Suicide Closeouts
 

I also described the "suicide closeouts" that the monster multi-nationals use to flush their distribution channels at the end of every season so that books can be balanced and bonuses can be paid.

In past years, the "big flush" came in July and August. Toward the end of the season the Big Guys emptied the warehouses with "packaging deals". You buy a driver; you get a "free" fairway wood. You buy a set of irons, you get a bag. You buy utilities; you get a "free" 25 gallon gas card. You buy a bag; you get a "free" pair of shoes.

The ranks broke early this year. My guess is that a couple of the giants took a look at their inventories and figured that they can't make their sales numbers in the recession so they decided that if they were going down, they'd take their enemies with them.

Callaway and Taylor Made were the first to offer this year's "gift with purchase". No gas cards this year, just shoes or a "free" fairway metal.

The call came in on Friday from our Adams rep. In an effort to maintain a competitive position - and to prove that Adams can tangle with the gorillas - Adams started their own "gift with purchase" program - in their case a free fairway metal with the purchase of a driver. Since our first loyalty is to our customers, we want you to know when the "silly season" starts. It started.

Adams bit the bullet when they priced their first really big hit - the Adams Speedline driver. The original target price was $399 - a decent value for a name brand driver with a "real" shaft. In a fit of competitive frenzy the Speedline came out at $299. In our opinion, that's the bargain of the year - for new drivers. By the way, the Speedline actually delivers a little more ball speed for most players. Improved performance claims are true.

So now when you come in to get fitted at the Golf Lab for your $299 Adams Speedline driver, we can also fit you with a very nice "gift with purchase". Your choice of Adams fairway metals.

Here's what they look like:



This is a great deal. This year Adams redesigned their fairway metal line. It has been a good seller at the normal retail price: $249. Worth the money. Now, pay $249 for an Adams fairway metal and get your Speedline driver almost free with the purchase.

There is a catch. The Speedline driver is almost 46" long and comes with an unusually light head. To make it work right for most players requires adjustment. It needs to be trimmed to playing length and a little head weight added for most players. While we're at it, we might as well set the flex, SST PURE the shaft and see if we can squeeze a little more ball speed out of the setup with the Balance-Certified Stabilizer. The same treatment works for the fairway metals.

We'll do our part to provide a financial incentive and offer a "Mini Driver Fitting" - just $75 and bundle in the SST PURE and all of the weight and length adjustments to match the fitting for another $65 per club. You'll get a new driver and fairway metal that will go straight into your bag. Remember if the driver doesn't deliver better performance for you in launch monitor testing, we won't let you buy it.

 

 Now the Bad News
 

The competitive environment for golf equipment is unfairly unbalanced. It favors the monster multi- national conglomerates that buy at the cheapest prices and can afford to subsidize unprofitable operations in golf equipment with profits from moneymakers like golf balls, footwear and apparel.

The small golf equipment companies that don't have public money cannot afford to compete on price.

Example: Most high quality Titanium driver heads cost from $125 to $185 at wholesale. Add a high quality shaft for another $100 and you've got a raw cost that nearly matches the retail selling price of the Speedline - not even counting the value of the free fairway metal.

If low price is your only criterion for your purchase decision, the small companies will be crushed.

We will never turn our backs on the small, creative companies that have been the source of so much inspiration and innovation in the golf industry. In fact we're going the opposite way. We've rearranged our displays and brought in extra inventory for display and to demo. We have added the drivers from KZG, Bobby Jones, Wishon, Alpha, SMT and Infiniti and when you come in for a fitting we're going to urge you to give the little guys a try. There is a reason that the little companies have been able to survive so far. They make great products that are worth a premium. Alpha and SMT continue to dominate the long drive competitions - because they don't break. KZG has the best offering of genuine Japanese forgings from any American company. Infiniti is great with game improvement and inexpensive cast irons. Wishon has the best performing fairway metal that we have found - from any manufacturer. Let us tell you the story of the undiscovered gems.

And we'll put in a plug for our own unique services. When you buy your driver that doesn't match your swing and you want the flex tested, the length and swing weight set to optimize performance - and advanced "tweaking" like SST PUREing and counter weighting - it's handy to have a custom shop in the neighborhood to get that done.

Every step of the way we test and measure performance improvement. You know exactly what works, why and how much.

If you're looking for clubs that fit, your best deal will come from a custom shop. We don't charge any more than the Big Boxes for our Nikes, Mizunos, Adams and Nickent clubs. When you buy your clubs from the Golf Lab, we make sure that the length, loft and lie are correct for no extra charge - factory clubs always require some adjustment. We'll get you the grips that you want and make sure they're right.

We respond to difficult economic times. We make it easy for you to trade in your unused golf clubs and get your new clubs custom built. We have had a lot of happy customers lately who found that we could rebuild a lightly used set of Mizunos, Miuras, Nikes or KZG's and get a great set of custom irons - for a price that matches off the shelf. Two weeks later, you'll never know the difference and you'll have several hundred dollars to use for something else.