How has the pandemic affected the way you’ve done business?
“What has lingered is a definite challenge in getting stock and supplies. The ‘supply-chain issues’ thing is actually a thing. We are accustomed to doing our spring bookings in October/November with a February/March delivery. The past couple years, and specifically this one, I am at about 60 per cent of my orders and some aren’t slated to arrive until June 1. The biggest issues have been with bags, hats and clothing.
“Running the pro shop as a small business outside of the green fees revenue could be devastating to the bottom line. The first two months is usually when members and public guests are getting new gear and outfitted for the season. The saving grace for us is even the bigger outlets like Golf Town are in the same predicament so it’s not like customers can go elsewhere to find what you don’t have.”
Merchandising tips?
“With golf being so popular, how we display or present things to entice a customer to maybe make an impulse purchase isn’t really an option as most things are going out the door as soon as they arrive. With such a shortage in the industry, we aren’t sitting on stock. For example, every spring I put last year’s shoes on blowout and typically have 15-20 pairs left over from an original spring order of 60-80 shoes. This year I had two pairs. We ran out of umbrellas, towels, ball markers, headcovers and divot tools and I had the smallest remaining inventory of balls ever.”
Drivers?
“Maybe I sell four to five stock drivers, woods or hybrids combined over a season. The ones I stock are mostly demos. Our shop carries Ping, Titleist and Callaway equipment, if we do at all.”
Irons?
“We’re seeing a run-on Ping G425 equipment.”
Wedges?
“Vokey, that has been consistent over the past 10 years.”
Hybrids?
“All Ping equipment.”
Fairway woods?
“Ping.”
Putters?
“We don’t do huge business with putter sales so I don’t stock a huge selection.”
Men’s clothing?
“Ping, adidas, FootJoy and Under Armour. Similar to equipment, the popularity depends on who’s wearing it on tour and for us, price point. For us, adidas is selling better than the rest.”
Women’s clothing?
“Our female members are loving the bright colours and busier patterns of companies like Tribal Golf. We have a large selection of their clothing. The ladies love it. The designs work well and the clothing is super comfortable and light wearing. Golf dresses seem to be gaining traction; we’ve sold a bunch.”
Shoes?
“Mainly FootJoy. We started stocking adidas last year with really good success and feedback.”
Balls?
“We carry Titleist and Callaway. Pro V1 by far outsells any of them. As a value ball, the Supersoft smashes it out of the park.”
Hats?
“Our own, actually. A couple years ago we started getting our hats from our local embroidery company called Mountain Crests. They order the hats in (popular brands like FlexFit and Yupoong) and we have them done with a 3D stitch of our logo. I carry Callaway, Ping and Titleist hats, but ours sell 10-1, easily, due to the popularity of the logo.”
Sunglasses?
“Not a whole lot of requests so we’ve never stocked them.”
Gloves?
“Fairly exclusive with FootJoy. The price point fits our demographic.”
GPS or yardage electronics?
“I made the choice to steer clear of electronics a couple years ago. The amount of work needed to support these items isn’t worth the minimal return, in my opinion. I’d rather direct them to a good supplier, or online where they seem to be cheaper than I could sell them for anyways.”
Bags?
Sun Mountain has been our best seller year to year. We started carrying the Big Max brand last season due to its price point and we are very happy with the response.”
Impulse items?
“Our best impulse item was from 2018 – the Jimmy the Joint headcover. It was a white tube-shaped head cover with frizzy brown hair and bloodshot eyes. It had a Canadian flag on the front and the date, October 17th, 2018, to commemorate the day marijuana became legal in Canada. It was a big hit.”
