Tag Archives: Stephanie Zinser

Golf Junior, Holiday Golf, Juniors

Lynx Golf – Heralds a revolution in junior golf equipment design with the Ai Junior Golf Range

October 9, 2019 – Lynx Golf, the innovative and forward-thinking British-owned golf brand, today unveiled its latest new – and revolutionary – development: The Ai Junior Golf Range.

Spanning all ages of childhood from as early as two years old, the company’s new Ai range has been invented to offer young players the greatest advantage yet to be seen in the industry.

For the first time in a collection of junior equipment, all component parts of the Lynx Ai range have been ‘proportionately resized’ using technology, to deliver clubs that are shorter, lighter, smaller and better-suited to young players than ever previously seen.

Lynx offers completely different club head sizes and weights in each of six height-coded sections of its Ai Junior Range. For example, a 6-iron in its smallest Blue section of clubs is 7% lighter and 7% shorter than in the next size Red section.

Similar levels of difference continue through the remaining Orange, Green, Black and Silver sections, with clubs getting progressively larger, longer and heavier.

Even the issue of ball size and weight has been addressed by Lynx, with smaller, lighter balls that are easier for younger players to get airborne.

Stephanie Zinser, one of the two owners of Lynx Golf, explains the rationale behind the innovative new range.

“Sports medicine and the understanding of how the young body grows has given us great insight into the stresses and strains that old-fashioned equipment can cause to young golfers,” she says.

“It’s no coincidence that in virtually every sport the equipment made for the younger, growing, player takes this into account – with lighter, smaller, softer footballs, to smaller, lighter tennis rackets.

“It is something that is being seen across the whole breadth of the sporting industry, yet when we at Lynx looked into this in detail, we quickly realised that something fundamental was missing in golf.

“Golf clubs for juniors, while made often with smaller clubheads and shorter shafts, are not proportionately as small and as light as the young golfer actually needs them to be.

“We have utilised a proven mix of sports science, physiology, advanced computational methods – and perhaps a dose of parental care – to create the new Lynx Ai clubs to be absolutely in the correct proportions for young golfers.

“Not only that, the entire range grows with them, proportionately, as the child progresses into their teens and adulthood.”

During their extensive research, Lynx discovered that while the overwhelming majority of junior golf clubs look smaller than adult clubs, a lot of what makes them up is the exactly the same.

Shafts might be cut shorter, but thickness remains the same. Hosels and ferrules are also identical. And while one or two smaller clubhead sizes may be offered, this is inadequate to cater for the wide span of ages and body sizes among junior players.

Added Steve Elford, Lynx Golf CEO and co-owner: “What we have done, with the help of AI and sports science, is to develop entirely new junior clubs that are directly proportional to the actual sizes of children in every component.

“Each section of the junior range we offer is proportionately different in size to the others, whether irons, putters, fairways woods or drivers.

“The entire sampling of tooling for individual components – grips, heads, shafts and right down to the ferrules and hosels – has been completely re-tooled to make sure that everything is not just smaller and lighter but is absolutely in proportion.

“Because of the way we have developed these junior golf clubs, sizes grow proportionately with the child. When they do move into the next colour-coded set of clubs, everything should feel exactly the same to them as it did before.

“They will have grown proportionately larger, so their clubs will too. It’s a perfect model for scaling up to adulthood and one which takes account of the child’s developing strength and slowly increasing swing speeds as he or she gets older, stronger, more confident and more able.”

Across the new Lynx Junior Ai Range, there are clubs to suit every age range running from two years old all the way through to teens, after which the golfer can progress up to the adult Lynx ranges.

Young players select which colour set to use based on their height when standing upright, rather than by age grouping.

Stephanie Zinser explains further: “As a mother, I’ve always been concerned about young children risking injuries from trying to play sport with equipment that is not correctly designed for the way their growing bodies are.

“There are reports of increases in tendon and muscle injuries or strains in children caused by using products not designed for them and therefore we felt it so important to radically overhaul the way we do things at Lynx.

“We have made balls specifically for the younger ages which are again proportionately smaller and lighter.

“This has a double-edged benefit for kids. Firstly, they don’t risk straining on musculature which using a heavier, denser ball might cause. And secondly, because the ball is lighter, the child is able to loft the ball more easily and more often.

“The positive feedback a child gets when they can actually get the ball airborne is the one thing most likely to enthuse them to keep going with golf, because early success is often a factor in whether a child continues with a sport.

“Children become super-keen when they see positive results from their efforts in sport very quickly. It’s all well and good to talk about growing the game, but this is something that might actually turn an aspiration to get youth into golf into more of a reality.”

The Lynx Junior Ai Range will be available from December this year in time for Christmas and is once again being sold on an open stock basis, so that parents can buy exactly what their child needs and wants from good golf retailers.

Club specs: Blue (45-48 inches); Red (48-51 inches); Orange (51-54 inches); Green (54-57 inches); Black (57-60 inches); Silver (60-63 inches).

SRP per club: TI Titanium Driver €94.80 srp; Alloy Driver €44.34; 3 wood, 5 wood €44.34 srp; 3 hybrid, 4 hybrid €44.34 srp; 5-SW irons €26.40 srp; 52, 56, 60 degree wedges €26.40 srp; Putter €32.34 srp.

More information at www.lynxgolf.co.uk/ and www.holidaygolf.com.

Golf Companies, Holiday Golf, Sustainable Golf

Lynx Golf – Going SUP-Free in the golf industry and leading the way

August 1, 2018 – Today is the day. A British golf equipment company is becoming the first in the world to rid itself of Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) with a 1st August deadline to complete major changes to its supply chain. Lynx Golf, based in Weybridge, Surrey, is a global sports manufacturing company, exporting its golf clubs, bags and other products all around the world, including the USA.

Owned by husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Steve Elford and Stephanie Zinser, Lynx Golf has committed to spending over £30,000 this year on alternatives for SUPs and to increase plastics recycling resources in its business, which employs just over 20 people.

Their aim is to be fully rid of SUPs by today August 1st, with Stephanie Zinser, CFO, pledging: “Among our staff, we have over 42 children and a few grandchildren. We want them to have a world in which they can live safely, healthily and happily.

“There is no doubt that Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet’ TV series really made the world sit up and think long and hard about our use of plastics and the damage they are having on the environment. 

“The golf equipment business is not unique. Although its use of single-use plastics might not be as obvious as in other industries, there are SUPs all along the supply chain. At Lynx Golf we are determined to remove them.” 

Lynx Golf has made several key changes to reduce its impact on the environment.

  • Polyethylene (PE) plastic, used to wrap and protect its golf bags before they are packed in boxes, is being abandoned altogether or being replaced with paper. Longer-term, the company is investing in reusable and useful cotton drawstring bag covers on their golf bags.
  • PE bubble plastic – used to pad out golf bag pockets so they keep their shape on display as well as bubble wrap packaging to protect shipping – is also being replaced with recycled paper wadding.
  • Plastic parcel tape – used on cartons and boxes when importing equipment to the UK, then distributing it to retailers – is being phased out in favour of reinforced gummed paper tape.
  • Plastic shrink wrapping, currently used on every golf club head component, will be removed altogether.

Added Stephanie Zinser: “Lynx Golf will be the first global sports equipment manufacturing company to rid itself of SUPs, but that is not without its challenges. 

“For example, when trying to replace the cellophane shrink-wrap we use on our golf club heads to protect them, we had sourced a Viskring/Celon alternative which is made purely from cellulose and which is quickly and completely biodegradable into harmless elements.

“However, in its current form it’s not quite there. We will keep working on the best alternatives, but we’d rather have nothing than something that is either not really biodegradable, or that is, but doesn’t quite look good enough.

“We are therefore using other – greener – methods to hold the golf club heads in place during transit and shipping and this comes at additional cost to the business.”

Where SUPs simply cannot currently be avoided – mainly due to product protection during shipping or deliveries of supplies from companies who don’t have an ethical plastics policy in place – Lynx is actively working on careful recycling and disposal plans, although this is also challenging.

Most industrial recyclers the company has spoken to will only accept a minimum weight of 1-tonne. This means Lynx is investing in special recycling bins and a baler, so it can store its waste plastics ready for recycling.

And while plastics can be recycled into many things, Lynx has been trying to find a recycler that can utilise its waste into something that will not end up polluting the environment.

Added Stephanie Zinser: “We felt that fuel pellets, while worthy on one level, also produce pollutants, and that is why we hope to be able to work with a company who uses waste plastics to produce plastic lumber, which is both useful and inertly non-polluting of the environment.

“Plastic, and it is a very important point to understand, will continue to be used and is a fundamental part of everyone’s lifestyle. Multi-use plastics are not going to go away, at least not for a very long time into the future. But what we can and need to get rid of NOW are the single-use plastic products used for packaging and delivery of products to consumers. These are really clogging up the blood vessels of the earth – our oceans, seas and rivers.

“We have also investigated several products that claim to be ‘biodegradable’, but these are also made from petroleum-based products, as per normal plastic. And in order to degrade they use chemical additives in their formulation which require heat, light and oxygen – which they simply do not get when buried deep in landfill.

“Similarly, when they do degrade they often only break down into micro-plastics and shreds and also contaminate our environment with harmful by-products. Even then, this process can take a very long time, assuming it even does work.

“The term ‘biodegradable’ can be a bit of a greenwash, as it’s not as simple as you’d think it was when you start digging into the subject. The only truly biodegradable plastic alternatives are bioplastics which are made entirely from plant-based materials, but their permeation into the wider packaging market has a long way to go still.

“So, there are challenges all the time, but we are determined to overcome them.”

REASONS TO BEE CONCERNED

Not content with ridding the company and its products of SUPs, Lynx Golf are tackling another urgent ecological challenge: the decimation of the natural bee population due to loss of natural habitats, pesticide use and parasitic infection.

This small creature has such a massive impact on nature as 70 of the 100-crop species that provide 90% of food worldwide are pollinated by bees (Source: DEFRA, Bees’ Needs: Food and a home, 8 July 2016).

In 2013, pesticide manufacturer Syngenta described bee health decline as among the biggest challenges facing agriculture (Source: House of Commons Debate Pack, 2017/0226) and the National Pollinator Strategy was set up to expand the public’s dedication to increasing food, shelter and nest sites across all types of land.

Said Stephanie Zinser: “Some have stated that the human population would starve within four years if bees were extinct – certainly, we do know that we would lose many of our fruits and vegetables and that supermarket offerings would be slashed by at least 50% without bees. Almonds, which rely entirely on bees for pollination, would cease to be a viable crop; the many knock-on effects would be invasive and more massive than you might at first think.

“We believe that everyone can help, and this is why we are also sending out packets of bee-friendly seeds to all our customers who buy boxed products from Lynx – golf bags, irons etc – so they can be part of the challenge to see just how much of an impact we golfers can make in halting the decline of these fuzzy winged ‘farmers’ who do such an important job in agriculture.

“Our eco-friendly strategies are all about bringing like-minded people along with us on this journey, and we very much hope that our actions by going SUP-Free will encourage everyone who knows us, partners with us, and plays with us, to come along and join in the adventure”.

More information at www.lynxgolf.co.uk and www.holidaygolf.com.

Golf Companies, Holiday Golf

Lynx Golf – The British golf equipment company become a global golf brand

November 17, 2017 – Lynx Golf, the British, family-owned golf equipment company, has announced that it has become a global golf brand following its acquisition of the Global Lynx Trademark Portfolio from Dick’s Sporting Goods in the USA.

The trademarks have been purchased for an undisclosed sum as the UK-based company enjoys unprecedented growth during a time when many major golf manufacturers are scaling back operations or pulling out of the market.

“We are now poised to offer our exceptional brand and products to customers not just in the UK and Europe, but to the world’s largest and most active golfing territories,” said Lynx Golf CFO and co-owner Stephanie Zinser.

CEO and co-owner Steve Elford confirmed that Lynx Golf would now seek a return to the US market as well as open new sales channels in established and developing golf markets including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, India and more.

He said: “It has always been our intention since we took over the brand in 2011 to take Lynx back to its rightful place – at the top of the industry. Lynx was one of the top 5 major golf brands worldwide in its heyday and we want to give the phoenix another chance to rise up.”

Lynx Golf was originally founded in the 1970’s by John Riley Sr and Carl Ross and quickly became an iconic name, still fondly loved by those who used Lynx equipment in the early years and into its heyday in the early 1990s, when it chalked up Major wins at the 1992 Masters and 1994 US Open.

More recently, in the UK in 2011 Lynx was licenced to Charles Claire LLP, a family business based in Weybridge, Surrey, owned by husband and wife Elford and Zinser. Then, in 2013 Charles Claire fully acquired the Lynx marque for the UK and Europe from previous owner, Chester Hunt.

Under the new UK ownership, Lynx Golf has gone from strength to strength, with double-digit annual sales increases every year since 2013. The company has over 550 live retail accounts and operates in 15 European countries.

Lynx Golf will be exhibiting its full 2018 range at the world’s largest golf trade exhibition, the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida, January 24-26th, 2018, where it will be identifying partners to facilitate its global expansion.

Added Stephanie Zinser: “Several of our staff have been with us since we re-started Lynx and the excitement within our whole team to be able to reach the world with our products, not just Europe, is palpable.

“It’s also not lost on us that with Brexit and Britain’s place in Europe so uncertain at the moment, it makes good business sense to be able to open up new markets for ourselves. We have invested too much personally and emotionally to not give ourselves the best chance of success, and our hard-working, loyal and superb staff deserve that too.

“However, that was not what drove us to want to acquire the worldwide marks – it’s something that we have been quietly and tenaciously pursuing for nearly four years now, well before Brexit started! We’ve always been very circumspect about our long-term plans for Lynx Golf and happy to sail under the radar until we had everything lined up – but we are now delighted to announce the growth of the brand and our genuine intentions to make it a global player in the golfmarket.”

Only last year, Steve and Stephanie received a personal letter from former Lynx Golf president, Carl Ross, who is now semi-retired and working as a successful realtor in Nevada, USA. Said Steve: “He wrote to us about to say how he was watching what we were doing with the brand, and how well he felt we were representing the iconic name that he founded. It was one of those moments that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.”

Lynx Golf concentrates on developing high quality, technologically-advanced but affordable golf clubs, backed up by great customer service. In the UK, it has gained a strong foothold in ‘green grass’ golf accounts – retail operations typically run at golf courses by PGA Professionals – with clubs designed and assembled in the UK at the company’s Weybridge, Surrey, headquarters.

More information at www.lynxgolf.co.uk.

Golf Companies, Holiday Golf

Lynx Golf – The authentic British golf brand launch a new website

November 3, 2017 – Lynx, the authentic British golf brand and one of the world’s fastest-growing golf equipment companies, has launched a brand new website to showcase its products, people and passion for the game.

At www.lynxgolf.co.uk golfers will find an array of useful and fun information to help them get to know more about the family owners of Lynx, the staff behind the brand and the ground-breaking technology in its clubs.

You can also see what’s in the bag of its Tour ambassadors, find all the Lynx Demonstration Day dates, get up to date with the latest Lynx golf news, watch exclusive Lynx videos – and, importantly, locate your nearest stockist.

Lynx’s in-house graphic designer, Chris Bos, worked with Chertsey-based SUM.Agency to design the modern, clean site and implement useful functionality including 360 degree product views, which showcase the high quality of Lynx clubs from all angles.

Launching the site, Lynx UK joint owner, Stephanie Zinser, said: “One of the key requirements of the new site was to inject our personality into it. We are a family-owned brand, with a huge passion for the game and what we do, so we wanted to reflect our fundamental values of fun and approachability.

“In addition to that, our brief was to make the site very user friendly, with plenty of video content and imagery to showcase our products in the very best way. And we also wanted to make sure golfers could easily find their nearest Lynx stockist or plan a visit to one of the hundreds of demo days we run up and down the country every year.”

The new site gives an interesting insight into the team behind Lynx. For example, did you know that Natalie Wignall, Lynx’s head of legal and business affairs, rates TV mobster Tony Soprano as an ideal dinner party guest? Or that Customer Service Manager, Andrew Bayne, would put TV presenters Ant and Dec in his dream fourball?

More information at www.lynxgolf.co.uk and www.holgolf.com.

Golf Companies, Holiday Golf

Lynx – New Lynx Black Cat Driver at a TV ad aired on Sky Sports

March 24, 2017 – Lynx’s acclaimed new Black Cat adjustable driver is going down a storm – and is the star of a TV ad being aired on Sky Sports.

Called ‘The Tempest’ the atmospheric lifestyle ad features three-time European Tour winner and Lynx ambassador, Nick Dougherty, harnessing the incredible power of the Black Cat driver in storm.

Created by international advertising production company Stripey Horse (London) and directed by Mark Dymond, the film shows the figure of a golfer swinging the new Lynx Black Cat club in a dark, moody, almost predatory atmosphere. The production team managed to create the stormy weather conditions in a studio, where over the course of a day they threw rain, wind and smoke at Nick.

A large part of the magic of the ad is down to director of photography, Joel Anderson, who shot on the Phantom Flex, a high-speed camera that shoots at 1500 frames a second with Cooke anamorphic lenses to create the epic widescreen visuals. The ultra slo-mo allowed Stripey Horse to capture the minute detail of a golf swing that is impossible to see with the naked eye.

Stephanie Zinser, Lynx Golf co-owner, said: “We always try to do things differently at Lynx and didn’t want to produce the stereotypical “wham-bam here’s our club, hit it longer” golf equipment ad. With slow motion, driving rain, atmospheric lighting and fantastic close-up camera work, we believe we have an ad that stands out, is cool and sophisticated yet perfectly communicates just how powerful the Black Cat driver is.”

The 30-second ad first aired during the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, with further spots in March during the WGC Dell Matchplay. The ad will also air throughout Sky Sport’s summer golf coverage of the PGA and European Tours. The Lynx Black Cat driver is currently being used by Nick Dougherty, Paul Eales (European Seniors Tour), Lydia Hall and Becky Brewerton (LET).

It has a classic tour shaped head that increases club head speed and launches high with low spin for maximum distance. It also features Lynx’s Spin Control System – a removable and reversible weight bar which repositions weight either further forward, or further back, in the clubhead.

Lynx is dedicated to offering exceptional equipment for use by golfers at all skill levels and has always promised to support ‘green grass’ Pro shop businesses. The company has an extensive range of men’s, ladies’ and junior equipment for 2017 and will be unveiling several exciting new products this year including new #BB (Boom Boom) and Parallax irons.

More information at www.lynxgolf.co.uk/.

Ladies European Tour, LPGA Tour

Lynx Golf – Laura Davies signs to play with Lynx clubs next three years

Laura-Davies-Lynx-Golf

January 11, 2014 – Winner of 84 professional titles worldwide and record-breaking Solheim Cup player, Dame Laura Davies CBE, has signed with equipment manufacturer Lynx Golf as part of a three year deal which will see her use Lynx clubs.

Recognised as Europe’s most accomplished female professional golfer ever, Dame Laura Davies has played professional golf over four decades on both the Ladies European Tour and US LPGA Tours. Famous for her long hitting and self-taught, natural swing she became the first European player to be ranked number one in the world and became the first non-American player to finish top of the US LPGA Money List. She has been the lynchpin of a record 12 Solheim Cup appearances and will be enshrined into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Class of 2015 whilst continuing to compete on the LPGA and the LET.

Lynx Golf has a strong tradition with ladies’ golf and since its inception in 1971, has consistently outfitted golfers with exceptional equipment. Over the years they have worked long and hard to perfect their craft and change the way golf is played, yet still remain a family-owned business proud of its reputation and heritage as one of golf’s premier equipment manufacturers.

One of the company’s core beliefs is that first and foremost, golf is played for fun and in partnering with Laura they have found a player that certainly enjoys her time on the golf course.

Laura-Davies-Lynx-2

Speaking about the announcement, Stephanie Zinser CEO of Lynx Golf UK & Europe said: “We are absolutely delighted to have Laura on board with Lynx.”

“Not only is she a Legend of the women’s game but her status on the Tour is unparalleled and we are excited to be partnering with such an outstanding British golfer.”

Commenting on her new partnership, Dame Laura Davies, said: “Lynx Golf have engineered an exciting and rewarding range of golf equipment. It is great to be a part of the closely knit team who are continually striving to produce the ultimate in technology and innovation in golf products. I can’t wait to get out on tour with such great equipment.”

Lynx is dedicated to supporting ‘green grass’ Pro shop business, with more than 500 house accounts in the UK.