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Battle Royale: PGA Superstore vs FJ Shoes

SeeMoreGuy

SeeMoreGuy

They Make 'em. I Buy 'em.
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I was in my local PGA/SS earlier today looking at shoes and noticed they had done some major rearranging of the stock. I notied it because i am in there all the time and was just in the store on Tuesday. Well, I asked the salesperson what happed to all the FJ shoes. He told me that "PGA/SS and FJ dont share the same business philosopy". Also, that PGS/SS has removed all of the FJ shoes from the Atlanta and Dallas stores because of this "disagreement". PGA/SS will still carry FJ shoes in the Myrtle Beach stores and others as well, just not in Atlanta and Dallas.

I was told they shipped all the FJ shoes to other PGA/SS stores, so there may be some good deals at them to reduce inventories. Not sure exactly what happened here but it was certainly signficant enough to pull all the shoes. I was shocked at how much space FJ actually had in the store; so much in fact that the shoe department looked awfully odd. Not sure if anyone else has heard this o if JB can get to the bottom of it or not.

I had never seen this type of removal of a golf industry staple before. Makes you wonder what the heck went on. Rest assured it the crux of the issue is money.
 
Keith,
It is not just FJ. It is all of Acushnet. We were told 2 weeks ago this all stems from a situation with the price of ProV1 golf balls. PGA Superstore wanted to drop the price to make them a loss leader and Acushnet said no.

The two companies are at a stand still and neither seems to be looking for a way to fix it. We are hearing that by the end of this month if it does not get fixed, Cobra, FJ, Titleist, etc... will all be pulled from the shelves.
 
WOW! I should have known THP would already know about this. From the tone of the guys voice in the store he didnt sound like they were coming back. So, he may have just been throwing me a curve ball and saving face when he said they shipped their shoes to other stores then.
 
Now that you mention that issue JB, I went into the ball area and said to myself that it sure looks like they got rid of golf balls but since I am not a TItlest ball guy it never dawned on me they had removed them too.
 
Yeah,
We have heard from 2 sources, one inside of each company, that it has become quite ugly. Hopefully there is a resolution soon, but I am just not sure.
 
along with the confirmation from both sides we also heard from other companies that the PGA SS had contacted them to start promoting their products more.....it's all very interesting.
 
I is amazing how much retail space Auschnet had in their stores. Employees were actually scrambling to fill the new open shelf space with everything they could. I even saw them putting out a few bottles of Allen Edmond shoe polish.
 
Off topic but are PGA superstores actually ran by the PGA? Im assuming no and some company pays for the naming or runs it for them.
 
I think I'm gonna have to side with Acushnet on this one. If they allow PGASS to undercut everyone else with ProV1 pricing:

(a) they lose MAP control and open themselves up to price-fixing liability,
(b) every one of there other accounts will start screaming bloody murder,
(c) if they flinch, every other store will try the same thing,
(d) they lose perception as the high-end ball.

With only a few regional stores and no real online store, I can't imagine that PGASS moves enough merchandise to really threaten Acushnet. I think the standoff will harm PGASS more than Titleist/FJ. Whether you like Acushnet or not, they are the leader in many categories that consumers get into the habit of buying the same product over and over. If customers come into a PGASS and can't find their ProV1s or their FJ shoes/gloves, they may not come back.

ItT sure seems like an odd choice by PGASS for a game of chicken.
 
I agree with you Harry. I dont beleive PGA/SS has that kind of muscle.
 
Roger that. I visit them so often I should probably just clock in.
 
any idea how much PGA/SS wanted to sell the balls for? i was in golfsmith yesterday and they had ProV1/x for 42.99. i laughed because our club rapes Titleist ball users (what private club doesn't)...


but it begs the question.....how low was too low?
 
$39.99 was the price they wanted to sell them for.
 
They have removed all FJ shoes, I did not see any Titlest golf balls. Not sure about the Cobra irons but that area did look a bit sparse today. What is interesting is that PGA/SS was still stocking FJ socks. I just laughed when the sales guy showed me that. I dont know why they still have socks.
 
Spoke with some guys at E. Watts yesterday and they had noticed an uptick in sales of Titlest golf balls over the past couple of days. No surprise there.
 
they were selling them for $36.99 when Titleist was giving all accounts one free dozen per six when you sold them for $39.99 for their Holiday promotion.....PGA opened a new store in Naples and wanted to undercut everyone and put them at $36.99....turns out one of Titleists higher ups is a member of a club in Naples and the phone was ringing off the hook. Titleist is smart to pull their account because of the vast amount of country clubs in Collier county. They can't have all their accounts punished because one store thinks they are so big and won't play by the rules that are set.
 
What "perfect" timing. I started working for one of the stores in the Myrtle Beach area. The first day that I was there...all heck broke lose. Customers were getting very PO'd because ALL of the NXT's were pulled, and, they were actually selling the 2007 Pro V1's...cheaper than the 2009's. The customers weren't getting mad at me, they were getting mad at the PGASS corporate ex's. When I first started, I didn't know what was going. I won't touch anything unless it's Titleist/FJ. So, I noticed immediately that there was something wrong. During my breaks, I'll go hit some balls, chip and pitch. Weeell, it seems like every single day there's less and less Scotty's, Vokley's and so on. Now, I absolutely LOVE ANYTHING to do with golf. It's in my blood. BUT, I don't think that it's right when a company wants to sell another companies products cheaper than the set price, just so that they can make a good profit off of it/them. If that's the case, Titleist would lose a bunch of money and either: stop producing the PRO V1's for retail, or, charge more money for them. It's just like a dealership saying "I want to sell these new Ferrari's for the price of a new Accord". Not going to happen. Heck, the other day, I wanted to order some more Vokey C-C wedges. I wanted more lofts. The rep doesn't even come in anymore. Well, the guy who does the ordering for employees told me that I didn't need them. I told him that I did NEED them due to my playing in various tournaments. He insisted that I didn't need them, that there are better wedges out there and he doubts that Vokey will "be here much longer". It really is getting pretty nasty. It's a shame. I don't think that I could work for a store that feud's with everyone, especially my beloved Titleist/FJ.
 
Over the weekend I was standing near one of the hitting bays and overheard someone getting a ball fitting. The various types of balls popped up as recommendations for the customer, who apparently had been playing Titilest balls. He asked the rep why there were no Tititlest on the recommended list. The salesperson just blew him off and said have you considered these Bridgestones or TaylorMade balls. The customer looked pretty PO's at the brush off. Maybe they will get it worked out.
 
Honestly, I highly doubt it. Seriously. I get the detailed scoops before hand. It's just like some of your golf course pro shops. They might carry Mizuno products, Srixon balls, etc...no Titleist, TM, and so on. Yeah, there's going to be so many PO'd customer's, which isn't right at all, and I wouldn't doubt it one bit if we lose a lot of business.
 
My guess is they already have.
 
Oh, God, definitely. If a customer wants to order a custom Titleist club, they'll just tell them that "they could, but it'd be a long process"...trying to shoo them towards something else. Anyways, my laptop battery is going to die, soon. I'll charge it and hop back on in a bit. Take care.
 
With how long it takes to order Titleist clubs right now, that is not really a lie. Vokeys at my club now and my last club were delayed by almost 6 weeks.
 
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