As golfers hit the course at a record-setting pace in the second half of 2020, it was as much of a boon for retailers as facility operators. For GVC and its flagship GlobalGolf.com platform that allows consumers to buy, sell, trade and try pre-owned equipment as well as new golf gear, the momentum created by the coronavirus pandemic drastically and unexpectedly accelerated the trajectory of golfs largest e-commerce site.

Were four, five, six years ahead of where we would have been with normal growth e-commerce was experiencing, said Ed Byman, CEO of GVC, also known as Global Value Commerce. We can certainly substantiate that with our own traffic and search volumes. Thats been fun to see, as well as our ability to handle that additional volume.

As play surged last year, golf equipment sales topped $1 billion industry-wide in July, August and September, setting an all-time third quarter record. The momentum continued late in the year, too, as holiday golf gifting pushed December sales past the previous monthly high set back in 2006. Whats noteworthy was that new product lines were almost non-existent due to the pandemic, so much of the sales volume was driven by existing inventory.

GlobalGolf.com was positioned particularly well, selling both new and pre-owned equipment online, not to mention items like golf bags, shoes and apparel, pull carts, mats, nets and launch monitors.

When the (equipment manufacturers) werent shipping new products out, we have two components: new and pre-owned. We really dominate that pre-owned and that supply already existed for us it was in house, Byman said. So, we had product to serve the market that some other retailers didnt.

The companys U-try program, an online trial program that allows golfers to test new equipment for two weeks, doubled its engagement from the previous year. It also expanded to rangefinders and other tech-related products. That component has helped further GVC and GlobalGolf.coms reach, especially as the pandemic has dragged on.

The golf industry has always been behind other verticals, other categories as it relates to e-commerce penetration, said Zack Veasey, the companys Senior VP of Strategy and Business Development. Weve seen a level-setting of that to a great degree, largely because of the touch-feel aspect of the things we sell, but also because of the little bit of an older demographic who purchases the majority of the golf equipment. People have been forced to get more comfortable with it.

Other prominent brick-and-mortar golf retailers, like PGA Tour Superstore and Worldwide Golf Shops, have expanded and continued to grow their online capabilities over the past year. Having already been well-positioned in the space, GVC is seeing years of accelerated traffic compared to the pre-Covid days. This is particularly true in the pre-owned category, as Veasey notes many consumers may not have realized GlobalGolf.com has brand-name, high-performance product thats one to three years old, rather than the kind of used clubs sold at a garage sale. This quality pre-owned equipment has especially been of interest to those golfers who returned to the game after several years away. As the National Golf Foundation has reported, more than three million one-time golfers returned to the game in 2020 after a year or more removed from the sport.

Its those re-engagers, those consumers who have been on the periphery for quite some time. They dont participate in the typical replacement cycles of three years on a driver or five years on an iron set, said Veasey. Theyve been sitting on the sideline and then said, You know what, my stuff is really old and its time to upgrade. Thats where we got the lions share of the business from a second-hand perspective.

And now, theres a comprehensive product launch in Q1 and the serious golfer will probably jump back into that cadence, he added. So, we feel really good about our position. We think this is going to continue with the acceleration of e-commerce traffic.

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