John Andrew, founder of 20-store golfing specialist Direct Golf, received backing from an industry titan last week when Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct took an equity stake in the business.

Direct Golf received backing from an industry titan last week when Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct took an equity stake in the business

Andrew, who will stay at the helm of the retailer, plans to combine its sector expertise and Sports Direct’s buying power to create “a powerhouse of golf,” he says.

Andrew, a PGA Professional, has spent the past 23 years building up his golfing empire to 20 stores. He candidly admits that he started the business after he realised he wasn’t going to make it big as a golfer.

He turned to his next great skill: retail. Like many in the industry, Andrew is from retail stock. “I started my career in retail at eight, serving at my dad’s newsagent,” he says.

Andrew ran a golf club shop at the age of just 19 and six years later decided to go it alone with his first store in Huddersfield at “the height of Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam”.

Originally called Huddersfield Discount Golf, the name changed to Direct Golf when the internet came along and Andrew quickly realised that it was a sales channel to pursue. Online now accounts for 35% of total sales for the business.

The investment from Sport Direct, the level of which has not been disclosed, will allow Andrew to turbo-charge Direct Golf’s growth. He is looking to double his store portfolio from 20 to 40 stores and seeing his US counterparts’ stores on his recent trip to Chicago has offered him inspiration.

“They’re like golf stores on drugs,” he says. “The stores are 120,000 sq ft – bigger than a B&Q!”

He might not be looking for monster stores of that size, but he is looking to open bigger stores that offer a “real golfing experience”. Stores will have four simulators and Andrew is targeting opening in large cities.

“With the support of Sports Direct I can build the stores I always dreamed of,” he says.

Despite Andrew’s ambition to grow his business, he admits that the golf sector has hit a bunker with sales declining globally.  

It’s a high-price sport during a weak economy. TaylorMade, the Adidas-owned brand that makes clubs and golf accessories, reported a 34% sales drop in its first quarter and 91-store US chain Edwin Watts – which was owned by Sun Capital, the owner of the UK’s biggest golf retailer American Golf – was placed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last year.

Andrew says he’s had to make some tough decisions himself over the past couple of years.

Direct Golf has reduced its staff count, outsourced its distribution and reduced its marketing activity. Andrew says it was agile enough to adapt to the changing landscape.

“We can act with speed. The key thing is keeping in profit,” he says.

Andrew is not put off by the downturn. In fact, his 23 years of experience have led him to believe that it provides the ideal opportunity to expand and possibly acquire businesses.

“The market being flat creates a great opportunity to steal a lot of market share,” he says. “The market is worth £1.2bn in Great Britain and Ireland and in our last financial year our turnover was £24m. There’s a lot to go for.”

Andrew says that Direct Golf is distinguished from its rivals because of the knowledge and morale of its staff.

Each Direct Golf store is staffed by at least one PGA-qualified professional and Andrew – who is a qualified mind coach – has developed an in-house training school, named the Eagle Academy, to ensure staff are knowledgeable about products.

Golf isn’t sporty Andrew’s only passion. He plays many sports from cricket to table tennis to cycling – in fact, he launched into bikes earlier this year with a Bike-Shed.com shop-in-shop in Direct Golf’s Huddersfield store.

Unsurprisingly, Andrew’s three children, a ten-year-old girl and eight-year-old twin boys, are all budding golfers.

He tells me with pride that the twins can already hit a 120 yard drive.

Luckily for them, they get lots of practice. He has converted 15 acres of land at his Huddersfield home into a nine-hole putting green.

But if the career in golf is not forthcoming, the Andrew brood still have the family business to come back to as sports-mad Andrew sets about building his legacy.

“I’ve been in retail for 30 years. I want to do a Brian Lara and make it a 300 not-out,” he says.