Golf Town, a Canadian golf retailer and US chain GolfSmith are set to merge to create the world’s largest specialty golf retailer. The agreement has OMERS, the holding company that owns Golf Town, purchasing GolfSmith for $6.10 a share in cash. That’ll add up to nearly $7 million.

There’s no indication if the GolfSmith name will survive. I rather doubt it, however. By this time next year, expect GolfSmith to be rolled over to Golf Town. I think it’s too bad, though. Golf Town is a bit pedestrian and seems somewhat diminished compared to “Golf GALAXY.”

I can’t say that I saw this coming, but I’m also not surprised. The States’ other big golf retailer, Golf Galaxy, was bought by Dick’s Sporting Goods several years ago, creating a solid footing in the golf industry. GolfSmith was going against that behemoth alone. This broadens their base.

The press release follows:

Dick’s Sporting Goods has acquired Top Flite from Callaway. Dick’s previously had acquired MaxFli (from TaylorMade) as well as other second tier players such as Nickent and Walter Hagen. They also in recent years have bought Golf Galaxy, which in turn had bought component club designer GolfWorks.

I wonder what Dick’s will do with the brands they’re buying. They’ll sell equipment with the semi-famous names, of course, but what of that equipment? Does Dick’s have its own research and development program (did they retain GolfWorks’)? Will they buy existing designs from some independent group and rebrand them? Or will they just sell existing designs until the bloom is off the rose, then fold the name altogether?

The press release really doesn’t tell us anything:

PITTSBURGH, April 4, 2012 —Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. (NYSE: DKS) announced today that it has completed the purchase of the intellectual property rights to the Top-Flite brand from Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY), adding to its portfolio of exclusive offerings. The intellectual property rights acquired include all Top-Flite trademarks and service marks world-wide.
“Top-Flite is an established innovative brand that is trusted by golfers at every skill level,” said Edward W. Stack, Chairman and CEO. “Through this acquisition, we’ve added a strong, highly recognized name to our portfolio while gaining a valuable competitive advantage in the golf market.”

Adidas-TaylorMade will purchase Adams Golf for approximately $70 million.

The deal apparently was cut Sunday night.

As much as I like both TaylorMade and Adams, I can’t help but think that this isn’t a good thing for golf. It reduces by one major manufacturer the competition in the field. Competition is a good thing for consumers, both in terms of price and in technical development.

Press release follows:

***************

For immediate release                                                           March 19, 2012

TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company to acquire Adams Golf

Herzogenaurach and Carlsbad, California - The adidas Group and Adams Golf, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADGF) today announced that the TaylorMade-adidas Golf business segment has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Adams Golf for $10.80 per share in cash. The transaction value is approximately $ 70 million (approximately EUR 53 million), which represents a premium of approximately 71% to the share price prior to Adams Golf’s announcement that it was examining strategic alternatives on January 4, 2012.

Through the acquisition of Adams Golf, TaylorMade-adidas Golf reinforces its position as the world’s number one player in golf. The addition of Adams Golf enables TaylorMade-adidas Golf to broaden its product range and to extend its presence across a wider array of golfers.

“This acquisition reflects our commitment to continued growth in the golf category,” said adidas Group CEO Herbert Hainer. “The proposed combination of Adams Golf and TaylorMade-adidas Golf brings together two highly complementary sets of brands, combining Adams’ focus on game-improvement as well as senior and women golfers with TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s focus on the younger and the low-to-mid handicap golfer.”

“We are very excited to team up with Adams Golf, whose management team we have respected for many years,” commented Mark King, President and CEO of TaylorMade-adidas Golf. “Our mission is to be the best golf company in the world across all geographies, products and customer demographics, and adding Adams Golf is another important step in achieving that goal.”

“This merger provides strong opportunities for our employees, suppliers and partners,” said Barney Adams, Interim CEO of Adams Golf. “The Adams Golf brand will fit nicely into TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s stable of brands, and together we will be able to increase our reach and better serve our customers by leveraging a wider set of resources. We are also excited that TaylorMade-adidas Golf has decided to maintain Adams Golf’s headquarters in Plano, Texas.”

Ad Age has an interesting interview with the PGA Tour’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tom Wade.

Wade has some interesting things to say about the younger players and globalization. And then there’s this:

Ad Age: How important is Tiger’s return?

Mr. Wade: Well, it’s very important. But the sport is not dependent on any one player, and never has been and never will be. And Tiger Woods will be the first to tell you that. At the same time, Tiger is arguably the greatest to play—an exciting player and exciting personality. He’s a huge asset for the PGA Tour.

Competitively, what we are most excited about is the young, new breed taking on the established stars. You have a situation where Tiger has work to be done—you know, he wants to win the most PGA Tour events, he wants to win the most majors—and he is highly, highly dedicated to that. And Phil [Mickelson] is not done. I’m sure he wants to put an exclamation point on a Hall of Fame career. And to have those established stars and these young guns battling it out for primacy is very exciting to us.

Golfweek reports that the number of rounds of golf fell again in October.

The number of rounds played in the U.S. dropped 6.5 percent in October and contributed to a 3.8 percent decline for the year-to-date total.

Year-over-year, monthly declines have been prevalent in 2011, which is projected to post an annual decline. That would mark the fifth consecutive year the number of rounds played has fallen. In the past decade, the rounds-played total has decreased from 518 million to 475 million.

October’s declines were led by less play at private facilities, which reported an 8.8 percent drop in rounds played. Year-to-date, private facilities were down 4.3 percent. By comparison, public-access courses showed a 5.9 percent drop in October, and they were down 3.6 percent for the first 10 months of the year compared with the same period in 2010.

I predict a lot more courses closing in the next couple of years. But I think its no more than a market correction. We overbuilt in Tiger’s heyday and things now are returning to normal.

The New York Times’ Karen Crouse uses Joe LaCava’s decision to dump Dustin Johnson for Tiger Woods to take a look at the hiring and firing of the Tour Caddy:

LaCava’s decision to leave Johnson for Woods surprised some caddies, who are like horsemen when it comes to picking their rides. They place great weight on recent performances, which makes sense since, in addition to a base salary for the week — roughly $1,500, a large chunk of which goes toward travel and lodging expenses — they also receive a percentage of their boss’s earnings: 6 percent for a made cut, 8 percent for a top-10 finish and 10 percent for a victory.

Over the past two years, Johnson has had 13 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including three victories. Woods has no victories and four top-10s. Johnson is ranked fifth on the current money list, 113 spots ahead of Woods.

“Dustin Johnson’s an A.T.M. machine,” said the veteran caddie Ricci Roberts, who is two weeks into his latest tour of duty with Ernie Els.

The instability of these relationships makes the Mickelson/Bones pairing nothing short of remarkable.

Tag Heuer has dropped Tiger as its spokesman.

Guess they wanted to go with a winner.

I’m open for negotiations.