Wick Manufacturer Of Golf Course Products Set For Growth

6th February 2007

A golf enthusiast from Wick has been using his networking skills to help build a range of new contacts for future business.

John Hunter owns and runs Hunter's Promotions Ltd, along with his wife Christine. From a factory at the airport industrial estate, the company designs and manufactures a wide variety of golf course accessories such as wooden slatted litter bins, safety products, practice nets and traffic control hoops.

John and Christine have just returned from the British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association trade fair held in Harrogate, England which is the principal event of the year for golf green keepers. A stall showcasing their products was on view to more than 7,000 visitors, from more than 30 different countries with an interest in turf management and related issues.

John has been involved with golf for just over 20 years, and last year stood down as captain of Wick Golf Club after 16 consecutive years. He redesigned part of Wick golf course, and was involved with former Ryder Cup player and European number one Ronan Rafferty, who adopted his plans for the changes.

It was during this experience that John started creating some new ideas for green keepers. Over the years John has built up a great number of contacts in particular with green keepers around the UK and Ireland where he travels to demonstrate the quality of the products face to face.

As well as useful marketing support, HIE Caithness and Sutherland assisted with 50 percent of the costs of attending the event. John said: "The support we received from the local enterprise company was invaluable. Our attendance at the event helped us to expose our new products and we even got enquiries from greenkeepers from as far afield as Sweden and Denmark.

The new designs of products are showing promising potential such as the new portable style practice mats, which received a lot of interest at the trade fair.

"Our customer base is ever increasing and presently includes some of the famous and prestige courses such as St Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Dornoch, Royal Aberdeen, Royal County Down in Ireland and as far afield as Sunningdale in Berkshire".

Keith Muir, development manager at HIE Caithness and Sutherland said: "It's great to see such products being designed and manufactured in the area. Both John and Christine have a wide experience in business with complimentary skills. Although John and Christine have been engaged in the physical manufacturing of all the products, as the business grows, it is likely that they will need to take on more staff to help with the workload.

"With John's long experience of playing golf around the country, he has a real competitive edge in a marketplace that is still very much driven by personal contacts."

John has undertaken a sales and marketing mission to Ireland and England as well as Scotland, building up a secure customer base for future sales development.