EDITOR’S VIEW
THESE ARE strange
times. Gallows humour
prevails whenever adults
JANUARY 2009
Volume 27 No 1
ponder their collective
futures. Matt, the
Daily Telegraph’s cult
General enquiries
cartoonist, has been having a field day.
A&D Media Limited Jesses Farm, Snow Hill, Dinton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 5HN
Tel: +44 (0) 1722 716996 Fax: +44 (0) 1722 716926
“Your card is fine, I’m just checking
your bank hasn’t expired,” a retailer told
Advertising one hapless customer. “Remember the
Jane Kennedy Tel: +44 (0) 1722 716996 E-mail: jane.k@markallengroup.co.uk
money you were saving for a rainy day?”
a teller asks a pensioner. “It shrank.”
Editorial
Paul Trow, 3 Clifton Avenue, London, N3 1BN
Laughing aside, though, no one
Tel: +44 (0) 7973 862747
knows when the dust will settle on
E-mail: PTrow76780@aol.com adam340uk@aol.com a financial crisis which is grinding
bonz1984@aol.com
relentlessly on. How many more
Madoffs or Icelands will crawl out of
Inside this month’s issue
the woodwork before ordinary folk
can begin an honest assessment of
4 European News
their circumstances, liabilities and
Issues and decisions across the continent
prospects? And what of businesses
7 Marketing Advice - large and small, retail and wholesale,
Bill Sanderson’s 10-point plan for 2009
heavily in hock or usually only in need of
8 Shopfitting Feature
occasional banking assistance? All are
The changing face of retail outlets
in trouble, make no mistake.
10 Q&A
Commerce has descended into
Greg Norman Collection’s Tony Wilkinson
farce, with interest rates and inflation
in uncharted territory, currencies
12 Orlando Preview
out of control, budgets and targets
Looking forward to golf’s leading
trade show in sunny Florida
meaningless, margins non-existent,
EUROPEAN NEWS: PAGE 4
debts toxic and unemployment rocketing.
16 Cover Story
This farce is anything but funny. And
PING celebrates its 50th anniversary
where does all this leave golf? Some say
19 PGAs of Europe on the scrap heap. Clubs are woefully
Second instalment of our new column
short of members, few golfers will replace
20 Company News
equipment in the foreseeable future, and
Money, markets, merging and managing
most businesses are contemplating,
24 Product News
if not already implementing, cutbacks.
The latest kit heading for your shop
Companies will go to the wall in 2009,
retailers will be squeezed and the 25-
27 Golf People
40 age group will struggle to pay the
Who’s moving and shaking in golf
mortgage each month.
And yet there will be green shoots on
this barren landscape. PSE columnist
Editor Paul Trow Bill Sanderson argues in this issue that
Deputy Editor Adam Hathaway COVER STORY: PAGE 16
aiming for mere survival in the current
Reporter Peter Milligan
climate is likely to be ruinous, rather
Publishing Director Fiona Richards
like many a lay-up shot or lagged putt.
Sales Manager Jane Kennedy
People will have more time on their
Design Laura Spencer
hands in 2009 - as long as the weather
Subscriptions Director Sally Boettcher
cooperates, why shouldn’t they play golf?
Managing Director Mark Allen
Print Pensord Press Limited
Certainly the golf trade doesn’t
lack enterprise. The day that silly story
surfaced about titanium-headed drivers
making you deaf, I was called by the
hearing-aid department of Specsavers
The cost of an annual subscription to Pro Shop
suggesting we ran an article on the
Europe is £99 in Europe, £140 elsewhere.
Cheques should be made payable to A&D Media
subject. Ludicrous, possibly, but at least
Limited and sent to the address above. © 2005 they tried. We’re all going to have to try
Mark Allen Group Limited ISSN 1355-2740
this year... very hard. Paul Trow
PRODUCT NEWS: PAGE 24
January 2009 PRO SHOP EUROPE 3
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