Review Sites

I have a few questions/comments about golf review sites. We need to get more exposure for GRIP Golf. We always need more exposure, media, attention, buyers, friends etc. We also like ideas. Well, we like good ideas.
Anyhow, we are going to encourage our customers to write unbiased reviews of our clubs. However, we need to figure out the best review sites for clubs. Here are the candidates:
1. Amazon.com - we are listed on Amazon, sales have been slow. I think our Amazon.com sales rank just behind the Michael Jackson Home Face Distorter Kit at number at #50,995. The good news is that our Amazon sales really stand to improve. Last year when we went live on Amazon we encouraged our customers to add reviews for us and it went pretty well.
2. Golf-Gear-Review.com - they have a 4 out of 10 Google page rank. I have not used them myself. Are they reliable? Do golfers visit the site? We do have one GRIP Driver review already on the site
3. www.golfreview.com 3 out of 10 Google page rank. I know of them but once again, I don't know if people really use them.
4. Epinions.com - I hear these guys are the best. We have requested that they add us to their epinions golf category. Hopefully we get the respect.
5. Any other ideas?
Please let us know your opinions. We are going to send a note to our customers offering a sleeve of balls for a review on one of these sites. The note will only go to existing customers and not just people looking for a free sleeve of balls. Thanks, we appreciate your feedback.

Hooters Magazine

Unfortunately I am in New York City today. Why is that so unfortunate? Is it because:

1. no golf?





2. too humid?





3. I dont't like crowds?





4. none of the above

If you answered #4 you are correct. The reason I am unhappy about being in New York is because I can't get the latest edition of Hooters Magazine anywhere around here. Not only is this month's Hooters supposed to be filled with information about Wings, Beer, and photos of the fine Hooters waitstaff but it features GRIP Hypersteel Hybrids!

I believe the good people at Hooters sent me a few copies. The magazine is tough to find in the city very tough.

thank you Hooters!

Free Clubs

I have been getting a lot of questions from people about why we don't give away "Free Clubs" to help promote our company and brand.

We ordered a few "free clubs" from some other golf companies. We paid no less than $20 for each free club. Based on the clubs themselves we estimate each club costs about $5-6.75 after assembly costs. This is based on the materials, design quality, and the shaft and grip.

If my basic math correct, I will assume the following:
Cost of club: $6.75
Cost of Box: $1.50 (this assumes they use good boxes)
Average cost of shipping $7.50 (we assume they have the same rates as us if not better) this is from MA to CA.

I have to be honest. I can't compete with this model. At $20-$25 we would go out of business on free wedges. Each GRIP wedge would sell for a substantial loss. At $49.95 our CNC milled Wedge is a tremendous value. At 3 for $99 they are an amazing value. When they go on sale they are unbeatable.

The moral of the story is:

1. Nobody is giving away clubs - the $20-$25 in shipping and handling more than covers the cost of the product, shipping, and handling.



2. giving away your product away for less than it's cost is not a strong business model.



3. I am confident that those who offer "free clubs" make money after shipping and handling.

I am going to belly up. From now until July 1, I will offer GRIP CNC Milled Wedges for $30 each (+$7.95 shipping) if you use our coupon code 'freewedge'

For $5-$15 more than the "Free Wedge offers" we will send you the best sand, gap, or lob wedge you have ever used. I promise. If you don't like it, send it back and we'll give you your money back.

If someone offered you a "Free Car" or a "Free Haircut" would you raise an eyebrow? How about if the Haircut had fees of $12 or the car had an "aquisition charge" of $7,000?

Live Baby Live!

The new gogrip.com site went up last weekend without a hitch! It was a little stressful Friday night because everyone involved departed for the weekend with the words, "Don't worry"

Mike, our club developer: "don't worry, the clubs are clearing customs as we speak, we will have them for assembly Monday afternoon"

Irene, our Media relations person: "We'll have all the promos and press releases set by Monday morning, don't worry (she was actually pretty much done Friday night)"

Wakefly, our web developers "Don't worry, the new site will go live over the weekend. It will all be fine"

Most companies would have their clubs in and their site up well in advance of a launch like this. Not me, not us. The good news was that everyone was true to their word. We are assembling and packing GRIP OWT Wide Sole Irons as I write this.

Everyone did a great job. We are rally happy about the new clubs.

Cover of the April 2007 Entrepreneur Magazine

"Get a GRIP"

My brother bought me a subscription to Entrepreneur magazine as a gift for my birthday last year. Lass than 12 months later GRIP golf gets a mention on the cover of the April 2007 edition. I am just elated right now.

Long awaited GRIP 460CC Driver photos

Here are some photos of the new driver. Release date is set for April 2...

Tony K from The Golf Space and Hooked on Golf will have reviews posted next week. We are really happy with the way this product came out and the early feedback we have received.

Less than 2 weeks until we launch the new clubs!

We are less than 2 weeks from launching the new Drivers, Fairway Woods, and Irons. In typical GRIP fashion we are doing a million things at the last minute. We have clubs launching in less than 2 weeks and our photographers will be done this Sunday with the photos for the site, media and the hundreds of other things we need photos for. Our web developers can't start adding the new products to gogrip.comwithout photos so they will start development changes on the site Monday. We are also still editing copy for the site. However, we expect everything and everyone to execute smoothly and launch on time. The official media launch is April 9th. We will put pout our press releases and send clubs to reviewers etc. Everything will be available for purchase on gogrip.com on April 4th or 5th. We will send an email to our customers with "pre-launch" savings.

Our ultimate goal for 2007 was:
February 2007: Perfect samples for photographers
Early March 2007: product samples avaialble for media and reviewers etc.
End of March 2007: all products in warehouse ready to assemble and ship

What actually happened:
February 2007: Sample drivers show up in wrong color, we get a final 3-wood but no 5-wood or 7-wood, full iron set is blank with no medallions (logos) in cavity.

Early March: We finally get everything from our casting houses/factories. Relatively unhappy photographers start work. We give them 12 days - I escape to Aruba with the wife and kids before the busy season starts.

Mid - late March: Casting house that makes irons notifies us they will be shipping a week late. They provide no explanation. This is referred to as the Chinese New Year delay. All of China halts work for the holiday. Most comapnies order early enough to have their products shipped in advance of the holiday.

April 2-9: All clubs will ship into our Hartford Warehouse via super expensive air freight so we do not have to further delay our launch and we can start selling the new clubs. We will stay up all night assembling and filling orders for 6 days.


This is the life of the "small guy" in the golf business. My wife recently asked me why we don't start working with the casting houses and developing product earlier? Simply stated, we are all assembling, talking to customers, selling, packing boxes and dealing with our business all summer. Trust me, I have spent many a late night folding boxes and looking for a box of 56 degree LH wedges on the bottom of a pallet. Everyone at GRIP works hard and pitches in with whatever is needed when it needs to be done.

In August we finally sit down, share ideas, look at samples and start corresponding with the casting houses. Even if we had our act together earlier I think we would incur the same delays. Our vendors make clubs for Nike, Orlimar, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ping and others. I am pretty sure that our small volumes and lack of clout would move us to the back of the pack at all of the factories no matter when we put the order in.

As much as all of this stresses me out, I am really happy with the new products, I am very excited about the 2007 season and believe it or not, we are working on some 2008 designs already.

Check out our casting house photos.