The prototypes hang on his backshop wall like trophies – testament to terrier-like tenacity and non-stop nights when Terry Poscente never did fall into bed.

“I still don’t sleep much,” admits the 46-year-old Calgarian. “It’s all a little surreal.”

A part-time tinkerer who graduated to the ranks of inventor, Poscente believes he’s on the cusp of something big.

Many of the greatest names in golf tell him that his invention, The Swing Jacket, is a must-use teaching device for people wanting to improve their game.

Photos by Shannon Oatway, Business Edge
Terry Poscente demonstrates The Swing Jacket golf aid.

“There are a lot of golf aids on the market that you just say: ‘What were they thinking about?’ ” says Poscente.

“But I kind of thought I was on to something when I’d have guys at my place, maybe six of them, wanting to hit balls with the different (jacket) prototypes. And they’d still be there at midnight.”

A former assistant golf professional who later operated his dad’s Calgary repair shop, Jerry’s Sports, in the early ’90s, Poscente developed the idea six years ago.

The first prototype – there were nearly 100 – was stitched together with pieces of scrap leather, hockey helmet screws, goalie pad buckles and plastic fencing. “The idea was to get guys swinging on the correct path,” he says.

From humble beginnings, nearly $1 million has been injected into research and development.

Sales of the jacket have been averaging more than 600 a week.

The jacket sells for $200 Cdn, and Poscente, along with a partner, run a company of 17 people fuelled by an aggressive $7.8-million annual marketing campaign. The product was launched last fall and sales average more than 600 jackets a week; 100 in Canada, and 500 in the U.S.

The Swing Jacket weighs less than a pound, is adjustable and features arm cuffs and precisely positioned rails that guide the golfer’s arms and shoulders through the correct swing path from takeaway to follow through.

The real business plan began rolling two short years ago. Poscente showed a prototype to Bill Walsh, a Calgary lawyer and venture capitalist. He liked the idea and, with a handshake, became Poscente’s partner.

“We took the prototype to Benno Nigg at the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Calgary,” says Poscente.

“They did all the scientific testing, researched the biomechanics and really validated what we were doing.”

Other key pieces swung into place. Funding was raised, mostly in Calgary.

Barry Wiland of Q Industrial Design created the drawings for mould-makers. Patents were secured. A manufacturing company in Seoul, Korea, was contracted to build the product, and U.S. golf-marketing heavyweight Rick Jarrett agreed to handle promotions.

“We got real lucky,” says Poscente. “Rick’s the best.

“He took Softspikes from near bankruptcy, and Barney Adams (Adams Golf) to where he is today. Real success stories.”

Jarrett also arranged for Poscente and Walsh to meet PGA star Peter Jacobsen, who has become the company’s spokesman. Jacobsen, famous for his impressions of other golfing stars such as Craig Stadler and Chi Chi Rodriguez, stars in a 30-minute Swing Jacket infomercial that has been running on the Golf Channel and Fox Cable.

It’s all happened terribly fast, admits Poscente, whose life has been spinning faster than a Tour Titleist.

He continues to live in Calgary and promote Canadian sales. Walsh runs the business in Phoenix where most of the staff is located. They predict sales of one million jackets within two years.

“Providing we can produce them,” shrugs Poscente, alluding to problems in April when the company couldn’t keep up with surge in demand as the golf season began. “We got caught with our pants down.”

The Korean plant produces 8,000 units every two weeks, but there’s a lag of another three weeks because the product has to be shipped by freighter, clear customs and then make its way to Phoenix and Calgary.

But too much demand is a nice problem, concedes Poscente, something they can overcome.

An energetic, upbeat character, who has a hard time sitting still, he finds it difficult to comprehend the praise his invention has received.

In his southwest Calgary office, he gestures to a list of names written in magic marker on a white office board. On it are the names of 21 PGA Tour players, LPGA Tour players and the names of top PGA teachers, and leading U.S. golf schools, who use the Swing Jacket.

“Now I want to show you something,” he says, leading the way to his backshop. There, on the left-hand wall, about 40 Swing Jacket prototypes hang on nails. He takes one off and with the care of a first-time father, hands it over for inspection.

“That’s the first one,” he says.

The pride in his face says the rest.

Web Watch:
www.swingjacket.com