fate filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy founded 1967 1967 mm founder carl and barbara paul headquarters austin texas usa number of locations 78 june 2011 1 parent omers website www.golfsmith.com golfsmith international holdings inc. is a golf specialty retailer based in austin texas . each store along with golfsmith.com houses a wide selection of golf clubs shoes apparel gadgets and gear from all the major brands as well as proprietary offerings . they also offer custom club fitting lessons and services for golfers . founded by carl and barbara paul in 1967 golfsmith began as a custom golf club components supplier . as of august 2014 the company had expanded to comprise over 100 retail stores in over 20 states selling golf clubs performance apparel skills improvement products etc. golfsmith generated net revenues of over 338 million in fiscal year 2009 . 2 in may 2012 canadian pension fund omers announced plans to take over golfsmith for 6.10 per share and the transaction was completed in july 2012 . omers also owns golf town the largest golf retailer in canada . the two brands now operate as golfsmith international the largest golf specialty retailer in the world . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 brands 1.2 proprietary brands 1.3 clubmaking 1.4 lessons 1.4.1 golfsmith learning center 1.4.2 partnership with golftec 2 tennis products and services 3 stores 4 website mobile devices and social media 5 catalogs 6 international operations 7 references 8 external links history edit in 1967 carl paul and his wife barbara paul founded golfsmith in their edison n.j. home . 4 inspired by a custom club maker who had built him a tailor made set carl recognized an unfilled niche in the golf industry the design and distribution of custom golf clubs and their components along with instruction about how best to assemble them . 4 beginning with a typewritten hand illustrated catalog 4 golfsmith first became successful by helping transform club repair shops across the country into custom golf club makers . in the early 1970s carl s brother frank joined the family business and it moved to austin texas . 4 the first golfsmith storefront was a components showroom housed in 6 000 square feet 560 m2 of unused army barracks . 4 in 1975 the pauls embarked on their first consumer retail expansion by creating the golfsmith store accessory catalog . 4 in 1976 the company first grossed more than 1 million . 4 golfsmith operated primarily as a catalog based business until 1992 . that year the company moved to its present headquarters location a 40 acre campus that includes the corporate offices a practice range a 30 000 square foot 2 800 m2 golfsmith store and 240 000 square feet 22 000 m2 of shipping and distribution facilities . golfsmith s retail expansion began in 1995 with the opening of retail stores in houston denver and dallas . golfsmith s initial public offering of stock was in june 2006 . 5 as of august 2014 golfsmith operated over 100 stores in over 20 states . in october 2002 golfsmith sold a majority share in the company to first atlantic capital . 6 on june 15 2006 golfsmith international holdings inc. made its initial public offering and since has been traded under nasdaq symbol golf . 5 on september 14 2016 golfsmtih international holdings inc filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy . owing millions to nike inc callaway golf company and others . 7 brands edit golfsmith offers golf clubs apparel accessories and practice gear from brands like adams golf adidas bridgestone bushnell callaway cleveland cobra ecco footjoy macgregor mizuno nike golf odyssey ogio ping scotty cameron skygolf srixon sun mountain taylormade and titleist . proprietary brands edit in 1998 golfsmith secured a 30 million private placement with dlj investment partners . 8 the private placement helped fund the acquisitions of lynx golf inc. black rock golf corp. maker of killer bee golf clubs and snake eyes golf clubs inc. in 2003 the company acquired zevo golf . 9 in may 2009 golfsmith acquired the intellectual property rights to macgregor golf . 10 alongside products from external manufacturers golfsmith offers complete golf clubs component club parts apparel and golf accessories under its own lynx macgregor killer bee snake eyes golfsmith xpc zevo ztech tour trek profinity and maggielane brands . clubmaking edit beginning in 1970 golfsmith offered the first golf club maker training programs to teach custom club fitting assembly and repair . golfsmith now conducts clubmaking schools throughout the year at three levels of expertise the complete clubmaker s training school the advanced clubmaking fitting and repair school and the master craftsman school . in 1980 golfsmith established the golf clubmakers association gca to support and guide the growing number of clubmakers around the world . the gca offers three levels of professional accreditation accredited clubmaker professional clubmaker and advanced clubmaker . in 1988 golfsmith hosted the first gca international conference . lessons edit golfsmith learning center edit in 1993 golfsmith collaborated with teacher harvey penick to develop the austin based harvey penick golf academy which instructed golfers in the methods and philosophies of the little red golf book coauthor . the academy was renamed the golfsmith learning center in 2009 . partnership with golftec edit in 2004 golfsmith formed a partnership with golftec a denver based national chain of golf instruction facilities . 11 as of august 2010 golftec provided golf lessons in 57 golfsmith stores . tennis products and services edit in 2003 golfsmith acquired six san francisco based don sherwood golf and tennis stores and began offering a wide selection of major brand tennis merchandise . 12 at one point the company sold tennis gear in over 55 of its stores nationwide as well as online and via direct to consumer marketing . golfsmith also offered tennis racquet restringing by technicians certified by the united states racquet restringers association . as of 2013 golfsmith no longer sells nor services tennis related products . stores edit as of august 2014 golfsmith operates over 100 stores in over 20 states including alabama arizona california colorado connecticut florida georgia illinois indiana kansas michigan minnesota new jersey new york north carolina ohio oregon pennsylvania tennessee texas and wisconsin . golfsmith stores have putting greens driving ranges and digital swing analysis equipment inside most locations and tennis courts inside some . 13 in 2009 golfsmith introduced the golfsmith xtreme brand of superstores which is larger with more interactive features like indoor hitting bays and sand bunkers . 14 website mobile devices and social media edit golfsmith s website golfsmith.com offers online shopping product reviews by customers streaming videos about products and services such as golf handicap tracking and live online customer service . 15 in 2007 16 and 2008 17 golfsmith.com was cited for exemplary customer service in the e tailing group s annual mystery shopping survey . in 2009 18 and 2010 19 internet retailer put golfsmith.com on its hot 100 list of the best e commerce sites . in 2010 golfsmith launched a new mobile website and iphone application . 20 the company uses both facebook 21 and twitter 22 to reach customers . catalogs edit golfsmith published and distributed multiple print catalog titles throughout the year including a general golf equipment catalog one for custom golf club makers and one offering only tennis products . the company was the first golf retailer to publish a catalog of equipment and fashion exclusively for women . 23 however starting in 2014 a yearly club making catalog is golfsmith s only offering in this category . international operations edit golfsmith operates golfsmith canada llc a club components distribution center in ontario canada . references edit nation s largest golf retailer arrives in nation s capital sec form 10 k . 25 february 2010 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . http www.businessreviewcanada.ca money matters golf town to buy golfsmith international for us expansion a b c d e f g cartwright gary march 1998 . equipment digest king carl . golf digest . a b golfsmith international holdings inc. . moneycentral.hoovers.com . retrieved 4 october 2010 . investment firm buys majority of golfsmith . austin business journal . 17 october 2002 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . http www.bizjournals.com austin news 2016 09 14 austins golfsmith owes more than 100m files.html sec form s 4 . 8 november 2002 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith acquires assets of zevo golf . business wire . 28 may 2003 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith acquires macgregor golf . austin business journal . 21 may 2009 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golftec swings into austin market . austin business journal . 26 may 2004 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith acquires don sherwood golf and tennis world . business wire . 25 july 2003 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith opens new playground for bay area golfers and tennis players . the wire . 25 july 2003 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith opens new playground for coachella valley golf and tennis players . enhanced online news . 16 january 2009 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith innovates with live chat service . business wire . 3 december 2008 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . nine sites earn top customer service ranking in new study . internet retailer . 9 january 2007 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . e tailing group cites 11 online retailers for standout customer service . internet retailer . 15 january 2008 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . toys hobbies sporting goods retailers score by engaging customers . internet retailer . 21 november 2009 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith makes internet retailer hot 100 . invodo.com . 8 september 2010 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith . itunes preview . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith . facebook . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith . twitter . retrieved 4 october 2010 . golfsmith unveils drive . about.com . 14 july 2004 . retrieved 4 october 2010 . external links edit golfsmith official site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title golfsmith & oldid 739713688 categories companies based in austin texascompanies formerly listed on nasdaqgolf equipment manufacturers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 16 september 2016 at 13 53 . text is available under the creative commons 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