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Sonartec Golf Remembers the Past; Looks Towards the Future

Sonartec. The name might make you think of a submarine parts manufacturer or a high tech computer company. It certainly doesn't make you conjure up a golf manufacturer with aspirations to take over the fairway wood market and battle the goliaths of the industry in the process. But this fledgling company with a funny name is making big noise on the PGA Tour and is rapidly growing in a slow market.

A deeper look at the three-year-old company reveals a huge buzz surrounding their products on Internet message boards and golf club testing web sites and uncovers an almost "cult-like" following among avid golfers and enthusiasts. Having made a big splash on the PGA Tours with over 1,200 clubs in play by over 180 professionals in 2002, Sonartec is still largely unknown to the majority of golfers. Their tagline, "The Best Kept Secret On TourTM", acknowledges their current situation, but it won't be a secret much longer if Sonartec President and CEO Toru Kamatari has anything to say about it.

"We are experiencing triple-digit growth month after month compared to last year," said Kamatari. "We believe this is due to our fundamental principle of quality and performance. We believe that if we make the best product in the marketplace, we can continue to grow and that the buzz generated by our customers will fuel that growth."

That buzz is critical when you consider their tiny budget compared to the behemoths of the industry. Kamatari founded Sonartec Inc. in December 2000 with a $100,000 investment. From the beginning, its miniscule-budget had the company facing an up-hill battle. The company's 2 employees were working out of their homes for the first year and a half before opening a small office/warehouse in San Marcos, CA in March 2001.

"The first thing I had to do was get a key to the new office," said the first employee hired, Shipping and Inventory Manager Del Scott. "I get the key and I open it up and there's absolutely nothing in there. All over the floor is oil and dirt and there's no electricity, no phone and no furniture. Toru was out of town and when he came back, I was making phone calls from the floor, but I had the place going. We were working literally from the ground up, but we put down a solid foundation that would shortly be tested by the swift development of the company."

Kamatari was born in Japan and moved to Hawaii to attend Kansai Gaidai College. He ended up staying in Oahu for almost 20 years, where he worked as a SCUBA instructor, photographer and limousine driver before beginning his golf career in 1989 as general manager and buyer for a golf retail shop. Through his retail experience, he gained extensive knowledge of golf equipment and technology, especially with the history and design of classic golf clubs. Kamatari made a name for himself in the golf industry by working with Scotty Cameron and Bettinardi putters during their early developmental stages.

In 1995, he approached Japanese manufacturer Royal Collection to sell their clubs in his shop. Kamatari said he liked the classic look and solid feel of the Royal Collection fairway woods. Royal Collection executives recognized Kamatari's knack for golf club distribution and proposed for Kamatari to start a separate company in the United States to feature the Driving CavityTM design. Kamatari agreed to a licensing agreement to share the patented technology and he obtained distribution rights in the U.S. and beyond.

He spent the first part of the inaugural year introducing the product to the Hawaiian market, while representing Sonartec on the PGA Tour. He was in constant contact with professional players from all over the world and used their feedback and insight to help assess industry needs and develop new and effective products. Kamatari launched the beginnings of Sonartec Golf at the 2000 PGA Show, but it wasn't until the 2001 show that the Sonartec brand was introduced. He had a five-employee firm and a marketing budget under $30,000.

"The golf industry has really changed," said Kamatari. "Today it's all marketing, marketing, marketing - a money war. We can only fight the battle in the way it was before, where you have a good product that the tour players want to play." Although Sonartec was young and had no money to spend on getting the elite players to use their clubs, they sent their new PGA Tour representative out to compete with the multi-million dollar pockets of the larger manufacturers on the PGA Tour. 54 PGA Tour players put 354 Sonartec clubs in play in 2001. In July 2001, Sonartec fairway woods were in both bags of the final pairing of the 2001 British Open, giving Sonartec their first major championship victory and extensive television exposure.

The British Open victory was a catalyst for the popularity of the fairway woods. Another reason the clubs were becoming well known was because Sonartec had added a big name to their professional staff earlier in the year. Nick Price signed on with the company in January 2001. His Hall of Fame name gave Sonartec the instant credibility they were searching for in a staff player and they utilize Price as a company advisor and designer of clubs. Price first tried Sonartec Golf clubs in Japan in late 1999. "He was playing in a tournament with Kaname Yokoo and Kaname kept hitting our three wood farther than Nick's driver," said Kamatari. "A few weeks later Nick was on board."

According to Price, "When Sonartec approached me at the end of 2000, the prospect of working with their team of designers was a compelling opportunity for me to join an experienced group of engineers and technicians. Sonartec's commitment to quality products and equipment will lead the U.S. market in their ability to produce, market and sell premium equipment. There is no question in my mind that Sonartec will be one of the leading metal woods played on the U.S. PGA Tour in a very short time period. "

By 2002, Sonartec had moved their headquarters to their current Carlsbad office and had released the SS-02 Mid Face model into their product line, giving them shallow, mid and deep faced fairway woods. The company was still a modest size with 7 full-time employees and the marketing plan was concentrated on seeding the product to retailers and PGA professionals. Trade advertising and a "word of mouth" buzz created by the British Open win, the Nick Price signing and the clubs overall performance was fueling the company's sales.

"We have a very solid product that speaks for itself," Sonartec's PGA Tour Representative Thane Fisher said. "A lot of companies have gotten impatient and marketed themselves beyond their capabilities. We're willing to take our time and do it the right way."

In January 2002, Sonartec won for the second time on the PGA Tour, this time at the Sony Open. This was just the start to a banner year for Sonartec with 5 PGA Tour wins, 4 Champions Tour wins and 3 Nationwide Tour wins. Nick Price won for the first time in 4 years at the Colonial and staff player Cliff Kresge won twice on the Nationwide Tour. Sonartec set personal records for players and clubs in play on 9 of the worlds professional tours and finished 2002 in a 6th place ranking for fairway woods in play on the three PGA tours. Of the 186 players using Sonartec clubs in 2002, only 3 were compensated to put the clubs in play.

Consumer and independent golf club testing companies have echoed the praise the tour pros have been giving Sonartec clubs. GolfTest USA ranks the SS-02 model the number one fairway wood in golf and gave the SS-01, SS-02 and Super CV Pro driver their "Top Picks of 2002" award. Rankmark currently ranks Sonartec woods number two in their consumer testing based rankings. Other accolades the company has received include a 2002 nomination for the ING Industry Honors Award in the category of Product Ingenuity, a "Best of 2002" fairway wood award by GolfWeb, a glowing review on the SS-03 deep face model by Golf Club Review and the second most first place votes in ! Golf Magazine's 2003 consumer club test on fairway woods.

"The reason why the club is so popular among tour players and consumers is because of Sonartec's patented Driving CavityTM," said Sonartec Vice President Jim Uno. "The unique design of this feature allows us to control the club's Center of Gravity and place it at the optimum impact zone. Placing the CG higher and deeper in the club head allows for an expanded sweet spot and a more penetrating ball flight. The cavity also affects the heel and toe weighting of the club, extending the sweet spot even wider and creating more stability on miss-hits."

Sonartec Golf is growing by leaps and bounds despite the slow economy and tougher than usual golf market. In 2003, Sonartec Golf has made major steps to increase their fairway wood market share and to meet the explosive demand the company is receiving on their products. The addition of 14 new independent sales representatives, 2 new international distributors and a new Vice President and Director of Sales since the beginning of the year shows just how fast they are growing. The number of inside employees has doubled in the last year and the company has set a goal of doubling their 2002 total sales.

Sonartec had their best first quarter sales in company history and set records for sales in a month in both March and April of this year. With tour success and amplified marketing and advertising leading the way, Sonartec finally feels they are breaking through. The company has a new television commercial featuring Nick Price that airs on the Golf Channel, CBS, USA, ESPN and Fox Sports and advertising campaigns are visible in Golf Magazine, Golf Tips Magazine and Golf Illustrated. Their effort on getting the secret out has helped open up some of the larger retail chains across the nation.

Their tour numbers are also growing in 2003. This year, over 40 PGA Tour players have put over 190 Sonartec clubs in play on the PGA Tour and Sonartec is currently ranked 5th for fairway woods in play on the PGA Tour, according to the Darrell Survey.

"We have made it through our first three years," said Kamatari. "Now we are ready to take Sonartec Golf to the next level."

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Sonartec Golf Remembers the Past; Looks Towards the Future