Thursday, March 4, 2004
The Summit
(A weekly section of the Daily Hampshire Gazette for Easthampton, Southampton and Westhampton.)
EASTHAMPTON - Box of Golf, the manufacturer of a hand-crafted golf board game at 150 Pleasant St., scored a marketing hole-in-one in January by landing a contract with St Andrews Links Trust in Scotland to create its first collector's series game.
Box of Golf will reproduce St Andrews Links, the Old Course, as a Box of Golf board game, detailing the six-centuries-old Scottish golf course to a tee.
''The fact that they let us do anything with (St Andrews Links) gives us huge credibility,'' said Robert A. Labrie, president and owner of Box of Golf, which he started in 2002. ''It is the most famous course in the world.''
''Avid golfers really take notice when you talk about the Links,'' Labrie added. ''It strikes a note that they hear.''
That said, Box of Golf is busy creating its first collector's series using aerial photography of St Andrews Links. The collector's series, anticipated as the first of many, should be ready by springtime, according to the company.
''They're very particular,'' said Labrie, about the St Andrews Links Trust's attention to detail. ''But I kind of like that.''
Peter Mason, a spokesman for St Andrews Links Trust - the charity organization that manages the golf course - said he was captivated by the Box of Golf board game, a version of which is crafted out of cherry wood, at the PGA Merchandise Show last year.
''What immediately struck me was that the whole image and style of the game fitted with the tradition of St Andrews,'' Mason said by phone in Scotland. ''We thought it was super, and of high quality. Of all the products one sees at the PGA show, it deserves to succeed.''
In fact, Box of Golf has been gaining notoriety of late.
Last month, the game was featured on CBS's ''The Early Show'' as one of the top board games at the recent American International Toy Fair in New York City in February.
The game also was voted best game or novelty at the 2004 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla., in January by Mid-South Golfer Magazine.
Box of Golf, which now produces a line of golf board games ranging in price from $49.50 to $198, will retail the deluxe version of its St Andrews Links collector's series game for around $229, said Mary Cruickshank, the company's general manager.
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.
