From Fairways to Funnels: Golf, Retail, and the Marketing Shift

Speakers: Katie Flynn, Heather Riexinger

TikTok girly pop. Three time guest, basically co-host. Whoa, didn’t mean to say that, I’m sorry.

Welcome back to The Flynn Effect. Thank you for joining.

This is my new home, I guess. Exactly. And we’re actually gonna use the same format that we used last time, because it was a resounding success. Us just diving into basically marketing trends and pop culture stuff. People love to hear me talk. I actually don’t know. I didn’t look at the analytics to see if it was a good performing clip or spot, but we had fun. Yeah. And that’s really what counts.

Yeah, we’re just gonna keep pushing our agenda with other people.

All right, cool. Well, I mean, we’re just gonna dive right in. We’ve got four stories to talk about today. The first couple have to do with sports, which is a passionate place for you, Heather, and somewhere where you’ve actually worked in for quite a long time, 25 years or so. So, first up, female golf, I can’t speak, female golfers fuel cultural shift. This is a National Golf Foundation article. I’m just gonna read a quick summary to catch the people up and then we’ll chat about it. The rapid rise of women’s golfers is reshaping the traditional landscape of golf, driving a cultural transformation in the sport. Female participation has grown considerably since the pandemic. I could have told you that. Fueled by new player entry and strong interest in younger demographics, brands, media, and courses are starting to recognize the purchasing power and the enthusiasm of the segment. Social media influencers, inclusive fashion, increased visibility of female professionals are also helping to evolve. The shift, shift, I can’t talk. I need to drink like water every once in a while. I’ve had two Diet Cokes and like that. Oh, and a nice coffee anyways.

The shift presents key opportunities for marketers seeking authentic engagement with an emerging audience. So, this is a space you and I have actually talked about for years because pre-pandemic specifically, the stuff for female golfers, I’m sorry to everyone, sucked, it was awful.

Awful. My golf bag, like we know this, the side of it says flawless on it. Why does it say that?

I don’t know. I don’t know.

And I bought a set, like a pre-packaged that because it’s just like the best entry point, but walking around with a bag that says flawless feels weird. Yeah.

It’s really interesting space. And as you know, I’ve been passionate about this forever and I’ve been preaching this to anyone that’ll listen, but I think the interesting piece of it is the stats are there now. And I saw something like 28% of golfers in 2025 are female as opposed to 20% in like 2010. So, in the last 15 years, women’s golf has exploded.

And I think what’s really, really interesting about women’s golf is the male side of it has always skewed older. And the female entrants are skewing younger.

I know even like below 20s. Yes. I know 35 and below is the biggest, it’s like 50% of the market.

Yeah. And I think, you know, I won’t attribute it to this, but I laugh because a lot of guys that I golf with or that I know, you know, they’re saying, oh, I’m going to get my daughter into it for a scholarship. There’s not enough female golfers. I’m like, okay. But now, you know, younger girls are playing, but a lot of the on course entrants are in their 20s. And I think it’s just a nice way for them to get out, get some sun socialized. Yes. And so we’re seeing in golf that there’s a lot of competitive women golfers. Yeah. And it’s a way for people who were athletes when they were younger to get that competition without having to play team sports, especially as you get older, which is why a lot of men, you know, end up golfing too. So it’s really interesting to see.

And there’s a lot of brands coming out that are

reaching that younger audience and kind of trying to shift the typical clothing to your point. We’ve said forever, it’s like, you can’t just shorten a men polo and expect a woman to want to wear it. You need things that are going to be more fashionable. And that’s, you know, really important to women on the course and women’s men spend more on equipment. Women spend more on apparel. Yeah.

Because it’s, I mean, it’s fun. Yeah. It’s just like, let’s call us beta spade. But I do think there’s way better stuff coming out. And I’ve seen some interesting collaborations like, I don’t know if you saw this, but a few weeks ago, I keep my eye on what Ring Concierge is doing because we have a sort of relationship to the founder’s mom and all these things. But I think it’s, oh, and my sister works there too.

But so, you know, I like to see what they’re doing. They did a collab with, I think it’s Malbin. Is that how you say it? Yeah. I think so. I don’t have their stuff. It was really cool stuff. Like just like golf related little charms and trinkets and something that you wouldn’t think of from a company that is probably, I would imagine, like 95% the customers are women. But it sold out right away from what I heard.

Yeah. And there’s a lot of really interesting for women, like fun ball markers that have cute sayings on them. It sounds so stereotypical that women want that type of thing. But it is important.

If you have a hobby though, I think the key is, women get really into their hobbies, right? Go full force that. And so do men, OK? I had to pick up three new grips yesterday for my husband at Dick’s Sporting Goods because he’s tried two others this season. They’re too hard and whatever.

I could give many examples of probably unnecessary things that Nick has related to golf. But I think to your point, like girls, women might care about certain things a little bit more. I don’t care about the grips, for example.

Yeah. And there’s some new– some of the newer fresher brands, like G4 or Golf For All,

they have some really interesting outfits and choices that are definitely more fashion forward. But I think too, even the major traditional golf brands are catching on. So a lot of the clothes I wear now are Puma. Puma’s doing some really interesting cuts and bringing in some more fun colors and pleated skorts and things that are popular. And then a lot of brands that aren’t even golf first, like Gold Hinge just came out with a slightly longer skort because a lot of their stuff is cute, but it’s not golf course appropriate. Their longer skort’s not exactly appropriate for my 40-year-old body either. But they are coming out with some things for those younger golfers and the people that are shopping at their stores to continue and expand that.

Yeah, I think some brands are doing a nice job of just tailoring their stuff more to this audience, which I think is probably only going to grow.

Yeah, the stats are there. There’s a lot of younger golfers too. My daughter’s eight. And she’s all into golf. And there’s definitely, I’d say even in the past four years since we started bringing her on the course, the outfit choices have increased for the junior golfers, which is great.

However many years ago, we used to joke that we were going to start our own apparel line. Now we’re too late, of

course. Now everyone’s doing it. We missed the window.

But yeah, it was sorely lacking. And so it’s nice to see some people filling in that space. And I’m sure there’s some other stuff that will emerge that will be important to female golfers too that maybe nobody’s cornered the market on yet. But

think it’s something that we can learn a lesson on in terms of marketing and just making sure that we’re keeping our eye on who are those new entrants going to be and let’s make sure that the stuff that exists is appropriate for them because it makes people much more excited to get into something when they do feel like there’s a segment of it tailored to them.

And I think

for golf is also what people are wearing for streetwear. So I think that’s helping a lot with the sales that skorts are just popular in general for women. Athleisure is popular in general. And a lot of the golf course apparel for women can go from the course to dinner or to wherever you might be going and still be fashionable. You don’t feel like you have to change right after the round to go meet up with a friend for a drink.

Right. Yeah, it’s gotten really cute. And for men, that’s totally a thing too.

The amount of polos that Nick, my husband, has through the roof. My husband just wears golf clothes for everything. I feel like a lot of men who do golf have just do that because it feels a little more elevated than a t-shirt and are still comfortable because it’s an athletic material.

All right, moving on. But Stan, sort of in the same vein and still certainly in a place that you are passionate about.

There was a recent article in Media Post about how Dick’s Sporting Goods is sort of outplaying their competitors. They specifically cited Nike. Dick’s Sporting Goods has been a client of ours for 25 some odd years on the production side. And I know you even worked as a store manager to Dick’s Sporting Goods. I worked at a golf galaxy. Oh, at a golf galaxy.

That goes back to my– Yes. Yes, for golf. But yes, right out of college, I worked at Golf Galaxy for like six years.

Right. Exactly.

we have been very fortunate here in the Rochester community to see how Dick’s Sporting Goods has been evolving their strategy. But I’ll just read quickly. It says they’re defying retail headwinds and outperforming big brands like Nike by putting its customer first, prioritizing store experiences, and embracing a multi-brand strategy. Obviously, you see that when you go into the store and you see all of the different sections set up for different brands. So instead of leaning heavily on just one label, Dick’s curates a well-balanced assortment tailored to local markets. The brand has reimagined its physical retail spaces as immersive destinations, combining sports, service, and entertainment, and launched strong house brands while maintaining competitive service levels.

I think we’ve seen a lot of this. As I just mentioned, we had the first house of sport here in Rochester in our community, which was– I pass it every day on my way home.

I guess any thoughts on what you think that Dick’s Sporting Goods does really well in the retail space? And anything you think marketers who are also in this area could learn from them? Yeah.

Yeah, I think one thing that’s really interesting, and for anyone who follows Ed Stack, who

is executive chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods and responsible for the growth of that, is that he is truly– he said in interviews, he wants to be the store that puts today’s Dick’s Sporting Goods out of business. And so he’s always looking for what’s that disruption, and how can we disrupt our current operations. And so I think that they are always very good at looking ahead 5, 10, 15 years to understand what those trends might be and what consumers want, and preparing for that ahead of time, not waiting for someone else to do it. They’re trying to be the leader in the space. And I think that that’s what people really appreciate. We just talked about apparel.

They’ve really– they’re a sporting goods company, but they’ve really dove so far into being an apparel company too, and a fashion company, and the athleisure, and really hopping on that. They were on that pre-COVID, and now post-COVID, more and more people are dressing a little more casual than they were previously. So I think for them, what is making House of Sport so interesting is that it is that experience. It’s a place to go. They’re doing yoga and having events. The rock wall. The rock wall. And they have– for me, I don’t go there and hit bats in the cage or anything like that. But

shop a lot at the Rochester House of Sport, and really, I think what’s great is they have a breadth of sizes. They have a breadth of choices. So if I want a pair of sneakers, I know I can go there and find a pair of sneakers, and they’re going to have a pair I like in my size.

And so I think that it’s not just that experience of what’s going on in the store. It’s the experience of being able to take home what I want that day and finding something I love. A positive shopping experience as well.

And I think that there’s a lot of opportunity for other brands, too. I don’t think it’s just in the sporting goods space. We know that as people want to purchase higher ticket items, they like to touch and feel them. So E-Marketer just had a chart last week that talked about how in the last few years, we’ve had a lot of people who have been in the sports space, and they’re going to be able to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to see how they can get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to do that. And so I think that’s something that’s really important to know about how in sporting goods, and I think it was a similar number in apparel and fashion, only about 16% of people prefer to shop online. Most people want to shop in-store or a mix of in-store and online.

So in-store is helpful to limit their returns.

Yeah. I think that’s a really good point, too, because it used to be– like when online shopping first became really popular and stores started doing free returns, I feel like people were like, well, that’s so easy and so convenient, and I can just do it at home instead of the dressing room and blah, blah, blah. I don’t know if this is a larger trend, but at least for me, who had become somewhat of an avid online shopper, I am now very anti having to return stuff. I’m like, I don’t want to have to deal with any of that stuff, and maybe it’s just because now I have a kid, and I think that changes everything. But so I’d rather go and look it over, and yeah, exactly.

And it’s the number one– if you look at the financials for a lot of retailers, it’s one of the top areas where they’re losing money is the shipping and return costs.

And it’s so– From an environmental perspective, it kills me too. I mean, I don’t know that we have that much visibility into where all the returns go, but I’m sure they don’t all go on the shelf again.

Which is very, very sad to see. But yeah, they’re doing some great work in there, and I think every time you go into the House of Sports that we have here, it is packed. You can so rarely find a parking spot, so it’s awesome to see, especially as long time friends of the agency. I love seeing them kill the game.

Yes, I think there’s definitely opportunity for other retailers, and there’s still– brick and mortar is still– people are craving it. Yeah, still a thing.

Still a thing, so– A big time thing.

All right, beautiful. We’re going to take a total left turn and start talking about marketing overall. So a couple of things here, and I think we’ll maybe just focus on the one.

Data job titles are replacing the chief marketing officer. This was an ad week right up last week. The traditional chief marketing officer, CMO, of course, is undergoing a transformation as companies increasingly prioritize data, performance, and customer experience over brand building alone. New titles like chief growth officer, chief experience officer, and chief customer officer are emerging, reflecting a shift towards roles that blend marketing with data analytics, revenue generation, and holistic customer oversight. Now we know I am not a voice actor.

But I think we’ve been seeing this for a while now. And it’s interesting coming from a place where we have been in the performance marketing and even direct marketing space for almost 20 years. So we’ve always had a focus on these things. And in some ways, I’m sort of like, hello, where’s everybody been, of course. But brand marketing and brand awareness was such a big thing before attribution and all of that. It was really more of a science like it is now. So I guess my question is, do you think that this is– you think it’s like optics? Do you think it’s really changing, or is it just like a rebrand?

I think it really is changing a little bit.

I know one thing that I always think is funny when I tell people I work in marketing and that my favorite subject in school is math. People think that that’s wild. And I’m like, no, I’m a numbers person. That’s really where I like to be. And marketing has always been about the numbers and the metrics. And I think too often, people think, oh, well, the brand is pretty pictures. And what’s the message they’re getting out? And that is the brand. But really, your brand is your customer experience. And what– as cheesy as it sounds, what they always say is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Yes.

And so I think that tracking that is really important. And forever, it’s been, well, I don’t know how people think about the brand, or yeah, everyone loves us. And so now that there are so many tools to be able to track customer sentiment and different things like that, I do think it makes sense that you’re looking for people who are heavy in the data. But it’s also important that you not lean– my concern with it is that if you lean too heavy into the data, you lose the gut feel of it. And people are– people– and we always say, you want to lead with the data, but then insert the experience in the gut of the marketers here.

I think it’s important that we just keep that piece of it too and not go too performance heavy. We can make the data say whatever we want the data to say and prove whatever you want it to prove. And it’s only as smart as the people that are dissecting it. And I think that that’s what brands are craving, is the people that can take the data and can dissect it and pull out the insights. And that’s where they’re leaning into these titles more and why they’re leaning into those titles and that background.

And I think there’s a craving for a bit more accountability on the brand side of things and a bit more transparency on the agency side of things for those who didn’t share those types of metrics before. As we share, we have always, for our large media clients, had weekly performance meetings where we’re going through dashboards and all of those things. But it’s not lost on me that five years ago, not everybody was doing that, which seems wild. But we’ve also always treated marketing as both an art and a science. And I think that’s the key. You’ve got to have the balance. You can’t just do performance without brand building. Eventually, you’re going to hit a ceiling with that, too. And so we have conversations with our clients about a full funnel approach, making sure– you’ve got to fill the funnel, too. You can’t just pick people off at the bottom unless one of your competitors is doing a really great job of awareness.

But yeah, it’s a fine balance, I think.

Yeah, and I think, too, one thing that we’re seeing with this is more of a collaboration between sales and marketing. And I think that that’s key for the brand growth. Like you mentioned, we always say it’s air cover for the sales team. But generating that brand awareness and great sales reps can sell anything.

But they’re going to sell a lot more if they have a strong brand behind it and a strong awareness. It makes it a lot easier for them when they enter the room. So I think it’s imperative that the sales leader and the marketing leader are in lockstep as they work together. And I think that that’s what’s going to build stronger organizations, especially in the health care space that we work in. It’s always been so sales led.

A lot of those companies are shifting a little more into being driven by marketing. Yeah.

Yeah, and I’ll just say, too, like–

tough jobs. Like I don’t envy those folks. They’re on the hook for so, so much. And now even before we even get into like proposal land, people are–

prospects, I should say, are now asking for like, well, what can we expect in terms of ROI and in terms of these numbers and in terms of that number? And especially with AI and machine learning, there’s a lot that can be done to get you pretty darn close in those pro formas. But at the same time, you learn a lot in market. So that’s the only thing I would say to marketers out there is just keep in mind. We can give you our good, better, best estimates, but you cannot replace that real world experience.

And then just keep optimizing while you’re in market. And what are you learning and what are customers saying? And how should you adapt?

Yep. Yep, you’ve got to stay on top of it for sure. But that’s why we exist, right? To help those types of folks. Yeah, hopefully. Call us.

Please.

All right, Heather, I think that’s all I got. Anything else on your brain?

No, I don’t think so.

Not today. I think we have birthdays today, and I think there’s strawberry shortcake in the kitchen.

That makes the day a lot better. I know. I know. I don’t know who bought it, but I feel really good about it. Well, thank you