TRENDING: Costco Preparing to Release Kirkland Signature Irons

When I mention Costco and Kirkland Signature, you probably think of oversized containers of jelly beans and rebranded Nutella spread. For golfers, in recent years, it’s meant a golf ball that performed similar to Titleist’s ProV1—the gold standard for golf balls—at a price of ~$1 a ball, a 100% CNC milled putter for just $100 (or less than half what it would cost from mainstream vendors), and a 3-piece, milled wedge for less than $200 (or about the same price of a wedge from one of the major OEMs).

And it appears Costco’s all-in on developing its golf equipment offerings, as the new Kirkland Signature (version 2) irons has appeared on the USGA Conforming List:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Branded with the traditional “Kirkland Signature” in script typeface, the irons are also marked with “Tungsten” on the backside of the clubhead and “Forged” on the hosel. While the photo angle doesn’t signal what “category” this iron would fit into, it seems unlikely that Costco—who is trying to break into a very difficult equipment marketplace—would develop a blade that appears to a very niche group of amateur golfers who are, in all likelihood, very committed to a certain product.

Instead, it seems more likely that the Kirkland Signature irons are a hollow-body, distance/game improvement iron that will be equipped with some potent lofts.  And when you look closely, and with one eye open, it seems that make sense since that’s exactly what TaylorMade’s P790 irons are, which are also equipped with Tungsten in a Forged body:

It’s worth mentioning at this point that the USGA List states that Indi Golf, who has their own equipment offerings consisting of wedges (both conforming and non-conforming) and putters, is the manufacturer of the Kirkland Signature irons.  And in the event Indi Golf may have taken some “inspiration” from TaylorMade, it’s also worth mentioning that Costco/Kirkland Signature isn’t a stranger to lawsuits.  Indeed, Titleist’s parent company, Acushnet Holdings Corp., brought a lawsuit against Costco back in 2017, alleging the Kirkland Signature balls violated patents protecting the ProV1.

Setting aside the potential legal risks with this release, the ultimate question will, in fact, be what are these priced at. Balls, putters, and wedges are one thing, but irons are a bit different. Brands like New Level, Sub70 and Takomo have demonstrated that you can offer a really high quality, 7-piece iron set for well under $1,000, so for the Kirkland Signature’s to be competitive, they’re going to need to less than $750 to make any dent in the direct-to-consumer iron marketplace.

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