Do you use your pro shop?

[golfchat1]

I was talking to my pro and was telling me he was really struggling and he can't buy any new stock until he sells what's in his shop.

He is well stocked with titleist callaway ping taylormade and Cleveland he has only sold 3 sets of irons since the summer and has plenty of woods vokey wedges and lyle & Scott green eagle clothing.

I have an american golf discount with in 3 miles and prices are on par or the pro shop is slightly cheaper.

Why don't members spend money and support their own pro shop and where do they go?

 

[CliveW]

I go out of my way to support my local pro even if things cost slightly more than the large AGs etc. Having been in retail myself I realise how hard it is to compete with the so called "Big Boys" who have loss leaders to attract customers then hike up prices on everyday consumables.
For the same reason I will not buy on the internet either.
If you stop using your local shops, be it the pro at your club or the local grocer, butcher, baker etc. then they will disappear forever.

 

[fundy]

Pro shop at my current course is not really a pro shop, they stock the real bare minimum. Personally find it frustrating as previous clubs I had been at had well stocked shops which enabled you to try new clubs etc when you desired. Always paid off to put as much business there way. Now I struggle to try stuff before I buy which I hate! Last 3 sets of irons were all purchased through my then home club. Now resort to away day pro shops or broswing in the multiples then buying online

 

[Alex1975]

Pro shop at my current course is not really a pro shop, they stock the real bare minimum. Personally find it frustrating as previous clubs I had been at had well stocked shops which enabled you to try new clubs etc when you desired. Always paid off to put as much business there way. Now I struggle to try stuff before I buy which I hate! Last 3 sets of irons were all purchased through my then home club. Now resort to away day pro shops or broswing in the multiples then buying online

Yep our pro shoip is crap, I think they may have worked out that they cant make it work at that club and just use it to sell Coke and Mars bars.

Seen the new touch screen computer in the bar though? For handicaps and comp card entrys. Its V cook (sorry off topic)

 

[Smiffy]

I will use the pro for large items if he can get close to the prices I can get stuff for on the internet. Usually he can. I'm pretty much sorted for gear now, the only thing I might be buying in the forseeable future would be a Ping i15 3 wood. Out of curiousity I asked Mike the other day how much he would charge for one and was pleasantly surprised with his quote so my business will be going to him if and when I do succumb.
But for golf balls, tees, gloves etc. I will buy from the internet. I can get a dozen decent balls online for the price most pro's charge for half a dozen, and why pay £1.50 for a bag of ten wooden tees when you can buy a box of 1,0000 on ebay for a tenner????

 

[Del]

My local pro shop is very good and will try to price match as much as he can. He will let you try out before you buy (members only) and is not pushy in anyway.

BUT in saying that I don't buy much from him, as a very good friend of mine has a golf shop and teaching studio just down the road, she's a ex pro and gives some of the best deals about. She also will price match as much as she can, and does club fittings for very little extra charge.(nice coffee as well)

 

[Parmo]

Our pro shop is a little strange because he has two pro shops. His first a larger two course club and a smaller 9 holer (ours), he stocks the larger club full of the latest kit, mens clothing and seconds but for ours he stocks... Womens clothing (which there are about 15 playing members!), trolley accessories, balls and some dated woods dumped into cart bags that are now online as clearance stock.

I bought my wedges and irons from him at a decent price, I really do think if he stocked irons and half decent stock he would make more money and its always nice to browse kit whilst waiting to tee off, at the moment its quite depressing been in there.

Would I buy again? I am not sure, it took nearly 3 weeks for my wedges to arrive and I would have got a better price for my previous irons on golfbidder. I usually buy balls, tees, gloves and the likes online as they are a lot cheaper and the same goes for clothing I usually buy online or TK Maxx as we have no option as he doesn't stock mens at our club.

Overall I wouldn't go out of my way again to support the local pro, I think its a two way business not just a case of us going to his other shop to get fitted or order off spec but we should be able to test at leisure.

 

[Imurg]

Biggest problem is the cost of the stock.
A Pro has to keep a pretty wide range of stock if he's going to compete with the AG's and DG's of this world. THe big shops often have ranges attached so you can hit the clubs and they'll stock almost everything. An ordinary Pro can't keep as much stock so has to specialise in 2 or 3 brands - or even less, we have Callaway only.
If I can I'll use the shop especially if I have vouchers for winnings - going to get a few quid of a hybrid soon.
BUt as long as I know what I want, I can try more clubs at other places.

 

[jeardley]

i'll buy from the pro shop if i'm there playing but its just really easy to nip to amg in jeans and trainers and get what you want whenever you want. Wouldn't dream of getting out of my car dressed like that at the club.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

I try my best to get all my equipment from our pro. He price matches with any of the bigger retailers and even online companies. I'm certain I'll end up buying a set of Mizzy JPX800s from him in the very near future.

 

[colint]

I'll buy if the price is the same as elsewhere but won't pay over the odds. It's a pound in my pocket or a pound in his, I know which I prefer. He's not a charity.

I don't get all this support your pro stuff, everytime your pro needs to buy something do you think he scans the club membership for a painter, builder etc or shops around for the best price ?

 

[pokerjoke]

Our pro shop has stopped selling completly,and hes going to be lessons,c/f and repairs only,im sure he couldnt compete with the internet and our club only has 220 members.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My pro shop doesn't carry much stock but will try and price match if you get him to order stuff in which is what I usually do after trying the kit out somewhere else (usually AG). He does a decent range of clothing although 90% does have the club badge on which can be tiresome as I don't want everything with the RA logo.

HID works at a different club and they are a bigger shop and offer TM, Ping and Mizzy C/F so carry a lot more of their stuff. However their pricing is ususally very expensive which makes it hard to justify using them. If my own pro can't/won't price match I will go elsewhere but I'd always give him first dibs

 

[viscount17]

For the size of the place our proshop is reasonably well stocked, mostly with decent brands which also means not particularly cheap.

Clubs are predominently Ping or PGA, but the range of clubs available for trying is limited. They do advertise Titleist and Mizuno fitting but rarely have much in the way of demo clubs for either.

With an AG and a DG in the area you would think that their prices on the smaller 'consumable' stuff (balls, tees etc) would be keener but I suppose their margins are so small they're trapped.

English pro shops should recognise that they aren't really competing with each other but with AG, DG and the internet. The only way to survive is as co-operatives.

 

[Aztecs27]

Our pro-shop is a reasonable size and also has has some reasonably decent stock. A good mixture of cheaper stuff and also the higher end stuff (Nike/Ping). They also custom fit and order stuff in. They're a srixon stockist too, which is nice, so they have gloves, balls etc...which I use, so that's nice. Like most pro shops, tees and the like are heavily over-priced, but I always tend to forget to stock up at AG so I tend to pay over the odds for them. Plus I go through tees ridiculously quickly. I always re-use broken tees for par 3's/irons off longer holes, but I like a fresh wooden tee for my drives...I don't see it up particularly high, but I can almost guarantee to break a tee on every drive, if not it will be broken on the following tee.

I'll still use the pro shop for the odd bit. They actually have some really nice clothing too which isn't badly priced when they have a sale.

 

[haplesshacker]

I bought my irons and 3 wood from the pro shop. The previous set of irons came from AG. The pro shop didn't stock Mizzy at the time.

It's a tricky one for the pro shops. They don't want to be caught holding too much stock, as it does 'date' very quickly. Be it clubs, bags, or clothing. Or they simply don't have the potential customer base to justify investing in the stock.

I know that working in retail can be very depressing sometimes and that the pro's are sick of flogging Mars Bars, listening to complaints about the course from members and teaching the same things to the same people at every lesson because the numpty won't put any practice in and thinks it's a quick fix. But. Isn't there always! Some could be more welcoming in their demeanour, especially to 'newbies'. Which is one reason why they could be missing out to the big retailers.

The pro's based at golf clubs gave a huge advantage over the guys. Demo clubs that you can try out on the course, they might even know more about your game and can therefore look at your whole gear set up. Give useful titbits of advice. And if it were me. I'd even give a free half hour lesson to everyone that bought a club. These are things that the big boys can't offer. Find your USP and milk it. Don't try and compete directly.

Apologies for any errors, but typing such a long post on the iPhone isn't easy.

Sorry for rambling.

 

[Robobum]

I "support" my pro and think that i get much more value for my money than saving the odd £10 here and there by chasing the bottom price on the net or in a big store.

At first I may have paid a few quid over the odds for some gear, but that would come with being able to trial the demo clubs on the course for a round or two.

Then as I bought more stuff from him, I never paid the sticker price on any items. He'd also throw in a sleeve of provs every now and again. If he had some freebies off a rep he would throw them my way for a look at. He's wandered over to the first tee and offered a few bits of advice, a few short lessons free of charge. I've had invites to club fittings that he is going on with the big manufacturers. It all adds up to more value than knocking him down by £5 to match AG on a driver IMO.

Saying that it's down to the individual, if I thought my pro was a tit, then I'd be in AG tring to save a fiver. Or if you have no need to use the pro for anything else then, again, AG it is.

I've seen it lots though where a member will pop into the shop and try to squeeze the pro for every penny on a club they have seen in AG and when he can't quite match it they go and get the cheaper club. Fair enough, however they may not get the best reaction if they break a club and ask to borrow one for a round or have forgotten to charge their trolley battery adn ask to borrow one.............a good club pro has more to offer but that debate has been done to death elsewhere.

 

[big_russ]

Agree 100% with Robobum. Support your pro and he will do you a good turn when you need it.
I have bought all my clubs except the putter from our Pro and am not bothered at all that I have paid above the AG/DG/Nevada Bob price as I have taken demo clubs out for days and even weeks at a time. He is also willing to help with swing pointers as and when needed.
If your Pro shuts up shop through no fault of his own then your club will lose out more than just not having a Mars bar seller.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I "support" my pro and think that i get much more value for my money than saving the odd £10 here and there by chasing the bottom price on the net or in a big store.

At first I may have paid a few quid over the odds for some gear, but that would come with being able to trial the demo clubs on the course for a round or two.

Then as I bought more stuff from him, I never paid the sticker price on any items. He'd also throw in a sleeve of provs every now and again. If he had some freebies off a rep he would throw them my way for a look at. He's wandered over to the first tee and offered a few bits of advice, a few short lessons free of charge. I've had invites to club fittings that he is going on with the big manufacturers. It all adds up to more value than knocking him down by £5 to match AG on a driver IMO.

Saying that it's down to the individual, if I thought my pro was a tit, then I'd be in AG tring to save a fiver. Or if you have no need to use the pro for anything else then, again, AG it is.

I've seen it lots though where a member will pop into the shop and try to squeeze the pro for every penny on a club they have seen in AG and when he can't quite match it they go and get the cheaper club. Fair enough, however they may not get the best reaction if they break a club and ask to borrow one for a round or have forgotten to charge their trolley battery adn ask to borrow one.............a good club pro has more to offer but that debate has been done to death elsewhere.

I quite agree. My pro has done me some great deals on my SC5 when it first came out (£269 is still competitive today) and on Myjoys. I know I 'll always get a sleeve of balls and he'll always look at my swing for 10 minutes if I'm on the practice ground or chipping

 

[CliveW]

As I said in my earlier post I do try and support my local pro when I can, and as the nearest AG is over 50 miles away in Edinburgh I rarely darken it's doors.
Anyway I was down at Edinburgh today as my son was sitting his driving test and I had half an hour to kill so I thought I would pop in to AG and have a look.
I was having a look at the irons on display when I spotted a secondhand set of Callaway X16 with graphite shafts for £200. As I have a set of these hiding in a shed somewhere I lifted the 8 iron down to check what shaft was fitted, and I couldn't believe my eyes. The face and grooves of the club were caked with old grass and mud. The staff hadn't even bothered to clean them before puting them on display.
Anyone in the Edinburgh area should go and have a look.
(Incidentally, my son passed his test.)