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New Equipment Company - Where Would You Start?

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JB

JB

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If you were creating a golf equipment company focusing primarily in equipment, where would you begin? Each one offers an incredibly tough challenge due to market share dominance and information that has been shared for years. I was speaking with someone this past week that has worked with 4 of the industry giants (created clubs for them) as well as a start up that got going with a single offering before expanding to full line.

Drivers - Dominated by the big few and what is used on tour has been leader in market share for quite some time.
FW Woods - Long the forgotten club that consumers matched to their drivers, Adams changed that in the 90s as did Orlimar and then TaylorMade & Callaway did again with the RBZ & Deep line.
Hybrids - Dominated on tour by Adams but not in market share as they are not 1st in the category.
Irons - The toughest sell because the least replaced. Although technology & marketing has changed significantly the last 10 years.
Wedges - Tough market with every company wanting a piece of the pie and all making many products. Cleveland & Titleist have dominated this space for a while.
Putters - Most used on tour is once again market share leader. In fact most used on tour is pretty fascinating because they are not paying most of the people using them. Odyssey has completely taken over the non-premium line with nobody really close.
Golf Ball - Most used on tour is once again complete move to market share as its #1 in both and its not really close. This segment is pretty fascinating because it has moved quite a few points in the last decade, but Titleist still owns the market.

So if you were starting a company and were poised to have a break out product technology wise, but not millions in marketing dollars, what segment would you go after?
 
Driver. I realize its a field dominated by a few guys but I think if you created a noteworthy product that performed and invested all your marketing in social media you could gain a foothold.
 
Balls.
 
I'd probably start with putters. It is enough of a niche club where you could generate some business early on in the company.
 
I'd think putter because it seems the least technology driven and therefore easiest to produce a product that can match up performance wise.
 
Putters. Though I might not be able to take a huge chunk from the industry leaders, I would try and create a company that would adapt a following. So not a lot of customers, just those who like them, like them a lot and buy multiple.

Maybe try and get a name on tour to use one.

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I'd have to say wedges. Not 100% sure why, but it was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the title of the thread.
 
I say start where you are gonna have the most impact with the most publicity. If thats putters, balls, apparel or whatever that gives you the best chance for success. Then I would target some players to get my equipment/apparel in hand. Hit up the local courses etc and get some players some equipment to test. Get a nice website set up and get a strong social media presence going. Really the more exposure you get if you have a quality product is going to equate to more success. Me personally I think I would go with something less R and R extensive than clubs. Maybe a unique bag or glove or some type of apparel.
 
Putters.

IMHO I think there's more potential to create a niche market, and then grow a brand in that segment than the others. In my limited experience, people are more likely to try a new putter than most other clubs.

Balls I'd stay away from as there's a lot of brand snobbery all through the pricepoints and it would take a lot of marketing to break through that.
 
This is a tough one to answer but my first inclination was wedges or putters. I feel like they would be the easiest (although not at all easy) to find some success. I think drivers would be the last place I would start.
 
I'd say putters would be the best way to enter the market, though it's already flooded with lots of custom shops. If I really wanted to get into the golf market though, I'd probably go apparel.
 
Smithfaced said:
This is a tough one to answer but my first inclination was wedges or putters. I feel like they would be the easiest (although not at all easy) to find some success. I think drivers would be the last place I would start.
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Most would say balls are the toughest. In fact I think every company would say that. Every year a new ball company comes out and for the most part, never succeed. Think of it like this. A company like TaylorMade who spends millions on ball R&D, has patents, etc...Cannot get to 10% of ball sales. No where near that 10% mind you.
 
Honestly I think hybrid because there is a large market of golfers imo that are still waiting for a reason to switch to a hybrid. I golf with few people who even use them.

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I wouldn't even get into the club competition, it would take entirely too much money and too much time to make a difference. I would go to the other side and develop a software program that's easy to navigate for everyone and allows the user to easily diagnose flaws in their swing on video and correct it through interactive practice on the range. I would have repeating tips and thoughts for each specific flaw coming across via iTunes or google play in earbuds so to ensure repetition and memory. Film it over and over til the change takes place, and then move to the next. There's a lot more to it, but most people would rather fix themselves than go to an instructor.

I'm sorry for not sticking to the club side JB, just an outside the box thing I've been thinking about for a while.
 
I think putters is the way to go, there are already a ton of other brands out there but if you can come up with a reasonably priced offering that could appeal to the masses you would have a chance. People are willing to change putters, pros included, so all you need is one pro making a splash with your putter and you have your foot in the door.

I would not even touch drivers or golf balls, how many different golf balls are out there and most people have no clue about them. Also with balls, as we have seen by products tested here on THP price is a killer, less ball for more money. Drivers, plain and simple people want to play what they see on TV and even some established smaller companies put out great products that don't make a blip on the radar.
 
Really good question JB. I'd have to think putters. If you can create a putter that maybe you can get one tour player to like and endorse I think it would be the easiest to market and hopefully produce sales.
 
JB said:
Most would say balls are the toughest. In fact I think every company would say that. Every year a new ball company comes out and for the most part, never succeed. Think of it like this. A company like TaylorMade who spends millions on ball R&D, has patents, etc...Cannot get to 10% of ball sales. No where near that 10% mind you.
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I'm not sure they have "breakout technology" as stated in OP. If I'm gonna have something breakout I want it in the ball market. Not everyone gets new equipment every year but almost every golfer buys balls.
 
Great question, JB tough one too. For me, I'd start with the driver. It's the one club in the bag that we all tend to salivate over. The one club that is the most finicky based on ability to use it and the one area where design AND looks can be a driving force. Everyone is looking for the next best driver, right? I think, though I could be wrong and correct me in I am, but other than iron sets, isn't the driver the biggest area of mark up for a club maker? You look at Ely Callaway and Callaway Golf. Outside of the very early history of his company with Hickory Shafted clubs, his first big hit was a driver called Big Bertha.
 
I would enter the market in the wedge field. It's a club that wears out faster than most and has a high "thrown in the woods" potential. I would focus my company around customization of the wedges (stamping, graphics, grinds, etc) and price out around $119. Price point isn't too cheap so doesn't look bargain basement.

I would really try to push for 3 wedge set sales so would offer a lot of bundling options to get the per wedge price much lower ($89 range). I would also offer a 3 year trade in options of your old (whatever company name this is) wedges if you upgrade your complete 3 wedge set. This would push for people to purchase always in 3 wedge sets.

Would probably film a short 45 minute short game video and supply access to this with the sale of wedges. Go over the basics so people would know how to use my wedge.

And, I would also include a micro fiber cloth so people would clean the groves!
 
tgtt said:
I'm not sure they have "breakout technology" as stated in OP. If I'm gonna have something breakout I want it in the ball market. Not everyone gets new equipment every year but almost every golfer buys balls.
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People can choose what they wish. All I am doing is relaying information. As far as ball breakout technology.
Solid Core was the biggest
Seamless might be the biggest
Lowest compression could matter for many

None of those outside of seamless has made it to 10% of marketshare and that is Bridgestone (clearly R&D driven and having millions in marketing dollars). One could say solid core did (obviously), but not until Titleist made that switch a year after another company did so and the President of Titleist said the wound ball was not dead.

As I mentioned, most in the industry would say the ball is the single hardest to break into and the reason companies like Ping, Adams, Mizuno (over here), Cleveland (for years before purchase) stayed away from it. Just their take, does not mean someone is wrong for thinking they could.
 
I like the Hopkins model of trying to bring a tour van experience to the average consumer. I also think fitting for wedges is an afterthought for most consumers. I think I would try wedges. The plan would be to try and partner with a large national chain such as Golf Galaxy. I would have a couple of specially trained employees in each store that will not only fit the customers but could build the clubs to the customers specs in store. Really try to bring that tour van experience to the consumer. I would also try and hire a well known teaching pro to bring in an educational piece much like SeeMore has done with SPi.

This approach should help keep the cost down as there would not need to be much inventory on hand and most production will be at the store.
 
Boutique putters.
 
This is a really tough one. I'd say driver or putter. Probably putter, I guess, because I think there might be a bigger opening there for someone to come in. Odyssey dominates, but in the driver department, there are several big hitters (pun intended) to compete with. I think you'd have an easier time developing a great putter, signing one or two solid putting tour pros and going crazy with advertising.
 
JB said:
Most would say balls are the toughest. In fact I think every company would say that. Every year a new ball company comes out and for the most part, never succeed. Think of it like this. A company like TaylorMade who spends millions on ball R&D, has patents, etc...Cannot get to 10% of ball sales. No where near that 10% mind you.
Click to expand...

Why do you think there is always new companies attempting to get into the ball market? Hopkins comes to mind as one of the latest. Is it the least expensive market to get in to?
 
I am thinking I would go with fairway woods or hybrids a la the Tight Lies Orlimar model of the 90's


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