Today's Highlights

• The Pro Shop - Lake of Isles
• Q-and-A: Jeremy Brandrick
• Open Championship scripting

NEWS

Ecco, Bjorn extend agreement

Ecco extends its endorsement agreement with European Tour player Thomas Bjorn. Under terms of the agreement, Bjorn will continue to exclusively wear Ecco golf shoes during all on-course activities and display the brand's logo on the collar of his golf shirt.

FEATURE

The Pro Shop - Lake of Isles

Editor's note: As part of an on-going series, GPA Contributing Lifestyle Editor Katharine Dyson will examine public and private pro shops throughout the country, finding from pros and merchandisers what works and doesn't work in an effort to turn the goods.

LAKE OF ISLES

Location: North Stonington, Conn.

Owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and managed by Troon Golf, the two Lake of Isles courses are just across the street from Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Public/Private: The pro shop services both the private South Course and the public North Course.

Of note: When the $70 million golf complex opened in 2006, Rees Jones said: "Construction was expensive, but designing the course was easy. The holes were always out there, I just had to walk the property and find them."

Both Lake of Isles courses produce staggering hole-after-hole drama that winds through 900 acres of wooded countryside and around a 90-acre lake. The courses were named as the "Top Newcomer" by Zagat in its 2007/08 Guide to America's Top Golf Courses.

An on-site golf academy has four year-round indoor/outdoor teaching studios, 60,0000 square feet of teeing space, multiple target greens, a large putting green and a practice chipping, pitching and bunker area.

Lake of Isles Golf Shop has been named one the "100 Best Golf Shops" by Golf World Magazine for three years in a row.

Architect/Date: Rees Jones, 2006.

Shop Scene

The 1,800-square-foot pro shop located in the expansive clubhouse, which evokes turn-of-the-century rustic craftsman architecture, opens onto the Matches Tavern patio, conveniently situated to entice casual shoppers as well as golfers. Large arched windows overlooking the course and patio let in plenty of light and create an airy, classy look.

Merchandise is stacked on dark wood shelves and tables, and hung on wooden hangers. Sparkle and interest is added with some high-end items like silver Sesto pull-on golf shoes, a slick Italian shoe; soft red, pink. lavender and black leather cases and wallets displayed in luggage-like plaid cases while gift items like wine glasses, coasters and domino games are grouped in a shelf display.

Jill Thomas, merchandise manager of the Lake of Isles pro shop, has been with the shop since it opened. Thomas handles the purchasing of all things, but equipment, though she still helps Rob Leming, the director of golf, with this end of the business.

"Having a merchandise manager is like having another assistant pro in the shop," Thomas said.

Displays are well choreographed. For example, in the women's section, on the dressed mannequin, a sweater is casually draped around the neck and knotted in front. Each grouping of clothing is color-coordinated. The whole result is carefully calculated to entice you to try and buy.

In an unusual twist, soft pastel pink and blue Kashwere fleeces are rolled and stacked, while snuggle socks, robes and other cuddly items look like they're escapees from the spa.

"I wanted to have something different men could buy for their wives," Thomas said.

Golf bags are interspersed throughout the shop, many holding sets of clubs featuring major manufacturers Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist, Cobra, Ping and Cleveland.

Thomas said when she brings in new items, she is looking for the 'Wow" factor.

"My objective is to find new products and different ideas. This year, besides Sesto shoes, I brought in Daphne head covers. They're awesome because you can also logo them. I also brought in Sharpies, Sabona bracelets and Kashwere."

On the floor

There's a reason why the shop carries about 90 percent men and 10 percent women.

"We don't have a lot of women golfers," says Jill. Hopefully this will change. (Having just played the course and taken the two-day ladies-only golf school, I found the course to be a stunner and quite playable from the forward tees.)

Hot lines for women include Greg Norman, Izod G, Vineyardvines, EP Pro and Cutter & Buck. These lines are also strong for men along with UnderArmour, Polo, Ashworth and Fairway & Greene. For men, "clothing is huge," Thomas said, adding "I see a lot of changes in materials with a strong trend towards techy fabrics like Cocona, CB DryTec, Coolmax and Pureformance."

In addition to Sesto, the shops carries FootJoy, Nike and Callaway footwear.

Thomas said that except for shorts, shoes, pants and fancier sweaters, she does not bring in any apparel items that do not carry the Lake of Isles logo.

Promotions

Who doesn't love a sale? Certainly Thomas does.

"We have a sales rack in the shop at all times," she says.

Strong sellers in accessories include Ahead divot tool sets, Sabano magnetic bracelets, wine glasses and even Lake of Isles-logoed wine. Vineyardvines belts and ties with customized logos - little turtles for the South course, shells for the North - also sell well.

For corporate gifts and outings Thomas said, "We do a lot of gift certificates. It makes sense. When they bring them in, they look around and get an overview of all our stock. Usually they end of buying more."

A "Teaser Shop" with a limited, but colorful, number of items, mostly Nike and Callaway items, is located off the lobby of the Great Cedar Hotel just across the road in the main Foxwoods complex. This serves as a great advertisement for the Lake of Isles Shop. "We find many non-golfing Foxwoods guests come over to have lunch and check out the golf shop," Thomas said.

On the equipment side, they promote their equipment by having a lot of demo days. Because Foxwoods is on land owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Thomas estimates that close to 60 percent of its merchandise is purchased with wampum points earned by gambling in the casino. Points are put on the "Dream Card," which is good for a number of things including greens fees, merchandise and food.