Another week in the books, and two more new millionaires make the top 10 on the Money List.  Check out the latest stat review through the Phoenix Open.  We now have 5 data points from which draw conclusions, but I personally am still hesitant to call any type of verdict on the impact of the Groove Rule.  GIR% remains way up over last year.  That in itself seems counter to what the Groove Rule was supposed to do.  And, when you combine that with the fact that Driving Accuracy is also way up, but the payoff is flat to last year, I can’t help but wonder if we have brewing a tempest in a teapot.  Another thought has crossed my mind… so far this season weather has played a significant part in course conditions.  Specifically water.  As I recall, it was wet at Riviera, Pebble, and this past week in Phoenix they got rain prior to Sunday’s final round.  Could that be the reason players are hitting, and holding, way more greens than last year?  I don’t know yet.  Stay tuned.

Here’s one thing I know for sure.  I happened to watch some of the tournament on Saturday.  At the time, Camillo Villegas was either in the lead, or very close.  He came to the 14^th tee, I think…a par four measuring 403.  He hit his tee shot within spitting distance of the green, something like 45 yards from the front edge.  Here’s a news flash for golf’s rule making and rule enforcing group… it wouldn’t matter if you made these guys play with no grooves, when that kind of power gets going in the right direction, it’s pretty tough to beat. 

As always, thanks for stopping by.  And don’t forget to tell a friend about this spot.  I appreciate everyone who stops by.  Peace. 

Another week of tournament golf in the books, and as you might expect there was some movement in the stats.  Most notably, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey both shot into the Top 10 in season money.  Casey also had an excellent week for GIR%, rocketing to second in that category from nowhere.  At this moment, the numbers and charts are confusing to me.  That in itself is no revelation…it seems the older I get, the more I find myself in that state.  At this early stage of the season, there just doesn’t seem to be any correlation.  For example, GIR% and Average Money List Rank for GIR% are both way up over last year.  If the Groove Rule is working, you would expect the latter to be true, but certainly not the former.  Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy both are tracking pretty close to last year’s season ending totals.  But the numbers for Total Driving, while way up, the Average Money List Rank is down quite a bit.  Bottom line is it’s still too early to make any leaps here, but I think eventually something is going to drop out of our analysis.  Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned.  Don’t forget to tell somebody, please.  Peace.

 Big week for the long hitters, as many of them finished in the top 20.  No new developments in the golf world’s tussle with the Groove Rule.  News came out during the week that USGA officials met with John Solheim to discuss a compromise to the exemption of Ping Eye 2 grandfather clause.  It’s clear that Mr. Solheim has  leverage here, but don’t expect him to take advantage of it.  He is too much of a gentleman.  My instincts tell me this will be settled by the USGA getting the clubs outlawed for use in elite player events, and Ping getting a lifetime exemption for the Eye 2 clubs for recreational use. 

In more Groove Rule news, I recently read where the USGA has removed the Groove Rule as a condition of competition for the local qualifying stage of the US Open.  This is clearly further evidence that the entire groove rule blowup is politically motivated.  Someone at the USGA must have read my series, “Another Dagger”, which outlines the cost associated with 8000 US Open entries having to play with conforming equipment.  Talk about a mess… this is frought with trouble.  What if a Tour player with no current status has to go through local qualifying with a conforming set of irons and gets beat by someone using square grooves?  Is that fair?  I think not.  And what if a player advances through local qualifying with a set of square groove irons?  He then must switch to a conforming set for the sectional.  The USGA better hope that if someone is victimized by this, they don’t have a lot of money.  Because I smell a lawsuit.  We’ll hit on this topic again as US Open qualifying draws closer. 

Stay tuned, I don’t think this issue is going away anytime real soon.  Unless Mr. Solheim chooses to let the USGA and PGA Tour off the hook.  Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it very much.  And don’t forget to tell someone where you heard it first.  Peace!  

As promised, here is the first installment of what I intend to be a weekly review of the statistical leaders on the PGA Tour.  In case you are unaware of the intent of this review, it is an attempt to survey the impact of the USGA’s Groove Rule on the performance of PGA Tour players.  Remember, the intent of the rule is to place a greater premium on accuracy as opposed to distance.  Making V grooves a Condition of Competition is the USGA’s attempt to preserve the integrity of the game, by mitigating the premium on pure distance relative to scoring.  We will be reviewing this against the most important stat of them all…Money.  I will attempt to have this review posted on Tuesday mornings from now on.  This is obviously contingent on the up-to-the-minute stats being posted on the PGA Tour’s web site, as that is the source of the information.  Stay tuned to this…it could prove to be an eye opener.  One final note, this is very preliminary.  My main focus is to get this information up for viewing.  There may be some interesting refinements to this project as it progresses.  As always, thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to tell someone.  If you think of a better method to measure this event, by all means shoot me a message.

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you know I strongly opposed the Groove Rule.  If you are new to “Open to Buy”, I suggest you go to the Contact page of my web site and download the full version of “Another Dagger.”  That piece is a series of articles which not only foretell the negative effects of this ruling on the industry, but also offers an alternative solution which would produce a similar result for tournament golf and bring innovation and new product creation back into the equipment industry.  Win-win. 

In light of the most recent flare up regarding this rule, the thought occurred to me that it might be a good thing to try and measure effectiveness of the Groove Rule.  So that’s exactly what we’re going to do.  Right here, every week.  My initial thought is to evaluate straight hitters vs. long hitters in the most meaningful stat category of them all….Money.  If the Groove Rule is working as intended by the USGA and the PGA Tour, the straight hitters should gain some ground on the bombers.  I will be using official stats, taken right from the PGA Tour’s web site.  This should be interesting….stay tuned.  I’ll do my best to update this information every week.  As always, thanks very much for stopping by.  And don’t forget to tell someone.  Peace.

One day, during the past frosty week, the sun came out and it warmed up just enough for me to head out to the range for a practice session.  Still cold, mind you.  When I went in the pro shop to buy my practice balls, the prime merchandising real estate around the cash register had two small displays…on one side of the register was golf gloves, in matching pairs right and left hand rubber banded together.  On the opposite side of the register was a stand-up wire rack with about eight pair of gloves.  Nothing fancy, just kind of a generic one-size-fits all ski glove.  I mentioned to the pro how I thought this was a pretty sharp idea, and asked him if they were selling.  “Absolutely,” he said.  He told me this was a perfect opportunity to move some excess inventory of right handed gloves, by matching them to the left handed counterpart and selling them as a matching pair.  As for the ski gloves, he stopped by a local big box outlet store and purchased all the ski gloves they had for $4.99 a pair.  They were selling in the pro shop for $15.00.  He told me what was on display was the third lot he purchased.  Brilliant.  Time and place, people.  As I said, not a home run, but very nicely done.  And this could work just about anywhere.  Might be something to try for the northern courses when they first open, and the last 60 days of the season.  Don’t forget where you found this little gem.  As always, thanks for stopping by.  And don’t forget to tell someone.

I recently read somewhere that some university or think tank executed a study on the economic impact of “Tigergate.”  They pegged the fallout at some ridiculous figure in the billions.  Billions is a pretty big number.  Too big for me to wrap my mind around.  Seems a bit far flung to me.  And although I’m late to this party, I think it’s worth floating out a couple concepts which I have taken away from what is certainly the most sensational media event to hit the golf biz in a very long time.  Some very real, although tough to quantify, changes and who they affect most.  (besides Tiger)

 1.  Corporate Support of Golf.

I don’t believe I’m the only one to notice that all of Tiger’s non-golf industry sponsors either outright let him go, or at least stated publicly they will curtail the use of him  in their media efforts.  This is bad.  Corporate supporters of golf, particularly financial firms, took a public pummeling for their support of golf events when our financial markets melted down.  Now this.  Keep in mind, I’m not only referring to event support.  Many players have endorsement contracts with non-golf industry companies.  If corporate money becomes scarce in golf, that is problematic.  I’m not even close to being sharp enough to attempt to quantify this, but I’m sure you can imagine all the little niches in the business this could trickle down to.  Bottom line right now, is if I am a corporate entity with money to spend on media and endorsements I’m probably looking somewhere other than golf right now. 

 2.  Nike Apparel

This is a biggie.  And bear in mind, I take no particular pleasure in advancing this concept.  Nike, I believe, is the only sponsor to issue a public statement of support for Tiger as their spokesman.  From a business perspective, I understand that.  It’s impossible to determine where Nike Golf would be without Tiger.  Tiger without question has sold a ton of Nike goods.  Clubs and balls to be sure, but apparel as well.  From what I have been told and what I have seen in my travels, Nike does a nice job with their apparel line.  Good product, good programs, the works.  But I wouldn’t want to stake my livelihood on selling Nike apparel right now.  I’ve heard a couple horror stories….right after the news broke, and continued breaking, that shops were marking down their Nike just to flush it out.  As conservative as the golf industry is, I’ve got to believe Nike apparel is not a good buy right now.  And may not be for quite some time.  Golf buyers beware, while this information is unsubstantiated if the pre-booked orders are being cancelled and moved out like I suspect, you can bet there will be a ton of Nike apparel in the off-price retail outlets pretty soon.  Nothing like having a shirt in your shop which you are selling for $60, and a member buys the same one at Ross for $14.  Again, let me remind you this is not an issue I enjoy discussing.  I’ve got no axe to grind with Nike.  I’m just looking out for you.  I hope it is not the case.  And speaking of looking out…if you buy anything with the “TW” logo on it, you need a brain scan.  That logo won’t be worth a nickel for at least six more major titles. 

 This too, will heal with time.  But for now, in this retailing environment, stick with what you know will sell.  Thanks for stopping by and taking the time. I appreciate it.  Stay tuned…more to come.  And don’t forget to tell somebody.  Peace.

The most basic definition of a sunglass frame is a lens holder.  However, as with any consumer product, elements of style, fashion, and improved functionality play quite a large role in helping to attract attention in the shop.  Much of the sellability of a sunglass line comes from the styling.  The “look” created by the marriage of the frame and lens into a cool looking, better performing product.

There are just a few key terms you need to understand regarding sunglass frame anatomy. 

The Bridge – Is the center area of the frame.  The bridge is the part of the sunglass that rests on a person’s nose.  This is a pretty important part of the frame with respect to a proper fit.  If the bridge is too narrow, the sunglass will rest high on the nose and it will be quite easy for someone to look under the lens.  This is bad for golfers since, as I mentioned in a previous section, golfers most utilize the bottom third of the lens.  Equally undesirable is if the bridge is too wide.  The shades will sit low on the golfer’s nose.  This is also typically accompanied by a problem with keeping the sunglasses stationery during the swing.  If the bridge is just right, the golfer’s eyes should be centered in the lens, and the sunglasses should fit comfortably and snug with almost no movement as the golfer moves his head.  A final word on the bridge…it’s a big plus to have some type of rubberized padding on, or in, the eye pads.  Helps keep things snug and resists sliding around when someone sweats. 

The Temples – are the side pieces of the frame that open and close.  When someone refers to the “temples”, they are talking about the entire side piece.  The “temple tips” are the very end of the temple piece which rest on the ears.  In general, design of the temples is about style.  Right now, wider temples seem to be the hot item for what I call the “Active Lifestyle” designs…kind of hybrid designs that mix both a sports look and have some elements of cool casual, too.  I like the idea of wider temples.  They help to block out light from the sides.  The most important part of the temple piece for us, is the temple tips.  As much as possible, when you make your buy, you want smaller temple tips.  The reason for this is hats.  Most golfers today wear some type of headwear.  The smaller, or rather narrower, temple tips are much more hat friendly than wide temple tips.  Some golfers wear their shades over the hat, but most prefer to wear their shades under.  The narrower temple tips create less interference when worn under the hat, and tend to stay in place better.  I think it’s a good idea when you evaluate a line for a buy to try some styles on with a hat.  That will immediately let you if you have the right temple tip. In addition to the narrower temple tip, lots of styles today also have some type of rubberized pad in the temple tip area.  This is a good thing for the same reason you want that on the nose pads.  Helps to keep a snug and comfortable fit when things get a little moist.

Eyewear frames fall basically into one of three categories….Full Frame, Partial Frame, or Frameless.  These are pretty easy concepts to grab a hold of.  All of these frame types will work well for golfers.  The only type  I would shy away from is a full frame style, with a small lens.  As I have mentioned previously, too easy to look under, and in this case the frame may actually impair the golfer’s vision.  Most sports styles fall into the partial frame category.  The frame only extends about half way down the lens, leaving the bottom totally unobstructed. 

That about takes care of frames.  You’ve got quite a bit of ammo now, about sunglasses.  Next time out we’ll tie it all together….frames, lenses, tints, etc. with some information about price points and some helpful hints about displaying the product in your shop.  Thanks for stopping by, I hope this information helps.  Don’t forget to tell somebody…