Will Anderson poses the question of whether endorsement deals
are damaging performance of professional golf?
Endorsement deals with top sports stars can provide companies
with priceless exposure for their brands to the global market. To
have the top star wearing your clothes or using your
equipment drives huge sales as consumers trust the faces they
recognise and want to replicate the world's best by wearing the
same clothes and using the same equipment as their idols.
Golf has traditionally always had endorsement deals between
manufacturers and its leading professionals. The golfing greats
from the early 20th Century, Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones, endorsed
clubs with their names and signatures featuring on the clubs
manufactured by Wilson and Spalding. Ben Hogan started his own club
making businesses in the 1950s and the late great Severiano
Ballesteros put his name to Slazenger clubs. Modern day players are
almost exclusively seen wearing their branded baseball
