Equipment
How this golf apparel site is giving 9 percent of each sale to charity
The online golf apparel retailer is in a tough position, facing competitors who offer deep discounts off the bat and manufacturers increasingly less willing to offer accounts online.
It’s in this environment that Golf Pro Wears has entered the marketplace buoyed by a unique concept: the Give Back 9, which sends nine percent of every sale to a charity associated with a golfer.
For example, if you purchase a pair of Adidas AdiPower Boost shoes, Golf Pro Wears will send nine percent of the sale to Jason Day’s Brighter Days Foundation.
Hence the company slogan: Look great and donate.
“We obviously want to sell tons of golf apparel,” said Co-Founder Robert Huck. “But we also want to generate tons of revenue for our charities. If we can do both, then it’s going to be very exciting for all of us at GolfProWears.”
I had a chance to speak with company CMO Jeff Johnson about how the company arrived at its current business model and how the partnerships work.
Tell me about the initial concept and how you came up with the Give Back 9.
J.J.: The initial concept was sort of a ShoeDazzle platform. The idea was to do a male-orientated golf spinoff on that: every month a golf shirt would arrive or something. It transitioned from just golf apparel—there was always going to be a charity spin on it, thinking about a percent of sales going to charity.
We looked more to scripting and selling the scripted collections. We probably spent six months trying to know ahead of time what the scripts would be, so you could buy the hole collections or just a piece. We had even looked into giving the caddie a few bucks and he could send us a text every day. What we found out was, a lot of times manufacturers send players a kit—five pair of pants, 12 shirts—and a player grabs what he feels like wearing.
The pain-in-the-a** factor was huge with the concept. We had a consultant. We met with him, and he thought it was confusing. But he said, “This charity thing, I think that’s the point of difference you have in the industry.” We had come to a decision internally that if we could get some awareness from some of the charities and players, we could leave with 10 percent going to charity, and I thought what about nine and what if we called it the Give Back 9?
How do the partnerships develop?
J.J.: We start with the brands we want to work with. We look at who are the next brands. Once we have a brand, we’ll start conversations with the brand to see if it’s an easy deal. Do they give an account to anybody? What hoops are there to jump through? Next, we’ll look at the players on their roster. And then, we’ll sort of prioritize those players based on popularity.
Then, we’ll focus in on one and see who their charity is. Do they have their own foundation? Are they partnering with somebody like St. Jude? After we have a preliminary discussion, we jump right over to the charity.
Editor’s Note: Presently, the company has lined up golfer-charity-brand combinations such as Jason Day; the Brighter Days Foundation; Adidas, Ernie Els; Els for Autism; the Ernie Els Collection, Bubba Watson; Oakley; the Bubba Watson Foundation. Further partnerships are forthcoming.
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Whats in the Bag
Taylor Pendrith’s winning WITB: 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Driver: Ping G430 LST (9 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Accra TZ Six ST
3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 80 6.5 TX
7-wood: Ping G425 Max (20.5 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 90 6.5 TX
Irons: Srixon ZX (2, 3) Buy here, Srixon ZX7 Mk II (4-9) Buy here.
Shafts: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 6.5 90, 6.5 100 (2-3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 6 Tour Rack (46-10 Mid, 52-10 Mid, 56-10 Mid, 60-9 Full) Buy here.
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
Putter: Odyssey Jailbird Versa Buy here.
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Flatso 1.0
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
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Whats in the Bag
Ben Kohles WITB 2024 (May)
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (9 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X
Hybrid: Titleist TSR3 (19 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue HB 9 X
Irons: Titleist T200 (4, 5), Titleist 620 CB (6-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.0
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F, 50-12F, 54-12D, 60)
Shafts: Project X 6.0
Putter: Scotty Cameron P5 prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Check out more in-hand photos of Ben Kohles’ clubs in the forums.
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Whats in the Bag
Kris Kim WITB 2024 (May)
- Kris Kim what’s in the bag accurate as of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. More photos from the event here.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @7)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (15 degrees @13.5)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (2, 4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX (2), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 X
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-09SB, 56-12SB, 60-11TW)
Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 WV 125
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord
Check out more in-hand photos of Kris Kim’s equipment here.
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Jm
Aug 11, 2015 at 12:07 pm
9% of the entire sale or 9% of the profit?
If it is 9% of the entire sale then I commend them for their efforts.
JM