169 - Completely Owned...

It is a sad day for cool golf boys and girls. International bright young thing and golfing heartthrob Camilo Villegas is leaving Cobra Golf and joining TaylorMade-Adidas Golf (TMaG). I know, I know, I’m in bits too, I'm a man on the verge.

Puma recently announced that they had purchased Cobra Golf as part of their commitment to strengthening their growing and successful golf business and I was I was looking forward to seeing the combination of the two brands being strutted up the fairways by Camilo.

But my hopes have now been dashed as the three-time winner on the PGA Tour has signed an exclusive deal with TMaG that will see the Columbian completely decked out by his new sponsors from top to bottom.

It has been reported that this years The Honda Classic winner will play TaylorMade clubs, a TaylorMade ball, wear TaylorMade headwear, wear a TaylorMade glove, use a TaylorMade staff bag and wear Adidas Golf footwear. That is as close to being owned by a company as you can get I guess.

Mark King (not the bass player from Level 42 but the president and CEO of TMaG) said: "Camilo is a winner, a gentleman, and a fan favourite. Cameras tend to find him because he has presence and magnetism that's impressive and rare.”

‘Spiderman’ will join other TaylorMade Tour Staff including Darren Clarke, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer and Justin Rose. The deal is seen as a bit of a coup for TMaG as the 28-year-old is one of the most recognizable and cool players on the PGA Tour right now.

I’m genuinely a bit gutted that that one of the most charismatic players on the Tour has declined the chance of working with one of the more innovative and interesting golf manufacturers. I’m a fan of Adidas Golf too though so there could be some Villegas inspired goodness making its way into my wardrobe I suppose.

125 - Come Together...

As I’ve mentioned numerous times on this crappy little corner of the web, I like playing golf but don’t like looking like a golfer. I’m also a bit of a rebel and would rather kit myself out with clothing and equipment that isn’t necessarily the most popular on the course.

With this in mind I’ve been casting admiring glances over at the equipment coming out of the Cobra camp. They consistently produce interesting looking equipment that, to me anyway, seems to fit nicely into its own niche of being quite a premium product without being part of the Callaway set.

Cobra was founded in 1973 and is probably most famous for their drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. In 1996 the company was swallowed up by American Brands Inc. and has since been managed under the Acushnet Company umbrella, along with Titleist and FootJoy. 


After playing second fiddle to Titleist, Cobra will now get the chance to shine in it’s own right after it was announced that the brand was being bought by German sports equipment and clothing manufacturer Puma in what could be an intriguing partnership.

“Through the acquisition of Cobra Golf, we reinforce Puma’s commitment to our sports performance business by strengthening our growing and successful Golf category,” said Jochen Zeitz, chairman and chief executive of Puma.

“Cobra Golf has a history of innovative performance products fused with an edge and is therefore a perfect fit for us, reinforcing our overall mission of becoming the most desirable Sport life-style company.”


Puma produce some good-looking golf clothing that has more in common with the likes of Oscar Jacobson and J Lindeberg than Lyle & Scott and Pringle, which I totally approve of. This collaboration really excites me and I’m looking forward to the equipment and clothes that come out once the partnership blossoms.

97 - Geeky Fetishes And Snobby Aspirations...

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I like playing golf but don’t really like looking like a golfer which is why I decided to buy clothes from Oakley, a company not normally associated with golf. I also talked about the good advice I received when I first got into golf a year ago suggesting I spend a bit of money on some decent golf shoes which is why when looking for a new pair I went for some that were not your usual clogs.

I wanted a pair of all black shoes as they look less like golf footwear and are also easier to keep clean. I had a flick through Golf Whine Monthly and everything seemed to point to a pair of FootJoy’s but after my mini run in with Acushnet (the parent company of Titleist, Cobra and FootJoy) I decided to give my hard earned beer tokens to someone else.

There is a lot of choice out there but when I found a pair of shoes that were reassuringly expensive and had inert gas inserts from a strange sounding company I was sold! The company is Stuburt and the shoes are the funky sounding Oxygen Pro (left). The geek in me was intrigued by the inserts and the snob loved the fact that no-one else would have them (or possibly even heard of them).

They are big, clunky, shoes that have full leather uppers with a patented membrane to keep your feet totally dry. Inside there is a ‘liquicell foot bed’ which apparently reduces friction and heat while increasing blood flow to your feet – I think that is a fancy way of saying that the innersoles aren’t your average Odour Eater crap.

I’m very impressed by how comfortable the shoes are, it is like wearing slippers. I’m looking forward to seeing how well they perform in the pouring down rain in 2 inches of mud and how easy it is to keep them looking good.