Never did West Kelowna‘s Mike Caldwell think his golf ball collection featuring Tiger Woods‘s alleged mistresses would be such a hot seller.
“I thought it would be fun and I‘d make some money off it,” said Caldwell, who‘s lived in West Kelowna for six years.
“But I had no idea it would become such a phenomenon in just one week. Now I‘m the eternal optimist, and my new goal is to sell one to three million sets.”
So far, Caldwell has sold 3,000 boxed sets of one dozen golf balls called The Mistress Collection for US$44.95 each, for a grand total of almost US$135,000.
Each ball features an artist‘s rendering of one of Woods‘s alleged paramours, from Rachel, Cori, Jaimee, Holly, Kalika and Joslyn to Cougar, Theresa, Julie, Mindy, Loredana and Jamie.
Caldwell launched the collection last month at the Professional Golfers Association Tour Merchandise Show in Orlando.
His booth at the show drew crowds, spawned sales and attracted the attention of media.
Since the Woods scandal is so big and Caldwell‘s novelty balls represented a new angle to the story, coverage started to run on the Fox, NBC, CBS and CNN TV networks.
The exposure prompted even more in all media, and it‘s also gone viral on the Internet.
The story has also driven traffic like crazy to Caldwell‘s www.tailofthetiger.com website, where the balls are for sale.
To keep up, Caldwell has three manufacturers – one each in Canada, the United States and overseas – pumping out balls, and he‘s setting up distributorships in 15 countries.
This is the first product Caldwell has brought to market, and it‘s a huge hit.
“I‘ve written 14 books (including The World‘s Greatest Fishing Resorts and The Green Stocks Investment Book) and I got tired of writing, so I was looking for something new to do,” said the semi-retired 63-year-old.
“Then on December 21, over my morning coffee, I was hearing about the Tiger sex scandal on the news and that it would be the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar starting February 14. I thought there has to be a bestselling product in there somewhere.”
Since Woods is the world‘s most famous golfer and his alleged extramarital affairs are numerous, Caldwell came up with the idea of a boxed set of golf balls each featuring an alleged mistress.
“It‘s a satire on a sex scandal,” he said. “It‘s a way for golfers who are upset, or not, at Tiger to have a laugh.”
Caldwell did his homework. He hired a lawyer to make sure the venture wouldn‘t land him in legal hot water.
The mistresses are always referred to as “alleged,” and the balls have artist‘s renderings of the girls, not photographs.
Alleged mistress Joslyn James has struck back, though. She hired a lawyer and held a news conference to say the balls promote violence against women.
“She‘s threatened to sue, but hasn‘t,” said Caldwell.
He doesn‘t think she has a legal leg to stand on but welcomes the publicity – and the resulting golf ball sales it has generated.
“I think it‘s very telling that I haven‘t heard a word out of Tiger‘s camp,” said Caldwell. “It means I did it right (legally).”
Although Woods has not spoken publicly since his Nov. 27 car crash outside his home that led to reports of a sex scandal, a celebrity website has reported that he was at a sex addiction clinic in Mississippi. Other reports say Woods and his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren, who have two children, were trying to work things out.
