U.S. Open Merchandise A Hot Commodity


February 8, 2005

By David Shefter, USGA

Far Hills, N.J. -- Player registration for the U.S. Open won't take place until early March, but that isn't stopping anyone from getting a head start on the championship . for 2008.

Or should we say gearing up.

Sales of the championship merchandise for the second U.S. Open to be played on a municipally-owned golf course are already making plenty of birdies with the cash register.

Approximately 40 percent of the product apparel being sold inside the golf shop at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego is for the U.S. Open.

"We're happy and they're happy," said Mary Lopuszynski, the USGA's director of U.S. Open Merchandising. "It's doing well. They started four years early and we've been pleased with the sales so far."

Clubs can officially start selling U.S. Open merchandise once a logo has been established and approved by the USGA. Typically, sales begin four years out. Torrey Pines began last summer. Pinehurst, which hosts the U.S. Open this June, also began four years ago.

Winged Foot (2006) and Oakmont (2007) have also started selling U.S. Open merchandise. However, those two private clubs generally don't get the same foot traffic that a public course like Torrey Pines (175,000 rounds a year) or a resort venue such as Pinehurst (which boasts eight courses and a special U.S. Open shop that's adjacent to the regular pro shop) will experience. Pinehurst attracts more than 250,000 rounds annually by members and resort guests, 40,000 of which are played on the No. 2 Course, site of the U.S. Open.

"They'll sell a lot to their members and guests," said Lopuszynski of Winged Foot and Oakmont. "Winged Foot has a great logo to begin with (a foot with wings that is one of the most distinguished club logos)."

Torrey Pines has two 18-hole courses and just recently hosted the Buick Invitational, an annual stop on the PGA Tour, where sales of U.S. Open merchandise were 40 percent of the total volume for the week. It's on a smaller scale than what one will find at the actual Merchandise Tent the week of the Open, but there are still plenty of shirts, hats, sweatshirts, T-shirts and other novelty items to choose from.

"People in this city are just tickled that we're getting a U.S. Open in southern California," said Susan Casagranda, Torrey Pines' retail manager. "They are so proud about it. So to hear people talk like that, no I'm not surprised [about the sales figures]."

The shop at Torrey Pines encompasses 4,000 square feet of space, 1,600 of which is taken up by U.S. Open merchandise. Casagranda said in the last 18 months leading up to the championship, Torrey Pines will almost exclusively sell Open merchandise.

"We've sold over a million dollars since last June," said Casagranda. "Most of it has been hats and shirts. During Christmas, our [U.S. Open] sales were as high as 43 to 45 percent [of the total sales].

"The thing about us is our accessibility. We're only about a mile and a half from Interstate 5. We're accessible for people who just want to drive by."

At Pinehurst, U.S. Open merchandise has been available to the public since June of 2001. And unlike Torrey Pines, Pinehurst had previous experience with such sales, having already had a successful Open in 1999. Stephen Cryan, who came from Pebble Beach to Pinehurst in 1995, understood what it took to develop and market a logo that worked while making sure it was different from the regular club logo, namely Putter Boy.

"We used an old ad campaign from the early 1900s," said Cryan of the golf lad character that was created for the 1999 Open. "It actually was used in a 1906 ad. We call him Caddie Lad. For 2005, we went back to a 1909 ad and created Swinging Lad along with the American theme as a great complement to that.

"The logos reflect the resort without cannibalizing the Putter Boy logo of the resort."

Pinehurst also created a 1,500-square foot U.S. Open shop across the hall from the pro shop, although the regular shop did carry some Open apparel (hats and shirts).

Cryan's business strategy was to sell merchandise in increments, allowing for growth each year leading up to the Open. Sales began around 20 to 25 percent and will wind up at 85 to 90 percent of the total sales by the time the Open commences this June.

The 38,000-square foot U.S. Open Merchandise Tent will be erected by April 26 with the first public sale slated for June 9, a week prior to the start of the 2005 championship.

"We're excited," said Cryan. "We learned a lot from what we did well in 1999 and from some of the things that we didn't do so well."

As for other future U.S. Open venues, Bethpage, which will host its second Open in 2009, should be ready to begin selling merchandise by the end of this year as final details on its logo are being worked out. Pebble Beach, the 2010 U.S. Open venue, likely will begin sales sometime next year. Like Torrey Pines and Pinehurst, both of those sites are accessible to the public, which translates into a lot of eyes seeing the available produces.

And in the world of merchandising, it's never too early to plan ahead.

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.