Mike Ishizaka’s Future Golf Diary Vol. 8: Why the CEO Moved to the US

If you work in the golf industry, you’re sure to hear the name Carlsbad. It’s a place in California, roughly a 30-minute drive north of San Diego. This tiny corner of the vast American continent is home to the headquarters and performance centers of some of the biggest names in golf equipment – TaylorMade, Callaway, Acushnet, Cobra Puma. The word “Carlsbad” conjures images of golfing paradise. And it’s here, to the beating heart of the American golf industry, that Mr. Ishizaka is taking us today.

——So this is TaylorMade headquarters. It’s amazing how they manage to keep developing so many impactful new products.

“What’s really amazing about the US is how companies here go all in on their core businesses. They tend to focus on one thing, which means there aren’t that many big conglomerates. There was a time when Japan was pretty competitive in terms of craftsmanship. These days, though, the big trading companies just can’t invest the kind of people, money, and things that the American specialty makers can, and so they’ve fallen behind. Personally, I think Japan has more potential than that.”

——You think Japan still has a chance if it starts specializing more?

“Exactly. To grow and succeed, you have to take calculated risks. But in today’s Japan, broadly speaking people tend to shy away from risk as if it’s a bad thing. If you don’t take risks, how can you break new ground or innovate?”

——Do you think GDO isn’t ready yet for that kind of challenge?

“I’m giving it my best shot, at least to the extent I can...I can’t tell you how many people told me it was a bad idea when we first invested in GOLFTEC.”

——Did they think it was too big of a risk?

“That and it was mixing brick-and-mortar with what was essentially an online business. But once they saw the actual results, suddenly they were all gushing about it being “omnichannel.” These things go in and out of style, so as entrepreneurs, what we should really be asking ourselves is how we’re going to deliver services to our customers and whether that’s really what they need. Although to be honest, we’re already doing a lot of stuff in the US and I feel pretty torn about what direction to take. (laughs sarcastically)”

——So you are taking on new challenges.

“Yeah. Of course, you’re not going to succeed at everything you try. Sometimes you fail. But you’re never going to succeed unless you try.”

On August 10, about two and a half months after this interview, GDO announced it had signed an agreement to take over the business of US company SkyTrak Group – planner, developer, and seller of SkyTrak, the most popular ballistic measurement system for golfers on the market – through its Colorado-based subsidiary Golftec Enterprises, LLC

——I understand you sometimes visit Carlsbad on your own. Does it really feel different to be right there in the heart of the golf world? Is it something you feel you have to do?

“Back when GDO was first getting started in golf e-commerce, the main office in Japan would often tell me, “Why bother?” But given the retail environment we found ourselves in, we had to negotiate with whatever was available to us or else we’d never get a chance to get our foot in the door. For instance, in the US nowadays they sell just the heads (of clubs), and things are made to order, so stores don’t stock that much. But Japan hasn’t progressed that far yet. By coming here, I can find out about those kinds of differences and, just maybe, carve out a role for us in promoting the same kind of setup in Japan. And besides, it’s important to always be putting the names GDO and Ishizaka out there.

——I hear you used to drop in on people unannounced.

“Once in the early days of the company, I used a go-between to make an appointment to meet Bob Wood, who was president of Nike Golf at the time, under an oak tree at the Masters. Back then, we were doing everything via wholesale, and suddenly here comes this GDO guy all the way to the States to meet in person with the US CEO. Nike Japan[TN1]  was like, ‘Give us a break.’”

——Do you think Japanese tend to hold back? I get the feeling most would hesitate to negotiate directly with the US headquarters.

“Yeah, but if you ask me if it’s the deciding factor, I’d say no. When I think about our future, there’s no way to avoid meeting these guys. Just as an example, Toptracer is a Callaway company, so I have to go talk to the CEO of Callaway about Toptracer every so often to get him to take our relationship one step further. When you go straight to the top like that, you start to see new possibilities.”

——That sounds like a pretty good reason for moving to the US to me.

“People are really starting to take notice of GolfTEC now, and we can use that as leverage in negotiations. If this were a purely retail business, GDO might never amount to more than 1/5 or 1/6 of the big volume retailers. That kind of gap is especially hard to close for an online company, so I guess we’ll just have to keep pursuing every lead we can, in every direction.”

To be continued...