Former Taylormade R&D VP is Getting into the Direct to Consumer Golf Ball Business

[Mr. Desmond]

Lol urban dictionary. But yeah Colonel Klink yelled it often.

And "schnell" had the same meaning in my two semesters of German Eins and Zwei.

Not that I recall much of it ... other than thinking of Colonel Klink.

Might be a great name for the ball - Snell Speed Tour (say it fast 3X)

[Club Rat]

Hello Dean, glad to have you on the TST.

Look forward to the interesting concepts you can bring to the site.

Good luck with your products and glad to see an individual set up against the major manufactures.

Also, thank you for providing your products to the TST members for evaluation.

Club Rat

[turtleback]

Just joined the forum, and thanks for having me... Appreciate all the comments and look forward to the testing you guys are going to do.. I had no idea on the name meaning "fast", but like it.. haha.. it is just my last name..   maybe we can look to use this later in future designs.  Being a small start up company, I certainly appreciate the feedback, and like to use this for future designs as well.. If I can help answer any technical questions, I will do my best for Snell golf balls or any other golf ball technology you may wonder about...thanks again..

Great to have you here and best of luck with the new venture.

Will we be seeing your balls in stores at some point (understanding that getting into retail stores is not that easy) or do you plan to stay online only?

[SnellGolf]

Thanks.. For now, we are going to be able to keep the price lower to give the savings back to the consumers by selling direct on line.. We have included free shipping in this price to help the consumer as well.  Things have been going great.  I never say never, but at this time want to make sure we start off doing things right.  Being small and start up, I think that if we try to do too many things too soon, we lose the focus and make mistakes. I have a lot of respect for sales reps, country clubs, PGA professionals, and big box stores.  Servicing everyone correctly will take some time and planning..

[Mr. Desmond]

Thanks.. For now, we are going to be able to keep the price lower to give the savings back to the consumers by selling direct on line.. We have included free shipping in this price to help the consumer as well.  Things have been going great.  I never say never, but at this time want to make sure we start off doing things right.  Being small and start up, I think that if we try to do too many things too soon, we lose the focus and make mistakes. I have a lot of respect for sales reps, country clubs, PGA professionals, and big box stores.  Servicing everyone correctly will take some time and planning..

Smart.

Hit all the basics, cover them well, and in detail, then comes the next strategic move.

[iacas]

@snellgolf , I have a question. Or three.

In the patent minefield that is the golf ball industry, how difficult was it for you to create a premium quality ball while avoiding all of the patents?

Do you think that the patents are a good percentage of the cost of the golf balls from TaylorMade, Titleist, Callaway, etc.?

How are you, with lower volume, able to create a Tour ball that ships for $31.99 when I can't go to a sporting goods store and pay less than $45 for a big-name premium ball?

P.S. As I mentioned above, and in the email to you, the ball was great in some testing I've done. Best luck to you.

[Club Rat]

@snellgolf , just wanted to add to my earlier post, I emailed my friend who is a Bridgestone Rep back in February about your new products.

His reply was that he knew you had been with TM and spoke very highly of your talents and that you are well respected by your peers in the industry.

Club Rat

[SnellGolf]

@snellgolf, just wanted to add to my earlier post, I emailed my friend who is a Bridgestone Rep back in February about your new products.

His reply was that he knew you had been with TM and spoke very highly of your talents and that you are well respected by your peers in the industry.

Club Rat

Thank you...

[SnellGolf]

@snellgolf, I have a question. Or three.

In the patent minefield that is the golf ball industry, how difficult was it for you to create a premium quality ball while avoiding all of the patents?

Do you think that the patents are a good percentage of the cost of the golf balls from TaylorMade, Titleist, Callaway, etc.?

How are you, with lower volume, able to create a Tour ball that ships for $31.99 when I can't go to a sporting goods store and pay less than $45 for a big-name premium ball?

P.S. As I mentioned above, and in the email to you, the ball was great in some testing I've done. Best luck to you.

You are correct in that the golf ball world is a patent minefield... I wish I had a dollar for every patent that I have read over the last 25 years...It is never easy to create new things, but having the experience certainly helps...I do not think patents are a big cost in the golf ball price..  Big companies have big expenses.. tour contracts are very expensive.. big marketing budgets.. TV and advertising is also very expensive.  and to be honest, R&D; can also be expensive to make lots of protos and testing.  Then you have to add in the sales force and the retailer mark ups... these expenses are why the prices vary from company to company... Also, the type of ball and processes used can vary in cost.. some companies use materials that can be re-heated and used again, while others use materials that cross link during processing, so if a mistake is made in any manner, the ball is scrapped... Material used can also be a cost difference.  There are many types of rubber systems used in cores.. some materials can be half the cost of the good ones...

I have not cheated in any materials or processes to make these balls... They are what I consider to be the best available all put into one ball.. so the cost is not cheap at all... however, I do not have big tour contracts, big marketing budgets, big advertisement budgets, and today do not have a sales force or have to raise price to have retailers profit included. so I passed all those savings back to the consumer, and hope guys like you try the ball, and help spread the word..  I have the outmost respect for the pro shops, PGA professionals, sales reps and of course many good friends on all the major tours, and maybe someday we can be there.. but I want to make sure that we start out small and do things right...establish some credibility with a new brand, then maybe we can start to grow and do things the right way... when you try to do too much too early, you make a lot of mistakes...my goal is to minimize these while we start up.. sorry for long answer but hope answered your questions....

[Hardballs]

Do you ship to the uk??

[SnellGolf]

Do you ship to the uk??

We are not currently set up for distribution to the UK.. however, I do think that if you wanted to use the website and try to enter your address, the UPS shipping rates for international are in there.. i believe they will be expensive, so not sure if helps for multiple dozens... we can also look into shipping via USPS using international rates.. you can email your request to look into it to service@snellgolf.com... hopefully one day we are all set up to ship everywhere..

[imsys0042]

Just ordered 2 more dozen.   Finally got decent enough weather to feel normal again and try something new.   I think they are very good.   I haven't hit enough to get a sense of whether it might fly further or launch better than what I normally use, but I really like the feel around the greens.   Which is very important to me because my greens have a lot of slope on them and I want to feel as comfortable as possible.

[onkey]

@snellgolf

Have you considered offering personalization options?

[mchepp]

I will be purchasing a dozen of these. I am looking forward to trying them.

[SnellGolf]

@onkey. Yes. We are in the process of qualifying the process now. Should be ready in a few weeks if all goes as planned.

[SnellGolf]

I get asked alot of times how players should test golf balls... today, we make tour balls and 2-pc balls with the same spin and launch, so they all go around the same distance... but they are truly different from 100 yards and in.. on full sandwedges, tour balls can have twice the spin over some 2-pc balls, thus resulting in more control into the greens.. and average players miss 16 or so greens a around (18 handicappers) so effectively they have 16 or so short par three's to play... so you shoud want the ball to have more spin on these shots to help stop closer to the pin, and maytbe cut some of the 3 putts down... maybe even make a few up and downs to save par or bogey... take the various golf ball models out on a course.. play 4 or 5 holes from 100 yards and in.. hit several shot.. 100, 70, 30 yards, chips putts... get a goof feel of how they react or feel or spin... find the ball you like on these shots, and trust that they will all go similar off the driver... you play most of your golf around the greens, so heres where you can take shots off your game using technology... if you walk off the course saying you cannot tell any difference from tour balls and 2pc balls, then buy the cheapest one...

[turtleback]

I get asked alot of times how players should test golf balls... today, we make tour balls and 2-pc balls with the same spin and launch, so they all go around the same distance... but they are truly different from 100 yards and in.. on full sandwedges, tour balls can have twice the spin over some 2-pc balls, thus resulting in more control into the greens.. and average players miss 16 or so greens a around (18 handicappers) so effectively they have 16 or so short par three's to play... so you shoud want the ball to have more spin on these shots to help stop closer to the pin, and maytbe cut some of the 3 putts down... maybe even make a few up and downs to save par or bogey... take the various golf ball models out on a course.. play 4 or 5 holes from 100 yards and in.. hit several shot.. 100, 70, 30 yards, chips putts... get a goof feel of how they react or feel or spin... find the ball you like on these shots, and trust that they will all go similar off the driver... you play most of your golf around the greens, so heres where you can take shots off your game using technology... if you walk off the course saying you cannot tell any difference from tour balls and 2pc balls, then buy the cheapest one...

That sounds like excellent advice.  LOL on the bold word.  I have a goof feel for my whole swing.

[onkey]

Played my first round with the "Tour" ball today.  I was very impressed.  My playing partners may be placing orders soon...