UNIVERSITY GOLF CLUB
Vancouver, B.C.
A terrific relationship with TaylorMade and adidas – a five-year agreement that comes up again next year – has paid dividends for University Golf Club, which in 2015 underwent a full renovation of the golf shop.
Said head pro Steve Liddicoat: “Everybody I talk to says we have an exclusive deal, I say, ‘No, it’s a partnership.’ We’re on the same page; we’re looking for ways we can adapt and really try to give the customers a better experience when they walk into the golf shop. I wouldn’t be surprised if next year you see us refresh the shop again and give it a different look just to change it up and try something different.
“A big part of what we did – in 2014, our shop looked like 90 per cent of the shops out there. It was very dated; it looked like it was from the ’90s when it was built. There weren’t a lot of modern touches. We did work with the team at TMaG to come up with a concept. We were the first store in Canada that did it. Adidas has started to go to a smaller shop within a shop format, using some of the things we’ve learned from our shop and from Copper Creek.”
In clothing, there’s a strong selection of adidas on the shelves.
Said Liddicoat: “We stock basically every collection. I would say about every month the shop has a different look. There’s a different line with different colour schemes so the shop is constantly being refreshed. We bring in their high summer offering, which a lot of clubs don’t. Throughout the year, even in winter, we keep the shop fairly current.”
As for the equipment, Liddicoat said: “We’ve had a really, really good
relationship with TaylorMade for a number of years. We do have their lower-mainland
performance centre on site. A big part of our relationship with TaylorMade is
we have a facility here that is fully public and fully accessible. I would say
90 per cent of the product that goes out of the shop is custom fit in some
shape or form.”
A faster turnaround time for custom club fitting has been a big help.
“We’re seeing custom clubs here in as little as a week from order date,” said Liddicoat. “When you used to want to buy a set of custom clubs, you had to wait four or five weeks for your clubs to get there. That’s halfway through summer. Now, they’re getting so fast on fulfilling the custom orders. I think they understand when the customer gets fit, they want it now.”
The shop stocks TaylorMade balls.
“It’s been really interesting seeing the adoption of TP5,” said Liddicoat. “The first couple of years, everyone would walk in and ask for a Pro V1 and it was, ‘Sorry, we’re exclusive TaylorMade.’ Some people were open to trying something new, others were, ‘Oh, it’s all right, I have enough balls in my bag.’ Now you look at DJ, Rory, Jon Rahm, now we’re signing Rickie; the guys they’ve got playing TP5s, people are taking notice. The TaylorMade ball line has evolved to the point where they have something for everyone. The Project (a) is probably our No. 1 ball in the shop.”
The shop sells Bushnell rangefinders.
Another item that’s gotten some attention is the Big Max Blade pull carts.
“We look for stuff that’s a little different,” said Liddicoat; “The Blade (push) cart folds down really flat. It’s a cool feature that fits into the trunk of your car.”
The shop sells Maui Jim and Zeal sunglasses.
As for putting its logo on shirts, Liddicoat said: “We’ll logo our basic solids, but we found the majority of people buying aren’t looking for a University Golf Club-specific souvenir, they’re just thinking, ‘Hey, I really love that shirt.’ “
The shop does well with Saxx underwear.
ARBUTUS RIDGE GOLF CLUB
Cobble Hill, B.C.
Asked about driver sales, head pro Andrew Hajer said: “We have had a lot of success with TaylorMade drivers in the past and this year is no different. The M5 and M6 have been very popular. Our customers have also been very interested in the Cobra F9. I think Cobra has found a little niche, being slightly lower in price.”
Asked about irons, he said: “No question, our best-selling iron is the p-790. These irons are crazy long and forgiving. Our players are gaining over 15 yards using these sticks.”
In wedges: “Vokey are always our top seller. However, this past year we have seen an increase in popularity with the TaylorMade Hi-Toe.”
In hybrids: “Again, TaylorMade is our top seller. The M4 hybrid was very popular last year and we expect the M6 will be popular this year. We are also expecting the Cobra F9 hybrids to sell well. Again, the slightly lower price point could bring us some sales.”
In fairway woods: “Although we always sell a lot of TaylorMade, the M6 fairway wood is going to sell. PING is big for us, especially with the ladies. They love that G Le lineup.”
In putters: “The Spider putters are everywhere so it is no surprise that we sell lots. At a lower price point, we sell a lot of Cleveland putters.”
Asked if fitting is a big
deal at the club, Hajer said: “People need to see the benefits new equipment
will give them before spending $600-plus. We have made a concerted effort to
market the benefits of getting properly fit to our clientele. So far it has
worked and we have seen an increase in equipment sales.”
In men’s clothing: “Greg Norman and adidas are our most popular brands. I feel
that our customers like the flashy Greg Norman shirts; they like standing out.
Adidas has a pretty large presence on tour with players like DJ, so they are
always a strong brand for us. And it doesn’t hurt that they are at a price
point that is slightly lower than the rest of our brands.”
In women’s clothing: “Year after year, Cracked Wheat is always our top seller. We also do well with Dexim and Columbia outerwear.”
In golf shoes: “The FJ Flex shoe has been really popular so far this year – a lower price point spikeless shoe that looks great. Other than that, anything with the BOA system. Our customers love not having laces.”
In golf balls: “The ProV1 and V1x will always be our bestseller. But The TP5 is taking a bigger bite out of their sales. On the value side, we have a hard time keeping the Noodle Neon is stock.”
In golf hats: “Our logo hats are our biggest seller, but beyond that, the Titleist hats always seem to do well. We have experimented with Black Clover and they are very popular with our younger demographic and juniors.”
In sunglasses: “It’s Sundog. We don’t sell a lot of pairs, but it is great to have in the shop if people are looking for an inexpensive sunglass. And being able to send them back at the end of the year toward our next year’s purchase is huge.”
FootJoy is the top-selling golf glove, with sales of TaylorMade picking up.
In grips: Golf Pride is the top seller – the Multi Compound is very popular. Superstroke putter grips sell well.
The shop carries Bushnell rangefinders.
In golf bags: PING has been strong – the Hoofer for a carry bag and the Pioneer for the cart.
Asked about miscellaneous items for sale in the shop, Hajer said: “Electric Trolleys have been huge for us this year. The e-wheels from Alphard Golf have been amazing.”
Asked about the challenge of running a golf shop, Hajer said: “The biggest challenge is staffing; at least in my neck of the woods. It is hard enough to find people, let alone a team member that understands and is committed to providing great customer service. Training my team takes up a big part of my day to day.”
CLARKE’S GOLF
MILTON, ON
Store owner Bill Clarke says most of the equipment in his shop is PING.
Said Clarke: “Their service is tremendous. I believe in their commitment and they don’t change as rapidly; the product seems to stay around for at least two years. Plus, it’s the proximity of their fitting centre for us.”
In two or three PING group fittings each year, Clarke said out of nine appointments booked on that day, “I will say eight will buy.”
The shop also carries Titleist and Callaway.
In putters, it’s PING with the most sales, Odyssey and Scotty Cameron.
In wedges, the store sells mostly Vokey, but there’s some demand for Cleveland.
While Volvik coloured golf balls do well, the Wilson Duo coloured ones have been red hot.
“The Duos I’ve brought in, they’re outselling Volvik. People like coloured golf balls. I played a game of golf last year and I thought, ‘How things have changed.’ In my group, we hit four different coloured golf balls down the fairway. No longer is it, ‘I’m playing Titleist,’ it’s, ‘I’m playing a yellow ball.’
“As far as the high-end ball, Pro V is still by far the No. 1. I do Callaway, TaylorMade. I’ve got Pinnacles; pretty much a full line of golf balls.”
In shoes, it’s FootJoy only.
A lot of FootJoy and adidas apparel is sold corporately.
“I also do a lot of Cutter and Buck corporately so I put a bit of that in the store,” said Clarke.
As far as extras, he said: “I do a lot of promotional things like mugs and water bottles where I can put a company logo or a person’s name on it. Give me the name two weeks in advance, I can have it on and it’s sitting on the cart when they arrive.”
Another terrific promotional item was Bag Boy speakers to clamp onto a cart.
In golf bags, the store carries PING, Titleist and a lot of Bag Boy, which is handled by Golf Trends.
“I deal a lot with Golf Trends; they’re such a good company to deal with,” said Clarke.
Another company that Golf Trends reps is Tour Edge.
“I carry Tour Edge in the store,” said Clarke. “I’m kind of excited about the new driver (EXS) retailing at $399. Boy, it’s got really good write-ups. When a customer comes in looking for a $649 driver, I’ll give them a Tour Edge driver at $399, along with the $649 driver, and I’ll tell them to go hit them. A lot of them will come back and say they like the $399 one.”
Clarke also thinks the PING 410 driver will sell well.
In sunglasses, it’s Sundog.
“We also do quite well with Garmin watches,” said Clarke. “The X40 is my bestseller; we did quite a few of those last summer and over Christmas.”
POINT GREY GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
Vancouver, B.C.
The golf shop stocks all the major manufacturers in hard goods, with the biggest presence from TaylorMade and Titliest, with Callaway and PING also right in the mix.
Said Director of Golf Dave Zibrik: “We’ve done really well with the M6 drivers, the TS2 and TS3 have done well, too.”
In wedges, Vokey is always hot, but the Hi-Toe is also a big seller.
In putters, it’s mostly the Spider and Scotty Cameron.
“We really moved the needle with our hard-good sales,” said Zibrik. “We have such good professionals who fit and teach a lot. Between that and TrackMan, we’ve done really, really well with a mediocre practice facility. We’re getting a brand-new facility here that we start in July; it’s a multi-million-dollar major renovation. I’m interested to see how that affects our numbers going forward.”
The private club’s golf shop has transitioned to be a bit more on the high-end side, especially with the soft goods.
In men’s clothing, Zibrik said: “We’re stocking G/Fore and it’s done relatively well. We’ve done really well with adipure and adicross. Ralph Lauren is very strong here. We blow through 34 Heritage; we get guys buying six pairs at a time. They ship out of Vancouver so we get them in like, a day or two. We keep a guy’s size on file and when new stuff comes out, they’ll order a swatch of colours. They can wear them on the golf course, in the clubhouse or out on the town.
“In women’s clothing, we’re doing a lot of GOLFINO; it’s really, really nice stuff. We’re selling IBKUL and some of the G/Fore. The Swing Control pants, we’re selling a boatload. We do a lot of Ralph Lauren. I want to thank God I have a good retail manager; I would have missed on all of them.”
In golf balls, ProV1 is the top seller. Said Zibrik: “The TP5/X has been the ball that really made some solid headway in the past season.”
In golf bags, Zibrik said: “Anything with our logo on it sells. We’ve done some cool stuff with Titleist and PING – those are the two biggest ones, with a big load of OGIO.”
In hats, he said: “We don’t do any OEM hats; we only do our own branded hats. We do New Era, G/Fore, Imperial, and we try to do some cool branding pieces around it. We’ll do some limited edition stuff that will sell quick.”
As far as the brand itself, he said: “I’d say we logo 90 per cent of our men’s shirts and we’ve started to do more with the ladies’ shirts, depending what the line is. If we want to be able to differentiate ourselves from another club (or a big box store), people are buying the logo which is what our brand is.”
In gloves, it’s FootJoy and in sunglasses, the shop has Maui Jim and Zeal.
In shoes, adidas always sells well and G/Fore is a new addition to the shop.
About 80 per cent of the high-end outerwear sales would be Galvin Green, with a bit of Sunice.
As for thinking outside the box, Zibrik said: “We’re doing a cool project with Seamus Golf; we’re working on getting that done soon. We did some smaller collections with Dormie. We did cool headcovers like the Vancouver skyline, one with the Grouse Mountain gondola and the Lions (mountain peaks) on the north shore that have been really popular with the members.”
