Michigan is the fourth best state for golfing, according to Golf Digest’s latest ranking. Therefore, it seems fitting that Detroit may soon be home to the first completely American-made golf clubs in over a decade.
Custom golf club maker Scratch Golf Clubs LLC is reportedly working on a deal with an area foundry to produce raw forgings of clubs. The company, which relocated from Tennessee to Berkley, Michigan, last summer, currently relies on Japanese-made forgings.
Scratch’s chief executive officer and president Ari Techner says that he and his wife made the decision to move back to Detroit so that their children could grow up here. However, he says that he and his partners in the company have found it a wise business decision as well. He notes the finishing and metalworking businesses in the area as well as the popularity of golf here.
While its showroom is in Berkley, the company’s grinding and finishing are done in Warren. It is also opening a store and fitting location in Harbor Springs at the Boyne Highlands Resort this month. Techner says that he anticipates the company’s annual revenue, which was $1.3 million last year, to increase next year with its expanded presence in Michigan and its partnership with the foundry to produce “100 percent made in Michigan” line of clubs. In 2013 the company sold roughly 15,000 golf clubs directly and through retailers and distributors that have helped put Scratch Golf clubs in golfers’ hands throughout the world.
Michigan welcomes successful companies that can put the “Made in Michigan” name on their products. Experienced Michigan-based legal and financial advisors can help them navigate the legal and regulatory requirements for our state’s businesses as they focus on building their company and their brand.
Source: Crain’s Detroit Business, “Scratch Golf in talks with metro Detroit supplier to bring golf club manufacturing back to U.S.” Sherri Welch, May. 09, 2014
