Golf In The Family (Business)

I've accumulated a few Scotty Cameron headcovers and membership items that I kept in a secretary upstairs. Out of sight, out of mind. I'm not really a collector, but I kind of understand why people don't want to part with their collections. Once the item is gone, it's gone! Sometimes the money is not enough to fill that gap.

I have some Fiestaware and Roseville pottery that wouldn't net me enough money to justify its loss, since I'd really miss any one of the pieces. It's bad enough that a few dishes were stolen.

Charlie has an old golf club collection that he'd never sell.

I didn't buy the Scotty Cameron stuff to collect but it doesn't break, take up much space and seems to appreciate in value as long as Cameron putters win Tour events. Consequently, I don't mind holding onto it.

On the other hand, listing it on the website might attract new visitors and help me develop a following if I luck into a good putter, headcover or other cool collectible.

I wish I still owned the first My Girl putter from 2002. So maybe luck has little to do with it and it's more of knowing what to collect.

Charlie follows the golf industry stocks such as Golfsmith, Callaway Golf and Fortune Brands (Acushnet). He does this for his own amusement since he doesn't own stock – he left that up to me. Even he's surprised at how far in value the stocks of golf companies have dropped this year.

As we watch the saga of the Big 3 Auto makers unfold and read the pros and cons of bankruptcy I wonder how an international industry such as automobiles or golf can survive if a critical number of consumers stop buying? What is that critical number? Is it regional, national or international?

The golf courses around here are offering terrific deals to play. You can practically play for free sometimes. Any nice day in November is potentially incremental business for a golf course so giving you a deal is good for both.

It's not that way with golf equipment. There is only so much room for deals and giving away the product is really not an option. Unlike golf courses the retailers are beholden to the equipment manufacturers who have to deal with multiple sales channels mostly competing with each other for the same piece of pie. Price wars have driven many a small retailer out of business and it's not clear what the major equipment companies want to happen.

Some years ago I read an article about the future demise of major league baseball. The writer believed that baseball would fade into the sunset as fewer people played the game and eventually watched the game because of the myriad of problems MLB owners and the players' union caused.

That may not be the case but who knows? Maybe baseball will be just something in history books 50 years from now or only played by tiny sects of fans like cricket in India. Somehow, the Chicago teams make it possible for people of most incomes to see some of the games some of the time. As long as there are fans the game should last, even if fewer of these fans ever play.

I doubt that's the case with golf. Is the club industry intertwined with the game itself that one can't survive without the other? If the going gets tough will golfers forego new clubs to play more golf? For how long?

The 2008 golf season is winding down in a swirl of exceptional fall color and financial gloom. The cacophony of the elections is barely matched by the buzz about the Dow Jones decline and what that might mean in the year ahead.

As Klees Golf Shop prepares to close for three weeks I find myself in the usual state of panic this time of year. How will we pay the bills? Will the holiday sales be any good? Can we keep inventory at a minimum and still have what people want right now?

Necessity is the mother of invention and inventiveness is crucial to survival. Charlie's grandmother sold baseball gear, magazines and radios during the depression. Charlie's dad juggled inventory, convincing customers that what was on the shelves was what they wanted. We have eBay and the cyberspace of customers, many of whom can still buy cheaper in America.

Klees Golf Shop produced and mailed catalogs in the 1930s to attract customers from outside the area. Charlie introduced newspaper and Yellow Pages advertising in the 1970s and maintained a schedule of print promotions that reached the whole Southside region.

Getting golfers to our website is a bigger challenge because cyberspace is so vast and so impersonal. Mastering the complexities of web design, e-tail shopping and search engine optimization in my home office is like mastering mechanical physics with a text book in my garage. What I know is not enough and it's time to be inventive.