Yes! Golf putters are increasingly popular but the brand is doing very good business too, says Dominic O’Byrne
Anybody in the golf industry looking for a feel-good story that points to an upswing in the golf trade, take a look at upstart putting phenomenon Yes! Golf.
Since Harold Swash – European Tour Coach and popularly venerated ‘putting guru’ – invented the C-Groove in 1995, the brand has been quietly paying its dues in the shadow of PGA Tour giants like Callaway, Titleist and TaylorMade.
With Yes! Golf’s 2nd US Open win in 2004 the helter-skelter really started for C-Groove Putters. As US Amateur, Ladies British Open and British Amateur wins followed, everyone on the Tour began to ask what’s in the bag?
2006 saw Yes! Golf earn the position of #2 on the PGA European Tour and #1 on the LPGA Tour, purely on the strength of its effectiveness, because the brand is simply not interested in competing with the sort of staff payments made by the big five club brands. In light of this, the meteoric rise in the putter’s popularity on the Tours is matched only by its staggering commercial success of the past year up to April 2007.
The increase in sales is global:
- Hawaii + 153%
- Japan +115%
- Australia +146%
- UK & Ireland +260%
- Rest of Europe +597%
According to Golf Data Tech, the independent US golf research firm, the brand has made significant strides in the last two years, so that it now numbers among the top six putter brands throughout the vast US market. In the UK meanwhile, sales have almost trebled, but perhaps more significantly market share has increased by 50%, says UK MD Peter Allison.
“This brand does not throw money at opportunities because we’re outgunned by the million dollar budgets of the Wall Street brands,” says Mr Allison. “Our currency of choice is technical innovation, which is generally-speaking a more level playing field but in the case of Yes! Golf it’s our ace in the hole, because the C-Groove is ours alone.”
This is pleasing when seen alongside the putters’ performance on the Tour. As distinctive as the black / white / yellow grips on the Yes! Putters are the little Yes! Nuggets that the more savvy among pundits have noted. For example, at the Estoril Open in Portugal at the end of March, two players – David Frost and Ross McGowen (who was joint leader on day two) – both made eagle 2s on the 11th in round two. Both used Yes! Golf putters… one a very old Victoria and one a very new Abbie (due for launch this summer).
Yes! C-Groove Putters have gained great popularity over the last year both on the professional tours and in the golf shops. Yes! Golf had twenty eight worldwide wins in 2006, including six European PGA Tour wins, three LPGA Tour wins and three Nationwide Tour wins. Yes! Golf has some 200 tour professionals worldwide using their putters.
Yes! Golf is the proven leader in grooved putter technology. Harold Swash, known as the European Putting Doctor, introduced the innovative theory of concentric grooves in 1995. Today, C-Groove Putters are taking the golf world by storm making Yes! Golf one of the fastest growing putters on the professional tours.
Yes! Golf www.yesgolf.co.uk