Foremost, the UK’s largest retail and marketing services group, has announced the winners of the Foremost Golf Awards for 2022, as chosen by the group’s base of more than 950 member professionals.
Members voted for the suppliers and products that made the greatest impact on their business throughout last year, with the winners being recognised for their achievements through the group’s awards.
Winner of the highest supplier accolade, Supplier of the Year, was PING, which claimed the top spot for the 13th time since the inaugural awards in 2008.
In addition to being recognised by Foremost members as the best overall supplier, PING was awarded with the accolade for Best Woods Range, retaining top spot in the category for the second year running with G425. The G425 custom-fit proposition secured #1 woods category share for the brand, and now Foremost pros are actively involved in the launch of PING’s new G430 range for 2023.
Foremost Golf Managing Director, Andy Martin, and Head of Supplier Partnerships, Chris Glenday, headed to PING’s Gainsborough HQ to present the awards to Managing Director, Lisa Lovatt, and Sales Director, Steve Carter.
“We are delighted to have once again been named Supplier of the Year by the Foremost membership, and to have won the Best Woods Range for 2022,” commented Lovatt.
“Winning these awards is a result of the unwavering hard work and total team effort across the business. We never take the support of green grass professionals for granted and will continue to strive to make technically advanced products and provide industry-leading service to our customers and end consumers.”
The popularity of TaylorMade’s P-Series line-up proved a hit for custom-fitters and saw the brand secure the #1 iron share with the group in 2022, winning the brand the award of Best Irons Range.
Meanwhile, Titleist Vokey SM9 Wedges delivered a dominant performance in the year of its launch, leading the Vokey brand to its 7th consecutive Best Wedges award with the group.
There was further success for Callaway Golf and its Odyssey Golf brand in the putter category. Led by the White Hot OG and Ten models, Odyssey picked up the Best Putter Range award – confirming the brand’s popularity within the group.
In addition to the Best Wedges award, Acushnet brands continued to win big with Foremost members, taking home the Best Golf Ball and Best Golf Shoe titles with Titleist Pro V1 & Pro V1x and the FootJoy UltraFIT SL, respectively. Foremost Pros once again recognised the importance of the group’s exclusive-line footwear model with every UltraFIT SL sale securing more cash profit for Foremost members than equivalent priced models in the category in 2022.
Commenting on behalf of Acushnet, Spencer Manning, Titleist Head of Sales, said: “We would like to thank Foremost members for once again recognising Titleist as the leading Golf Ball and Wedge for 2022. Both Pro V1 and Pro V1x, together with Vokey wedges, continue to be recognised as industry leading products which resonate with dedicated golfers that are looking to optimise their performance.
“Our partnership with Foremost plays a key role in our overall business and I would like to pass on our sincere appreciation to Foremost members for their continued support.”
Under Armour completed a first clean sweep of the apparel categories, winning both Best Apparel Range and Best Outerwear Range.
Under Armour has strongly adopted the group’s EMP Marketing Supported Clothing which coordinates a pro’s buying with their EMP marketing coverage to sell more of the brand’s clothing. This alignment saw the brand win the Best Apparel Range for thesixth time, but a breakthrough in the outerwear category saw Under Armour recognised for the first time in 2022. A group-exclusive special buy of the Portrush collection helped boost members’ cash profit when selling waterproofs and gave the brand its maiden title in this category.
Neil Heslop, Under Armour (PJH Brand Management, Partner), commented: “We are absolutely delighted to win Best Apparel Brand for the sixth time, and Best Outerwear Brand for the first time. To know that Foremost members have supported us as we battled through lingering supply chain issues, is truly humbling.
“We are extremely proud of the partnerships we have developed and are grateful for the trust that Foremost members have put in Under Armour, by giving us more and more dedicated space to showcase the brand. We approach every season with a challenger mindset, aiming to continually raise the bar in both the service and innovation that we bring to market. I thank Foremost again for the support they have shown us – we will continue to strive to be the best partner we can be.”
For the Best Trolley award, the compact and user-friendly Motocaddy M1 proved the most popular model in this competitive category, with the brand’s feature-rich M5 GPS coming a close second in the voting.
Working in partnership, Motocaddy and Foremost have utilised the group’s Elite Marketing Programme (EMP) digital and in-store retail services to good effect, moving customers toward the purchase of more premium models and higher value sales for members’ businesses.
Asbri Golf claimed a hat-trick in the Outstanding Supplier Service category with members once again recognising the consistently high levels of personal service provided by the company. A growing number of group members put their trust in Asbri Golf with all their crested accessory needs.
“I would like to congratulate all of our supplier winners on their hard-earned awards success. These annual awards give us a moment to take stock of the achievements of our partner suppliers in the past 12 months,” added Glenday.
“We are fortunate that the quality of product available in the industry right now is incredibly high. And thanks to the close partnerships we share with these brands we are able to help our members excite their customers to buy with the unique retail and marketing support we provide.”
For more information on Foremost, visit grip.foremostgolf.com or follow @ForemostGolf. If you are interested in joining Foremost, please contact Leanne Spence on 01753 218 891 or email leanne@foremostgolf.com
