The Evolution of Wilson Golf: Old Versus New

The evolution of Wilson Golf is by no means a straight line. Throughout its history, there have been periods of stagnation followed by periods of mutation.

Today, Wilson Golf finds itself in a period of transition. The company that at one time was the name in golf has been on the outside looking in for the better part of 30 years. Golfers of a certain age remember fondly Wilson’s heyday as golf’s forged darling. Golfers a little bit younger than that remember Wilson as a boxed-set afterthought.

At some point, we Boomers will boom our last drive and sink our last putt. The golfers who’ll replace us are Cub Scouts or Brownies now. It’s those golfers, plus those in high school, college or just entering the workforce, who matter now.

Wilson Golf is viewing those golfers as the new demographic.

“We’re seeing this real interesting reemergence with young ball strikers,” Markus McCaine, the new Global Director of Marketing for Wilson Golf, tells MyGolfSpy. “They’re young, quiet, confident ball strikers who are attracted to our brand.”

It’s also a demographic with little or no preconceived notions about golf equipment or Wilson. So it makes sense the evolution of Wilson Golf should start with the youthful golfer.

And the best way to market to that youthful golfer?

It’s with a youthful marketing department.

Old Wilson, Meet New Wilson

“Our team here is pretty young. Most of us are under the age of 35,” says McCaine, who is under 35 himself. “We’re the golf sickos in the room. We’re going to build the brand we want and not worry about what people who’ve been here for a while want or think consumers want.”

McCaine came to Wilson last summer from COBRA. Before that, he worked in marketing and brand partnerships for PlayStation. Before that, he was head lacrosse coach at the University of Oregon. At Wilson, his mandate is clear: define the Wilson brand to the right audience.

“There’s a playbook the bigger brands run. We can’t compete with them on dollars but we can be fresh and relevant. We can begin to skate to where the puck is going versus where the puck is.”

Wilson, despite being part of the Wilson Sporting Goods empire, is a bit player in golf. It didn’t used to be that way. From its origins in 1914 into the mid-’80s, Wilson was the name in golf, piling up majors and gobbling up market share. It was golf’s forged blade darling until Karsten kicked the door open with investment cast, perimeter-weighted cavity-back irons. Lynx, Tommy Armour and others soon joined the battle. That left legacy OEMs like Wilson, Spalding and MacGregor wondering what the hell happened.

“There are consumers that do understand we make great products,” says McCaine, “but there is that perception that it’s not as good as others, or that we’re a price-point brand. Is it because of 30 years of pushing packaged sets? That did a lot of damage.”

Perception, of course, is powerful. But just because something once was doesn’t mean it always will be. Reality checks are always helpful.

The Evolution of Wilson Golf: Facts Matter

If you want to talk history, let’s talk history. In 1770, John Adams was handed the most difficult and least popular job in legal history: defense counsel for British soldiers accused of murder in the Boston Massacre. Public sentiment clamored for revenge but Adams won acquittal based on facts.

“Facts are stubborn things,” he said at the trial. “And whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts.”

While golf in no way equates to the events of 1770, the quote does apply to preconceived notions toward Wilson Golf.

If you’re not careful, preconceived notions can easily become willful ignorance when you ignore facts.

For example, there is a segment of golfer who dismisses Wilson as a “boxed set” company. Yes, Wilson sells boxed sets, a practice that started in the ‘70s when the brand was owned by PepsiCo. But facts tell us that Callaway, TaylorMade, COBRA, Cleveland, XXIO and PXG, among others, also sell boxed sets.

Others may say Wilson’s equipment isn’t as good as “the big guys.” Again, facts are stubborn things.

Wilson’s Player’s cavity-back irons have traditionally performed well in MyGolfSpy testing. The Wilson FG Tour V6 was first overall in 2017. Its precursor, the 2011 FG Tour V2, is one of the best-performing irons we’ve ever tested.

Wilson really shines in the player’s distance category. The D9 Forged was second overall in 2022, the D7 Forged first overall in 2020. Wilson’s Infinite Buckingham and Staff Model ML22 and BL22 putters have been stellar performers in our testing. Wilson drivers have been solid, but not spectacular, performers.

Facts May Be Stubborn …

But golfers, it seems, can be even more stubborn. The Big Five are The Big Five for a reason. True, they spend an awful lot of money reminding you that they’re the Big Five. But, in reality, neither Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist, PING nor COBRA make crap. Mizuno, PXG, Srixon and Cleveland don’t, either. Nor do Tour Edge, Sub 70, Ben Hogan, New Level, Takomo or any of several others.

How, then, will a company such as Wilson stand out?

“There’s a whole new generation of golfers who don’t want to play what their dads are playing,” insists McCaine. “They want something different. We fit into that under-35 group that maybe played high school basketball, baseball or tennis and have a positive association with the Wilson brand.”

The new Wilson is building its new brand image on three pillars: making world-class equipment, sponsoring players at the highest level (and winning majors) and building a unique image that resonates.

“For me, it’s Bernhard Langer with no hat, floppy hair and dressed head to toe in red,” says McCaine of Wilson’s poster boy of the ‘80s and ‘90s. “He wasn’t bombastic or outward. He was confident, hitting 2-irons with gusto. It’s that quiet confidence and quiet swagger we have to recapture. It’s what we do so well in every other sport.”

While McCaine offered no specifics, you can expect to see Wilson’s PGA Tour staff grow in number and get younger in age. Padraig Harrington is an incredible ambassador for the brand but the PGA Tour Champions doesn’t move the needle for their target demographic.

“Tour success is about validation,” he says. “It’s being able to signal that your product is good enough for the best players in the world. That’s Sports Marketing 101.”

Who Is This Dashing Young Ball Striker?

This much we can say for certain: if Wilson, or any other OEM outside of the Big Five, tries to out-Callaway Callaway or out-TaylorMade TaylorMade, it’s going to fail miserably and spectacularly.

“I wish I had $40 million to go buy TV ads and change the winds in one stroke,” says McCaine, “but that’s not how it works.”

That’s why the “Let’s Go Young” evolution of Wilson Golf might just have legs. The 45-and-older crowd may have the most money to spend on golf gear but they also have devoutly held preconceived notions. Changing those minds can be like pushing a rope uphill.

The young ball striker is a much more appealing target. Quality and performance are givens for this demographic but it doesn’t end there.

“What they really care about is aligning themselves with a brand that feels like a representation of who they are,” McCaine explains. “What is this brand and what does it say about me when I put this on or use this product? How do I align with the brand’s values?”

As these young golfers grow up and become core golfers, those are the criteria upon which they’ll make buying decisions. Telling them about MOI, carbon fiber and ball speed won’t be enough anymore.

“They bring that brand ethos with them as they grow older,” says McCaine. “Brands are going to have to figure out who they are, what’s their personality and what makes them different.”

Five Parts New, Maybe One Part Old

The ongoing evolution of Wilson Golf may put off some old-timers. The new, naked Wilson Staff shield is a prime example. We old-timers may scoff but if losing a W and an S from a logo turns you away from a brand, you probably weren’t a brand loyalist, anyway.

“We’ve gotten ourselves into trouble at times being fully focused on the past,” admits McCaine. “We can talk about 62 majors, but we don’t want to eulogize the brand. We can’t forget our heritage. But we don’t want to live there, either.”

What you will see is different kinds of content created by Wilson’s marketing team. Social media will be important as will YouTube and partnerships with various influencers and new Tour players.

“I’m challenging the team to build a brand and build a marketing plan with things that we’d like to see and not worry about the noise,” says McCaine. “We need to build content and marketing that’s not driven by eight more grams of tungsten in the toe.”

While Wilson is a legacy brand with brick-and-mortar roots, you’ll also see a commitment to growing direct-to-consumer sales.

“That’s a big priority for us and for Wilson Sporting Goods overall,” says McCaine. “We understand the modern consumer wants to shop online so our web team is working on building a better experience for them. We need a world-class destination for online shoppers.

Do not, however, read that to mean Wilson is going DTC and giving up on retail.

“We do want to ride the online rocket ship but in-store distribution is big for us,” McCaine says. “DTC is the great equalizer since your website is always open but we need to be in every store.”

Evolution of Wilson Golf: What To Make of “New Wilson?”

Wilson is the oldest organic brand in golf still standing. Titleist dates back to 1932 but was almost exclusively a ball company until 1968. PING is next, starting in 1959 as a niche putter brand before hitting the mainstream with irons and woods in the late ‘60s.

You don’t get to be a 110-year-old brand without healthy doses of resiliency, innovation and flexibility. Clunker products and downturns are inevitable but the dusty beach road of golf history is lined with the skeleton frames of burned-out, less resilient brands.

“We don’t want to forget 110 years of heritage,” says McCaine, “but we do have to bring it into the modern age and make it relevant. Look at our Staff Model blades. They’re loaded with performance and innovation but with a sprinkle of retro fashion. There’s a bit of ethos in that design.”

A little Googling will turn up a ridiculous 25-year pipeline of “Is Wilson Back?” stories. But the Old Wilson is gone, my friend. It isn’t coming back and it shouldn’t. Yes, it has history. But with history comes baggage.

As McCaine alluded to, the smart move isn’t to skate to where the puck is; it’s to skate to where the puck is going. The demographic the New Wilson is embracing has few, if any, preconceived notions and doesn’t want to follow the crowd.

“That young ball striker with the quiet confidence and a bit of fashion flair, how do we build a brand around that?” says McCaine. “If we hit on all the right notes – quality and performance while being aesthetically pleasing to the eye – I think it’s going to be really right for us and for the consumer we want to go after.”