"A Nice Place To Be" - 5 Questions with Wilson Golf Chief Tim Clarke

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

 

"A nice place to be."

 

That's how Wilson Golf chief Tim Clarke describes where his brand is right now: profitable with a growing market share and equipment that matches up with anyone's. 

 

I was fortunate enough to spend a day with Tim last December, and he shares his often frank and always insightful thoughts with MyGolfSpy, on topics ranging from the Wilson brand and the current, crazy golf equipment market place to why an average golfer should consider Wilson Staff and the high cost of "male jewelry." 

 

 

MGS 5Q's: There's this impression that Wilson Golf is some gigantic company, and it's part of a worldwide multi-billion dollar sports conglomerate (Amer Sports-Finland). But the truth is Wilson Golf itself is, comparatively speaking, a small company, isn't it?
 

Tim Clarke: We run like a little company, we really do. But since I've been here we've invested multi-millions of dollars in R&D. We put money back where it mattered. We don't have a lot of business managers, so it's a very streamlined on the business side.

 

But we've added R&D, we've added CAD, we've added all the things to be world class. We have 35 sales people out there, and we just added 7 more and we have an offer out for a national accounts manager. So we're spending where it changes the game. 

 

We haven't made the investments into the business side, which has strained my team because we're still running very lean there.  But to be profitable in golf, it's kinda how you gotta do it right now.

 

So, in our business, who we are today? We're a world-class golf company. We're global. We're the #4 iron brand in the UK, which is the 3^rd largest golf market in the world. We're growing in the US.  We've worked very diligently. (2014 was) a profitable year for Wilson Golf, which is an unbelievable accomplishment in these market conditions.

 

MGS 5Q's: Take an average golfer – why should he consider Wilson Staff?

 

Tim Clarke: Well first and foremost, from a consumer needs standpoint – we do the best job of explaining what our products do.  If you come in for a fitting with Wilson, we're going to talk about Distance, Control or Feel (D, C or F). Most consumers can get that immediately. They understand who they are.

If I say, okay – here's our three categories – where do you see yourself? “Oh, I'm a distance guy, I gotta hit it further.”  Or “I used to play the blades but I'm struggling, I think I need control.”  So first, we can get you into the right equipment fast without a whole lot of marketing mumbo-jumbo.  It's F, C and D. It's right in your face, it's simple.
 

And #2 is, quite honestly, we are the best makers of irons in the world. Brendan Steele joined us because he's said he's never played a better iron. Ricky Barnes joined us because he said he's never played a better iron.  Kevin Streelman went from 282nd in the world to 36th because he says he's never played a better iron.  So why play us? Because we make the best irons in the world, and we have for 100 years.  I really think it's that straight-forward.

In the process, we make world-class metal woods, too. Are we known for metal woods? Not yet. Will we be? I believe so. I think we're going to climb that mountain, but I think the biggest thing is get your house in order in an area where you can take ownership and be successful, and then build around it. That's what we're doing.  We have this low compression golf ball and we have irons and that's where our investments are going.  We're still doing great things around it.

So back to your question: Why Wilson? It's a brand you can trust. We run 2-year product cycles, and you don't have to worry about paying $799 for an FG Tour iron set and it being $399 in 6 months.

 

 

MGS 5Q's: You did have to discount the M3 woods line. What happened there?

 

Tim Clarke: The M3 woods were aggressively discounted because there was a slight flaw in the sound, and we got consumer feedback that the sound wasn't right. We could have stayed where we were, but we had retail partners saying they needed to get out of them because they weren't moving, so we did discount them.

 

Now make no mistake - that was painful for me. I would much rather have not done it, but in that case the sound issue on the driver started to become a nuisance. And it was one of those things – this is the first time we went into the weight ports and adjustability – they just didn't do as well as we had hoped. That plus the fact that everyone flushed drivers out last summer – that killed us. 

 

When you think of the bigger challenge, it was all the new stuff that came out when M3 came out was already being liquidated in June.  We didn't do that, and so we got pressure from our big partners to help get out of it to clear the runway for the new stuff.  Everybody kinda looked at the 2014 golf year as “let's just clean the slate.” We won't be replacing the M3 this year, but it's going to be when it's ready and when it's right. We're looking at 2016 for that, since we're running 2-year cycles.

 

The M3 Fairway Woods and Hybrids actually did pretty well; it was the driver that was slow. But when we were at $349 and you think about what came out. TaylorMade all of a sudden had their new JetSpeed dropped down to $199.  You hate to call it a perfect storm, but you had a horrific spring in the Midwest and Northeast, so when the product went in, no one's stuff sold. You had the leader in the category – TaylorMade, discounting aggressively. You had Callaway doing some giveaways.  We were trying to stay disciplined and tight in our product line and it just didn't work. So we did adjust to the market conditions.

 

The thing is, when Taylormade is discounting, they're in a position where they're usually trying to get something else in. I'm doing it out of respect for our business partners. I understand they can't sit on inventory and we need to help them move through. So whether it's a golf professional at his shop or whether it's a PGA SuperStore, these are guys you have to count on and work with, and that's one of the things that makes the business tougher. 

 

As the equipment has migrated from the golf professional to the off-course guy, it's changed the way it's done. And TaylorMade and Dick's led that charge with $499 to $149 in 7 to 8 months. It's a tough game to follow. Over time it does catch up to you, and we probably saw some of that last year with the backup of TaylorMade equipment at Dick's.

 

 

MGS 5Q's: Availability---solid, world-class products are fantastic, but guys gotta hit em. I can't find a Wilson club in Minneapolis...
 

Tim Clarke: Yeah, the one place we have not been able to get going with is with Golf Galaxy, unfortunately. We were huge with Golf Galaxy before Dick's bought ‘em. Obviously Dick's has private label brands they like to market, and that makes it tough for that middle price-point guy. But if you look at our growth, we're in Golfsmith stores now – not all of them, but we're growing. We're in all PGA Superstores –we're strong there. We're in a majority of the Edwin Watts locations; we just put a territory manager in Minnesota that's doing a heck of a job so we'll be in more places.
 

My biggest frustration probably today is the distribution thing, because we do know we have people – I see the emails all the time – “hey, I really want to get this, but I can't find it.” It is something we work on, and when I get those e-mails I very happily send them to the presidents and the managing directors of the brands and say hey, here's a consumer sending us a note. It's a process.

 

The vocal people are usually the ones that like to complain. When I fly United, and I have a great experience, I never say a word. But the day my flight is cancelled and the put me in a line, I'm on the phone. So I always use that as my benchmark.

 

If you think about business, that's how consumers are. I'm a consumer and I think the biggest thing we try to do at Wilson Golf is to try to get everyone to think like a consumer. And I always try to put myself in that spot – if I was a consumer and I hit Duo, would I like Duo?  What would I think of it? Maybe it would be a brand issue, maybe I wouldn't think it's as “premium” as I'd want it.  But if I have a great experience and it does all these things I want, I'll get over that. 

 

It's like flying Southwest. Not the most prestigious thing to fly, but they have take-offs and landings, they're safe and they give you a great value. 
 

Can Wilson Golf be the Southwest of the golf Industry? I tend to think so. I think there's a market for it. World class products that you don't have to break the bank for - $599 to $899, and now we have the blade at $999, but we're not $1,500 to get set up with a set of irons.

 

 

MGS 5Q's: Well, let me think like a consumer for a minute. In a consumer's mind, how can an iron that costs $799 be as good as an iron that costs $999? If the $999 iron is discounted to $799, I'm getting a deal, but the perception must be that the $799 iron's not going to be as good.

 

Tim Clarke: One of the big analogies we use in our office is the car industry. Would you like to buy a BMW? Yeah, sure. Do you want to pay $75,000 for it? No, probably not. Would you buy it used at $30,000? Ahh, maybe. 

 

But look what Hyundai did.  They came in and made world class cars at a price people like. There's a process to getting there, but I think the biggest thing is – and this is what we work at with all of our partners where we are stocked – is put us in the simulator!

If you really want to test something, if you really want to get the guy who wants to spend $1,000 on his “male jewelry,” you're not going to change that guy.  But the player who wants performance, hey, throw us in the mix.  And I'll tell you, the D200 irons - the CT's on the D200's with the new speed sole slot and the technology inside of it – we're getting CT's that are closer to fairway woods. We're comfortable in the fact that at $899 or $599 we're going to be middle market, and we're comfortable that there are enough players in the middle market that we can be successful.

We want to be the dependable brand that gives you great service and performance. Like Southwest – look at me; I'm a Southwest guy- that's a badge of honor. That's what we want – we want Wilson guys.  Our tour guys are like that. Look at Ricky and Kevin and Brendan- these guys are excited about being part of something different, and that's the kind of energy we want. That's really where we're going. It's getting players that want to be here.

 

We talk one-guy-at-a-time all the time. You know, it's the demo event – you get the guy who gets the chance to talk to an experienced Wilson fitter or trainer. We love all-company demo days. They're our favorite. You know – play ‘em all! You think Ping is a better iron? Go hit it, and then come back here and hit ours.

 

I gotta say, there were a few years early – around 2002-2003, where going to an all-company demo day was not a good thing for us. Now, I'm telling you, give me an all-company demo day and give me a fair assessment of how our product performs? We'll go up against anybody – no doubt it my mind. 

 

And that's a nice place to be in this business. 

[JBones]

It's a good year for Wilson.  The are trying to reestablish their brand and their Tour staff seems to be in contention every week.

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

It's a good year for Wilson.  The are trying to reestablish their brand and their Tour staff seems to be in contention every week.

 

IMO this year's equipment lineup is as good as anyone's.