GPS Industries, Inc. (GPSI), the only provider of Wi-Fi powered, advertising enhanced GPS systems for golf facilities, resorts and residential communities, has acquired Golf Academies, a leading European distributor of golf industry products and services. In recent years, Golf Academies, based in Eastbourne, UK, has successfully marketed the Company’s Inforemer-HD™ Golf Management System throughout Europe’s largest golf markets.
Golf Academies is an established leader in the European golf industry, and has represented GPSI’s products for more than two years. Over that period they have secured sales at numerous leading golf facilities including Scotland’s St. Andrews Bay Resort and Royal Evian Resort in the French Alps.
Company principals Ben Porter and Phil Lewin, both British PGA members, bring a combined 34 years’ experience in European golf. They introduced both GPS and digital video systems to the region and have operated several golf academies and facilities, including the esteemed David Leadbetter Golf Academies.
Among other results of this acquisition, GPS Industries will gain the existing Golf Academies sales staff, which the company plans to further build to eight representatives over the next three months. GPS Industries will now maintain several European sales offices, in England, France, Ireland and Spain.
“It has been very rewarding to market the Inforemer-HD system,” said Ben Porter of Golf Academies Ltd. “The technology is vastly superior to other offerings in the industry and we have witnessed a growing preference for its enhanced features in a very discerning European golf marketplace.”
GPSI’s President and CEO, Robert Silzer, Sr., commented, “We are pleased to welcome our friends at Golf Academies into our expanding global sales organization. With the accelerated momentum we are gaining, including our marketing alliances with high-profile industry associations and the five-year, $82.5 million contract we just secured through Global Golf Advisors, it is a very exciting time at GPS Industries. This new acquisition gives us a corporate-owned yet organic sales force and a unique presence in the lucrative European market. We fully anticipate a robust growth period there with Golf Academies now fully under the GPSI banner.”