By Marty Henwood (October 2009)
There was a time not all that long ago when Shaun Shienfield was headed for a lifetime in broadcasting.
Times have changed. Now he’s just got a lot of balls.
About 20 million of them, to be precise.
Odds are if you’ve dunked your ball into the drink or snap-hooked one into the trees, it is going to eventually end up in one of the two sprawling warehouses of Knetgolf – one located in Markham and the other on the far side of the continent in Arizona.
Shienfield, the recently-crowned eBay Canada Entrepreneur of the Year, is a driving force behind the family-run business that turns bad golf shots into a thriving multi-million dollar operation.
Lose a golf ball? Good news. Knetgolf has probably found it – or will one day soon.
“I really wanted to get into broadcast journalism, but I realized what we had going on here,” admits Shienfield, who completed one of two years of a broadcast journalism course before pulling the plug on his career behind the mic. “I then realized I wanted to put my heart and soul into this business.”
And how is that career choice going?
“No complaints,” he laughs.
Evidently not. When they first started their business of re-selling used golf balls, Knetgolf sold about half a million balls annually in their first few years of operation. In 2009, they will unload more than 20 million balls to a quarter million golfers all over the world. About 30 percent of Knetgolf’s business – or seven million balls – will be done on eBay.
Rewind 14 years, to the beginning. Shienfield’s father, Gary, an entrepreneur by trade, brought home a load of 5,000 used golf balls and challenged his sons, Shaun and Korey, to try and make a buck.
In one week, they were gone.
Light bulbs went off and the Shienfield boys realized that maybe, just maybe, they were on to something. A decade and a half later, Knetgolf is a multi-million dollar business with 80 employees and 25,000 square-foot warehouses in two countries, each currently filled with five million used golf balls.
“It was literally a pop and son operation,” says Shienfield. “We knew it could be a lucrative business but I don’t think we ever envisioned it to get this large, to have 80 employees and two warehouses full of golf balls.”
Knetgolf remains a family affair, with Gary the CEO, Korey VP of Sales and Shaun President of eBay Operations. Co-founder and technology guru Bill Birss rounds out the executive team.
“I’m not a tech guy, but Bill certainly is and he has been an integral part of our company moving forward,” says Shienfield. “We wouldn’t be where we are without him, that’s for sure.”
Now 29, Shaun, like Korey, has been with Knetgolf since day one. While it took a few years before the company began to turn a profit, Gary Shienfield showed his sons the ropes and insisted that they learn everything about the business. In those early years, Shaun would work as a grader, checking each and every ball before sorting them into categories based on condition.
“When we first started out, our dad told us how important it would be to learn every aspect of the business,” Shienfield adds. “You sweat equity – that’s just the way it has to be. So when I was 15, 16 years old, I’d be in the warehouse on March break, grading golf balls. That is how I got my start. We had to do different jobs to learn the entire business.”
“When I went to sleep at night, I dreamed of nothing but golf balls. Titleists, Pinnacles, Top Flites coming at me from every direction in my sleep…,” he says with a laugh.
Thanks in part to exclusive contracts with 2,200 U.S. courses, Knetgolf is able to process 80,000 golf balls per day, from raw used ball to finished product. Each ball goes through a 48-hour cleaning process – two separate 24-hour cycles in different solutions – before they are graded on condition, separated and divided by brand and model.
The result? Consumers can expect to save, on average, anywhere from 40 to 80 percent off new-ball prices.
“It really is a seamless, sophisticated operation,” says Shienfield. “Even in tough times like these, golfers don’t want to give up on the game but it can get pretty expensive. They want to go where the game is more affordable, whether it is clubs, balls or equipment.
“We are very strict when it comes to our grading,” adds Shienfield. “We inspect each and every ball like a jeweler inspects gold. Our customers are the most important part of our business and we want to keep them happy. If they are buying mint balls from us, they had better be like new.”
“Customer service is what we are all about. We treat our customers first-class. We want them coming back to us, and many of our customers have been loyal since day one.”
Knetgolf employs scuba divers at many of their contracted courses and implements state-of-the-art machinery to retrieve balls at others. Chasing after lost golf balls in alligator-infested ponds in Florida may not be high up on the career choice list for many, but it is what a select few call their full-time profession.
Shienfield says there haven’t been any close encounters between reptile and diver involving Knetgolf, but admits there have been some tragedies with a select few of his competitors.
“Scuba diving can be treacherous, no doubt,” says Shienfield. “We haven’t had any situations like that, but other companies have. Guys sneaking out in the middle of the night and going diving for balls – which, by the way, is illegal.”
Contrary to what you may think, Shienfield isn’t trying to dissuade anyone from dropping fifty or sixty bucks on a new box of balls. In fact, he wants people to buy new. It may take one hole, it may take six months, but he figures one day, probably soon, those balls will end up in that giant cleaning tank in one of Knetgolf’s warehouses.
It’s good for business.
“We encourage people to go out and spend $60 on a dozen golf balls,” he says with a laugh. “Eventually, we are hoping to get them back and they will end up in our warehouse. Those guys are our suppliers.
“We are trying to make golf more affordable for people and take the ego out of the game.”
As for those high handicappers, especially those with a penchant for spending big dollars trying to break 100?
“You won’t hear a peep out of us,” he says. Another laugh.
“Bad golfers are good for business. I’m one of them as well.”
Bad golfer, perhaps.
But a pretty savvy businessman.
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