PXG Clubs Moves Onto Everyday Player Golf Market

Daniel Laffin

By GORD MONTGOMERY, Inside Golf

STONY PLAIN — It would appear that the golf brand PXG (Parsons Xtreme Golf) has discovered they don’t have to be a top-priced line to become a top priority line for average golfers. Now you’ve probably noticed their recent ad blitz on Golf Channel where that somewhat loud and irritating voice hawks their products which appear to be paying off.

Case in point: The fact the company has starting placing product in golf shops at selected public courses after concentrating mainly on private facilities for a lengthy period of time.

Alberta PXG sales rep Daniel Laffin said the shift has to do with a couple of things. “The U.S. has kind of given us the resources in Canada. Up to March of last year we only had two sales representatives in all of Canada. Now, they’ve given us the resources to expand here in Canada because they realize the market that is available up here. The business model has changed a little bit from the price point perspective and having a few different options are getting guys ex-cited to come out and try the stuff. It’s been very good for us so far.”

One of those excited about what’s being teed up was Bryan Leishman, who had just agreed to purchase a set of PXG irons after a fitting by Laffin at the Stony Plain Golf Course, one of the first public courses to offer these clubs in the Edmonton area. Apparently the brand quickly captured the imagination of the former Titleist swinger.

“As soon as I hit the irons, I knew they were mine! The feel is great. I went from a steel shaft to a graphite/steel mix and it just felt better right away. It felt lighter, better, right away. They brought me into the market, for sure.”

That’s a feeling that seems to be sweeping the golf world, at least for now. The feedback on these clubs is more than good because of how these sticks differ from others on the market, Laffin noted.

“What makes us different is we are a bit more of a direct-to-consumer brand. Now every company is direct-to-consumer at the end of the day but we just control the environment a bit more because we don’t sell to big box outfits. When you’re getting fit for a PXG club you’re getting fit by a PXG employee who lives, dies, and bleeds for the brand. That way we can kind of control the experience a person is having and we like to say it’s the best experience out there at the end of the day. That’s one of the reasons why the public like it so much is because it’s a little different than everybody else, but in a good way.”

As likely the only public course in the great Edmonton area golf market to offer this brand in their shop, at least for the time being, Stony Plain’s head professional, Robb James said he feels the clubs will generate interest in the public’s eye because of the new pricing structure.

“It’s been quite some time since an influential item in the hard goods market has appeared so it’s nice to be able to inventory it. It was definitely a brand we were getting asked about and I think with the presence it’s getting on TV, it’s a great time to enter in, not to say the company’s on the ground floor, but we’re on the ground floor with it. It’s a nice addition to our lineup.”

James feels this product could sell through quite quickly given the company’s change in financial philosophy. “With the four or five big names out there, the optics all looks the same from afar. Maybe not the same but similar. With these, the price tag difference is going to be a huge eye-catcher for sure because the price of equipment has gone up. And like everything else, supply chain issues have been a challenge,” whereas PXG is able to supply equipment much quicker to retailers than other companies at this time at least.

As a club fitter himself, James, as well as the other professional staff at Stony are able to fit the clubs to an individual’s specific needs. “We’ll be able to do club fitting as well as putter fitting and it’s like the best putter-fitting system I’ve seen,” he explained. “It’s a line that can be purchased online but at the end of the day it’s nice to get custom fit.”

So as the PXG brand grows, thanks in part to a couple of recent wins on the PGA TOUR by Luke List and Hudson Swafford and those TV spots, Laffin feels the brand will become more and more popular as time passes. “We’ll just continue to grow and grow. Word of mouth is getting around that we have somebody in this territory now. There is a bit of stigma around PXG, that it’s super expensive that we hear from time to time, which is something we have changed. For us, it’s just going to kind of continue to grow and expand and become a staple in the golf industry.”

For more information on being fit for PXG clubs, beginning in early March, call the Stony Plain Golf Course at 780-963-2133.