Cosmo Golf Canada – Recent Article in ScoreGOLF magazine

miracleon34thstreet2” We have never been a self-promoting company, we have always been very humble about what we do and how we do it,” Harris explained. “And we have never tried to benefit from the fact that we have handicapped people making our clubs because our philosophy has always been that dollar for dollar, we build the best club in the marketplace.”

As all profits from the golf division go to supporting the Cosmopolitan enterprise for the handicapped, the impetus is their quality of life. In most club assembly plants – the vast majority of which are now off-shore one employee might do three tasks, such as cut the shaft, tip prep it and put the tip in place. But at Cosmo, the employees are capable of accomplishing one task very well. So instead of one person doing three tasks, three people do one task. As a result, the operation is far more labour-intensive as people with intellectual difficulties are challenged by multi-tasking.

” So it comes down to quality of life,” said Harris. “Everyone who comes is paid to the maximum allowed by their social programs so that their benefits are not jeopardized. They have very high needs as they are adults, so we provide a strong benefit base and a smaller monetary base. But if you look at actual total value that we provide it is much like the market value.”

For instance, the employees are transported to and from work. The cafeteria provides subsidized meals and there are social programs, massage therapy, recreational therapists, and personal needs assistants. The workplace is also supervised by 30 to 40 full-time staff members.

” You don’t retire from Cosmo; you never retire from a mental handicap,” said Harris. “They will always find work as long as they want to come. We have people in their 80s here. Now they don’t perform much of a task, it’s more of a social thing, we have a respite area where they gather. But they still receive what we call a training allowance.”

Cosmopolitan works closely with the local organizations like the Kinsmen, Lions and Rotarians to help meet the ever increasing financial needs of the organization, and they work closely with club designers and component makers to create their lines of clubs.

The introductory level World Tour clubs are described by the company as: built with quality, priced for value. For the beginner to novice golfer, the seven-piece set has a suggested retail of $79 to $89, up to full set for $299 in graphite shafts. The WT clubs, according to Cosmo, utilize all the latest technology with cost-effective components.

The Precision II line is parallel engineered to more recognized brands in the marketplace. Made with high-end shafts and grips, this line carries a suggested retail of approximately $199 for an 11-piece set and between $600 to $700 for the top-end full set. “We source the shafts and heads and grips from all over the world,” said Harris, “but the clubs are designed and made here in Canada with the goal of a lower cost alternative for quality golf clubs.”

The Physics clubs are termed leading edge clubs. Harris says that if a pro wins a tournament on a Sunday with a certain product, then Cosmo will add that product to the Physic line. “For instance, we were the first company in Canada to introduce the IROD shafts in our utility clubs,” said Harris. “We use Fujikura, Rifle, UST Pro Force, Aldila shafts. These aren’t knockoffs or clones or whatever, these are the actual products. The Physics line is all about taking the actual leading edge product and putting it in the club at a value price.” A set of Physics irons retails for around $450.

The folks at Cosmo Golf acknowledge that they could have the clubs assembled off shore for less than the cost of making them on 34th Street in Saskatoon. But the mandate at Cosmo is to create employment for its participants. The little enterprise is doing just that and doing it in the hyper-competitive world of golf. Indeed, there is a bit of a miracle happening at that little house on the prairie.

Hal Quinn, ScoreGOLF June 2004

It has been variously nicknamed the Little House on the Prairie and the Miracle on 34th Street. Both are appropriate and describe the atmosphere and the remarkable success of the little Canadian golf company that could – Cosmo Golf.

On the second floor of a factory on 34th Street in Saskatoon, Sask., in a sprawling 25,000-square-foot work area where GWG jeans were once stitched together, the participants and supervisors of Cosmo assemble three lines of golf clubs. This year they’ll make more than 300,000 clubs.

The operation is unique in many ways. First of all, Cosmo is the only Canadian club company that does all of its assembly in Canada. The clubs – World Tour, Precision II and Physics – are all made with the latest grips, shafts and club head technology but are reasonably priced. And the assembly workers are all mentally challenged adults. But, as marketing and sales director Rick Harris says: “Our product is sold by its value to the consumer, not the fact that it’s a handicapped person making the golf club. If you’re buying our club because a handicapped person is making it, don’t buy it. If you’re buying our club because it’s a very good club at a very good price, buy it.”

The golf company is an outgrowth of Cosmopolitan Industries, a non-profit organization created to provide services for mentally and physically handicapped individuals (400 in all) and to give them meaningful work and thereby improve their quality of life. When it started more than two decades ago, the operation was 100 per cent government funded. Now, through the profits of the golf division and the other enterprises – including assemblage of other products, mail order and recycling – Cosmopolitan is less that 40 per cent funded by the government.

It all started back in the late 1970s. At that time there was a manufacturer’s sales tax from which handicapped workshops were exempt. Cosmopolitan began assembling clubs for a company named Scotland and selling them to a local retail chain. Word spread, and Cosmopolitan soon got a contract to assemble clubs for a Vancouver company called Action Traders which had a Precision II line. In 1984, Cosmopolitan took over Action Traders and brought the marketing depart-ment to Saskatoon and Cosmo Golf Canada was born.

Gradually, the two other lines were added, as was an after-market division Global Golf, a distributor of shafts, grips and club heads to custom club builders, and retailers such as Golf Town and Nevada Bob’s.

“The after-market division is a large and growing part of our business,” said Harris, who began his 20-year career in the golf industry when he and his brother started up the Golf Haus stores in Ontario. “But still the backbone of our business is the production of our three brands of clubs. It’s quite amazing but we’ve grown from virtually nothing to a major player in the Canadian golf industry. I like to say we’re like a glacier; we’re slow moving but we’re steadily coming forward.”
The average golfer, constantly inundated by ads from the major name brand equipment companies, may not be familiar with Cosmo clubs. But a quick scan of the entry level and modestly priced lines at major retailers across the country will serve as an introduction to product that has been there all along.

Master Club Designer Tad Moore Signs on With Cosmo Golf

For decades, Tad Moore has been recognized world-wide as one of golf’s premier club designers. Canadian-based Cosmo Golf is proud to announce that they have enlisted Moore’s services to create a new line of products for the Elite Club Fitter Market. He will also revamp Cosmo’s PHYSICS Line, which will become PHYSICS by Tad Moore.

“We’re very excited to have brought Tad on board to design clubs for us,” said Cosmo Golf’s director of marketing, Rick Harris. “He’s a genius when it comes to designing anything from woods, to irons to wedges and putters. Tad is known as an innovator, and that’s the element we want to bring in even greater measure to our PHYSICS line.”

The past 20-plus years have seen Moore design golf clubs mainly for the Dunlop/Maxfli/Slazenger Corporation. He is widely credited with being the first designer to use the milling process to streamline the faces of his putters, a process used by most leading designers today. In 2000, Moore was granted another innovative face milling patent for putters, a sign that his search for the perfect putter will never end.

Moore also designed the driver that Sean “The Beast” Fister used to win the Re/Max World Long Driving Competition several years ago, and in association with Srixon Golf, recently introduced the first metal woods with low-spin technology. Of late, he had been charged with designing a new club line for Dunlop, but a recent shift in company direction saw Moore and Dunlop part ways.

Once he learned of Moore’s availability, Cosmo Golf Canada was quick to sign him. “Tad has stayed on top of the most up to date manufacturing processes, and with his knowledge of the preferences of both pros and amateurs, we’re confident that he will create a line of clubs that will offer the ultimate blend of technology and tradition. All Tad’s clubs are beautifully designed, precision instruments,” said Harris.

For his part, Moore said he is pleased to have joined forces with one of the fastest-growing golf companies in North America. “I’m excited to be taking on a fresh challenge and look forward to working with the Team at Cosmo Golf Canada to create an exceptional line of clubs,” he said.

Cosmo Golf, AccuSport Combine Forces to Create Innovative New Custom Fitting System

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

img1precisionIn a continuation of its commitment to deliver high-quality, affordable golf clubs to golfers, Cosmo Golf Canada has partnered with U.S.-based AccuSport to develop a proprietary club fitting system that will combine the industry’s most advanced launch testing equipment (Vector Launch Monitor) with Cosmo Golf’s new Tad Moore Fitting System.

“Cosmo Golf Canada has completed months of research in seeking an alliance with a manufacturer that would be able to supply testing equipment that provides accurate, real-time data that the clubfitter and consumer can easily understand,” said Cosmo’s director of marketing, Rick Harris. “This research led us to AccuSport.”

A recent trip to the Las Vegas PGA Merchandise Show made the choice a clear one, added Harris. “I spent two days with the AccuSport team at the show and was blown away by the data supplied on each shot tested. It was obvious that AccuSport was the company that everyone was chasing. We felt their technology would be a perfect complement to our new Tad Moore Fitting System. All relevant shot data (ball velocity, launch angle, ball spin, etc.) will be calculated so that golfers will get the perfect match with the new Tad Moore shafts and clubheads.”

AccuSport’s Bill Brawley commended Cosmo Golf on its commitment to providing golfers with the best-fit clubs possible. “Cosmo is ahead of the curve on this project, and is currently the only Canadian company working on this technology that I’m aware of,” he said. “The result will be a perfect fit when you combine the launch monitor data with Tad Moore’s precise fitting system.”

The portability of this new fitting system will also enable Cosmo Golf to effortlessly fit custom-fit golfers anywhere, and in short order, said David Rankin, AccuSport’s C.E.O.. “In the past, shot analysis and data retrieval required large, bulky equipment that wasn’t portable and cost tens of thousands of dollars,” he explained. “Now, our new Vector Launch Monitor will deliver this information instantly, all from a machine that weighs less than 20 pounds.”

Harris said the new system is designed to do one thing. “It will help golfers get the right equipment in their hands and as a result, they’ll play their best. This technology doesn’t come cheap, but this is the investment Cosmo Golf had to make in order to continue on as Canada’s leading-edge golf club manufacturer. The only way to do that is to embrace innovative new technology, and we believe we’ve accomplished that.”

MAXX

maxxAdjustable weighting is the hottest innovation to hit golf since the advent of the titanium driver. Tad Moore designed the MAXX titanium driver with a dual-screw system which allows the player to adjust their trajectory and ball flight by altering the centre of gravity of the head.
The stepped sole treatment adds structural support for the super-thin sole, and reduces turf drag for smoother strokes every time.

These drivers feature a deep-faced design with a classically inspired pear shape similar to Tad’s original persimmon drivers. The huge face is forged out of super-strong SP-700 titanium for maximum C.O.R. and added distance. Tad has also CNC laser-etched a precise grid of dots on the face which eliminates the structural problems and weak spots caused by traditional scorelines.

Tad utilizes all the latest technology in titanium head manufacturing for this driver. The advanced four-piece construction is plasma welded, which provides a more precise weld. This method avoids excess weight from an uneven joint, for a more balanced head and larger sweetspot.
Each MAXX driver is built with an exclusive MAXX graphite shaft from UST, and comes complete with wrench, deluxe headcover, and two additional screw weights.

Available: RH: 8.75°, 9.75°, 10.75°, 11.75° LH: 10.75°, 11.75°

MSRP: $300

 Loft 16 19 22 25
  Lie 58 59 60 61
  Face angle 0 0 0 0
  Face height 36mm 36mm 35.5mm 35.5mm
  Head  Weight 228g 235g 242g 249g
  Volume 135cc 135cc 130cc 125cc
  Hosel Diam. .370″ .370″ .370″ .370″