The Golfalot.com Price Index continued the 2013 trend of steady growth with a small rise of +0.3% in March as the impact of more new releases sustained the momentum built since the turn of the year.
The Golf Clubs Sector finished the month with growth of 0.3%, increasing the average cost of Golf Clubs to £935.17 representing a rise of 3% over the last 12 months. March saw much anticipated releases enter the Index in the Fairway Woods, Utility Clubs and Irons categories.
Irons (+0.6%) saw the most new activity with the debuts of the Cobra AMP Cell, Ping G25, Nike VR_S Covert and Wilson Staff D100 sets. Having fully recovered the losses incurred during the January sales, these boosted the Irons category to a new record high average price of £423.52.
Fairways (+1.1%) and Utilities (+1.4%) were Golf Clubs’ biggest winners as the Titleist 913F and 913Fd fairway woods and the 913H hybrid replaced the respective 910 models in the Index.
Drivers (-0.9%), Wedges (-1.2%) and Putters (-0.3%) all witnessed retailers competing across key brands as both new and older products saw discounting in the battle for golfers looking to refresh their equipment as the season gets ready to kick off in earnest. Despite this all three categories have performed extremely well over the last year and we expect the Golf Clubs Sector as a whole to perform well throughout the summer months.
The Golf Accessories Sector also consolidated its position in March with growth of +0.3% as positive growth for Golf Balls and Golf Trolleys offset small losses in the Golf Bag and Golf Shoe categories.
Golf Balls performed very well, up 2.6%, as this year’s big release from Titleist, the 2013 Pro V1 and Pro V1x golf balls, finally hit the shelves. Golf Trolleys were up 0.5% as the Motocaddy M1 Pro entered the Index, but Golf Shoes were down 0.3% as new entries in the shape of the Adidas Adizero and Ecco Biom Zero were not enough to offset discounts across a number of manufacturers.
With The Masters just around the corner and the majority of club golfers starting to head back to the course as Spring arrives the continued stability of the Golfalot.com Price Index gives much confidence heading into the months ahead.
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