Tomorrow marks the release of a new collaboration between Bettinardi and Malbon Golf. While most of you are familiar with Bettinardi, that may not be the case with the newer Malbon Golf. At the risk of oversimplifying, Malbon Golf is a golf lifestyle brand geared toward the more youthful demographic.
According to the Malbon Golf site, “culture and golf enthusiasts Stephen and Erica Malbon” started Malbon Golf in 2017. As you peruse their offerings, it is obvious their target audience is on the younger side. These youthful golfers also likely fully embrace the modern social media-driven culture. Targeting this demographic is intentional. Their site says, “Our mission is simple: to inspire today’s youth to participate in the greatest game on Earth.”
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So how does Malbon Golf connect to Bettinardi?
“Both our companies have mutual respect for the game, especially in terms of helping grow the game. My father and I investing in the inner city with The First Tee-Greater Chicago and, of course Malbon, with their events and programs, it’s been great to launch our first collaboration and look for future exciting products/events to bring both our loyal and growing customer base.”
-Sam Bettinardi, VP of Bettinardi Golf
As we saw with last week’s Big League Chew release, Bettinardi has a history of collaborating with like-minded companies. Malbon Golf does as well. If you scroll through their blog page, you can see their numerous collaborations with companies such as NIKE, Budweiser and even Beats by Dre. The constant theme is that Malbon channels the more playful side of golf and it’s no surprise the light-hearted theme continues with this Bettinardi collaboration.
The Wizard of Buckets
For those of you not in the know, “Buckets” is the Malbon mascot with a golf ball for a head. Buckets has worn quite a few different outfits and personas, ranging from Hunter S. Buckets to a Grateful Dead-inspired dancing bear. For this collaboration, Buckets has swiped the pointy hat from Bettinardi’s Windy City Wizard. It’s comical, cartoony and not intended to be taken too seriously.
“I’ve been crossing paths with Stephen Malbon in my travels to California and we are scheduled to play in some upcoming celebrity golf tournaments together. We chatted about a possible collaboration and it turned into some awesome design ideas which landed with our Windy City Wizard mixing with their Buckets icon, bringing our Midwest roots to their California style.”
-Sam Bettinardi
This release will feature wizard-branded headcovers, hats, shirts and a couple of very limited-edition putters. One features a wire-wrapped hosel that I don’t think that I have seen before. Bettinardi and Malbon collectors may be fighting a bit over that one.
One-time thing or ongoing collaboration?
It will be interesting to see if a Bettinardi-Malbon collaborative release becomes an annual occurrence. Perhaps it depends upon how this project is received by the golf consumer. What are your thoughts? Does this release resonate with you? Why or why not? Do you fit into the target demographic for Malbon Golf?
If you dig Buckets the Wizard and want to grab some gear, the release will happen on Thursday, May 13, at noon CST. Not only will you find this gear as per usual in Bettinardi’s Hive but it will be available on the Malbon Golf site as well.
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