REPORT
The International Clubmaker’s Guild
At The Boston Seaport Golf Expo 2010

LOCATION:

Boston Seaport World Trade Center
200 Seaport Boulevard
Boston, MA 02210

DATES & TIMES:

GUILD PARTICIPANTS:

The following Guild members attended for the full day as indicated below:

PURPOSE OF THE GUILD PARTICIPATION IN THE EXPO:

The purpose of the Guild exhibiting at the Boston Expo was:

1. Bring the Guild name in front of the golfing public in the New England area.
2. Educate the golfing public in the characteristics of properly fitted clubs.
3. Help the golfing public locate a Guild member
4. Educate the golfing public to look for Guild “certified” clubmakers and fitters.
5. Show the golfing public that the Guild can help them learn how to make and fit their own clubs.

SUMMARY:

Seven volunteer members (and one employee of Frank Viola) of the Guild manned a booth at the Boston Seaport Golf Show on Friday 5 March 2010 through Sunday March 2010.
Our booth was donated to the Guild by Golf Pride with the approval of the Expo. The Expo attendance was not available at the end of the show but the minimum estimates, based on last years numbers was 8000.
The purpose of the Guild exhibiting at the Expo was fully achieved.

DISCUSSION:

I believe it was several months ago when Bob Dobbs suggested that the Guild could become an exhibitor at the Boston Seaport Golf Expo. Bob had talked with Jim Smith (440)343-7018, the head of the Expo and Marty Burke (617)416-2122, the regional rep for Golf Pride.

The original scenario was that Golf Pride would share a portion of their booth with the Guild. Golf Pride would give one new grip to each attendee to the Expo. We would, in turn, install that grip on that persons club.

For an estimate of the amount of solvent and tape we would need a call was made to Tim Hewitt for his advice. Tim made a few calls and mentioned that Brampton would donate a gallon of their solvent, a sprayer and seven rolls of tape. In return we would display their banner at our booth. Tim, through My Ostrich, would donate the shipping.

On the Guild’s forum we asked for volunteers and re-gripping benches.

During a call to Jim Smith we asked what the expected attendance figures would be based on the last few years. Jim said that they expected a minimum of 8,000 for the three days.

At that point, we had only my regripping bench. It would be physically impossible for us to put on 8000 grips during that time frame. After a call to Marty Burke, cooler minds prevailed. Marty was going to bring only 400 grips. We would divide these between the three days and the first attendees through the gate would get the grip. After a quick call, Jim Smith changed the advertising reflecting the amount of grips that would be given out.

Just a quick note about getting around in Boston to the Seaport Expo Center. Many in the world have heard about the boondoggle called the “Big Dig”. Forget about the cost and the major mismanagement that occurred during the “Big Dig”. The Big Dig allowed us to get deep into South Boston and come up almost next to the Expo Center. Rather than driving along narrow winding streets made from old cow paths that always seem to be one way in the wrong way we scooted along at 45 to 65 miles per hour. Thus, we were able to arrive at our destination in just a few minutes rather than hours. Thank you Massachusetts taxpayers.

The first day we arrived at about 9:00am and after four trips to the car we had everything set up. Our spot was a 12’ X 12’ “corner lot right next to Golf Pride. Rick Canter had a large commercial grade banner made that had the name of the Guild and our web site. A second banner has pictures of several component heads and also lists the 21 features we measure on each club. Rick’s 8” long table went across the front while a 4’ table was placed along the side.

On each table we had a laptop computer that were displaying the Google map with the location of all our members. We also had Tom Wishon’s 12 Myths books for sale. On Friday and Saturday Jim Warren brought in a big blue loft and lie machine, a MOI machine and a swing weight scale. As an “attention getter” I had a 1000cc Golfsmith driver.

While I expected the “wise” comments about the driver and I expected to use it as a conversation starter about club making I didn’t expect all the attention the hand sizing gage for grip fitting would generate.

The attendance each day seemed to be the same. That is, as soon as the door was opened we started to see attendees. This continued all day until a peak was reached about 2:00pm. The number of people coming by slowly reduced until the end of the show. During the last couple of hours of the show we would then have several lulls in the activity. During that time we seemed to have good club related discussions among ourselves.

During those three days we met several categories of people:

1. Those who walked right by without even reading what we were about.
   This category included spouses with glazed over eyes.
2. Those who would climb over anyone standing there to get their “free” grip.
3. Those who were very intrigued about the process of re-gripping.
4. Those who were interested in the items we measure in fitting and making clubs.
5. Those who spend a lot of time questioning just about every step for fitting and club making.
6. We had one person who had a special golf related thing that he invented. I’m still wondering why he told us about it.

We spent a lot of effort with 3, 4 and 5 explaining the fine points of the Guild.

GOALS:

Bring the Guild name in front of the golfing public in the New England area
Every attendee had a chance to see and question us about the Guild.

Educate the golfing public in the characteristics of properly fitted clubs.
Every one who stopped to talk to us heard how we go about clubmaking and fitting and why they do not get this service from the “big box store”.

Help the golfing public locate a Guild member
Using the Google map we asked where they lived and told them where the closest member was. At the end of each day we put a message on the Guild forum listing the contacts for each member. A contact was a person who took the effort to write down the Guild member’s name and phone number (we provided the pen and paper)

Educate the golfing public to look for Guild “certified” clubmakers and fitters.
We explained that club makers and fitters could be certified through the Guild. It was also mentioned why you want a certified craftsman.

Show the golfing public that the Guild can help them learn how to make and fit their own clubs.
We mentioned that the list of study materials is available from the Guild. It was emphasized that their questions will be answered by clubmakers from around the world on the forum.

MOST IMPORTANT:

Perhaps the most important thing that I observed during these three days was the discussions between our Guild members.

Perhaps we should consider using this show next year as a New England Chapter meeting.

NEXT YEAR:

We have been invited back to display at next year’s Golf Expo. A proposal will be submitted to the Board of Directors sometime during the next two months.

Submitted by Jim Cook on behalf of the Guild’s Boston Seaport Golf Expo 2010 Team.

Photos taken by Frank Viola: