When an economy struggles, one of the first major areas to get hit is leisure. You know, places like the golf course.
It’s hard sometimes to justify that extra trip to the greens, and even then, spending too much in the pro shop there, if anything at all. That has made keeping pro shops in country clubs difficult for many golf courses, which gave Land O’ Lakes resident Steve Pitts an idea.
The owner of Steve’s World of Golf in Hudson, Pitts has spent years welcoming golfers to his shop. But he wasn’t really on the golf course — until now.
“I, like others, hurt the golf industry by pulling golfers away from their golf course to shop at shops like mine,” Pitts said. “My kids are in college now. Instead of retiring, I have decided to help the total golf industry by building this business model.”
That business model is supplying pro shops at golf courses around the state. Pitts will open a location with between $60,000 and $100,000 of merchandise, and hand-delivering shipments from his own 4,000-square foot warehouse.
The process, Pitts said, removes the overhead costs and hassle of running a pro shop, while still allowing the club to make money on every sale. Updating inventory and returning defective merchandise is easy, and the course isn’t financially responsible for items that don’t sell.
And that’s good, because having a deficient pro shop could hurt a golf course’s reputation.
“One of the first things you notice, if not the first thing you notice when you come to a golf course, is the pro shop,” said Jan-Michael Norman, a club professional at The Groves Golf & Country Club in Land O’ Lakes. “A lot of golf courses generally have one or two major brands, and that’s all they’ll carry.”
The Groves doesn’t have that problem because, like 16 other golf courses in Florida and Georgia, Steve’s World of Golf stocks it. Working with the store has allowed the pro shop to become more competitive, Norman said, while freeing him of the time-consuming duties usually required to stock and manage it.
These pro shops also benefit from advertising Steve’s World of Golf does, as well as having a more diverse shop with better choices and prices. The golf courses staff it with their own personnel, so no jobs are lost in the process, either.
Pitts believes he’s improving each club’s image, providing better value to their members and visitors, and saving them time — all while decreasing their risk and increasing their bottom line.
“All they have to do is just run their operation,” Pitts said. “They make twice the net profit with our business model than they could ever dream of making on their own.”
And that means no more discounting items that don’t sell, or having to fight with vendors over defective merchandise. The pro shop, at least at The Groves, is running smoother than it ever has before.
“We can accommodate pretty much every need of all the golfers who come through our doors as far as price, while still giving a quality product,” Norman said.
