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JAN/FEB 2007
 Bob Burns In the 1970s, Burns worked for Tommy Armour Golf, which was owned by the PGA of America, and he spent some time employed by AMF, which at the time owned Ben Hogan Golf. The latter found him giving classes and seminars on equipment to company employees with “The Hawk” himself. But since 1975, Burns has been known in the Fox Valley area primarily as a businessman specializing in custom golf club-building and repair. His current facility is a full-service learning center and golf shop in Appleton. Burns found success in all of the above endeavors, but he and his company, Bob Burns Custom Clubs, have really struck gold with a line of clubs aptly named No Bananas, which is aimed at helping average players hit the ball straighter. Today, Bob Burns Custom Clubs finds itself in direct competition with some big players in the golf equipment industry as they compete for players in the category of anti-slice technology. And Bob Burns isn’t going anywhere. As impressive as that is for a family-run business with about a dozen employees and which does its own research, development and manufacturing, it didn’t happen by accident. This is a story about the importance of having a good product and receiving a heap of free publicity in a well-respected national golf publication. The No Bananas story began in the mid-1990s, when Bob Burns designed a persimmon wood called the Hippo Wood. The club wasn’t marketed as an anti-slice club, but it was manufactured with a slightly closed clubface, and it became popular with many local players who suddenly began finding the fairway with their drives. The success of that club led the company to introduce a forged titanium version called the Hippo Metal. In the meantime, a European golf equipment company called Hippo Golf made plans to enter the U.S. golf market, and it contacted Burns in hopes of buying the Hippo name for use here. “Bob was creative and he always liked these unique names, so he said no, but they kept flying in from Europe to see us and kept making us large offers,” said Bob Burns’ son, Chris Burns, the company’s director of marketing. “Finally, my dad said, ‘I’ll sell you the name; I’m not going to sell you the idea.’ He didn’t tell them, but he had the idea for an anti-slice club.” So Bob Burns designed a 310cc driver with a slight offset, a five-degree closed face and a bit of extra weighting in the toe. He came up with the No Bananas name, and in 2000 began to sell the club with little fanfare out of his Appleton shop. “It took off immediately, although the feedback from people was, ‘I don’t know if I really want a club that says No Bananas and has a gorilla on it,’” Chris Burns said. “But once people hit it, they didn’t care if it was purple or pink or yellow.” Bob Burns’ big break occurred in the summer of 2005. For years the company had sent its products to national golf publications, and in early 2005 Bob Burns got a call from Golf Digest editors about a No Bananas driver they received a few years earlier. A new 430cc driver was then shipped out so the club could be included in “The Slice is Dead” feature in the July 2005 issue of Golf Digest. When the issue came out, the No Bananas driver held an enviable position in the article. Alongside slice-reducing clubs manufactured by TaylorMade, Callaway and King Cobra, the No Bananas driver was positioned under a headline that read “The ultimate fix?” Then the driver was featured in publications such as Golf World, Avid Golfer, Golf Illustrated, Fairways & Greens and in February 2006, Golf Digest again.
Soon more companies joined the slice-reduction and/or high-handicapper market, including Nike and Ping, and although competition has gotten fierce, Bob Burns and his No Bananas line have flourished. Chris Burns wouldn’t discuss overall sales figures, but he said prior to 2005 about 95 percent of the company’s business came from within a 60-mile radius of Appleton. Today, more than 50 percent of sales are from outside Wisconsin, and approximately 70 percent are related to the No Bananas product line, which now also includes irons, fairway woods and hybrid clubs. The driver now comes in several variations, including a 460cc model. The company will soon have as many as 50 additional golf facilities across America where Bob Burns products, especially the No Bananas line, will be fitted and sold.
“We hope to grow with baby steps because we don’t have the million-dollar advertising budget to promote our products like Callaway or Nike,” Chris Burns said.
Ultimately, the secret of Bob Burns’ recent success is that he recognized a few simple facts about the game of golf. In short, most players fall into the 10-25 handicap range and those players tend to push, fade or slice the ball. So the No Bananas line was created to appeal to possibly the largest segment of players in the overall golf equipment market. Bob Burns Custom Clubs now offers a full line of products – everything from putters to golf training aids to apparel. Some new products being introduced this winter include forged No Bananas irons for better players, custom wedges for true low-handicappers and the Grip Lock Glove, a training aid that reinforces a proper grip. All of the company’s equipment conforms to the Rules of Golf, according to Chris Burns. Bob Burns also still builds and repairs persimmon clubs for devotees of that endangered species.
To learn more, go to www.bobburnscustomclubs.com.
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