Tourstage and the U.S market.

[+TourSpecGolfer]

I was told recently from Tourstage that they will be making a major run at the U.S market under the name Tourstage not precept. The rep I talked to in Japan said they will dump precept and go for the glory trying to become very big on the PGA tour with most of the Japanese designs being sold in the U.S. The X-series clubs are scheduled for a change in fall 2005 but the entire X-series may come to the U.S in some form or another next year also. It makes a lot of sense to do this for they have built the large facility already. Currently they are phasing out the Z series till the stocks are gone, It had something to do with a lawsuit from Yonex in regards to using the Z label.

While surfing BSG I noticed some cool pics of the XCb, X-wedge, and U.S precept proto and decided to send it to pro support via E-mail with a phone call. They were pretty surprised and had no idea that this was happening and later i got the reply that these were sent to the U.S un finished and precept did the finish themselves for tour use only. Its interesting that Tourstage wants to give the U.S market another try, a bigger try but do you think Tourstage should use the name precept or they should stick with Tourstage?

Here are the pics from BSG I sent to pro support, sorry about the water marks :o

So what do you think? What name do you think Bridgestone should use in the U.S market?

[Breal]

Those precept x-blades look smaller are they? Definitely go tourstage

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Those precept x-blades look smaller are they? Definitely go tourstage

They look the same to me except these precept clubs have what seems to be a lower quality finish.

[FAQ]

I'd go with TourStage as the name Precept or Bridgestone already has branding attached to it that is not always positive.

[XoMartel]

i strongly choose tourstage and keep precept for the ball brand.

they not making any breakthrough with several brand. might as well stay with tourstage.

[Guest]

i strongly choose tourstage and keep precept for the ball brand.

they not making any breakthrough with several brand. might as well stay with tourstage.

Totally agree. Tourstage for clubs and precept for balls.

[JSmith1]

Kinda a no brainer to me, Tourstage all the way for the clubs.

[shoe295]

I can't see any advantage using Precept, so Tourstage makes most sense to me.

[Godfather1]

Go tourstage , I simply just prefer the name to precept.

[languidcrane]

I agree- I see no advantage in using the precept name which already carries a negative connotation with many people. Stick with the elusive TourStage moniker. I don't know the market well enough to say if they should change the precept ball line to tourstage as well, but its seems even that could use a boost.

[Mike]

TourStage !!!!!!!!!!!!

[ashryan8888]

Tourstage

[MCsub]

TourStage !!!!!!!!!!!!

Agree, and BTW Mike, thanks for bringing back the best avatar on the site!!

[corky3]

Precept - wanky name if you ask me :-D

Tourstage at least conjours aspirations of quality goods.

[Ringer]

:tourstage:

[HipCheck]

TourStage please -- just don't use 'Athlete Spirit' or anything like that again... :laugh:

[bma725]

As much as I like the Tourstage name, going with it right now is a bad idea.

Tourstage means nothing to 99% of US golfers, they've never heard of it, they don't know what they do in Japan, they don't know their reputation for quality etc. They do however know precept. And they have known Precept for 10-15 years. Precept is finally becoming a bigger company. The Lady and Laddie ball have made it the favorite ball company among many people out there, so much so it has cult following. People are finally starting to figure out who they are, and starting to look at their clubs. The Precept Tour Premiums did very well, considering the market they were facing.

To kill Precept now and put all they're stock in the Tourstage name when that name has never made a dent in the US market would be a terrible idea. It will just confuse and annoy most consumers who know nothing about Tourstage whatsoever.

[+TourSpecGolfer]

As much as I like the Tourstage name, going with it right now is a bad idea.

Tourstage means nothing to 99% of US golfers, they've never heard of it, they don't know what they do in Japan, they don't know their reputation for quality etc. They do however know precept. And they have known Precept for 10-15 years. Precept is finally becoming a bigger company. The Lady and Laddie ball have made it the favorite ball company among many people out there, so much so it has cult following. People are finally starting to figure out who they are, and starting to look at their clubs. The Precept Tour Premiums did very well, considering the market they were facing.

To kill Precept now and put all they're stock in the Tourstage name when that name has never made a dent in the US market would be a terrible idea. It will just confuse and annoy most consumers who know nothing about Tourstage whatsoever.

Very good point :bridgestone:

[Breal]

That is a very good point ,I didn't think of it that way Hmmmmm?

[dadriver]

As much as I like the Tourstage name, going with it right now is a bad idea.

Tourstage means nothing to 99% of US golfers, they've never heard of it, they don't know what they do in Japan, they don't know their reputation for quality etc. They do however know precept. And they have known Precept for 10-15 years. Precept is finally becoming a bigger company. The Lady and Laddie ball have made it the favorite ball company among many people out there, so much so it has cult following. People are finally starting to figure out who they are, and starting to look at their clubs. The Precept Tour Premiums did very well, considering the market they were facing.

To kill Precept now and put all they're stock in the Tourstage name when that name has never made a dent in the US market would be a terrible idea. It will just confuse and annoy most consumers who know nothing about Tourstage whatsoever.

Precept doesn't necessarily translate to (high) quality or performance to most of the golfing public either. Most people see it as 2nd tier stuff. If you launch under the Tourstage name and market their clubs as quality and pro level performance, rivialing Titleist and Mizuno, then most people will accept this Tourstage as something new.

I think you know which banner I fly. :love:

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Yeah, I'm going to have to vote Tourstage also, precept does have a name as a 2nd rate company, but Tourstage didn't do a very good job with their Z series woods and wedges. They need to release all their Japan line in the U.S. Could you picture the X-Drive and F-ST stamped precept? :yuk:

[bma725]

Precept doesn't necessarily translate to (high) quality or performance to most of the golfing public either. Most people see it as 2nd tier stuff. If you launch under the Tourstage name and market their clubs as quality and pro level performance, rivialing Titleist and Mizuno, then most people will accept this Tourstage as something new.

I think you know which banner I fly. :love:

Sure, I know where you stand, so I can understand what you're position. But imagine if you'd never heard of Tourstage before and you walked into a shop and saw them charging those prices, you'd be taken a back a bit wouldn't you? By the same token seeing Precept clubs with that price range would only be a slightly incremental jump and people wouldn't even notice. They'd be at least familiar with the name of the company and some of their products.

Bridgestone really screwed up if they want Tourstage to be that kind of company, with what they did with the Z line of products. The products while not bad, are not what those that are familiar with Tourstage would love. They're not the type of products that will force people to play them, they're not the type of clubs that make you feel like you're missing something if you don't have them. Sure you've got to start somewhere, but to expect to come in and become anything close to the bigger companies is a mistake. They've got to look at the other Japanese companies that have come to the US, the two most successful have been Mizuno and probably Yonex, and neither of those have ever been huge companies over here.

It seems a bit unrealistic to me to expect Tourstage to become something like that. They'd be better off at least in the short term building the Precept name, than risking de-valuing that on a Tourstage line that fails.

[dadriver]

Precept doesn't necessarily translate to (high) quality or performance to most of the golfing public either. Most people see it as 2nd tier stuff. If you launch under the Tourstage name and market their clubs as quality and pro level performance, rivialing Titleist and Mizuno, then most people will accept this Tourstage as something new.

I think you know which banner I fly. :love:

Sure, I know where you stand, so I can understand what you're position. But imagine if you'd never heard of Tourstage before and you walked into a shop and saw them charging those prices, you'd be taken a back a bit wouldn't you? By the same token seeing Precept clubs with that price range would only be a slightly incremental jump and people wouldn't even notice. They'd be at least familiar with the name of the company and some of their products.

Bridgestone really screwed up if they want Tourstage to be that kind of company, with what they did with the Z line of products. The products while not bad, are not what those that are familiar with Tourstage would love. They're not the type of products that will force people to play them, they're not the type of clubs that make you feel like you're missing something if you don't have them. Sure you've got to start somewhere, but to expect to come in and become anything close to the bigger companies is a mistake. They've got to look at the other Japanese companies that have come to the US, the two most successful have been Mizuno and probably Yonex, and neither of those have ever been huge companies over here.

It seems a bit unrealistic to me to expect Tourstage to become something like that. They'd be better off at least in the short term building the Precept name, than risking de-valuing that on a Tourstage line that fails.

It's going to be a hard sell regardless. TM, Titleist, and Cally really has a strangle hold on the U.S. market--Just ask Nike.

Have you noticed that hardly anything but TM sells on these boards any more. I've hit at least 3 other clubs that were as long (or longer) and more accurate than the 510 TP but folks have really bought into the hype that TM and others put out. I'm not saying that TM isn't good...I'm saying that I've found stuff that was as good or better.

To crack the U.S. market any new company is really going to have to be prepared to slug it out...no matter if they're called Nike, Precept, Tourstage, etc.

[Guest]

Have you noticed that hardly anything but TM sells on these boards any more. I've hit at least 3 other clubs that were as long (or longer) and more accurate than the 510 TP but folks have really bought into the hype that TM and others put out. I'm not saying that TM isn't good...I'm saying that I've found stuff that was as good or better.

To crack the U.S. market any new company is really going to have to be prepared to slug it out...no matter if they're called Nike, Precept, Tourstage, etc.

I think TM is prevalent on most other boards but on TSG there seems to be a greater diversity in preferences. Very few R7 threads here and not many of the members play one.

If Tourstage is determined to crack the US market, you can rest assured that they have the resources to give it a run. Parent company has the $$$ and they have the product. Problem with Nike is that their products seem to fall short in most categories, even with the world's pre-eminent golfer selling their wares.

Will be interesting to see their strategy once it rolls out.

Didier

[DoNDoN]

I think Precept as a brand is more or less looked down upon. The Tourstage name would give the US a new look and a better way to jump start Bridgestone in the US.