Golf Equipment Lease deals.

[Arthur Wedge]

Looks like it's actually a thing. Examples from the UK and NZ found from a 30 second google.

https://www.thegolfsubscriptioncompany.com/

https://igotgolf.com/

Both of them have the same level of clubs - Wilson Staff

Neither have any of the major manufacturers

Also what about custom fit etc

 

[Golf is fun]

Both of them have the same level of clubs - Wilson Staff

Neither have any of the major manufacturers

Also what about custom fit etc

No idea, I was just pointing out that the business is believed viable enough that people are doing it. Whether it will be successful or not who knows, although as I mentioned I suspect the biggest challenge is golfers emotional response about their kit being theirs and owning it, more than anything else.

It seems the most custom fit clubs are drivers and irons with estimates of 40-60% of those sold being fitted, so there is still a fairly big market for off the rack. As you move down the bag this drops to 30-40% for fairway woods, 20-35% for wedges and 15-30% for putters. Perhaps the smart business is to lease putters so people can actually try them out for a longer duration and then they start not working, just chop them in and rinse and repeat.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

No idea, I was just pointing out that the business is believed viable enough that people are doing it. Whether it will be successful or not who knows, although as I mentioned I suspect the biggest challenge is golfers emotional response about their kit being theirs and owning it, more than anything else.

It seems the most custom fit clubs are drivers and irons with estimates of 40-60% of those sold being fitted, so there is still a fairly big market for off the rack. As you move down the bag this drops to 30-40% for fairway woods, 20-35% for wedges and 15-30% for putters. Perhaps the smart business is to lease putters so people can actually try them out for a longer duration and then they start not working, just chop them in and rinse and repeat.

Looking at the websites neither are aimed on regular golfers and more people who are new to the sport and reducing outlay if someone is ensure if they pick up the sport

For someone regualry playing golf at a club etc won’t be using those companies

 

[Mel Smooth]

Hope he's got a part time job to help contribute to all these new clubs - got to teach them the value of money early.

Not at the minute. They’re not that easy to find at his age - not so many paper rounds or milk rounds going these days.

He can come to work with me the days he’s not playing golf for the rest of the school holidays.

 

[sunshine]

How do you mean the sheer cost?

Say you replace your irons every 2 years, based on golfbidder a set of Mizuno Pro 243 Irons from 2023 at 7/10 condition is worth £769.99 and cost £1,348.99 brand new, so assuming (big assumption) you can sell for golfbidder prices privately over 2 years you've lost £579 and effectively had £1,350 tied up for 2 years.

A finance model could offer something like £30 a month to lease this set and after 2 years you'd give them back and if you want to take out a deal on the latest kit at the time. By leasing you've lost £720 so on paper you appear to be £141 worse off. However, at the start of the deal you have nearly all the price of the irons sitting in the bank, if you could get 5% interest on that by investing it somewhere you'd end the deal with £736 in the bank, so it's only cost you £612, so you're paying £33 for the convenience of knowing you can have a new set in 2 years and no hassle selling. If you could get 6% you'd only be £11 worse off and if you could get 7% you'd actually be better off. For someone who changes clubs regularly and prefers to keep their money working in other investments this is actually not a bad model.

Obviously this example doesn't work for the lessor, but I recognise that a financing company working with OEMs could work out a profitable proposition.

This taps into the increasing trend for people to live beyond their means. Call it materialism, greed, or keeping up with the Joneses, lots of people want to show off they have new shiny stuff.

I think there's a market for this - it's probably quite niche as golf is popular with affluent people, but definitely a market.

 

[Golf is fun]

This taps into the increasing trend for people to live beyond their means. Call it materialism, greed, or keeping up with the Joneses, lots of people want to show off they have new shiny stuff.

This is unfortunately always the way with financing, you have those that can afford things but use financing wisely to increase their wealth, and those who use it to get something they can't really afford making themselves poorer.

 

[elmoag]

The difficulty in this concept is customisation.
If you are an avid enough golfer to contemplate leasing clubs then you will desire them to be your spec.
The business model for the returned clubs offset against the income is a tricky playing field.
A major brand could have a go at it potentially but there is a lot of variables in there.