Business & Professional
ENTREPRE' , E
r)
h,
SPONSORED BY BEST SOURCE CREDIT UNION
Starting From 'Scratch'
Techner brothers score in the manufacture of golf wedges and irons.
Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News
D
espite its cold and snow, January
is usually the month when the
thoughts of golfers turn to spring.
While their "snow bird" friends are honing
their golf game in Florida, Arizona and
California, the local golfers head to area
golf stores with heated tees and the big
golf domes to practice.
Meanwhile, golf entrepreneur Ari
Techner and his colleagues are attend-
ing golf shows and diligently grinding
out wedges and irons at the headquar-
ters of their company, Scratch Golf, in
Chattanooga, Tenn., getting ready for
another big year. The firm makes and sells
about 12,000 golf clubs a year — and
achieved $1.5 million in sales in 2010.
"We've doubled our sales every year
since we opened the business in October
2003 [in Springfield, Ore.], and that
includes the tough economic times of the
past few years:' said Ari Techner, 31, who
is the company's president and CEO. His
brother, Chad Techner, 29, is COO.
The brothers moved Scratch Golf to
Tennessee to be closer to the golf industry,
the bulk of their customers and golf pro-
fessionals for hands-on fittings.
They are the sons of David and Ilene
Techner of Birmingham and the grandsons
of Herb and Babs Kaufman of Franklin,
all owners of the Ira Kaufman Chapel in
Southfield. An avid golfer, Ari shunned the
funeral home business to go out on his own
in the world of golf. Scratch Golf custom
fits wedges and irons for equally avid golf
customers and pros. Chad now works part
time at both businesses, Scratch Golf and
the Kaufman Chapel.
Like many siblings, they were rivals as
youngsters, and "almost at each other's
throat all the time laments their father.
"But now they work real well together as
businessmen. Ari is the golf genius and
Chad has a great business sense."
The Scratch Golf venture literally was
started from scratch, thanks to Chad's
entrepreneurship as a knife salesman. "Ari
had this terrific idea to begin a golf club
manufacturing business, and together we
had to figure out a way to fund it," Chad
said. "I told him I was confident we could
do it and I'll come up with the money."
Chad became a knife sales rep for the
Cutco Co. of New York, selling sets of
Ari Techner
Chad Techner
"We've doubled our sales every year since we opened the
business in October 2003, and that includes the tough
economic times of the past few years."
- An Techner, Scratch Golf CEO
knives costing $300 to $800. Before long,
he raised $10,000 and Scratch was under
way in a garage in Oregon, near where
Ari's girlfriend, Ashley (now his wife), was
attending Oregon State University. The
company also has outside investors.
"We've done well in the past seven years,
and we foresee a great growth opportunity
in 2011," said Chad, who is single. "We
even have plans to begin making putters."
Full Year R&D
"Scratch was started to fill a hole in the golf
market that we identified; no one was mak-
ing custom wedges one at a time to fit the
individual, average player;' Ari explained.
"Custom fitting had become the rage in
golf, but nobody was doing anything to fit
the proper wedges to a player's swing.
"Before we sold one wedge, we spent a
year on research and development, test-
ing different wedge grinds with different
players' swings. In this way, we determined
exactly what worked and why."
"Wedges have come a long way from use
to get out of sand traps only. Now golfers
call on wedges to do everything inside
80-100 yards [from the green]. We make
wedges available to the average golfer for
less than most off-the-rack OEM [original
equipment manufacturer] wedges."
Scratch's wedge prices range from $99
to $350; a custom-made set of eight irons
might sell for $2,500.
The clubs are manufactured by 12
employees in Scratch's 7,000-square-foot
building in Chattanooga. The master club
craftsman is Jeff McCoy, chief design
engineer, who has been grinding golf
clubs since his high school days and "has
an incredible talent for shaping golf clubs,
having worked on wedges for many of the
top players in the area;' said Ari.
McCoy is assisted by 38-year vet-
eran craftsman Don White. Rounding out
Scratch's executive team is Paul Friedrich,
vice president of Tour Operations. The
company has 18 independent
sales reps throughout the U.S.
Scratch's current
product line consists
mainly of the
1018 and 8620
wedges, Tour
Custom irons
and wedges
and regular
retail wedges.
Ari points out that
our grind fitting sys-
tem provides golfers with
the Sweeper/Slider wedge [for
those who don't create divots while swing-
ing]; the Driver/Slider wedge [small div-
ots] and the Digger/Driver wedge [large
divots]. These swing types and our fitting
system are based on extensive R&D and
world player testing."
"
Getting Rave Reviews
Scratch's reputation is spreading in the
golf industry and the company has earned
several plaudits, including Internet Golf
Review's Best in PGA Show Award at the
annual Orlando, Fla., golf show the past
two years; Golf Digest's 2010 Hot List and
the CBS Sports' 2008 Gold Tee Award, get-
ting the highest rating for its clubs by golf
pros and others who tested a variety of
clubs from various manufacturers.
Scratch's wedges and irons also have
been used by pros on the PGA and
national tours, including by PGA stars
David Duval and Ryan Moore and the
LPGAs Cristie Kerr. "And this was done
without having to pay tee-up money for
them to use our clubs:' noted Ari.
Scratch hasn't even found the need to
advertise in golf magazines, instead spread-
ing the word on the Internet and by "word-
of-mouth" through customers and the pros.
"Ari has been living his dream and
Chad fits right into the business with
him:' said their father, David. "Few people
are able to actually accomplish what
they've been dreaming about all their
lives, but Ari did. He can put in a full
day's work on the job, then go out and
play 18 holes before it gets dark. We're all
very proud of the two of them and their
success with Scratch."
In golf parlance, Ari is a one handicap
(close to the highest rating). Chad is a 20
— "not great, but good
enough so as not to
embarrass myself'
he quipped.
They
credit
their
grandmother,
Babs Kaufman — "a
single-digit handicapper"
— with getting them interested
in the game as youngsters, often
playing at Franklin Hills Country
Club.
Ari later worked for a while at Carl's
Golfland in Bloomfield Hills. He attended
the University of Michigan and received
a degree from Ferris State University's
professional golf management program
in Big Rapids, Mich. Chad obtained an
economics degree from Western Michigan
University. I I
February 10 - 20,
39