The Golfalot.com Price Index continued on a steady course despite the bad weather that continues to plague the country and make life very difficult for both courses and retailers. Despite these challenging conditions the Index remained unchanged so maintaining the growth of +2% since the start of the year.
The Golf Clubs Sector mirrored the Index performance as a whole with a fall of just -0.03% with small falls in Drivers, Fairway Woods and Utility Clubs were offset by growth in Irons, Wedges and Putters. The Drivers category fell by -1.1% as prices fell across a number of models in anticipation of new releases into the market in the second half of 2012, notably the new range of 913 Drivers from Titleist that a number of Pros have already put into play on Tour. Fairway Woods and Utility Clubs both fell by -0.1% with retailer competition driving prices slightly across a number of models in these popular categories for golfers all looking to find consistency and performance in their long games.
Golf Irons saw growth of +0.3% as the Index saw the debut of the Nike VRS range whilst the entrance of the Bridgestone J40 range of Wedges fuelled a category rise of +0.2% and the final Golf Clubs category, Putters, also showed positive progress up +0.7% as the best performing category in the Sector.
The Golf Accessories Sector held steady this month, falling by just -0.01%, as losses in Golf Balls and Golf Trolleys were outweighed by an impressive performance in the Golf Shoes Category. Golf Balls fell by -1.25% with a number of products falling as retailers competed across the board with the most notable fall coming with price cuts to the category leading Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x models and Golf Trolleys were down -0.6%, with some notable price falls across the very popular PowaKaddy range. Golf Shoes bucked this trend as the star performer across the Index this month with impressive growth of +2.0% on the back of innovative new entries as manufacturers look to redefine the golf shoe market. The Nike Lunar Swing Tip, Oakley Cipher and Puma Evospeed Golf Shoes all look to take the best design from other disciplines to push the boundaries of golf shoe design.
The British summer has so far thrown a lot at the golf industry in the UK impacting upon both play and sales in this key period but as ever the resilience is apparent in the stability of the Price Index as we move forward with the anticipation of further product innovation in the months ahead.
Visit http://www.golfalot.com/News/PriceIndex.aspx for further information.