Mike Ishizaka’s Future Golf Diary Vol. 1: An Era of Order-made Products and Services—Tailoring Golf to Every Individual

Recently, there have been an increase in reports that seem to suggest that we are not far from an era in which anyone will be able to purchase clothes that are tailored to their exact size. In the world of golf, too, the order-made era is approaching. With improvement methods and equipment that cater to multiple attributes—be it one’s golf score, playing style, gender, age, body shape, strength, or physicality—golf will naturally become more enjoyable. At GDO, what are we doing to build an industry in which golf is tailored to every individual? Here we speak to CEO Mike Ishizaka to find out more. 

——Launched in 2000, 2018 marks GDO’s 18th year in business. Achieving growth through predominantly its online business, today GDO boasts more than 3.5 million club members. Currently, the focus is on overseas and new businesses ahead of the next stage of growth. What has been of interest to you in the golf industry recently and what trends have you noticed?

Since 2012 we have been involved in a business partnership with GolfTEC Enterprises LLC (Head office: Colorado, US)—the company that manages the US’s leading provider of golf lessons GOLFTEC—and in July 2018 we acquired 60% of its shares to make it a GDO Group subsidiary. Partly due its expansion into Japan, there has been a significant increase in the number of my trips to the US, particularly the west coast, which is the mecca of golf and IT. One thing I have noticed in my travels between the two countries is major change in the retail industry. Conventional ways in the retail industry have disappeared, and in-store experiences have organically combined with online purchasing to generate an entirely new form of shopping that is growing at an unprecedented pace. This trend is something that the golf industry cannot ignore. As such, my current focus is on creating the ultimate experiential golf store. 

——What do you mean by the ultimate experiential golf store?

Since our founding, at GDO our main operations have been in online services, but we have constantly been aware of the importance of real customer touchpoints. In this area, we have opened used product shops and hosted events and competitions, for example. Realizing the need to further reinforce our customer touchpoints, however, we decided to open a golf lesson studio, and as a result launched GOLFTEC by GDO. Having a space where we can interact with customers face to face gives us the ability to offer comprehensive golf-related consulting services. 

At GOLFTEC by GDO, instructors offer lessons and advice on golf techniques, fitting clubs to the learner that best match their level or playing style. The learner can then order the clubs directly from the studio. Selecting the right golf clubs can be surprisingly difficult, but if the learner can discuss their options with the instructor who knows their swing characteristics inside out, they can decide on the club that they know is right for them. Further, we are an authorized reseller of the Arccos 360 IoT device, and learners can attach these devices to their clubs to use as a learning tool. Specifically, Arccos 360 devices give the instructor and learner the ability to examine whether the skills learned during the lesson are being recreated on the course.  

As a result, learners will no longer feel like the skills that they pick up during the lesson disappear as soon as they leave the studio. Ultimately, we believe we can help people really improve their golfing ability. In this way, I want to create an ultimate experiential golf store where we can offer a comprehensive range of golfing solutions. 

——The market for club fitting appears to be growing in the US, too. Is this related to the shift towards order-made products and services across the retail industry?

While I’m not sure if this classifies as order made, the golf industry in the US has shifted away from selling based on large amounts of inventory to selling based on orders received. This transition is happening much earlier than in Japan. Retail stores have thus begun to place more importance on the lesson, fitting, and sales cycle. This is one reason why we realized that online sales alone would not suffice. It led to our belief that owning real stores in addition to our online business would enable us to vastly expand the range of services we can offer. In recent years, we have also seen the creation of custom golf clubs—that is, personalized clubheads, shafts, and grips, for example—become more commonplace. 

The fact that these choices are increasing also shows that means to achieving a world where golf is tailored to the individual are also on the rise. By offering learners advice on how to enhance their golf skills through real touchpoints, and at the same helping them select the optimal components for their golf equipment, our aim is to improve both their learning and overall enjoyment of the sport. We also want to further expand our range of services by combining real and online touchpoints. In this sense, we are gradually moving toward a world in which there is no right or wrong in golf and where everyone can find their own way of enjoying the sport. 

——A world in which there is no right or wrong in golf and where everyone can find their own way of enjoying the sport—what do you mean by this exactly?

The US is home to numerous world-famous golf courses, and many of these are public courses where you do not need to be a member to play. Torrey Pines, one of the leading courses in San Diego, California, is one such example. Torrey Pines hosts the Farmers Insurance Open, a tournament on the PGA Tour, but outside of competition the public can play on the course wearing jeans. 

In Japan, on the other hand, between the 1970s and the so-called bubble economy in the 1980s, golf grew in popularity particularly in business circles as a way to entertain clients. Golf as a part of business still exists in Japan today, and although some people frown upon the custom, for me it is one way in which people can enjoy golf. 

To me, golf can mean playing at famous, members-only courses with strict dress codes, or a much more casual experience at a riverside course carrying your own bags. Whatever their style, all golfers are GDO customers. We don’t want to force a single way of playing golf upon anyone. I don’t believe that there is a “right” way of playing golf, and I still think there are diverse opportunities for golf . Tradition and diversity are not opposites; they can balance one another and exist in harmony. Through various opportunities and platforms, our aim is to further pursue golf that is tailored to the individual so that we can continue to be a company that proposes a wide range of playing styles. This has and will continue to be an unchanging desire of mine.