|
January 11, 2006. Front Page of Sports Section
BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer
WARWICK -- Like so many golfers who live in New England, Rick Schad is busy these days preparing for a trip to Florida. Unlike just about everyone else, though, Schad is not bringing his clubs. When he heads south later this month, it will be all work and no play.
That's because Schad, who is from Warwick, is now in the golf business. The game has become his occupation, as well as his passion.
Over the last eight months, Schad and his partners, Akim Msumba and Steve Walsh, have turned what seems like a cute idea into a thriving business. Their Green Friendly Golf Company (www.greenfriendlygolf.com) already is doing business on four continents and measuring its sales in the millions of dollars. If all goes well in Orlando, they will become even bigger.
"Orlando is really our unveiling," Schad said of his company having a booth at the PGA Merchandise Show, the largest event of its kind in the world. "This is the big dance, the place to be, and we're going there planning on being the king and the queen of the prom. We're booked solid."
Schad, 37, is the prime mover behind the company. He grew up in South Florida. He was a surfer, one good enough to compete and have success in major meets. He also is an artist.
"I'm from an artistic family. Art is kind of the lifeblood of my family," he said. He served four years in the Air Force, stationed primarily in Europe, then went to college but quit in part because of frustration over art courses. He has worked most of is life in the graphic design business.
He is an outgoing, high energy, idea-driven person. He's been a Rhode Islander since 1992. He moved here for work. He still has his own graphics design business not far from the airport. A golfer whose handicap has been as low as two, Schad enjoys competing on the course almost as much as he does designing art projects.
"I was always thinking, wishing there was some way I could marry design with golf," he said. "I'd get all these concoctions in my head."
He did some work with the PGA Tour back when the pros visited Pleasant Valley each year. He also did some work for Golf Digest after winning a design contest the magazine sponsored. While he was playing one day, he had one of his brain storms.
"I touched the end of my belt and this idea just shot into my head," he said. The belt had metal on the end.
"It felt like a divot tool," he said of the tip on the belt. "I went home that night, drew a design on a post-it note and scanned it into the computer. Once I started seeing it unfold on the computer I thought, 'This is a viable thing. It's not only viable, the design looks good.' "
The idea was to build a divot repair tool into the end of the belt. As he worked on it, he also built a magnetic ball marker into the tool. One of his brothers, Matt, is a golf course superintendent in Florida.
"I showed him the design and he said it was good because the forks weren't too long. They aren't long enough to penetrate the root system. They can't be because it's on the tip of the belt," he said.
Because of the design, the handle also had to be shorter than most divot repair tools. His brother said it was good for golf, because it encouraged twisting, not lifting, the grass, which is the proper way to repair a divot to prevent damage and brown spots.
The bottom line is that the idea, as simple as it seemed, was workable. There was only one problem. When he went to companies to produce it, labor costs anywhere in the U.S. were too high.
"The belt was going to have to retail for about $100," Schad said. "Nobody wants a $100 belt, at least not the average golf community."
That all happened about six years ago. Schad decided at the time that as much as he liked the idea, it simply wasn't realistic to push it.
He went about his design business and did work with both Msumba and Walsh on other projects. He hit it off with both men. Msumba, who is from Providence, has worked in pharmaceutical sales and had a beverage distribution business. He knew how to draw up business plans. Walsh, from Duxbury, Mass., is a manufacturing rep who has done work in Asia. At about the same time, but in separate meetings, Schad told Walsh and Msumba about his golf belt.
"Their responses mirrored each other," Schad said. "They said, 'What are you doing with this?' Like they liked it. "
So they became business partners. Msumba drew up the business plan. Walsh made trips to China and arranged for production there. Backing was obtained from a venture capital firm. Because of the lower labor costs, the price of the belts could be almost cut in half.
Over the last eight months the project has come to life. The full grain leather belts, with high polish nickel finish, are being produced in China. The company began with men's belts in black and tan, and is now about to launch a women's line in a wider variety of colors. Even Schad admits he's been shocked at how huge the response has been.
"In eight months, we're now selling on four continents. We are worldwide. We've been written about in golf publications," he said. The big jump came last fall when, after a last-minute decision, the company arranged to have a space at the PGA Merchandise Show in Las Vegas.
"It was going to be a test run for Orlando," Schad said. "We didn't even have a booth. We had a little table and a banner I made up. It was like wild fire." The display turned out to be one of the most visited at the show. Orders began pouring in, to the point where one of the projects the team undertook when it returned was to expand its staff, including the hiring of marketing and public relations personnel.
Among its contracts, the company has signed with Datrek Miller International, the largest supplier of golf accessories in the country, one with more than 4,000 outlets, most of them at private country clubs. Recently the company signed an agreement with Golf Galaxy, another major supplier. It also has an agreement that will go into effect Feb. 1 with Brooks Brothers to be part of that's company's exclusive country-club line. It will be in all the company's stores as well as its on-line catalogue. Orders have come in from Australia, Germany and Russia, among others.
Green Friendly Golf has impacted Rhode Island, as well.
"Every prototype we do of every new product happens right here," Schad said. "We employ, on a freelance basis, model makers. We do our prototypes here. We get them down to a science. It's literally all done within a one-mile radius of here." One of the highlights of the belt is a face that allows for engraving.
"We have such a jewelry history here," Msumba noted. "The laser man we use is absolutely phenomenal."
The belt is just the beginning. The company does not plan to have just the one product. It has others it plans to release soon. The big splash will come at the golf show in Orlando in two weeks.
"People are going to see this and say what an overnight success this is," Schad said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. . . . We want to be a company with longevity. We're building a brand."
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
/ (401) 277-7340
|
