There are tons of products available on the PGA Tour to players, and it’s the job of a company’s Tour representative to get their products in a player’s bags.
There are obvious ones like golf clubs, shoes and clothes, but there are less obvious ones like hats and headcovers. But perhaps one of the most dominant companies is one that sells a product Tour pros can’t use during competition, most of the time.
Bushnell Golf dominates PGA Tour laser rangefinder usage, with 98.6 percent of pros using them in practice rounds, according to Darrell Survey. Bushnell has an impressive share of usage despite pros being unable to use rangefinders during competitions, except for a short trial last season and the PGA Championship.
On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, independent Tour rep Charles Woodward, who reps seven different companies on the PGA Tour, including Bushnell, explained why it’s so valuable to the company to have such domination in the space.
“From a marketing standpoint, just seeing our Bushnell case on television, one of the guys carrying it, that’s huge,” Woodward said.
While pros don’t use rangefinders in competition, the case still takes up valuable advertising real estate on their golf bag. And when the rules allow, it’s even better product placement to see an athlete look through a Bushnell rangefinder on TV.
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That’s another factor that could really help Bushnell, as they’d get even more exposure if rangefinders are eventually permitted on the PGA Tour.
“I don’t know if we’ve actually come to realize exactly what is going to happen. But for all intents and purposes, players that I’ve talked to feel like that might be something that is going to help,” Woodward said. “If you hit an errant shot and you’re trying to speed up play, well, if you have a rangefinder, you can shoot that yardage right from where you’re at and not have to go find a sprinkler head and run up there and then take your steps and then calculate it.”
For more from Woodward, and co-hosts Johnny Wunder and Jake Morrow, you can listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here or watch it below.
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