Thirteenth installment of The Primary Cut – weekly insights from the world of golf player management and other golf-related industry and player news.
1. Gulbis Leaves Octagon For IMG
Credit Golfweek’s Scott Hamilton for breaking the biggest story of the week—LPGA star Natalie Gulbis’ move away from the Giff Breed-headed Octagon Golf over to IMG’s ever-growing stable, where she will be represented by John Steele.
Gulbis’ departure from Octagon ends a two-year run during which she became one of the most recognizable faces of the LPGA Tour and signed endorsement deals with MasterCard, RSM McGladrey, Canon, Raymond Weil, Sem Group, Anheuser-Busch and 24 Hour Fitness, as well as an extension with TaylorMade-Adidas. Gulbis has also been a part of the Winn Grip ads (along with John Daly and their swing teacher Butch Harmon) that run seemingly ad nauseum on the Golf Channel (which also runs The Natalie Gulbis [reality] Show).
As golf writer, pundit and architect wonk Geoff Shackelford points out, this news comes on the heels of the purported “rebranding” of Gulbis that was spearheaded by Circle S Studios, under Octagon’s watch, and allegedly was taking the Gulbis brand away from ‘sex symbol’ to ‘All-American girl.’ Will IMG continue to market the more wholesome aspects of Gulbis’ game, or settle for sleaze?
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2. 2008 PGA Merchandise Show
Golf player agents take note: this week marks the always anticipated annual PGA Merchandise Show, which will take place January 17-19, 2008 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fl. Leading manufacturers are hosting some top-name endorsers during this year’s ‘08 Show as part of multi-faceted marketing platforms that include interactive exhibits, product demonstrations, fashion shows, buyer receptions, designer panels, merchandising seminars and more. PGA and LPGA stars endorsing top golf manufacturers at the Show include Jim Furyk, Greg Norman, Annika Sorenstam, Charles Howell III, Paula Creamer, Justin Rose, Fuzzy Zoeller and more. Additionally, prominent golf instructors such as PGA Director of Instruction Rick Martino, Butch Harmon, Rick Smith, Jim McLean, David Leadbetter, Jim Hardy, Todd Sones, Suzy Whaley and others will be on the Show floor offering instruction workshops and special appearances at manufacturer presentations.
One company relatively new to the PGA Merchandise Show is Miura Golf. In a sport where players are said to pray to “the golfing gods,” it might be surprising to learn that a club maker whose native countrymen have long proclaimed him to have the “hands of God” has gone largely unnoticed by the general public for over forty years. Yet speaking to those who know him and who have worked with him personally, one gets the sense that the 66-year old, Japanese club maker Katsuhiro Miura (left)—whose company Miura Giken is based in Himeji, Japan, and which sells clubs in North America under the name Miura Golf, Inc.—wouldn’t have it any other way. “[Mr. Miura] is a craftsman who is ultimately looking to produce the best and most precise clubs in the world,” says Bill Holowaty, Miura Golf’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing who spoke to me directly from the company’s North American headquarters in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. “Rather than use the club as a marketing machine, his philosophy is: ‘I’m going to spend the time and effort into [using] the best forging process.’” To this extent, Miura refuses to introduce a new line of clubs every year, a la the major equipment manufacturers, solely for the sake of marketing purposes. Rather, he only releases a new club if and when technology demands it—which might be up to several years. And while Holowaty admits that Miura’s philosophy and time consuming, costly techniques (namely a 14-step forging process which creates a tighter than normal molecular structure, referred to as ‘grain flow,’ within a 1,200 degree Centigrade heated iron which Miura then trims and refines) do not lend themselves to mass production, he states that both independent testing and player testimonials distinguish Miura Golf in ways that will ultimately resonate far more deeply with consumers than would lavish marketing campaigns. And it is for this reason, Holowaty explains, that Miura Golf still adheres to a strict policy of not paying professionals to use its products, nor advertising which professionals nevertheless play its brand out of their own pocket–even though not doing so admittedly hampers the company’s revenue growth rate (and also its familiarity and name-recognition with consumers).
Up until 2003, Miura didn’t even manufacture his own brand of club under his own name. Instead, he contracted his talents to major golf-equipment companies, who commissioned him to craft clubs from their own dies and designs, for their most elite and discerning clients who demanded the kind of personalized detail that only Miura could provide to them. The 1991 Masters (Ian Woosnam), ’94 Masters (Jose Maria Olazable) and 2001 and ’04 U.S. Opens (Retief Goosen) were all won, for example, with Miura manufactured clubs, but of the respective player’s brand. And back when Tiger Woods still played Titleist blades, whom do you think the company sought out to build Tiger’s custom sets? To this day, Miura still gives his time to mega equipment companies such as Callaway, Titleist, TaylorMade and Nike, whose bigger name clients more or less demand his services, while still collecting their endorsement revenue. But this doesn’t bother Miura, who at the same time he lends his expertise to other firms, is starting to see a slow but increasingly steady increase in the number of professionals inquiring about, and jumping ship over to, the Miura brand of club. Holowaty states for example that currently 10-15 guys on various mini-tours, 4-5 on the European Tour, 3 on the Champions Tour, and countless numbers who are testing and tinkering with the clubs, are presently involved with the Miura brand per se. And word of mouth is traveling. On one driving range at a recent Nationwide event, for example, a player hitting Miura irons was stopped and questioned by the pro next to him, who was amazed at the sound and flight of the player’s ball and promptly went out later and bought his own set. It is part of Miura’s underlying philosophy that the best, most enterprising players will eventually expect the same traits out of their equipment, and that they will seek out Miura, rather than vice-versa. And while a completely customized set of Miura irons might run a professional between $10-15,000, the investment is surely worth it, argues Holowaty, over the long run of a player’s professional career. “In terms of the independent data delivered off of testing—ball speed and [less] spin off of the clubface, and consistency in yardage, Miura clubs deliver.”
This week Mr. Miura’s sons, Yoshitaka and Shinei Miura, who are both considered master craftsmen in their own right and play major roles in the company’s manufacturing facilities in Himeji, will be in Orlando for the 2008 PGA Merchandise Show to meet with the media, as well as the top golf professionals and clubfitters in the golf industry. Both sons will also be available by appointment to discuss Miura Golf’s current product line, forging process, company history and future plans. And player managers and agents should make a note to consider the Miura brand in the future for their clients, or at the very least to make inquiries about setting up a demo/testing appointment. It may not bring them a commission or their client any endorsement revenue. But it just might bring their client in contact with arguably the finest equipment the game as ever seen.
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Another up-and-comer appearing at the PGA Merchandise Show will be Tour Edge Golf, which is going on its 22nd year in the golf equipment industry, but only in the past two years made a conscientious job from being a value brand to being a part of the premium, performance segment of the industry. In 2005 Tour Edge introduced its Exotics line of high-performance, premium-priced equipment, for example, which included a line of fairway woods that combined a forged beta Ti cup face to a steel body with a firm-patented brazing technique (instead of welding) and quickly garnered a substantial following among better players. According to sandtrap.com, “the Exotics line was born when the company realized that it had the R&D capability to make some unique, high-performance products—products that would be more expensive to make, and would need higher price points.” And the later-introduced 460cc driver (left) was also a hit, utilizing laser plasma welds and brazing in lieu of traditional welding.
Like Miura Golf, however, Tour Edge does not pay any players on any Tour to play its clubs. However, several professionals are nonetheless choosing to use its equipment because they prefer the way it performs. And according to President and Founder David Glod, this philosophy of not endorsing players allows Tour Edge to keep the price of its products lower for the average consumer. Per its website, Glod states that “Tour Edge does not pay large groups of touring pros to play our products, nor do we spend money on costly national television advertising. As a result, we can pass these savings on to you. Our dollars are spent on in-store promotions, national golf publications and product development.” That said, Glod is pragmatic, and for two years now has had on his staff a full-time, PGA Tour representative in order to try and solicit an increased PGA Tour following.
A la Miura, Tour Edge’s Exotics line is another possibility for player agents’ clients who may not necessarily mind foregoing extra streams of endorsement revenue, in exchange for premium equipment that arguably outperforms the better known mega-brands.