China’s Alisports and U.S. golf simulator manufacturer Full Swing Golf are taking advantage of the thawing of the Chinese government's relationship with golf. The companies are partnering to help grow the game in a country that, only this year, lifted its ban on the sport. While the ban has been lifted, most courses in China are state-owned enterprises that are subject to being torn up when the government needs land. California-based Full Swing Golf saw an opportunity in the Asian market and took advantage of the Chinese government and Alisports’ initiative to grow all sports in China. “With our international growth, we pin-pointed China as somewhere that could take advantage of technology; and obviously our footprint doesn’t take up hundreds of acres,” Full Swing Golf CEO Ryan Dotters told SBD Global. Growing golf in a country with a rocky past with the game presents obstacles for Alisports and Full Swing Golf. “One of the biggest focuses is putting an emphasis on technology and how technology helps grow sports and make sports acceptable,” Dotters said. “What they liked about us is we can have a top-down validation from guys like Tiger.” Full Swing Golf’s partnership with Tiger Woods will be a crucial element of its Chinese expansion over
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the next five years. “Tiger’s brand is extremely powerful in China,” Dotters said. Alisports will be putting Tiger Woods-branded simulators “powered by Full Swing Golf” into stadiums and schools in an effort to attract the young demographic as well as those who are not familiar with golf but still recognize the Tiger Woods brand. Full Swing Golf wants to make golf more approachable, with points-based game software included in its simulators. “These new games and the social interaction with it makes it fun and we think that’s going to be really attractive for folks to get into the game. And hopefully that leads to more people playing golf outside,” Dotters said.
SCANNING THE GLOBE: After seeing “significant growth” in the U.S. over the past 18 months, Full Swing Golf began looking to the global marketplace and saw China as its primary target. Moving into China has not always been easy for American companies. “It took time,” Dotters said. “As far as roadblocks, we haven’t dealt with any yet. We’ve been very lucky there, but we’ve also taken our time to do it. We didn’t jump into any partnerships over the last year-and-a-half. We looked at the market, saw where the opportunity was and went from there.” With a partnership in place with Alisports, Full Swing Golf is still interested in expanding its reach. “As far as global growth, we’re looking everywhere,” Dotters said. “We’d like South America to be a big growth sector, we think Europe as well. From there we would like to move into the India market and the UAE. Global expansion is very important for us.” Full Swing Golf will install its first simulator in China at the Alisports HQ and Alisports will announce further activations to come in the fall.
