Columnist Victoria Sun: Behind the scenes, equipment companies angle for exposure

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Victoria Sun's golf column appears Wednesday. Reach her at 259-4078 or victoria@lasvegassun.com

The $4.25 million Invensys Classic started this morning at the Desert Inn, TPC at Summerlin and Southern Highlands.

On Monday and Tuesday, a quiet contest was being waged in front of the driving range at the TPC.

The players involved weren't of the Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Jim Furyk sort. They were of the Titleist, Ping and Cleveland Golf variety.

At every PGA Tour stop all over the world, golf club manufacturers send representatives armed with their products to camp out on the driving range in hopes of attracting players to try out their equipment. The representatives set down their bags, one by one, and wait for inquisitive players to ask to use a club.

"It's a business built on relationships," Excedo Golf representative Paul Santos said. "They have to trust you that you're giving them something that will help them win.

"If they like it, they'll put it in play. That's what you want so you can go back and tell your key accounts that so and so uses your club."

Santos estimates that he works 35 to 40 events each year.

While many golfers have contracts for their irons and some have full-club contracts, the rest are free to test and try as many clubs as necessary. Santos said the woods and putters are usually the most requested items.

All a player has to do is ask.

At each tournament, players shimmy up to the reps and tell them what they are looking for, and the reps try to meet their needs before another one does.

"Timing is everything," Independent club consultant Bill Monk said. "Paul and I will try to be the last ones to leave because you never know when a player might come at the last minute and want a club because something isn't working for him.

"We have to be quick to provide it so he can take the club and test it out. The sooner we get it to him, the more (the) chances are that he'll get used to it. If he likes it, then most likely he will use it during the tournament."

Once a player puts in his order, the reps take different club components to the tour van, or their companies' own van, to build it to the exact specifications of the golfer.

"In the trailer, we can start from a raw head and make any adjustments a player wants," Cleveland Golf representative Rodney McDonald said. "We can start with a raw head, custom grind it. Change the grips, make the shafts shorter or longer. Everything."

If the rep doesn't have the right part at the site, it will be flown in directly from the factory, all at no cost to the golfer.

While Santos said some golfers abuse this privilege, ultimately the relationship benefits both the golfers and the manufacturers. Having a bag at a tournament gives the company more brand exposure at tournaments like the Invensys Classic where there is a pro-am format and lots of amateurs walking by.

"Indirectly, it will produce sales," Santos said. "This is good for product testing and feedback.

"We hear what the players like and don't like and ultimately, it gets reported back to our headquarters."

The Darrell Survey, an official account of what clubs players are using, is taken Thursdays and Fridays at the first tee. A person writes down exactly what clubs, balls and everything that is in a player's bag. The survey is then sold to manufacturers.

Monk said that having the pros give their feedback often has an influence on what is sold to the public.

"The pros play with pro equipment and the players play a version of that equipment," Monk said. "A change of a golf club occurs a lot of times because a player didn't like something."

Last year at the Invensys, formerly the Las Vegas Invitational, there were noticeably fewer representatives than this year.

But with the rapid growth of the multibillion dollar business, McDonald said missing an event would be detrimental to any company that can afford to be there.

"We used to skip events five years ago and maybe go to 30 a year," he said. "Now it is so competitive, we can't afford to do it.

"We would never skip an event again. Not only that, but we have so many golfers, we can't deprive them of the service each week."

The service, says PGA Tour pro Russ Cochran, is a godsend.

"It's a huge benefit for me because I'm left-handed and they're coming out with more and more left-handed stuff each week," Cochran said. "Not only new clubs, but all the shaft components and being able to get clubs how you like them exactly."

UNLV women's basketball coach Regina Miller and former Congressman Jim Bilbray were in the field of 144 players. The day concluded with a lunch and there was a silent auction of items including a foursome package to Lake Las Vegas and a Pau Serro Iron wood putter donated by Shadow Creek.