Published: April 18, 2007 10:56 am            

Personalized golf balls make the perfect gift

Zipline Golf specializes in custom, personalized golf balls for individuals and corporations.

Zipline offers logos for corporate events, photo and personalized golf balls for special occasions like weddings, birthdays and holidays.

Amherst resident Woody Arnold started Zipline after leaving his job in 1997 as VP of marketing at Dunlop Tire.

Arnold, a self-described avid golfer, got the idea for his business after losing a bet with his brother.

“I lost a bet and owed my brother 12 golf balls,” Arnold said. “I wanted to have something inscribed on them but I couldn’t find any place that would imprint just 12 golf balls.”

According to Arnold, some places would imprint sayings on golf balls but not for an order less than 12 dozen golf balls. Golf balls typically come in packs of a dozen.

“My teenage daughter at the time said she thought it was the dumbest idea she’d ever heard,” Arnold said. “This made me think that it might be a fertile field.”

So in 1998, Arnold put up a Web site and partnered with Thomas Dundas of Dundas Golf in Niagara Falls to sell personalized golf balls. Dundas has since closed his golf shop and gone into another business venture.

“A big part of our business is having a good graphic artist,” Arnold said.

Arnold’s son Greg is the graphic designer for the company and works out of their plant in Lockport where the balls are imprinted and shipped.

Customers can create their own designs online and then place their order.

Zipline carries Titleist, Callaway, Nike Golf, Ignite, Bridgestone, e5, Precept, Top Flite, Pinnacle and their own Zipline golf balls.

What sets Zipline apart from the competition is the quality of the two-sided designs which ship in about three business days.

Also, Zipline sells golf balls in amounts of one dozen instead of requiring a minimum purchase of 12 dozen like many of their competitors.

They do offer direct factory shipments for orders of 24 dozen or more.

What started as a hobby initially has grown to a profitable business that sells 20,000 dozen custom golf balls annually.

“It has been a profit making business from the beginning,” Arnold said.

Visit them on the Web at www.ziplinegolf.com to place an order or call them at 689-6934.

        

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