After 14 years in the business, Vice Golf is making a new name for itself. Founded in 2012 as the first D2C golf ball company, the Munich-based brand is now globally recognized for balls, clubs, and accessories.
Under CEO Marco Burger, the brand is reshaping, pushing the boundaries of golf ball design
and club technology. Burger brings a hands-on, highly technical understanding of golf gear to the role: he spent the past three years as Vice’s Chief Product Officer and prior to that, was the founder and CEO of Vice’s sister company, HoleInOne Fitting.
We sat down with Burger to chat about Vice’s push into UK retail, and what’s next for the brand:
01. YOUR GOLF JOURNEY STARTED AT HIO AS ITS FOUNDER AND CEO. WHAT HAVE YOU CARRIED OVER FROM THAT EXPERIENCE INTO HOW VICE DESIGNS PRODUCTS?
Vice Golf and HIO have always shared the same mindset. From the very beginning, both companies wanted to make golf younger, more modern and more exciting.
Today, that shared philosophy plays a huge role in how we develop products at Vice Golf. We constantly remind ourselves that we have to be brave enough to think differently. One of the biggest advantages of being a smaller brand is that we’re faster, more flexible and more willing to experiment. We can take calculated risks, learn quickly and continuously improve.
That mindset allows us to achieve things that are normally associated with much larger brands. At the same time, we never compromise on quality. We’re proud to say that our products deliver premium performance, but they also stand out. They’re different, they’re distinctive, and they’re products that golfers genuinely want to own.
02. D2C BALLS BUILT VICE’S REPUTATION. WHY THE MOVE INTO CLUB DESIGN & WHERE’S THAT SIDE OF THE BUSINESS HEADED?
HIO brings more than a decade of experience in golf club development, covering everything from club heads and shafts to complete fitting systems. More importantly, over those years HIO has collected millions of data points from amateur golfers through its fitting studios.
That database is incredibly valuable because it tells us exactly which types of golfers struggle with which problems, and which equipment solutions help them play better.
The combination of HIO’s data and Vice Golf’s brand strength allowed us to develop a completely new club range built around the needs of everyday golfers. In many ways, nobody understands the average golfer better than we do, simply because we’ve seen so much real-world fitting data.
As a result, we were able to launch a club family in a relatively short period of time that not only addresses the most common challenges amateur golfers face, but also looks completely different from what’s already on the market.
Performance alone is no longer enough. There are many established brands producing excellent golf clubs, but visually they often look very similar. Very few companies are willing to break away from convention.
03. VICE ISN’T NEW TO GREEN GRASS RETAIL. WHAT’S DRIVING THE BIGGER MOVE INTO THE UK NOW?
The UK has always been one of our priority markets. It’s by far the largest golf market in our region and, as the birthplace of golf, it’s incredibly important for our brand.
In previous years, expanding into the UK wasn’t straightforward because of the logistical challenges surrounding Brexit and cross-border shipping. As a relatively small team, we had to prioritise carefully.
Today we’re in a different position. We’ve expanded our commercial organisation and we’re making a major transition from being a purely direct-to-consumer brand to becoming a true omnichannel business.
Direct-to-consumer remains a core part of our DNA, but we’re investing heavily in retail partnerships because we want golfers to experience Vice Golf wherever they choose to shop.
The UK is an essential part of that strategy. We see enormous potential there, and we believe the Vice brand is an excellent fit for the British golf market.
04. WHAT’S THE STRONGEST REASON A UK RETAILER SHOULD STOCK VICE PRODUCTS?
The biggest reason is simple: Vice Golf brings something genuinely different to the shop floor. Our philosophy is to be different.
Most golfers walk into a pro shop because they’ve run out of golf balls. Golf balls are typically viewed as a consumable product that you replace when you need more.
With Vice Golf, that behaviour often changes.
Because our products combine premium performance with distinctive, award-winning design, golfers frequently want to own them even before they actually need them. Many of our golf balls become impulse purchases or even collectibles because they simply stand out from everything else on the shelf.
For retailers, that creates a different dynamic. Vice products naturally attract attention in-store and add variety to a category where many brands offer excellent performance but often look remarkably similar.
To find out more about Vice Golf and to book a visit please contact your local agent below or email us at sales@vicegolf.com.
07712 550393 – Gary Castles – Scotland
07946 505605 – Daniel Preedy – North England
07415 174188 – Simon Geller – Midlands England
07710 637369 – Richard Harris – South England
07747 013233 – Ben Cummings – Sales Manager
Additional info at www.vicegolf.co.uk