Tiger Shark Golf may have found a secret recipe to thrive in the 2009 golf market. With the recent acquisition of SuperStroke Putter Grips and the continued success of their original jumbo UltraTac putter grip, Tiger Shark is making claim to being the predominant over-sized putter grip company in the business, one of the few surging markets in the golf industry today.
“One of our largest sellers of the jumbo grips has sold four times more in the 1st quarter of this year in comparison to the first quarter of 2008,” said Dean Dingman, President of Tiger Shark.
Another retail source has stated that their jumbo aftermarket grips are up 25% in 2009. One of the reasons for the jump in sales is that Tiger Shark is now able to offer both of their unique grips on their new lines of putters. In years past, the supersized SuperStroke grips were only available individually. Now the tour preferred grips, which measure 1.67 inches in diameter, are available for demo on a complete line of Tiger Shark putters in addition to being sold individually. The SuperStroke Proline model, the model used most by tour pros, is being sold for $39 individually. It is also available for a $20 stock upgrade on $79 and $99 putters, representing a value of 49% and 39% of the cost of the putter, respectively.
“We’ve been lucky to be at the forefront of this new technology and to be able to offer it as a feature and benefit that no one else is offering,” said Dingman. “It has helped us grow in tougher than usual times. The spike in sales has led us to open more than 500 new accounts this year and to increase our putter sales by more than double. I attribute most of this growth to the growing demand of the over-sized grip market.”
As with most successful products in golf retail, getting consumers to adopt a new technology starts with the professional tours.
“The buzz with the consumer starts with the tour,” said Dingman. “People see KJ Choi using a large grip at The Masters and The Players Championship and they naturally want to try it to see what it can do for their game.”
All in all, over 40 tour professionals have put a Tiger Shark jumbo grip in play on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, Champions Tour and the European Tour at some point over the past few seasons. This acceptance of the over-sized grips on the professional tours has led Tiger Shark to put a full time representative on the PGA Tour to promote their grips and their new putters.
“The tour is really starting to pay off for us,” said Dingman. “Three weeks ago, the first Tiger Shark GreenSpeed putter was put into play on the PGA Tour. The player was trying our UltraTac jumbo grip on the practice green and fell in love with the putter and grip combination. This is our strategy in the marketplace and on the tour. Golfers are drawn to the grips first so they can see how it helps their wrists from not breaking down, and then they fall in love with the complete package.”
In the past month, grips offered by Tiger Shark have been put into play by some of the best players on the PGA Tour. The current 29th ranked player in the FedEx Cup point standings put a UltraTac grip in play for the The Players Championship, while SuperStroke loyalists KJ Choi and Matt Bettencourt continue to use the even larger SuperStroke grip.
“Players on tour are seeing that the technology works as advertised and the buzz is spreading,” said Dingman. “The fact that we have two different grips is really helping our cause, and there will be more Jim Flood designed putters and definitely more grips to come.”
The large surface area of Tiger Shark’s jumbo grips brings more of the grip into contact with the hands, hindering breakdown of the wrists. The larger size encourages use of a “soft hands” technique and ensures a smooth and fluid putting stroke.
“The Tiger Shark grip relaxes my hands and fingers which increases my feel on the greens and has been a huge factor in my improved putting stats,” said one PGA Tour player who has improved his putting three strokes better than his previous average since switching to the larger grip.
To learn more or to order a grip directly, please visit www.superstrokegrips.com. To learn more about Tiger Shark Golf and their complete line of clubs, please visit www.tigersharkgolf.com.
Contact:
Jon Claffey
jonclaffey@yahoo.com
