114 - Three Stripes, Dozens Of Items...

After writing recently about my new Adidas rain suit I realised that I have a lot of golfing clobber from the German manufacturer with the three-stripe logo. I had a quick check of my course attire and discovered that most of it was made by Adidas yet I haven’t made conscious effort to buy their stuff. Why have I suddenly got a wardrobe full of Adidas?

It is no secret that Adidas make good stuff so I’m happy with the seemingly subliminal purchases I have made over the last twelve months I just didn’t realise how much I had picked up. I have bought jumpers, polo shirts, outer layers, pants, shoes and recently a rain suit all from the same company and all apparently subconsciously.

I can’t recall any of the adverts which no doubt litter Golf Whine Monthly trying to persuade me that the latest gear from Adidas will give me the edge on the course, will make me stand out in the clubhouse and will have women literally throwing themselves at me at the awards dinner. Maybe the German’s have mastered the art of the subliminal advert?

Actually, it is more likely that I have picked up all this kit because there are always tons of offers on for their stuff – I do like a bargain don’t you know?

I know that anything from Adidas will be decent quality and has the right image so buying their gear is usually a no brainer, especially if it looks good and comes in the right colours (always an important fact).

It is obvious that Adidas make golf clothing but I wondered if they produced clubs like other mass sport manufacturers do, Nike for example. A quick look on the Internet turned up a surprising answer; Adidas own TaylorMade. It turns out that the German company snaffled up TaylorMade in 1997 and has spent the last decade rebranding the club manufacturer to become one of the biggest names in golf.

This rebranding and collaboration has been so successful that in 2005 the company officially became the number one name in drivers with more tour pros using their woods than all the other major brands put together. In 2006 TaylorMade-Adidas Golf as the combined company is know made $1billion in revenue.

Now I know that TaylorMade is part of the Adidas family I’m surprised I haven’t been hoodwinked into buying an R9 driver, R7 irons, a Rosso putter or some Burner golf balls. Wonder if the usual suspects have any offers on at the moment...