raggmann54 If you check the Titleist & Callaway balls at Wal-Mart, you'll often find models that you cannot find anywhere else.
Are you sure you read the box correctly?
RIP Kirkland Signature Golf Ball???
Nothing wrong with a quick 33.33% profit.
But hey, I wouldn't have my Great Big Bertha without it, and 
5 days later
I think I got some defective k sigs, mine landed on someone's roof today
livegolf I think I got some defective k sigs, mine landed on someone's roof today
NO one had told you the secret ?
You'll need to press down between the Kirkland and the Signature before you you teed off, this will allow the golf ball to avoid all hazards including roof top If it's on the turf then too bad, because golfer could not touch the golf ball in play. 
a month later
Titleist (Acushnet) apparently poked the wrong bear. Costco is suing them:
https://www.mygolfspy.com/costco-sues-acushnet-titleist-in-response-to-letter/
I think this is just what big companies do when they feel their patent is being infringed. And honestly I don't blame them. If I spent millions of dollars each year for R&D, only to have a wholesaler exploit my product for their own gain, then you better believe I'd be putting my lawyers on notice.
Proving patent infringement, however, especially since Titleist vs Callaway really didn't settle matters in the first patent-infringement war, is a little more tedious.
Costco has more than enough money to finance smarter/more aggressive lawyers.
This will ultimately end up no different than Titleist vs Callaway.
A subsidiary of FILA, Acushnet Company's primary brands are Titleist, FootJoy, Scotty Cameron. Fuck them.
http://www.golfdigest.com/story/five-golf-ball-companies-named
- Edited
Costco sold these on very thin margin so I don't know why they'd want to spend a truckload of money defending their ball in court, just from a business standpoint. Can other ball companies jump in and back Costco, even if it is 'friends of the court' filings? Can Costco escalate the case into a 'defamation of character' suit and try to get in Acushnet's pockets for dragging their good name in this soon-to-be-very public cause?
pellmell posted a link that pretty much proves that Titleist is a big bad bully and will protect their turf with deep pockets. You have to feel for the entrepreneurs that had their dreams shattered when they tried to come to market with alternatives.
I don't think the patent infringement is the issue for ksig, that ball was some sort of Frankensteined tmag ball....so if it were truly a patent infringement, would we not have seen it before, that is Acushnet raising the same issue with tmag?
The other balls appear to all be made at the same foundry and all may be the same exact ball (ie open model), but sold by different companies.
I wander if accushnet is trying to get people to realize that ksig and these other balls are just that, open models, or a re badge of another companies leftovers and/or past models vs. The great titleist, who actually spend r and d money to create something
I find golfers a weird lot....you have guys who will only play big boy oem's for their sticks, and look down on anything else as inferior, yet will play a ksig.
mikeintopeka Costco sold these on very thin margin
How do people know these things? Where is it written? Only Costco higher ups would know this. Maybe Russians also.
If they are typical business people, they pay less than 50% of the selling price(perhaps even less) . If I can make 100-200% profit, I'm rich; no matter the product, as long as it's selling quickly as these balls did.
I think the acushnet group also produced all the Knight golf gear and the intech balls. Right about the WRX type posers who look down on anything not OEM. I have never been in Costco ( with the little bit of hair I got left the last thing I need is a six gallon bottle of shampoo) but I would never think of going there for golf gear plus I'd be embarrassed to use them. How did they get any popularity when great small company gear goes unnoticed?
Par4QC mikeintopeka Costco sold these on very thin margin
How do people know these things? Where is it written? Only Costco higher ups would know this. Maybe Russians also.If they are typical business people, they pay less than 50% of the selling price(perhaps even less) . If I can make 100-200% profit, I'm rich; no matter the product, as long as it's selling quickly as these balls did.
Well, I formed an opinion from at least one post that someone appeared to have dealt with Costco on the supply side and had an inkling on their wholesale/retail strategy. Costco's quarterly analyst call didn't mention any extraordinary impact on their profits (unless I missed it) so I'm assuming the K-Sig was a short term flash-in-the-pan event for them. Thanks for calling me out and keeping me grounded, Comrade 
As a former factory rep I think I may have some insight into the situation. While I was not in the golf business when it comes to consumer goods the dynamics are generally similar. My theory:
Costco gets a call from a ball manufacturer that says either, "we have a huge overrun or cancelled order of balls would you be interested at a stupid price?" or, "we have a ton of excess production and material ( the manufacturer probably has access to a crazy deal on the raw materials) we could make a product that would be comparable to the ProV1 and you could retail them at less than half the cost, would you be interested?"
My guess would be the latter because unused production is a big loser for a manufacturer that cannot be recouped. Making a "one off" private label ball would not hurt the manufacturer's existing product line or distribution channels. I think the fact that Costco apparently has no plans to offer the exact ball again suggests that the materials used to produce them aren't available at the same price as the first run.
Titleist is pissed because it made them look like they were gouging the public (duh) at $49 a dozen. Most of the time a cease and desist letter will throw enough of a scare into a small manufacturer or retailer to discontinue production. Costco is probably big enough and has legal staff on the payroll that such threats don't have much impact.
We used to do this kind of stuff all the time.
- Edited
Nassau Golf manufactured the Kirkland ball, which is a rebadged MF-4L
mikeintopeka Thanks for calling me out and keeping me grounded, Comrade
Sorry about that. Just was wondering how that info was made available to anyone in public.
If it truly was thin margin, it's something they will have to live with if they bring these balls back. They won't sell at $29.99 or $39.99/doz.. People will scream they are being 'ripped off' by a big business. And, if it is not the same ball, they best just forget about the whole thing.