The Golfalot.com Price Index bounced back in February as a host of new products across a number of categories made their debuts to boost the Index with impressive growth of 1.4%.
The Golf Clubs sector was the big mover in February, up +2.1%, as many of the headline products launched by manufacturers at the turn of the year hit the shelves. Drivers led from the front with monthly growth of +4.5% pushing this flagship category to a record high with the average price of a Driver breaking £164 for the first time. This growth is not surprising with recently released high profile drivers entering the Index such as the Callaway X-Hot, Cobra AMP Cell, Ping G25 and the R1 and Rocketballz Stage 2 from TaylorMade.
As is now the case with the majority of Golf Club releases, the new ranges also include Fairway Woods and Utility offerings to cover all aspects of the long game so these categories also benefitted from the influx of some impressive new equipment and as a result bounced back from a quiet start to 2013. Fairway Woods were up by +5.0% and Utility Clubs rose by +3.7% in a move that saw the average price a club in this innovative category top £80 for the first time. With the much anticipated 913 Fairway and Hybrids from Titleist due to hit the shelves this month, the future for these categories looks extremely positive. A similar picture is expected in Irons (+0.9%) with big releases due to debut in March. Putters (+0.2%), which welcomed the visually striking Odyssey Versa range from Callaway, and Wedges (-0.5%) both performed steadily too.
The Golf Accessories Sector was flat in February with a small fall of -0.2% as drops in Golf Bags (-0.5%), Golf Shoes (-0.7%) and Golf Trolleys (-0.2%) were offset by a strong showing in then Golf Ball market which rebounded from a disappointing start to the year with growth of +2.4%. Golf Balls were boosted by the introduction to the Index of the new Lethal premium ball from TaylorMade and the updated 2013 version of the popular Nike 20XI range. With Titleist officially unveiling the new 2013 Pro V1 and Pro V1X at the PGA show in Orlando we expect Golf Balls to continue to perform well as players look to stock their bags for the season ahead.
The buzz Golfalot.com witnessed at the PGA show in Orlando shows that the golf market continues to innovate despite tough market conditions and these new releases should ensure that the Price Index continues to perform strongly in the months ahead.
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