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New Equipment Company - Where Would You Start?

SuperStroke
I would think putters would be the easiest area to break into. Putters can be very personal, and thereby might enable a new company to find a niche and be self sustaining while growing. I'm thinking similar to SeeMore, Rife, Nead and others. Wedges might be good if you had some unique design or technology that could grab some attention. Everything else is so competitive and would be difficult to grab any meaningful market share IMO.
 
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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It has to frustrate Callaway, Taylormade, Bridgestone ECT that they can not dent Titleist in the ball market. I do not know the numbers but I know they are the 800# gorilla in the room. What do the OEM's say JB?

For me I would start with a Driver. Without the marketing millions I think this would give you a chance to break in.
 
TNTCigarguy said:
It has to frustrate Callaway, Taylormade, Bridgestone ECT that they can not dent Titleist in the ball market. I do not know the numbers but I know they are the 800# gorilla in the room. What do the OEM's say JB?

For me I would start with a Driver. Without the marketing millions I think this would give you a chance to break in.
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Not for me to discuss really. When meeting with companies, we really dont discuss what other companies are doing. Being that we work with everybody, it would not be fair to do so.
 
JB said:
Not for me to discuss really. When meeting with companies, we really dont discuss what other companies are doing. Being that we work with everybody, it would not be fair to do so.
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Totally can appreciate that.
 
I didn't see this as an option and am in the minority here when I say this, but what about shafts? I feel that if younger the right R&D behind you and get the shaft matched with the right climbs you'll take off....
 
Probably wedges or putters. Both items are on the more personalized side of the equipment arena and players seem to be willing to "look for something" for their game in these areas. There are so many variations on the same themes with putters and such a huge range of quality levels that it would take some good research to figure out where to enter. Would probably want good legal counsel as well :act-up:

Wedges have just now started to get really interesting to me and the market for wedges suggests that it is for everyone else as well.

When you look at it, these are two products that have the ability to impact scores more than any other clubs in the bag. We always hear that chipping and putting is what we should be practicing because that is where we shave strokes. This would definitely be included in the marketing component.

JM
 
Would have to be putters or wedges since those are the areas where it seems the little guys have a chance of growing

However, the market is so flooded that it would be extremely impossible to get started. If I had a groundbreaking club technology, I'd get it patented and work to sell the patent to an existing golf company
 
I'd likely follow the putter route. People tend to branch out a little more than they normally would in the putter category compared to that of something like Irons.
 
I'd hire Hashtag Chad and go from there.
 
The putter would probably be the easiest to get started in the market. But it seems like everyone with a computer and a milling machine is making putters now.
I think that in the very near future, we will see the 3D printer being used extensively in boutique putter manufacturing. $4000 will buy a decent printer and then you just add weight blocks to get your MOI up and maybe an insert on the face.
 
Having designed component heads and shafts, and been in the equipment supply business, this is a very, very difficult place to be successful - depending of course on your definition of success.

When the economy crashed in the US, we lost 90% of our wholesale customers, and went from $2M in annual sales to $200k overnight. So, my advice to anyone entering this business is keep your cash reserves very high, keep your debt low, focus on one area and work like crazy to get on Tour...

Now this can be very difficult, but if you pay attention to the successes in recent years - people not simply selling $500k of discounted component clubs - they all have a Tour presence.

You MUST advertize in the printed golf media.

You MUST put your gear in the hands of players - which means you PAY THEM to play it AND to wear your logo. Yes you can start in the development tours, but you need to get your gear in the hands of winners, and your logo needs to show up with they stand in front of the camera for their victory shot.

There are literally hundreds of golf equipment companies, and many of them have decent if not exceptional product.

I would not enter the business again without $1M in cash, unless I simply wanted a hobby business selling golf stuff that kept me in greens fees and beer money...
 
I think I'd go with hybrids. I feel like that's where there's a lot of technology floating around, but not all of it's being applied and utilized, and there's just such a broad range of different looks and weight placements to accomplish different tasks. I think that's where a clubmaker could develop a product that would get some traction.
 
Putters because its the easiest to design and manufacture and if you can get one in the bag of a tour pro, theyre fairly easy to market.
 
I would go with balls because it is a lower MSRP product that are consumed (through wear or loss) while playing the game. Yes, you have some behemoths in the market to deal with, but if you can tell a compelling technological story (particularly at the $30 or less price point) I think you can at least get a chance to succeed.
 
For me it would be putters for several reasons.
I believe putters are collected likely more than any other club and that would help in the early phases.
Also you can have a bit more creative room aesthetically at least and therefore hope to stand out more with material choice and design.
With the anchored ban coming there are likely to be a large amount of people ready to switch up their flatsticks and hopefully we could attract them.
Lastly I feel putters are one of the more personal clubs in the bag, and if you could play on that marketing wise there may be a way to turn what small amount you have on marketing into big gains.

I think that the Bag market could really use some love but it wasn't an option :act-up:
 
I would do hybrids, they're the newest when it comes to clubs so you can come up with something substantial and get a couple of tour players and then filter it down to the masses. I think this is the most growth opportunity.
 
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