Vokey's HandGround program: feel like tour players!

By: Miklos Breitner December 14, 2018

There is no week when I do not hear about the importance of product and service personalization.

Do you remember Mac Daddy 4 Callaway Custom Wedges from February 2018? Callaway is offering tour-level customization & personalization for Mac Daddy 4 Callaway Custom Wedges.

Before I would detail your Vokey’s HandGround program, it is important to understand the related trends behind this new offer.

Product personalization & customization

There is a clear shift in consumer spending toward customized products and experiences across a broad range of consumer products.

We arrived at that moment and level, when our customers don’t want to get mass products, services, communication messages, and offers.

Let me give you some examples from the golf equipment market:

Srixon golf ball personalization;
Cleveland Golf‘ customization offer (in 2012!!);
Lamkin‘s golf club grip customization solution (in 2012!).

As you will see below, Vokey’s HandGround personalization is much more sophisticated and complex.

If I were any of the golf equipment manufacturers then I would not stop at product and service customization.

I believe focusing on end-to-end shopping experience will be critical in the coming years to increase sales.

In customer experience development the smart marketers are not focusing solely on touchpoints, but on the entire customer journeys.

This means that companies like Acushnet (Titleist, Vokey, FootJoy, Scotty Cameron, Pinnacle) must impress and make happy their potential customers at every stage and moment of their customer journey (e.g. sales staff, customer service, marketing materials).

I go even further, golf equipment manufacturers will need to prepare their stores and presence in other retail outlets for the ‘always-on’ / connected customers.

It is not a new thing that we check everything about a product on our mobile in the shop and even before.

Most of the customer journeys begin on smartphones.

If I were Vokey or any other golf equipment manufacturer, I would use digital media to become a part of my consumer’s pre-store planning process (e.g. Callaway Golf Flip Book mobile application: a product catalog for Callway Golf clubs, golf balls, and accessories), but also in the after-sales period as well.

The good news for pro-shop owners and retailers that they have got at 3 advantages over e-commerce companies:

Touch experience;
Immediacy of product availability;
Advices & Services.

In short, the future golf shop, pro-shop will be a digital shop that amplify the consumer digital experience.

Bob Vokey launches New HandGround Program

Master Craftsman Bob Vokey is now offering the tour grinding experience to all golfers through the introduction of the new HandGround program on Vokey.com.

The HandGround program is for those golfers who are seeking tour-level customizations such as:

additional heel relief,
squared up leading edge,
or Bob’s popular tour grind

Bob will oversee the entire HandGround process – located in a new workspace adjacent to the Titleist Tour Department, inside the Titleist Golf Club headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. – and, from time to time, will also grind HandGround orders himself.

In selecting the HandGround option – currently available on all Vokey SM7 Raw models, the preferred finish of tour players worldwide – golfers will be able to choose from a variety of performance and profile adjustments (two adjustments maximum).

These are the available performance adjustment options:

Pre-Worn Leading Edge;
Smooth Grind Lines;
Heel Relief;
Trailing Edge Relief.

Vokey offers profile adjustment to allow the golfer to design a confidence-inspiring head shape by grinding material off the profile:

Semi-Square Leading Edge;
Thin Top Line;
Tour Grind (smooths all profile lines & slightly reduces profile size).

With F, K and L Grind wedges, golfers also have the option to make specific grind selections:

F Grind: Make it an S Grind. For example, golfers that prefer their 52.12 F gap wedge to have a touch more versatility greenside may enjoy this option.
K Grind: Make it a J Grind (Heel & trailing edge relief).
L Grind: Make it an A Grind (Smooth the grind lines).