January 14, 2004

By: Sharon Madison
Website: http://www.1st-in-golf.com

Loony klink to Links Gear Golf Equipment just a chip shot away with cartoony and quirky 3Balls.com

Loony Link to Links Gear
3Balls.com is the latest eye-catching website recently developed by EMagine of Canton, MA. EMagine's team won the honor of developing the enticing, informative and humorous web presence for Joe & Leigh's Discount Golf Pro Shop of South Easton, MA. Via the eBay link to 3balls.com, the company has become the 2nd largest reseller of golf equipment on eBay.

According to Joe Ricci and PGA Golf Professional Leigh Bader, owners of Joe & Leigh's Discount Golf Pro Shop, the 3Balls.com namesake is attributed not only to the three large globe fixtures generally found in the storefronts of Pawn Shops, there are also (in golf-speak) three balls in a sleeve.

"GO-TO" PROS
Because of Joe and Leigh's unique ambition to "make a friend, not a sale" in addition to Leigh being known as one of the "72 Most Powerful People in Golf" according to Golf Pro Magazine, the website had to speak for itself in a most affable yet professional manner. Bearing that in mind, the EMagine team strived to develop an easygoing, humorous site that unfolded as a satirical cartoon story with pictorials accessing ten pages and interfaced with Joe and Leigh's auction and eBay.

EMagine's Creative Director Ed Smith, the talented editorial cartoonists who also freelances for "Editorial Humor", the largest editorial humor publication in the world, helped create the concept and design for this cartoony and loony website that completely differentiates 3balls.com from the pack. Smith is a South Shore loyalist who currently resides in Marshfield after formative years in Holbrook and Braintree.

"Our mission was to design a site geared for an audience of both pro and novice golfers, augmenting Joe and Leigh's well-known and well-trafficked Discount Golf Pro Shop. 3Balls.com is adventuresome, which is not unlike the shop itself, telling its own story in a cohesive manner that ensures ease for all visitors," said Bill Gadless, president of Emagine, a Randolph resident and Brockton native. "Joe and Leigh's is one of a kind. We needed to mirror the golf "toy store" feeling in the site itself. Visitors see the site as informative and entertaining, while we know that the site effectively reinforces Joe and Leigh's brand identity and culture in a thoroughly unique manner designed for the long-term."

COOL CARICATURE
After incorporating the main theme complete with fictional and real staff caricature characters, the site is enhanced with 3Balls.com and Joe & Leigh's Discount Golf Pro Shop history and golf stories that "those that were there" can tell. Site visitors can meet the staff of Joe and Leigh's Discount Pro Shop at the "Line-up", and then capture a laugh at the "Giggle" section. To keep the site fresh, the "Giggles" cartoon changes monthly.

E-BIZ TOOLS FOR TRAFFIC
In broadening the store's already expansive reach, 3Balls.com is interfaced with Joe and Leigh's discount golf equipment auction site on eBay. Reinforcing Joe and Leigh's belief in offering only quality merchandise, 3Balls.com offers complete sections outlining equipment and component grading and condition descriptions with checklists.

BRANDED
"Our goal was to present a lighthearted and entertaining way to communicate with golf enthusiasts. We intended to build both a business to business and business to consumer site. Now, it has become a major method of dispensing used products around the country. We found most golf sites boilerplate in design. Our hopefully unique, playful site has generated an overwhelmingly positive response and people enjoy the characters and off-beat humor," noted Leigh Bader, co-founder of Joe and Leigh's Discount Golf Pro Shop as well as one of the "72 Most Powerful People in Golf" according to Golf Pro Magazine. Leigh has also been honored as the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America's "National Merchandiser of the Year for Public Golf Courses" in 1995.
Also see: discount golf balls.

Author Notes:

Sharon Madison contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.1st-in-golf.com.  A source of information on golf equipment, golf manufacturers, supplies, tips and more.