The car industry had made the test drive its way of providing risk-free purchases, now the golf equipment business is increasingly doing the same. Title is the latest to adopt the idea of “try-before-you-buy.”
Now available at approximately 2,500 locations nationwide, Titleist is offering golfers the chance to hit balls or event play a round with any of its woods, hybrids, irons or wedges before making a commitment to buy. Think of it as an all-day, everyday demo experience. The Titleist Trial Set includes current 915 drivers and fairway woods, 816 hybrids, AP1 and AP2 irons and Vokey Design SM6 Wedges, often in multiple loft and shaft configurations. The Titleist program is absolutely free and lets players take a few clubs or an entire bag for the day. You can find a participating retailer, many of whom offer sets in multiple loft and shaft flexes, by going to their main website titleist.com.
Several national retailers also offer guarantees that let buyers return many brands of recently purchased new clubs at no extra charge even if they’ve been played for several rounds. Golfsmith offers a full in-store credit within 30 days of purchase, while both PGA Tour Superstore and Worldwide Golf, which owns the Roger Dunn and Edwin Watts Brands among others, let customers bring back clubs purchased within 90 days for a full credit of the purchase price.
In the used club market, Callaway Pre-Owned lets customers return purchased from its used club site callawaypreowned.com within 90 days for an in-store credit at a pre-determined value. Global Golf provides a 30-day Playability Guarantee on selected clubs that offers a store credit for the purchase price plus sales tax.
