Editorial Cartoon on the Ping Military Discount issue

Rick McKee

Full text of Augusta Chronicle Ping Article

It appears that their link only works for registered users....here's the full text of the article

(Augusta Chronicle Text) Ping cancels accounts with local golf stores
By David Westin | Staff Writer
Thursday, September 28, 2006
A prominent golf equipment company's stance against retailers discounting its products has angered two area golf shops that give military customers a break.

Because of the military discounts, Bonaventure Discount Golf in Augusta and Gordon Lakes Golf Course on Fort Gordon no longer receive Ping products. And even if they could, they would refuse to sell them now.

Karsten Manufacturing Corp. of Phoenix, Ariz., which has a registered trademark on the Ping brand, discontinued its Bonaventure and Gordon Lakes accounts in August.

In a letter to the shops, Ping said Bonaventure and Gordon Lakes discounted Ping clubs below Ping's "Improved Fitting, Internet Transactions and Price Policy."

Both shops give 10 percent discounts to military members on all purchases. Gordon Lakes does it for active and retired servicemen; Bonaventure gives the discount for active servicemen.

Bonaventure owner L.D.Waters received his closure of account letter Aug. 7. Gordon Lakes head pro Bill Fumai got his letter Aug. 22.

Bonaventure does more than $5 million in business a year, Mr. Waters said.

"They cut off Bonaventure? That's huge," Mr. Fumai said. "If they cut off Bonaventure, they probably cut off a lot of shops. It must be nice to be in the position to cut off your customers."

Mr. Waters, a 77-year-old former Marine who served in World War II and the Korean War, started giving the military discount about a year ago when he noticed servicemen in his shop who were being deployed to Iraq.

"I'm doing it for those boys putting their lives on the line," Mr. Waters said. "I know they don't get paid enough."

"That's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life, especially now," Mr. Waters said of Ping's policy. "It just burns me up that they won't allow the military to get a 10 percent discount."

Gordon Lakes, whose membership is 98 percent military, has always given discounts to active and retired military members, Mr. Fumai said.

Bonaventure and Gordon Lakes didn't hide the fact that they gave discounts to the military. However, along with their closure of account letters, Ping enclosed a receipt from a customer at each shop who received the military discount. That led to the cancellation of their Ping accounts.

"It's like the gestapo is back; they're checking receipts to see what we sell it at," Mr. Fumai said. In Augusta, where so many active and retired servicemen reside because of the proximity to Fort Gordon, Ping's move has struck a nerve.

"I've been doing this for 30 years, and this is the first time I've seen a company do this," Mr. Fumai said. "Why do they care?"

"It's something we put in place to protect our brand," said Bill Gates, Ping's director of distribution and associate general counsel.

According to Mr. Gates, no exceptions can be made when it comes to shops selling their clubs under the suggested price listed in their agreement (there is no contract).

"It's something we apply to all of our accounts consistently, and we don't have exceptions to it," Mr. Gates said. "We don't sell direct to the public; we sell to retailers, and we do have certain policies in place with them. Those policies are confidential between us and the account."

Mr. Gates did say that once a retailer buys Ping products, they own them, but must abide by their unwritten agreement with Ping.

If Mr. Waters and Gordon Lakes have been discounting Ping clubs to the military, why have they been cut off now, and both within 15 days of each other?

"It's something that's been in place for several years," Mr. Gates said of the no-discount rule.

"They have had it for years, but didn't pay attention to it because their business has been off," said Mr. Waters, who believes Ping is now enforcing the rule because "they've been hot the last few years."

Mr. Gates pointed out that Ping has more than 1,000 employees and has maintained its operation in the United States while other golf companies have moved overseas, where labor is cheaper.

"We think it is very important to employ Americans," Mr. Gates said.

None of that soothed Mr. Waters or Mr. Fumai, who believe an exception should be made that allows discounts for those with military ties.

Mr. Fumai was so angered when he got the letter from Ping that he took the "$3,000 to $4,000" worth of Ping merchandise in his shop and marked it down 50 percent.

"I sold it all," he said.

Mr. Fumai said when customers ask him about why he doesn't have Ping merchandise, "I tell them the story.

"They are shocked that they can tell us what price to sell to soldiers. That's terrible," he said.

When Gordon Lakes was cut off by Ping, Mr. Fumai called Bill Sport, the golf program manager for Army Sports.

"He said over half of the 63 military golf courses have been cut off," Mr. Fumai said.

Said Mr. Gates: "I understand the desire of Mr. Waters and the pride they (Bonaventure and Gordon Lakes Golf Course) have in being associated with the military, absolutely. Ping has the upmost respect for the people in uniform and all the sacrifices they make and their families make. This is not about any particular group."

Mr. Waters, who says he has about $100,000 in Ping inventory, plans to have a sale soon.

"I'm going to sell it close to cost," he said. "I'm going to unload them just to get the name out of here. I'm going to sell it until it's gone."

In Ping's account closure letter to Gordon Lakes, the company wrote that the account "may or may not be reopened in a year," Mr. Fumai said.

Mr. Fumai's not interested, and neither is Mr. Waters.

"If they're going to dictate what I sell to servicemen, to heck with them. I don't need them," Mr. Fumai said.

"I don't want to be put back on because I wouldn't have the product," Mr. Waters said.

It ends a 48-year relationship that Mr. Waters has had with Ping, which was founded by Karsten Solheim in 1962. Mr. Solheim died in 2000.

"Old man (Karsten) Solheim used to come in a store I had with my brother in Savannah in 1958," Mr. Waters said. "I've been doing business with Ping since Ping went into business."

Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.

PING'S LETTER

Excerpts from the letter Bonaventure Golf received from Bill Gates, PING's director of distribution and associate general counsel:
"Please do not call your field representative regarding the following ... When PING adopted the iFIT Pricing Policy, it unilaterally decided to close accounts that sell a PING product for less than its Blue Column Price. As a result, Account Number 16906 is closed effective immediately. ... Thank you for the time and effort you spent promoting the PING brand. We wish you the best in your future efforts promoting the game of golf."


From the Thursday, September 28, 2006 edition of the Augusta Chronicle

Back to my other post

Ping Golf Cuts Off Stores that Give Military Discount
I'm not sure I understand how this "iFIT" pricing policy will benefit the brand, especially if this story hits the wires...(if you don't want to register, full text is here)

"...Because of the military discounts, Bonaventure Discount Golf in Augusta and Gordon Lakes Golf Course on Fort Gordon no longer receive Ping products...Karsten Manufacturing Corp. of Phoenix, Ariz., which has a registered trademark on the Ping brand, discontinued its Bonaventure and Gordon Lakes accounts in August.

In a letter to the shops, Ping said Bonaventure and Gordon Lakes discounted Ping clubs below Ping's "Improved Fitting, Internet Transactions and Price Policy."

Both shops give 10 percent discounts to military members on all purchases....

"It's something we put in place to protect our brand," said Bill Gates, Ping's director of distribution and associate general counsel.... no exceptions can be made when it comes to shops selling their clubs under the suggested price listed in their agreement ...

[According to] Bill Sport, the golf program manager for Army Sports... over half of the 63 military golf courses have been cut off..."


This was a front page story in Augusta. Yes, Augusta. Think there are any golf fans in Augusta?

This can't be good for business.

In Memory of....

Today's a day to remember the dead.

A shipmate of mine was was killed at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. His name was Jack Punches. Jack was one of us thousands of guys who were in (fought?) the long Cold War against the Soviets. It was a different type of conflict from what our young warriors face today. We were on the front lines, flying missions, face to face with an adversary... over the oceans from the North Pole to Africa... tracking each other... working out how we would destroy each other when the balloon went up....both of us on a hair trigger to nuclear devastation...

The balloon never went up though, and we won.

and after all those missions, we came home to peace... or so we thought.... Jack retired and was killed at a desk in Washington by a new enemy.

So let's remember his life, and remember that he was a warrior from the last generation. He won his war. It was a long and difficult struggle against an intelligent, motivated, well-resourced enemy with considerable support from people in the west. We won nonetheless.

The struggle we are in today, the one many Americans only became aware of on 9/11/2001, is no less challenging. Maybe no more so either. It falls to the warriors and leaders of today to win it.

God Speed.


Thanks to the Drunken Samurai at Peace through Strength for blogrolling Jack.

Also remembering are Blackfive and the 2,996 Project

Clinton Implicated in 911 Conspiracy!

Most 911 conpiracy theorists agree that Bush and his administration either allowed or planned the "events" of 9/11/2001. The motivation here was to increase Bush's power and authority over the people of the United States. But if we are to reject claims that bin Laden and his organization were soley responsible for the attacks, then shouldn't we examine how those motivations could've driven other major players and possible conspirators? I have done this, and come to the inescapable conclusion that if wasn't Bin Laden... it must've been Clinton.

Here are the facts:

The Clinton administration was heavily engaged military nation-building in the post-cold war world, most notably in southern Europe, where we subordinated our troops to the United Nations. Candidate Bush promised to reverse that trend, stating in the 2000 debates that "The vice president and I have a disagreement about the use of troops. He believes in nation-building. I would be very careful about using our troops as nation builders."

This was a warning that a Bush presidency would return to the isolationism and xenophobia that is the natural tendency of Republicans. It did not mesh with Clinton's desire for one-world government. A Bush win brought humiliating, unacceptable defeat for the Democrats. So what did Clinton do about it? He must have conspired to bring about the events of 911. As Cliff Kincaid noted, in "...Dollars for Terror, an important book by Swiss television journalist Richard Labeviere, ... presented the thesis that the international Islamic networks linked to bin Laden were nurtured by elements of the U.S. intelligence community, especially during the Clinton years." What is wrong there though, is that the theory assumes a Bin Laden out of control.


Wouldn't a plan make more sense? An operation that would force the Bush presidency to engage overseas, force his administration into military action that would arouse the pacifist tendencies of the Democratic party and reduce the international clout of the United States.

With America weakened as the sole world superpower - who steps into the power void?

The United Nations of course. Headed by none other than Bill Clinton, World leader.

Don't believe it? Are you buying that Clinton is only a "long shot populist candidate" for UN Secretary General Don't bet on it. He may stay low during the election season, but he's already building the foundation for his grab at world power through his Clinton Global Iniative where the Washington Post reported him "assembling his own mini-General Assembly of presidents, prime ministers, kings and other pooh-bahs on Thursday to devise specific plans for addressing poverty, global warming, religious conflict and better governance."

Power you say? If Chimpy McBush could've conspired to increase power and authority over the people of the United States, why couldn't the brillant Clinton team conspire to increase their power and authority over the entire planet? Who do you think would be bigger, "Oil and big money" of the Bushes and bin Ladens, or the world dominating power of Bill as Secretary General and Hillary as President of the United States?

Now there's a conspiracy theory for ya.

UPDATED.

UPDATE: Uncle Jimbo has some discussion on Clinton and a link to NBC video about Clinton era tracking of UBL.