It's all about branding and building their brand and marketability to the masses.

Jay-Z said it best, "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man!"

TH

I agree. I think some of them may be following suit from the NBA and NFL players. I read a nice piece in SI a few weeks back, that focused on Dwayne Haskins the Redskins No. 1 draft pick this year.

Before he even signed with an agent, he and his family had already developed their own marketing campaign, complete with the DH logo and all. Seems to be the trend of a lot of young athletes.

I totally get your cart before the horse analogy.

I think anyone can go get a personalized logo and have it displayed on their clothing or equipment, the real question here and what I think you're getting at, is how good do you have to be to actually have logo-ed gear manufactured and sold? I don't think there are any metrics to accurately measure it by, its all just a matter of if people will buy it.

I did always wonder if the other UA guys on tour are allowed or even want to wear Spieth's branded shoes? It's one thing to just have a logo, but Spieth apparently actually had a hand in helping develop them, so presumably they are different from anything else in the UA line from a performance/comfort standpoint.

I do not think it's putting the cart before the horse at all. In fact, I applaud them for their ingenuity, personal pride, and imagination to do this. Just like the TT logo is proudly displayed on many of our bags, so are their initials. If I could ever figure out how to mesh the M&S of my name, this would be a super cool idea. I do not think it's as much as a marketing ploy or tool, but just overall personal pride.

I look at it this way, an maybe Im missing the point but if you pay money to put your name or a logo on your bag or whatever then you do you. Who cares how good you are just have fun enjoy this awesome game.

I don’t think you have to do anything to have your own logo except come up with a design and find someone to embroider it on your hat. The difference between Tiger’s logo and everyone else is that his looks good,
original and is good enough to sell; that is why swoosh has it on hats and apparel. Everyone else seems to be trying too hard to come up wit a logo and follow Tiger’s lead. I have yet to see a decent logo from anyone else.

I agree with you, Marc. And if you ever get you M&S logo, sign me up for a shirt and hat, buddy! Hope you and Brent are doing well!
P.S. A couple years ago, on a lark, I designed a logo and made some hats and shirts for my buddies at my club. Just to get their goat. They loved them! Life's short. Don't take yourself too seriously. Have fun! #TeamTitleist.

I think 90% of these guys have foundations and charities and the logos probably are part of that. They are all trying to be marketable and get their name out there.

I don't see any issues with having your own logo. I actually kinda like it and enjoy seeing what the players come up with versus seeing the same ol' standard logo you see all the time. It makes it interesting.

Gotta make money somewhere if you're not winning tournaments...

As others have stated: Logo = Marketing!

Some of the pros logo's I like (Tiger, Speith) but I do no like others (Sergio, Rose). My tastes are not the same as others...and that's okay.

Hi Dale,

Thanks for sharing your question.
From my 16+ years of tour experience I can tell you that each player sees themselves as the day of today as a brand.
The tour and golf has changed over the years in every aspect and so does the players.
Having their own clothing line, own logo... it comes down all to marketing. More publicity more attention to sponsors.. it’s all financial figures in the end.

I know from Titleist perspective you need to win at least 1 tournament on the Europeantour if you want your branding/own logo on your cap&clothes.

Hope this answer helps.

Enjoy

BirdieBarty
Tourcaddie

Thanks Bart. I really wasn't looking for a firm point in which a player is marketable and can have their own logo. I was just making an observation that a few years ago, only the elite players had recognizable logos and now I see them as soon as someone turns pro. Definitely a difference between the few big guys that have bears, sharks, and umbrellas, on clothing we can all buy as opposed to some fancy scripting of their initials on their hat. Some of those guys you know won't even be around in a couple of years. I didn't realize when i made this post how much dialogue it would stimulate. Great comments by all on many different views of this topic. Thanks to all.

Hey lets face it, With all the personalization available today even average Joe's can make up a logo and put it on their hat, bag , shirt or whatever. Who cares as long as your having fun.

Hey, where would we be without and multi-colored umbrella logo, or a golden bear? I agree with you guys that maybe if we were all smart we'd ALL have our own logos too. Vu, I love yours! Like you said, it started as a lark, but buddies loved it. Who knew. Who could have known. Go for it

I don't know how good you have to be, but if you are playing golf on tv I think that qualifies you. I also think that you can have your own logo no matter the state of your game, it's about selling themselves on the tour and for the rest of us we seem to copy most everything they do so why not.

any one willing to put a logo together for me I would really appreciate it.

I don’t think you have to be that good at all. Most of the personal logos I see on Tour are fairly uninspiring and nothing more than their initials. JG There, I now have a personal logo.

Hey Dale, if you look quick when Justin Thomas has his back turned to the camera he has his own monogram now too! It’s on the back of his hat just above the Titleist banner!

I know a guy on TT who is not a Tour Pro and has his own logo. If you have artistic ability (or friends that do) I say go for it. Any seamstress should be able to embroider a logo on pretty much anything. If someone wanted to make a JG or a Hotsauce logo, I'd be all for it!

As for Tour players I think it's smart to have your "own" logo. Imagine if TW stopped working with Swoosh -if he owned the rights to his TW logo- he could have taken it to another brand or just gone out on his own.

Just a reminder, there are copyright infringement laws associated with a logo that might somehow resemble an existing one. The easy part is coming up with your design. The hard and costly part is going to a copyright lawyer and doing a search for like logos and then paying to have yours trademarked or copyrighted. Or you can just take the chance that you will never need to market your logo to the general public and just go with your own. Man, didn't expect this topic to stick around this long and generate so many great thoughts. Thanks all for your thoughts, comments, opinions. Good stuff!