More corporate ownership is key part of company’s long-term expansion plan
Centennial, Colo. (July 11, 2012)… GolfTEC-the world leader in golf improvement-announced today the purchase of 12 of the company’s centers in Southern California from the current franchisee.
The centers are in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Other centers in the region-in Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Palm Desert-will continue to be run under independent franchise ownership.
This is the first of a number of projected corporate buybacks of GolfTEC franchises throughout the United States, all part of a long-term strategy announced earlier in the year by GolfTEC President and CEO Joe Assell.
In February, Assell said, “Our plans both immediately and long term are for significant growth. We are committed to buying back select franchises to increase our corporate-owned presence. We love the business and want to own more of it.”
As part of the franchise buyback, Forrest Blake, who owned the 12 Southern California-area centers, will join the GolfTEC management team and assume the title of Vice President of Client Relations.
“Forrest has done a good job building and innovating in Los Angeles,” says Assell. “As GolfTEC gets bigger, we need more talent on the management team, and this acquisition created the perfect opportunity for Forrest to come aboard. He was very successful managing and improving relationships with clients on a local level, and he will be instrumental in rolling out new ideas to GolfTEC centers nationwide.”
In the U.S., along with bringing more franchises under corporate ownership, GolfTEC plans to open as many as 25 improvement centers this year. So far in 2012, centers have opened in Louisville, Wichita, Baltimore, Seattle, Dallas/Ft. Worth ,San Antonio and opening soon in Woodbridge, New Jersey as well as across Canada. Also, the first location in Japan was opened in last month.
This unprecedented growth plan is bearing fruit as GolfTEC continues to show double-digit increases in same-store sales over the last two years. Same-store sales grew 13.4% in 2010 and 15% in 2011; so far in fiscal 2012 (which ends August 31), same-store sales have grown by 7%, while total sales are up 15%.
Furthermore, GolfTEC has hired and trained more than 133 new Certified Personal Coaches so far in the last 12 months, with four of them promoted to the Denver corporate headquarters to help oversee education throughout the network of more than 160 centers around the globe. This unprecedented activity is occurring in a year when the rest of the golf industry has been dealing with flat to negative growth.
Thanks to the strong early-year sales at existing centers and the new centers that have come on line, GolfTEC is looking at some major accomplishments over the next few months. The company estimates that its 500-plus coaches will give more than 670,000 lessons in 2012, setting a new yearly record. And at some point in late fourth quarter, GolfTEC will give its 4 millionth lesson since opening the doors of its first center in 1995.
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About GolfTEC
The undisputed leader in high-tech golf improvement, GolfTEC gives more than 25% of all private golf lessons in the U.S. annually and has a 95% success rate among its students. The 500 GolfTEC Certified Personal Coaches at 160 Improvement Centers nationwide have given more than 3.5 million lessons since 1995. All lessons are based on the company’s “Five Factors:” Fact-Based Diagnosis, Sequential Lessons, Video-Based Practice, Advanced Retention Tools, and Precision-Matched Clubs. GolfTEC Improvement Centers can be found in almost all major U.S. cities, Mexico, and Canada, with new centers opening this year in Japan and Korea.
Contact:
Ed Vyeda
Hunter Public Relations
(831) 375-1747
evyeda@hunter-pr.com
Karen Moraghan
Hunter Public Relations
(908) 876-5100
kmoraghan@hunter-pr.com
