NEXGEN Golf: The House Brand That’s Not a House Brand

When it comes to Japanese brands, NEXGEN Golf isn’t what you think it is.

But from a slightly different perspective, NEXGEN Golf is exactly what you think it is.

Confused?

Well, when it comes to knowing your Japanese brands, “confused” is as good a starting point as any. Here’s why. The Japanese golf equipment market is exactly like the North American market while, at the very same time, nothing at all like the North American market.

More confused?

Japan is well-known for having brand-specific stores. If you want Mizuno, you go to the Mizuno store. If you want Honma, you go to the Honma store. North American brands in Japan do the same thing. But the largest golf retailer in Japan happens to also be the largest golf retailer in the world. And they have everything. Everything.

They have their own house brand. Two, in fact.  

And they’d like to wet their beak here in North America.

Golf Partner, LTD and NEXGEN Golf

Golf Partner, LTD is, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the planet’s largest golf retailer in terms of stores and secondhand clubs sold. The company was established in 1999 and employs more than 1,400 in 500 stores throughout Japan. Golf Partner owns a nearly 60-percent market share in Japan with 70 percent of its sales coming from used equipment. It has over half a million used golf clubs in stock in a customer-searchable database.

As we mentioned, Golf Partner also has two house brands. We’ve already told you about ProtoConcept. It’s a store brand that should shatter everything you think you know about store brands.

In this year’s Best Player’s Irons testing, ProtoConcept’s C03TC forged irons finished a strong fifth overall. At $2,400 for a six-piece, Endo-forged set and $300 for a single, Endo-forged wedge, it sure as heck isn’t priced where you’d expect a store brand to be priced.

And that, sort of, is where NEXGEN comes in.

“It’s not a cheap house brand,” says Masashi Kamoda, NEXGEN Golf’s U.S. representative. “If they wanted that, they would have gone to China and bought some open models. Instead, these were designed in-house by Golf Partner’s own design team.”

NEXGEN Golf Beginnings

As mentioned, Golf Partner, LTD opened for business in Japan in 1999. The company started marketing clubs of its own design in 2000, and golf balls of its own design in 2004. NEXGEN Golf joined the act as a stand-alone brand in 2006.

As of 2009, Golf Partner, LTD has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Xebio Company, a sporting goods and leisure conglomerate with nearly $1.7 billion in annual sales. In its most recent fiscal year, Xebio posted nearly $59 million in operating profits.

And since Golf Partner, LTD and its sister retailer, Victoria Golf, sell more golf clubs than everyone else in Japan put together, it has a hefty database of what golfers buy. Kamoda says NEXGEN leverages that information when it comes to designing its clubs.

“They have all that data in their hands,” he says. “What do customers prefer? What does the customer like?”

And that’s important in Japan. If you think we’re overwhelmed with choices in North America, it’s nothing compared to what the Japanese golfer can choose from. Not only are all of the major and many of the not-so-major North American brands available in Japan but they also have a mountain of JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) brands available. They include Bridgestone (whose clubs are big sellers in Japan), OnOff, Yonex, Yamaha, PRGR and others, including NEXGEN and ProtoConcept.

Kamoda says the typical Japanese golfer tends to be more of an equipment geek than the typical North American golfer.

“Both are addicted golfers but In the U.S. the focus is more on playing golf. In Japan, the focus is more on the equipment and the technology.”

Still Not Your Typical House Brand

Traditional house brands in North America don’t really move the needle. They’re most often former household names that have gone bust. DICK’S, for example, offers Tommy Armour and Top-Flite. When Golfsmith was in business, it had MacGregor and Lynx as its house brands.

NEXGEN Golf is actually what Golfsmith had in mind when it bought Lynx out of bankruptcy in 1998. Golfsmith’s play was to have its head designer, Tom Wishon, design a full line of high-end clubs that it would sell exclusively. Golfsmith signed Payne Stewart and Ben Crenshaw to endorsement deals to play the new Lynx clubs on the PGA TOUR. Management eventually pulled the plug on the deal. As Wishon told MyGolfSpy, management became concerned that OEMs wouldn’t appreciate one of their biggest customers suddenly becoming a competitor.

Since 70 percent of Golf Partner’s business comes in used clubs, OEMs in Japan don’t have that same concern.

NEXGEN and ProtoConcept work together in very much the same way as Cleveland, Srixon and XXIO do. ProtoConcept plays the Srixon-XXIO role, as it’s designed for better players and is, comparatively speaking, big money. NEXGEN fills the same role as Cleveland in that it’s primarily a game-improvement brand and is priced more in the upper reaches of what we’d consider “normal” clubs.

NEXGEN’s primary outlet in North America is Fairway Jockey, although NEXGEN does have its own US-specific website (shipping comes from Japan). You can build the club you want with Fairway Jockey’s lineup of shafts and grips. For example, a single NEXGEN Endo-forged, custom-built wedge with a KBS Hi-Rev shaft in black and a Golf Price Tour Velvet 360 grip will run you $152.99.  A NEXGEN NS 210 driver with a real-deal HRZDUS Smoke Black, Green or Red shaft goes for $637.99.

Will NEXGEN Golf Matter In North America?

That, of course, is the 100-million-yen question. While we don’t have the same mountain of equipment options as golfers in Japan, we aren’t starving, either. But psychologists say that when we’re confronted with so many choices, two things happen. Neither of them is good.

First, we often choose not to choose. Paralysis by analysis sets in as the options feel overwhelming. Second, research shows once we actually do decide, we tend to be less satisfied. We can’t shake that nagging feeling that we could have done better and any minor shortcoming in what we did choose grows in its irritation factor.

Not being totally satisfied with your order at Starbucks is one thing but those nagging feelings after dropping a grand on a set of irons is another thing entirely. It’s one of the reasons why the Big Five are the Big Five. They’re safe choices. It’s when we reach beyond Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist, PING or COBRA, buyer’s remorse rears its ugly head.

On the flip side, reliable information makes sifting through all those choices easier. And it may even lead you to a choice you hadn’t previously considered. That’s the challenge all challenger brands face and it’s doubly important for Japanese brands such as NEXGEN. It’s why NEXGEN wants you to know that while its clubs and balls are designed in-house, Bridgestone manufactures the balls, its wedges are Endo-forged and its woods and irons are made in the same factories as Srixon and Cleveland.

And say what you will about the Hot List but NEXGEN is proud that its NS210 irons earned silver this year.

“We didn’t say anything about our name when we submitted them,” says Kamoda. “We didn’t advertise or anything, so they must have liked the performance.”