CLICK HERE to listen.In Episode #37 of Golf Gear News, host Bruce Stasch reports at The Newstand on
Ex-NFL Kicker is Now a Caddie, and
John Daly's Wife Attacks Him.
In the State of the Game we read about
Sound Patents.
In She Golfs Too Dear Abby Gets into the Action and
Dakoda Dowd's Mother Dies.Component Corner explores the
The Expanding Non-Conforming Driver World. In Why Can't We All Get Along, there are some
New Trademarks on the Horizon.
Finally, Golf of the Weird hears about
Golf Clubs Used in Late Night 3-Car Crime.
As always, our show is sponsored by
Golfknockoff.com.
Check out our new
Media Kit.
Labels: Callaway, Dick's Sporting Goods, Equipment, John Daly, Karsten Manufacturing, Michelle Wie, Nike, Podcast, Retailing
The Idiocy of Movable Weights and Draw Drivers
On the Chinese calendar, 2007 is the
Year of the Pig, but in golf, it is the year of the Draw. The first major equipment company to the "Draw-ing" table was TaylorMade with their
r7 Draw. Then Callaway added to their FT line and its innovative square head, but couldn’t help themselves and now offers a
FT-5 in three flavors: draw, neutral and fade.
In 2004-06, we saw the introduction of moveable weight drivers. Then they expanded the concept to irons, hybrids and putters. Now we can move weight around on everything in our bag except maybe our ball retriever.
Lately, to gain a market edge, TaylorMade and Callaway have been
trying to undermine each other's credibility in the media. Creating a controversy of moveable weights versus square heads. This public fight may be good for equipment sales, but it does nothing for the average golfer. Neither of these product innovations will improve a 15-handicapper's game.
You have just blasphemed!! May the legal departments of these companies smite you.**
Not hardly. Changing the configuration of your driver by throwing weight around a club is not going to make a difference to any golfer unless we have a REPEATABLE SWING. If we can't do the same thing two consecutive times, what difference does it make if we can put weight in the toe, heel or anywhere else?
Every golfer wants to improve their game. It's one of those great truths in the universe. Short of outright cheating (a little rule-bending is okay), we are all looking for the next golf magazine tip or Zen moment when everything is right with the golfing world and we shoot that elusive par round.
We are being taken for an expensive ride my friends. Buying that $499 driver isn't going to mean a hill of beans to your game if you can't do the same thing twice. Save your money and buy some lessons. That and your old trusty 360cc driver will help lower your score faster than any of the fancy new drivers on the market today.
**Insert “cover-your-ass” legal babble here.
Labels: Callaway, Moveable Weights, Retailing, Square Drivers, TaylorMade
What is 2nd Swing Up to Now!!!
Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes,
2nd Swing is back in business. According to a feature story in my local paper
Star Tribune, the new 2nd Swing has got one store open in Minneapolis and a second is slated to open in Minnetonka on April 2nd.
Before the internet, eBay and sites like
www.callawaypreowned.com, 2nd Swing had a lock on the used golf equipment market. But it didn’t last long. To keep ahead, 2nd Swing added new equipment to it offerings and expanded like mad until it had opened more than 50 stores. As quickly as it grew, it also added debt at an alarming rate. By the summer of 2006, the chain was gone. A victim of overzealous expansion and $10 million in debt.
According to the article, founder Simon Kallal is back in the saddle again as well as much of his original management
"Kallal and a group of five other investors stepped in earlier this year and bought 2nd Swing's intellectual rights for $50,000. The purchase gave them the right to use 2nd Swing's name, logo, website, software and customer database consisting of more than 250,000 names."As well as wash its hands of any misdeeds, missteps or screw ups by previous management.
I wrote a posting in early September that
the company had been liquidated and 17,700 customers with credit balances got screwed. Well, things haven’t changed. If you check the website
www.2ndswing.com, they already have a disclaimer that says
"If you are seeking information regarding the old 2nd Swing, including credit or gift card balance redemption, please seek claims through the bankruptcy court. All balances were handled through the closing of the company. Zero balances were transferred to the new 2nd Swing." Let’s do some math. If we make the assumption that the average credit balance was only $50, then 2nd Swing was able to dump $885,000 worth of credits for only $50K ($50/customer X 17,700/customers = $885,000).
Meaning, tough luck Mr. Former Customer.
Although they have modest goals this time around, I don’t believe that the new 2nd Swing has any more chance of being successful as did the old one. The company is going back into the used golf equipment market when the market stinks. Real growth in golf equipment hasn’t occurred for six years and doesn’t look to do so very soon.
One of the chain’s former rivals,
Golf Galaxy, was quoted in the
Star Tribune article as saying
"the pie isn't any bigger than it was a year ago," said Randy Zanatta, chief executive of Golf Galaxy.
"It's all a market-share game, now. It's about how big of a slice you can get." Now owned by Dick’s Sporting Goods, in 2003 Golf Galaxy sold almost no used clubs. Now they represent 7 to 8 percent of the chain's overall business.
In addition, the threat of used equipment showing up on eBay and all over the Internet is very real. One online retailer I spoke with said that he buys directly from Titleist, TaylorMade and others and sees new equipment show up on eBay at retail for less than he pays for it at wholesale. Also, online websites like those operated by Callaway and others sell used or refurbished equipment, thereby competing with companies like 2nd Swing. When they first opened in 1996, none of these competitive factors existed. Today, all of them combine to make this a much different market than before.
For a paltry $50K, 2nd Swing gets to rise again and hopefully, not get themselves into the same mess as before. I remain a big skeptic.
Labels: 2nd Swing, Callaway, Dick's Sporting Goods, Equipment, Golf Galaxy, Minnesota, Retailing, TaylorMade
Turning Back the Clock to Hickory Shafted Golf Clubs
Modern golf equipment has experienced a constant technological march forward. More distance, more power, more accuracy. With 460cc titanium drivers, cavity back irons, space age graphite shafts and high tech putters, golfers are constantly searching for the Holy Grail of equipment.
At the same time, there seems to be a movement away from scoring low with the latest equipment, to the more ethereal 1920s when mashies, guttta-percha balls and cool clothes were all the rage. Players are donning knickers, finding hickory shafted collectibles and entering tournaments like the
3rd Annual World Hickory Open at Craigielaw Golf Club in Aberlady, Scotland and the
10th Annual National Hickory Championship at Oakhurst Links in West Virginia.
Yet, finding authentic 1920s-era equipment and using it on the course requires scouring antique shops, flea markets and grandpa’s attic and that doesn't guarantee you'll find anything worth playing with. For those ready to go all out for a complete set of "retro" clubs you can pick up a circa
1930 Bobby Jones Replica Set offered by Golf Links for a mere $3995.
A new company, hoping to take advantage of the surge in "retro" golf is
Sweet Wood Golf Company based in Maryland. They have introduced their first hickory shafted putters called "Brunette", "Red Head" and "Blonde", not because they have pictures of women on the soleplate, but because of the stain color on the hickory used in their shafts. They expect this line to retail for $135. A bargain in comparison to some of the fancy high tech putters currently on the market.
Since 1974 there has really only been one company that dominates the "semi-retro" space in golf equipment and that is
Louisville Golf. They have been making persimmon drivers and putters all that time and have seen the ups and downs of being a unique golf club manufacturer, but they only take the "retro" movement so far. Their heads are wood, but their shafts are modern steel and graphite. Their prices are modern too.
Another option might be playing with irons fitted with hickory shafts. Sweet Wood Golf Company expects to introduce their Modern-Day Hickory Irons that will have 8210 soft carbon steel iron heads, modern loft/lie angles, USA turned hickory shafts and PGA Tour certified slip on leather grips for the expected market price of around $1800.
It remains to be seen if hickory-shafted golf clubs take off, but if you are a "retro" fan and think that the authenticity of the equipment you play is as important as the game, then modern day golf equipment has nothing over niblicks, brassies and hickory shafts.
Labels: Bobby Jones, golf, Louisville Golf, Retailing, Retro Golf, Sweet Wood Golf
CLICK HERE to listen.In Episode #28 of Golf Gear News, host Bruce Stasch reports at The Newstand on the
Golf Digest Top 200 Political Golfers, and
Scotland Opens Children's Golf Course.
In She Golfs Too we explores the
Sale of Nancy Lopez Golf and learn about one of the
Youngest Female Players Chosen for UK Golf Team.
The Guru Commentary rants about
Dick's Sporting Goods' Purchase of Golf Galaxy.
Duffer McDoughall Johansen returns with Duffer Part Deux.
In Golf Around the World we visit
Private Escapes Club and for only USD $350K entry fee you too can join. We hear about a
a Woman Who Destroys Art With Golf Club and
Heroin Found in Golf Balls.
Our Website Sportlight is
One Putt Strut.
As always, our show is sponsored by
Golfknockoff.com.
Check out our new
Media Kit.
Next time listen for the third installment with the Socrates of Golf - Duffer McDoughall Johansen.
Labels: Dick's Sporting Goods, Duffer McDoughall, Golf Digest, Nancy Lopez, Retailing
Dick’s Buys Golf Galaxy. Let the Consolidation Begin.
I had
written in April that Dick’s had opened a prototype concept store called simply The Golf Shop. Now, it appears that Dick’s didn’t want to wait to see how it would perform. Instead they went out and
bought Golf Galaxy for $225 million.
According to Edward W. Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick’s, he believes that the industry is ripe for consolidation, that’s why they swooped in and grabbed Golf Galaxy. With a sluggish industry firmly in a recession, some analysts wonder why Dick’s is willing to invest so much in the golf retailing space.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, with 300 stores and over $2.5 billion in sales, can afford to pick up Golf Galaxy and add its $250 million in sales to the balance sheet. They also will have more leverage with suppliers than Golf Galaxy did. Dick’s also has its own private label products and the Ben Hogan golf line that they can add to Golf Galaxy’s offerings.
What this is going to mean to the industry is that smaller retailers like GolfUSA, Golf, Etc., Nevada Bobs and others will continue to struggle and that franchised shop in your town might close. A small chain made up of independent franchised stores cannot compete with the better funded big box players. A Golf Galaxy or Golfsmith might have a 20-30,000 square foot store while a GolfUSA might have 2500 square feet.
Yet, these companies are not the competitors that Dick’s is worried about. It’s
Golfsmith. With 62 stores and a strong balance sheet coming off an IPO, Golfsmith is the only pure golf retailer that Dick’s has to worry about.
As odd as this might sound, I believe that Golfsmith is a candidate for a takeover by one of the bigger fish in the sporting goods arena. With less than $400 million in sales, it might make a nice addition to
The Sports Authority and their head-to-head, dog-eat-dog competition with Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Labels: Dick's Sporting Goods, Golfsmith, Retailing, Sports Authority
Update on 2nd Swing Liquidation
A reader asked about cashing in a credit he has available at 2nd Swing, the Minnesota-based retailer that filed for bankruptcy liquidation in September. It appears that customers are out of luck.
I found an article from the
Milwaukee Journal from September that outlined 2nd Swing's credit policy.
I checked their website and it is no longer functioning. I called a location near me and the phone is disconnected. For those of the 17,700 customers with credits on the books, you've got a piece of paper that has the same value as my Excelsior Henderson Motorcycle stock -- worthless.
RIP 2nd Swing.
Labels: 2nd Swing, Retailing
Dick's Sporting Goods Opens Golf Store
I early spoke about the
pending Clubbuilding War between
Golfsmith and
Golf Galaxy. Well, now there's a third big box player emerging
Dick's Sporting Goods.
Very quietly, this major sporting goods retailer has seen how nicely golf fits into it own niche that they have recently rolled out a new specialty golf store appropriate called The Golf Shop.
The store is located in Robinson, a suburb of Pittsburgh and will occupy a former 36,000 square foot Media Play location. Golf merchandise is one of Dick’s store-within-a-store departments and they already private label a line of golf equipment under the Walter Hagen name so a complete store from this sport retail giant doesn't seem too far off the mark.
The
Pittsburgh Business Times quotes Mitchell Kaiser, a retail analyst with Piper Jaffray and Company, as saying that Dick's, by having a stand-alone shop, will have access to higher-end clubs and the hope is that more retiring baby boomers will help to reinvigorate a flat golf industry. The major sporting goods chains only represent 10% of the $7 billion dollar equipment industry.
Now with three well-funded public companies vying for the golf equipment market (Golfsmith just announced an IPO and Golf Galaxy and Dick's Sporting Goods are both public companies) expect some major changes in golf retailing with major pricing pressure on the brand name club manufacturers and smaller retailers like GolfUSA and Nevada Bob's feeling the heat to innovate or die.
Labels: Dick's Sporting Goods, Golfsmith, Retailing
