News
Potential for club sales up, says study by Golf Datatech
5/15/2002
A new survey of the nation's serious golfers indicates their appetite to buy equipment in 2002 is increasing – a bit of good news for an industry that could use some. ''Club sales in general over the past 18 months have been slow, and we believe a significant amount of the drag on the demand has been related to the serious golfer not buying new equipment at the same rate as they had previously,'' said John Krzynowek, a co-founder of Golf Datatech LLC. The Kissimmee, Fla.-based industry research firm conducted the survey for its report, Golf Products Attitude and Usage Study for the Spring of 2002. ''All measures from our recent study indicate these golfers, the ones who buy equipment, are interested in buying new irons, drivers and fairway woods over the next 12 months. This is a positive indicator for the industry heading into prime consumer buying season.'' For the specific purpose of gauging consumer buying interest, researchers surveyed 1,000 serious golfers, who on average, carried a handicap index of 16.3 and played 60.9 rounds per year. Among the findings: * 17 percent of survey participants said they will purchase a driver in the next 12 months. That number is an increase of 5 percentage points from last summer, and flat compared with spring 2001 data. * 15 percent of those polled said they plan to purchase fairway woods in the next 12 months -- a gain of 3 percentage points from last summer and spring. * 19 percent of those surveyed said they plan on buying a set of irons in the next 12 months, an increase of 5 percentage points from summer 2001 and 1 percentage point from spring 2001. Date Posted: 5/15/2002 www.golfweek.com
