Boccieri Golf formed what it termed a “strategic alliance” with Solus Golf that will see Boccieri, the distributor of the Heavy Putter line, exclusively manage the global sales and distribution of Solus wedges. The deal is not an acquisition, but rather a partnership of convenience as Solus will maintain its own leadership and executive team, while also still handling design and marketing duties for the brand.
In an exclusive interview with The Golf Report, Boccieri CFO, Steve Bollerman, described the partnership as a perfect fit born of the right circumstances. Bollerman sees Solus as about one year behind Heavy Putter in terms of the brands development curve. He felt that “were a small company trying to do a big thing. Were competing against the TaylorMades and Callaways of the world.”
Solus will help Boccieri, and in turn Heavy Putter, to compete with the industry giants by offering to retailers an easier buy of similar, tech-heavy, on and around the green products. “We have our own large distribution center and our in-house staff of great sales reps. We can add in the Solus line to the process without having to make any major changes to the system we already use,” said Bollerman.
Though Bollerman declined to give exact sales numbers for Heavy Putter, he would say the line is currently in approximately 3,000 accounts with 50,000 to 60,000 units projected to be sold for 2008. He viewed Solus as approximately one year behind Heavy Putter in its growth curve and so a smaller part of the overall Boccieri business for now. However, that size will make expanding the Solus business easy for Boccieri as Heavy Putters account base is approximately 5 to 6 times the size of Solus.
“We both have extremely beneficial products, and once golfers try them, they quickly realize our superiority,” says Marc Ball, CEO of Solus Golf. “We view Boccieri Golf as a mentor in the industry, as it has set up a large and loyal distribution network for the Heavy Putter in a relatively short time.”
