What distinguishes the addition of the HiBore XL driver?
Performance wise, the HiBore XL Driver stands out with a blend of forgiveness, distance, and excellent sound, giving it a unique place in the market.
Players who don’t have tour like precision and strike it inconsistently off the tee, will instantly notice the benefits and gain confidence knowing they have such a forgiving club in hand.
Cosmetically, the shape speaks for itself, as the HiBore XL looks nothing like any driver on the market today.
How does it surpass those already on the market?
Compared to our Launcher XL 2 models, the much larger face on the HiBore XL allows for more solid contact than ever before with the ball completely on the clubface.
Coupled with an A.I. optimized design, the face size has a massive impact on mishits, allowing for better results even on poor strikes that are more common than people realize. The sound is also in line with what players would expect to hear from a tour driver, not one designed for forgiveness.
How important is the positioning of price points when selling key clubs like a driver line?
When planning a new line, price always plays a factor. We understand that golf is getting more expensive, so offering a high-quality driver for under $400 is something that gives us an advantage in the market.
Even at that price point, players are able to access all the customization options we offer to make sure the driver fits their game. This is not common when looking at other drivers on the market at this price point.
The USGA and R&A are looking to roll back advances in golf ball technology. Do you see them doing similarly with driver clubs?
No comment at this time.
Who is your customer?
Cleveland Golf Woods and Irons are targeted towards the avid golfer who plays 25 or more rounds per year. Of those golfers, 70% of men and 95% of women have a handicap over 10.
We often say the number one thing that can help avid golfers is playing clubs easier to hit. Under that umbrella of forgiveness, we then try to target players by their swing speeds to make product like the new HiBore XL and extended HALO XL line of clubs covering a wide range of players needs.
Many companies tout customer service. Define the term and the approach followed at Cleveland.
We focus on the overall customer experience from fitting all the way through delivery. Our online services offer fitting selectors to make the process of choosing the right club easier.
We have demo days and extensive fitting carts our partners use for in-person fittings, including an extensive menu of custom options (many at no upcharge), allowing the customer to get a build that’s truly their own. Once the player selects their clubs, we work to get those shipped in a timely manner.
In fact, the vast majority of our stock options ship in 1-2 business days, while our custom orders ship in 3-5 business days. We have a great customer experience team around to help if any issues arise with any purchase, ensuring a good experience all-around.
How does Cleveland solicit customer feedback and what roles does such information play in future decisions for club development?
We receive feedback from a number of different avenues and it certainly plays a key role in the decisions we make. We have a dedicated group of testers called the “Launch Squad” who hit all of our prototypes and give performance and design feedback.
We also have a “Cleveland Golf Crew” survey database to gain insights from thousands of individuals who are passionate about our brand and future clubs we are looking to make. These resources are invaluable in creating clubs with these people in mind.
What makes the new Halo Fairway woods standout when compared to other equipment company offerings?
The theme of forgiveness rings true again with the HALO XL Woods. There are two kinds of forgiveness these clubs are designed to provide: help with strikes all over the face, and strikes behind the ball.
For strikes that miss the center, a high MOI design with a low center of gravity, and A.I. designed face allow for ball speed to be maximized.
For people who tend to hit behind the ball, the Gliderail design is a game changer, as it allows the club to glide through the turf and help avoid those dreaded chunk shots.
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From an equipment standpoint – if you could change one thing in golf unilaterally – what would it be and why?
Tough question. I don’t know that anything is too broken right now, but I do think there are easier fixes to perceived issues of distance and with some of the ball changes. There could have been constraints implemented along the way to stop it from getting to that point.
Two that come to mind are tee height and driver head size that would impact tour players the most. Removing the ability to tee the ball higher and swing away with a massive forgiving driver head has allowed professionals to achieve levels of distance and forgiveness that wasn’t possible previously.
If the 460cc head size limit had been smaller, golf would look a lot different today.
Biggest challenges facing Cleveland golf – short and long term – and what strategic responses are being implemented to deal with each?
Strategically, the increase of competitor last generation product in the market at lower price points has been a challenge our brand faces with woods and Irons. With club prices continuing to go higher, these last generation options are more appealing and competing directly with competitively priced offerings from this year.
Our response to this has been to offer differentiated products that truly stand out at these price points for players. Not only are avid golfers getting the latest and greatest with Cleveland Golf, but these offerings provide more focused performance for their game with all custom options available to them, something discounted competitor clubs will not offer.
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For more info go to:
us.dunlopsports.com/cleveland-golf/clubs
