Building Brand Management

Submitted by Hamilton Golf and Country Club and the Association of Golf Merchandisers

by Laura Watilo Blake (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
June 2007

With a 2005 decline in equipment sales due to the new presence of a local off-course retailer, Hamilton Golf and Country Club pro shop staff—led by Leigha Main and Lauren Dimen—introduced past and new strategies to gain back the market share lost in the previous year. They decided to leverage a successful partnership with the Ping brand to grow their business. Some of their strategies included:

• Building a Ping concept wall in a prominent location in the shop;
• Co-branding gloves and bags with their logo;
• Hosting the PING Mobile Fitting Van for custom-fitting days and off-season trips to the Ping fitting center with their top customers;
• Outfitting caddies in the caddie program with Ping-branded hats; and
• Giving Ping gloves as gifts to the members in their "welcome back" event after giving up the course for the PGA Tour event.

As a result, the pro shop had a whopping 44 percent growth in their hard-goods business due to this unique complete supplier partner integration. In addition, the successful program earned the pro shop several awards from the Association of Golf Merchandisers (AGM) in its 2006 National Front 9 Merchandising Awards—designed to recognize those merchandisers whose work and ideas are creative, inventive, successful and profitable.

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