GCS Helps New Shaft Company Build Credibility in Product

By Dave Allen

Most avid golfers and gear enthusiasts associate Sacks Parente Golf with putters, so when the technology-forward company decided last year to expand its manufacturing business to include premium driver shafts, it had to think long and hard about how it would market its new product to the general public.

“We’re brand new. Nobody knows us,” says Sacks Parente Golf Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, Mike Ferris, of the Newton Motion driver shaft brand. “We know what the Newton is all about—it’s straighter, longer and requires less effort. It’s ready to play. But at the end of the day, we felt like we needed to establish some credibility and believability with the audience. We had to validate our claims. That’s how we’d get people to try it.”

Enter Golf Content Solutions (GCS). Ferris had been introduced to the North Florida-based company nearly a year earlier about creating some fresh video content around Sacks Parente’s putters, and he knew they were the perfect choice to help them create awareness around their new line of driver shafts.

“Golf Content Solutions experience with the Golf Channel wasn’t taken lightly,” Ferris says. “Having people that have industry knowledge—inside-the-ropes knowledge of how to tell stories about golf and golf products—is paramount to credibility and believability with the viewer. We also know that content is king, and you have to provide a lot of content in this marketplace in order to tell the stories that people need to hear. Golf Content Solutions is certainly capable of doing that. They know how to tell stories and capture the attention of golfers. That is why I brought them in to help us out, because they know how to get into the hearts and minds of golfers.”

The marketing plan for the Newton was twofold: 1) Have everyday golfers test the Newton Motion shafts in their current driver and share their experiences (and data) online and via social media channels; and 2) spotlight the early success PGA Tour Champions player Ken Duke was having since putting the Newton in play. Duke, winner of the 2023 Shaw Charity Classic, hit all but two fairways (40 of 42, or 95%) in his first tournament playing the Newton at the Constellation Furyk & Friends in early October. In five tournament starts with the Newton last year, Duke hit a remarkable 85% (193 of 227) of his fairways.

GCS spent a full morning with Duke in South Florida in early November to get his take on the Newton shaft, providing Sacks Parente with tour-proven validation of its Motion shafts. Yet it was the video testimonials from 10 regular golfers during a full day of A/B shaft testing in early October that Ferris found most valuable.

“Once we identified that we needed to do some A/B testing, it was evident Golf Content Solutions would be a natural fit because they work in that authentic, real golf space,” Ferris says. “We knew they had the ability to capture real people at a real moment in time, show what the product was capable of doing for them, and then catch their reaction to it.”

Each tester was interviewed beforehand and asked about their current driver and shaft and what it is they liked and disliked about both, and where they felt like they could improve most performance-wise off the tee. They then hit several balls with their current driver shaft in front of a launch monitor, which recorded pertinent data to the testing such as clubhead speed and ball speed, side spin, total spin, spin axis (left-to-right or right-to-left spin), launch angle, smash factor, carry distance and total distance. They then switched their current driver shaft out for one of the Newton Motion shafts—which was chosen based on their initial interview and swing profile, or clubhead speed and average driving distance—and then hit several balls with the Newton until a fairly consistent average could be established with most of the key data points.

The response to the Newton shaft was overwhelmingly positive among the testers, with one tester seeing an increase in carry distance of 26 yards and another a 67 percent reduction in side spin. Most of the testers, which ranged in handicap from +1 to 24, commented on how much straighter and more consistent their ball flight was with the Newton shafts compared to their own.

“That’s how most of the testimonials played out,” Ferris says. “You’re not getting the crazy dispersions anymore, and if you’re straighter, you’re longer. You’re stretching out the curve so you’ll be longer by default.”

Golf Content Solutions also filmed a series of Q&As about the Newton shaft with Ferris, including how Sacks Parente got into the driver shaft business, how it came up with the name Newton, why it decided to go with a numbered dot system (1-6) versus a traditional flex system, and how the chameleon paint on the shaft changes colors as the club is in motion. Ferris also talked about Newton’s proprietary shaft design and technology, including its Elongated Bend Profile, which allows the shaft to bend over the entire length of the shaft, harnessing more energy out of it and eliminating some of the timing problems that most amateurs have with the driver.

“I don’t think the average golfer gives a lot of thought to shafts,” Ferris says. “Most of them don’t get fit. Also, when people buy their driver, they accept what comes with it. They think that’s the best they can do with it when in reality it’s probably not. Now, with the Newton shafts, they can get that something extra out of it. Plus, they have a 30-day guarantee. They can play it and if it doesn’t satisfy their needs, they can send it back.”

For more information about Newton driver shafts and to view some of the A/B video testimonials from the shoot mentioned above, visit newtonshafts.com. To see Sacks Parente’s full line of putters and other accessories, please visit sacksparente.com. For more information about Golf Content Solutions and its full range of content and business services, from video production to email and social media marketing, visit golfcontentsolutions.com.

NOTE: If you’re a business and you’re headed to the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando next week, Golf Content Solutions will be on site on Wednesday, January 24^th. Please email Dave Allen at dave@golfcontentsolutions.com or call or text Dave at 407-717-4677 to schedule an appointment.