For this group on the Top 32 list, the Pro Shops are profiled for The Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz.; Lubbock (Texas) Country Club; Detroit (Mich.) Athletic Club; Quail West Golf & Country Club in Naples, Fla.; Waynesborough Country Club in Paoli, Pa.; Bonita Bay Club Sports Center in Bonita Springs, Fla.; Bradenton (Fla.) Country Club; Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn.; The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.); and Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield, N.J.
Club + Resort Business has released its list of Top Ranked Pro Shops (including golf shops, tennis shops and other retail shops at club and golf course properties) for 2021.
The rankings reflect the judges’ scoring of data provided on shop square footage; annual sales revenues; number of stockkeeping units (SKUs); percent of revenues from hard-goods and soft-goods sales, and from online sales; whether clubfitting service is provided; the number of vendor demo days held; and shop ownership.
Entries also included descriptions submitted by the club and resort properties on why their pro shops should be top ranked, and a full complement of supporting photos. The judges weighted the data and material provided to score all entries.
In addition to the profiles of the properties below, details about all of the Top Ranked Pro Shops are available HERE and will be profiled across our social-media platforms.
#16 The Wigwam Golf Club, Litchfield Park, Ariz.
With a rich history dating back to 1929, The Wigwam is the only Arizona resort with three 18-hole championship golf courses – The Gold, The Blue and The Red. As such, The Wigwam Golf Club caters to a diverse mix of play, including resort guests, member play from 500-plus members, and outside/daily-fee play, which makes up approximately 70 percent of total rounds. In addition, the club hosts numerous charity, junior golf and collegiate events throughout the year.
With such a wide range of consumers to serve, The Wigwam golf shop is consistently focused on the latest trends in clothing and accessories, while also featuring the hottest golf equipment and hard goods. In 2019, the golf shop was renovated with hardwood floors added, walls painted and small “concept shops” created within the shop.
In creating the concept shops, The Wigwam partnered with major vendors including Adidas, Travis Mathew and FootJoy to brand the shop, offset costs and make shopping easier for consumers. In addition, the club partnered with highly regarded buyer and merchandiser Laura Saiki for the shop’s merchandising, while also instituting a new mentor program through which Saiki trains assistant professionals.
This increased attention has led to not only better merchandising, but also closer engagement of customers (from a socially acceptable distance) while they are shopping that has been wildly successful. While The Wigwam witnessed steady growth in golf shop sales from 2012 to 2019, the completion of the renovation in late 2019, the debut of the concept shops and increased attention to service led to an escalation in that growth of 20-plus percent.
The reimagining of The Wigwam golf shop in a fiscally responsible and creative manner, combined with renewed emphasis on retail merchandising and customer service, have helped to make it one of the best in the country.
#17 Lubbock Country Club, Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock Country Club, a member-owned private club, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2021. The club’s property lies in the historic Blackwater Draw, about three miles north of downtown Lubbock. is an oasis of lush rolling fairways, mature trees, and beautiful ponds amid the cotton fields of the South Plains. Some of the earliest New World inhabitants hunted ancient bison in Blackwater Draw, including the Clovis culture, which flourished some 13,000 years ago.
Lubbock CC’s golf shop was completely remodeled in 2020 and carries a wide variety of clothing, shoes, gloves, balls, and equipment. Additional services include club repairs, Including re-gripping and recalibrating on the loft-and-lie machine, as well as bag storage.
#18 Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit, Mich.
For two consecutive years, the Detroit Athletic Club (DAC) has been honored in being named the #1 Private Athletic Club in America. There are many outlets that make up the collective whole of the club, including the DAC pro shop, where the staff takes pride in ensuring all members and their guests have an incredible experience from the moment they walk through our store. The club is proudly operated under the mindset of creating relationships, with selling merchandise a secondary objective. As a result, the relationships and moments created for DAC members in the shop are far larger in scale than its small footprint of 250 square feet, and the staff’s efforts to exceed every member’s request helps the pro shop bring in more than a half-million dollars in annual sales.
Shoppers in the DAC pro shop see the DAC emblem on merchandise around the store, giving them confidence in the product selection. The emblem can be found on such brands as Peter Millar, Foot Joy, Shinola Detroit and Under Armour, and on the club’s newest product line from Lilly Pulitzer.
The shop’s meticulously curated collections are envisioned as conversation pieces, whether they are worn or used inside or outside the DAC. To support the local community, the shop goes beyond partnering with big-name brands, to also dive into a new world of products from companies in the area, including candles, body scrubs, lotions, jewelry and other gifts that can be personalized for any occasion.
When the challenges of 2020 thrust the club’s members into new life directions, the DAC pro shop provided a feeling of security, comfort and routine every day, by being open for curbside pick-up, rush deliveries and an accelerated rollout of its online shop, where exclusive items were featured and products could be offered to members in a faster and more efficient way.
The club also makes the most of every occasion and member event, and as part of that, the DAC pro shop offers special sales through its annual Holiday Boutique, Ladies Spa Day, Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers (Comerica Park is literally in the club’s “backyard”) and the athletic department’s full schedule of activities.
#19 Quail West Golf & Country Club, Naples, Fla.
The Quail West staff strives every day to provide “plus one” service to members and guests. The club’s retail operation is truly a team effort where customer service is the focal point.
The Quail West staff takes pride in the brands offered, merchandising and display techniques used, service, and team education about what makes a special experience for retail visitors.
The Quail West retail team invests considerable time finding new lines and products for the club that meet and exceed member expectations and keep the shop fresh, colorful, and interesting.
Feedback is regularly received about how attractive the shop is and how something new, different and exciting can always be found in it.
#20 Waynesborough Country Club, Paoli, Pa.
Waynesborough CC’s retail shop carries a variety of merchandise for multiple sports, including golf, tennis, paddle and swim.
The club also hosts six to seven vendor demo days a year, as well as “Member Fitting Days,” where all fitting equipment is set up on the practice tee and members can have dedicated, one-hour sessions to get fitted by Waynesborough’s teaching/fitting professional, using TrackMan technology.
Waynesborough’s shop was also recently given a facelift, with improved displays, lighting and flooring.
#21 Bonita Bay Club Sports Center, Bonita Springs, Fla.
Bonita Bay is the largest club in Southwest Florida. Its Sports Center complex has eighteen tennis court, ten pickleball courts, croquet, and pool. And in addition to its pro shop (Top Ranked #3), the club’s separate Sports Center shop offers a one-stop shopping experience offering casual apparel, tennis, pickleball, resort wear, sunglasses, racquets, paddles, gift items, shoes for any occasion, jewelry, equipment, etc.
The Sports Center shop is decorated to present a very modern, stylish look, with the latest arrival of merchandise on the front nesting tables. There are two main access points for shoppers, one from the parking lot and the other from the tennis/pickleball courts/croquet lawn. Featured brands include Nike, Adidas, KSwiss, Yonex, Wilson, Tommy Bahama, Tori Richard, Lilly Pulitzer, Charleston and Naot shoes, Lucky In Love, Sofibella, and Tail.
#22 Bradenton Country Club, Bradenton, Fla.
No expense was spared in designing and building the pro shop at Bradenton Country Club, and as a result it features a unique layout that provides shoppers with easy and enjoyable experiences, to find both what they are looking for and what they didn’t even know they needed.
The club’s staff provides the personal attention shoppers and players need to select from a product mix that has something for everyone. For a small private club with 325 members, the shop at Bradenton CC is able to provide exceptional turnover and maximize profits.
#23 Brooklawn Country Club, Fairfield, Conn.
Brooklawn CC was founded in 1895 and became one of the earliest members of the United States Golf Association a year later. It features a golf course that was redesigned in 1929 into its present form by A.W. Tillinghast and has hosted a U.S. Women’s Open, a U.S. Senior Open and a U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
Gene Sarazen was once an Assistant Golf Professional at the club.
Brooklawn’s fully stocked pro shop offers a boutique setting where shop presentation and special orders are emphasized.
#24 The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
A new philosophy for operating a professional shop was recently adopted at The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe. While the club’s shop has always offered golf apparel, lifestyle, leisure and gifting were recently added to the model.
The Bridges’ staff is dedicated to bringing new and exciting brands into the shop that will inspire members to shop at the club. The entire professional team is dedicated to engaging with the customer when they enter the shop, and to stopping at nothing to meet the clientele’s shopping needs. The staff also looks to push the envelope in offering brands and items that traditional golf shops may not typically provide.
New technology has been implemented into the shop space, adding monitors that replaced corkboards and piped-in music that help to further enhance the total shopping experience.
#25 Atlantic City Country Club, Northfield, N.J.
Members and customers often comment on how the Atlantic City CC pro shop carries a wide variety of brands and products that can satisfy every golfer’s needs. Adding to the appeal of the merchandise mix, the club’s highly popular “Golden Bell” logo is put on basically every item in the shop, to spur additional sales.
In addition to hard and soft goods and men’s, women’s and junior apparel, the shop offers many popular “tchotchkes” that help to make it a destination and produce added revenue.
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