Mark Sierak, a three-time Northern Ohio PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for Private Facilities, is the PGA head professional at Barrington Golf Club in Aurora, Ohio.
While playing in a Northern Ohio PGA Section event in mid-July 2014, I was greeted at the first tee by friend and sales representative Devon Holden. Devon has a handful of manufacturers she represents, but on that day it was something new: 2UNDR. When I saw she was giving out men’s underwear for tee gifts, I was a little intrigued, yet perplexed. How many times do you see that given out at a golf event? After I teed off, Devon asked me if I wanted a display for the golf shop; I agreed. My golf shop manager was a little concerned about the higher MSRP, so we discounted them at first to try to get some traffic.
A handful of our men’s membership tried them out, and so did I, so I could give feedback of how much I liked them. The product became pretty popular and with our Member-Member approaching, we decided to use the product for its tee gifts, ordering 90 pairs. The gifts were by far and above the most talked about item we have ever given out for an event. Throughout the evening I was hearing things like “Pro, I have my gift on” and “Pro, these things are unbelievably comfortable, I have to get more.” The golfers’ significant others came up to me asking how I ever came up with such an idea for a gift and I even have a handful of members wearing the underwear full time because of the comfort. After the tournament, I had many more 2UNDR orders at $19.50, 240 pairs were sold in less than four months. I had to bring in much more to handle the demand for them, especially because members were buying multiple pairs at a time. In total we made $5,000 in revenue from that product alone. I never would have thought that our biggest tee gift success story and seller in the golf shop last year would be men’s underwear.
If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email msierak@barringtongolf.org
Editor’s note: The above comments reflect the opinion and experiences of the submitting PGA Professional and are not endorsed by PGA Magazine or the PGA of America.