Kleriq

Not at all. I was hoping the criticism would be a more sophisticated than “retail is hard, people shop online”. Basically, if a diligent commercial banker were to sit down and look at an application for a loan to open a golf shop, what would they ask themselves as they read it? Some folks have mentioned the stock market, which gives me an idea… maybe I should look into how managers of consumer non-durable mutual funds choose what to buy.

I appreciate the replies, everyone. I understand that brick-and-mortar retail is extremely challenging, especially in a high-COL area, and that golf is a bit of a fad right now with no guarantee of sticking around. I’m hoping to form a *comprehensive* understanding of how to critically evaluate a business plan, including those aspects that apply generally to B&M retail as well as those that apply specifically to working in the golf industry. Of course it’s not possible to know *everything* beforehand, but I tend to try to learn before doing when some more entrepreneurial folks might try to learn *by* doing. That said, here’s my pitch: San Francisco has a number of excellent golf courses both within and around the city limits, but no dedicated golf retailers. While San Franciscans who golf are likely to own cars, three of SF’s five publicly accessible 18-hole golf courses (Presidio, Lincoln Park, and Golden Gate Park) are located at the north end of the city, while the nearest golf shops are miles past the southern border or across the Golden Gate Bridge. My plan is to open a golf retail store near the Presidio, serving urban golfers and visitors playing San Francisco’s northern courses. The store will cater to these core customers: The beginner looking for a starter set or their first upgrade. Buying equipment is a major challenge for new golfers. Only Dick’s, Golf Galaxy, and arguably Costco really cater to the new golfer; the other golf stores in the region all cater to experienced golfers. Even golfers who only stick to the driving range need clubs, but the vast selection and marketing terminology can intimidate them. By dedicating space to the beginner golfer, and locating the store conveniently near both their home and a local driving range, those with an interest in taking up the sport can give in to their impulse and be swinging clubs the same day. The golfer who needs consumables quickly, or who has a strong brand allegiance. Golfers can form an attachment to certain brands of tees, balls, and gloves. A wide selection of these essentials attracts those golfers who realize on Saturday afternoon that they’re low on their favorite golf ball, and who would otherwise settle for paying for a different brand at the course pro shop. Golfers seeking non-traditional attire. Several golf attire brands have come about recently, and other brands can cross over into on-course fashion. Particularly for style-conscious beginner golfers, clothing from non-traditional brands can be a major differentiator from the established retailers. Seriously dedicated golfers who always want their equipment in the best shape. The shop would offer loft/lie adjustments, re-shafting, and re-gripping. Fittings would be offered in a simulator bay. The general golfer looking to order new equipment. Rather than stock a large inventory of clubs, the shop would carry a tailored selection of iron sets and woods for the high- to mid-handicapper, and offer fittings with a discount for placing the order through the store.

I’m pondering opening a golf shop in San Francisco. There is a dearth of golf shops within city limits—Dogleg closed, and Eagle Club stopped doing retail at the beginning of the pandemic. It can take equally as long to get to the city line as it does to get from there to Dick’s or Golf Mart. I’m not in a position to leave my career, but I do have the ability to invest. Anyone have advice on seeding a business like this while having a full-time career?

The instructor who initially built my swing works at the only indoor range in my city, so I started seeing him by default. I kept seeing him because of his analytical approach, the convenience of his schedule and proximity, and his reasonable rates. When I was looking at new instructors, my choice was based on his instructional philosophy (which is more, but not entirely, feel-based than the previous instructor) and reviews on Yelp. I must say that even if his technique is not fit for me, I did feel like I left with a much more of concrete lesson thanks to his teaching style.

Yes, that’s my “former” swing. I felt way too close to the ball with the new swing, and was coming drastically out-to-in. (For what it’s worth, my previous instructor built my “former” swing on a template of Rahm and JT.)

I followed your advice, @iacas, and took a lesson with a different instructor. He pointed out how much steeper my downswing was than my backswing, and how much lateral motion I exhibited. He attributed this to an overextended back that twisted, rather than turned, through the swing. This all made sense to me, but I am skeptical of his proposed solution: to keep my body weight over my legs by standing closer to the ball, arching my thoracic spine (instead of maintaining a flat spine as I had been previously taught), and having what feels like an extremely flat swing plane. I did nothing but top and hook the ball when I tried to follow his instruction. He did send me home with two annotated videos summarizing our lesson, which was an excellent touch I think all instructors should adopt. I’ve attached two stills from these movies comparing my current swing (left) and my attempt to implement the lesson (right) at P4. I went back to the range this morning with the intent of working on this new technique, but upon reviewing the video I am still swinging my old swing with a few small modifications inspired by the lesson—my swing plane is slightly flatter, and I’m standing closer to the ball with a natural spine curve. Unfortunately I’m still coming OTT and sending the ball 20 yards left or right of my target. Here’s a video of one of my best swings, in which the steep attack is still evident:

Hi Erik, I do appreciate your help. I agree that my instructor has a tendency to overwhelm me with incomplete explanations, so I am reaching out to other professionals to see if one can provide me more actionable advice. I went to the range over my lunch break and took a few new videos. I tried to completely forget the alterations I’d made. I think I was fairly successful. Here are my best DTL and face-on swings: Apologies for the lighting and framing; this is the best I could do face-on. On rewatching these videos, the things I notice are the lifting of my lead heel and taking the club slightly past parallel on the backswing. Though to be fair, I notice them because my instructor has pointed them out in the past.

Here’s a bad swing from the same range session, which I suspect is due to overactive hands: https://vimeo.com/510995338

I've been Playing Golf for: 8 months (plus a few years as a preteen) My current handicap index or average score is: 40.6 My typical ball flight is: high launch The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: push/slice or fat strike Videos: Hi everyone, I took up golf during COVID for the first time as an adult. I’ve been working with an instructor, and have made significant progress. My most recent lesson was last Friday. Up to that point, my swing had gotten pretty consistent—correct posture and alignment; neutral grip; good weight transfer; and reasonably maintaining spine angle; but frequent reverse lateral shift and casting. With irons, I would typically push the ball anywhere from 5 to 30 yards right of target. Driver was a nearly consistent slice. Last Friday, while trying to diagnose my push, my instructor tried changing several things: He noticed my torso was turned several degrees toward target at impact and my lead arm and club formed an angle. The diagnosis was that I was starting the downswing with my arms, which led to a steep downswing, casting, and an outside-in path. He suggested I try the swing though of “keeping my back toward the target for as long as possible”, but I have more success thinking of it as starting the transition by rotating my hips around my spine. I’m not sure this is having the shallowing effect he’s going for, and I seem to have lost the weight transfer and spine angle retention. Grip looked good at address but was actually too deep in the palm, leading to a collapse and opening of the club face during the backswing. Fix for this was to grip the club while holding it upright, rather than adjusting grip at address. I think this is working well for me, though I need to improve my consistency. Overswing and lead arm adduction. He doesn’t want me to try to force myself into a 3/4 swing, but I currently seem to take the lead arm too far across my body and swing the club too far past my head. Both of these contribute to the flaws mentioned in point 1, and I can’t seem to shake them without feeling like I’m only swinging halfway. My follow through was too upright. By forcing my to hit some hooks and draws I was able to feel the extremes of crossing over my forearms on the follow through, and now I do a better job adhering to the swing plane past impact. I took this new swing to the range this weekend and rather than a consistent push I had much wider dispersion and more fat shots. I’d be happy to know if I’m interpreting my instructor’s lessons (in)correctly, especially in the hip turn I’ve adopted at transition. I have more videos I can upload to show off my misses.

My instructor and I think we have figured this out. When I got the new irons, I tried to dial in the feel of the wrist hinge with the new shaft weight. In the process, I accidentally developed a small cup in my lead. If I consciously try to bow my wrist, I wind up keeping it planar, and that seems to have fixed the push.

It was a soggy day here, and I was definitely taking more turf than usual. But I had a particularly interesting experience on a par 3 that I’d like to turn into actionable information. I was playing my 6 iron off a tee driven down to ground height. The ball went maybe 50 yards. I think it’s pretty clear I hit the ground before the turf with the extreme heel of the club. What might cause that, and how do I fix it? For reference, the swing thought I tried to keep in mind the entire day was trying to maintain my trail shoulder low through impact. The reason being that I re-watched a few of my swing videos and noticed my shoulders were level at impact, which may have been altered my aim. I don’t think it was a very successful exercise, and I’ll be talking with my swing instructor about it on Tuesday.

Interesting thought. New irons are half a degree more upright, club for club.

Interesting. How did you adjust? Aim farther left, or change your swing?

I’ve taken a few practice swings, aborted at impact, and it seems like I need to significantly increase the grip strength of my top hand to ensure square impact.

Maybe, though the set I was playing previously (Hot Launch 2) didn’t have nearly the offset of modern SGI sets like the Ping G410s I looked at in my fitter’s shop.