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Colorado Golf Company Helps 'Drive' Economy

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May 1, 2009 6:31 am US/Mountain

Colorado Golf Company Helps 'Drive' Economy

Written by Brooke Wagner

Reporting
Brooke Wagner
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) ― We hear countless stories about American companies outsourcing work to countries such as India and China, even now that President Barack Obama has made it clear he wants to eliminate incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas.

While thousands of companies in the U.S. scramble to find ways to bring jobs back to this country, a Colorado company has found that what's good for America is also good for business.

Smart Path Systems, Inc., makes the Smart Path golf swing trainer, invented by PGA professional and Park Hill Golf Club Director of Instruction Geoff Greig. The company recently moved its production from China to Littleton.

"It really streamlined things for us. There were an awful lot of midnight conference calls, six week shipping delays...every time we tried to make a little upgrade to the product, it would take forever," said Greig.

Greig was a golf pro at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., when he was asked to analyze hundreds of swings for the Buick Open.

"I saw almost 1,500 people swinging in one week. It's a lot of people in a short period of time. And of those people, almost all of them swung the club from the wrong end of the golf ball. We know the pros swing the club right down the target line."

Greig's idea was born. He set out to invent a product that would help amateurs learn to swing like the pros.

Over several years, he came up with Smart Path, a polycarbonate plank lined with color-coded poles and a "golden path" to guide the ideal swing, no matter which club a golfer is using.

Golfers can practice with or without a ball.

"Gold is the 'money' path," said Greig. "That's where all the pros swing the club. If you're not on that gold path, you're going to hit red posts or you're going to hit yellow posts."

The idea caught on, and an informercial featuring Tiger Woods' coach Hank Haney followed.

Though Greig said customers immediately responded positively to his product, some wished it came without the Made in China label.

"With all the outsourcing going on, if something is actually made in the USA and it can help their golf swing, it's jut that much more attractive," Greig said.

It turned out that moving production to Littleton did more than streamline operations.

"That's actually the best part," said Greig, "You wouldn't think that going from China to the U.S. that it would go down, but our cost has actually gone down, so we're pretty excited we can pass along that extra value to our customers."

As a successful inventor, Greig believes hard times can be a blessing and a curse to others trying to bring their idea to the marketplace. For him, fundraising and persistence were key.

"Good ideas will really resonate right now, because everyone's so negative. So, if you see something positive, you're going to jump on the bandwagon, but trying to get people to spring with the money is probably going to be quite a bit tougher," said Greig.

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