, it hasn’t been easy to differentiate from the usual upswing in holiday gifting.
After all, golf balls are one of the hottest commodities in golf come the holiday season. They’re the game’s ultimate must-have and often a can’t-miss present for recreational golfers, whether it’s a sleeve of three as a stocking-stuffer or a couple dozen personalized tour balls for that special someone.
This was abundantly clear on Black Friday, which proved to be an “epic start” to the holiday season for a company like Golfballs.com, the longest-running e-commerce business in the golf world. And the holiday stretch into Cyber Monday and beyond saw continued strong sales momentum for the online retailer, which has been recognized as one of the Top 100 businesses in the golf industry.
But more recently Golfballs.com sold more golf balls in a single day than any other this year. And it wasn’t when the USGA and R&A this month announced the rollback taking effect for all golfers by 2030 — meaning weekend warriors would ostensibly have to play the same shorter-hitting (higher launching and lower-spinning) balls as the game’s top professional golfers whose distance gains prompted the decision.
No, the sales spike was spurred by a small-field tournament in the Bahamas, where a golfer ranked 1,328th in the world was competing for the first time in eight months.
“A guy named Tiger Woods was back on the Golf Channel while we had a lot of holiday commercials running,” said Golfballs.com President Greg Palmer, noting that single-day sales during the first round of the Hero World Challenge two weeks ago easily surpassed Black Friday as the year’s single best-selling day.
Woods may be 47 and years removed from the caliber of player who claimed a record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles and 15 major championships, but he still moves the needle like no one else in golf. Amid the discord created by the golf ball rollback, his comeback is welcome news for companies like Golfballs.com, which cater to the millions of recreational golfers who are the real backbone of the golf economy.
“Him coming back and playing saying he’s going to play once a month next year is meaningful,” said Palmer. “That’s a lot of eyeballs.”
And during the holiday buying season, it’s especially fortuitous timing.
This week, Woods and son Charlie headline a field of 20 golfing icons and their family members who are teaming up at the PNC Championship in Orlando that’s being broadcast on Golf Channel, Peacock and NBC through the weekend.
The National Golf Foundation reported recently that more than half of Core golfers purchase golf-related gifts during the holiday season, for themselves or others. And almost two-thirds of those golf gift-givers opt for balls — from big-name brands like Titleist, TaylorMade, Callaway, Srixon and Bridgestone to direct-to-consumer businesses like OnCore and PXG.
“This gifting period, if you look at a calendar year, it’s actually our biggest period of the year,” said Palmer, noting that there are typically three peaks for product sales on the golf calendar: the start of the season, Father’s Day, and the December holidays.
Golf balls with alignment aids — such as someone’s name or nickname — are popular at Golfballs.com, which specializes in personalized product. Other top sellers are golf balls with monogram styles or those featuring humorous or personal messages, like grandkids getting a dozen Bridgestone balls that read “Merry Christmas to Pop Pop!”
In recent years, customers have taken to ordering more corporate logos — both individuals and businesses. It certainly doesn’t hurt that golf is experiencing a renaissance of engagement among the nearly 26 million Americans young and old who play recreationally. And that extends to logo balls for company-run golf events as well as individuals seeking to differentiate and engage customers of their own.
“Traditional golf balls in the corporate promotional product space was always kind of a tagalong,” said Palmer. “As popular as golf is right now, it’s the lead for decision makers in many cases.”
Having Tiger back in the mix doesn’t hurt either.