Selling Non-Conforming Clubs A Tough Call

The numbers have been spinning quickly on this week’s GNN Poll, likely due to the provocative nature of the topic, that being the willingness of golf shops to sell non-conforming clubs.

When I say provocative, I mean by golf standards.

The industry is filled with people who grew up with the game, so there’s an understandable reluctance to stray from what drew us in the first place and ultimately caused us to make a career out of golf.

We see golf as all that’s right with the world, a game of etiquette and adherence to the rules, one in which you don’t need a referee to call a penalty on you because you’ll do it yourself.

That’s the message we’re trying to implant into potential newcomers to the game who don’t see golf the same way we do. Before they have a chance to experience the game, they see it as expensive, exclusive, time-consuming, slow-moving and difficult to play and learn.

The natural defence is to say that those outside the game need to open their minds, but the same holds true for the folks on the inside looking out. It’s especially critical for the golf industry to consider all options because the neophytes are the people needed to grow the game.

Bifurcation, or different sets of equipment rules for elite players and recreational players, is one of the possible solutions on the table. It is by no means the ultimate solution and, truth be known, there is no one wave of the magic wand that will eliminate all of golf’s challenges.

While we look to golf’s governing bodies and associations to fix this complex situation with a national strategy, the onus is also on the individual club/shop to decide what’s best for business in its market and weigh that against traditions of the game that we’ve all lived by over the years.

The other thing that needs to be considered is whether hot faces and monster clubheads really do help newcomers enjoy the game more, which is the popular belief.

Yet, many learned observers have also stated what’s the point in having a club that hits it 20 yards longer if the ball is just going 20 yards farther into the woods?

Another question is the quality of such clubs.

Although there have been challenges on equipment decisions in the past by manufacturers, they generally do go by USGA/R&A/RCGA standards, so unless that changes, are shop owners/buyers willing to go with products from companies they haven’t dealt with in the past?

There are many questions and the tendency to go along with the decisions by golf’s governing bodies and while many respondents said in previous GNN polls, including last week, they agree with bifurcation, apparently they’re willing to take that to the next level, according to this week’s poll.

You can check out the GNN Poll on the home page and be sure to cast your vote if you haven’t already. As always, your thoughts on this topic are welcome in the Comments section below this blog.

The Short Game: You have to admire the way the Canadian golf industry supports its own. Got an e-mail from Michael Gillan, who recently became general manager/head professional at Bell Bay in Baddeck, N.S., after working in Ontario at places such as Beacon Hall, Hawk Ridge and London Hunt and Country Club. You can read that story here. Michael reports that midway through the morning of that story appearing on GNN, he had 42 e-mails of congratulations from colleagues. Golf really is about the people … G&G Golf has launched a new website. You can see that here … The Canadian Tour has donated $7,348 to the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada as part of its five-year-old Birdies for Kids program.

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• Tough Questions Need Answers At Golf Canada AGM
• Does Watching Pros Struggle Deter New Players?
• Would You Consider A Short Course?
• Being Beginner-Friendly Is Critical: Hank Haney