DES MOINES, Iowa -- Last year at this time, Wilson Golf was preparing a major equipment launch it hoped would be the foundation for its return to the premium market. The building of that foundation is still a work in progress, and given the Company's second quarter earnings and sales, there's still plenty of work to be done.

Wilson Golf parent Amer Group reported its golf division's second quarter earnings at $1.03 million compared to $6.1 million in the second quarter of 2004. Wilson Golf's sales in the quarter fell to $57.5 million versus $64.6 million in the second quarter of '04.

While calling the second quarter numbers "a bit disappointing," Wilson Golf Global Business Director Angus Moir continues to look at the long term for results instead of the letting one quarter's numbers get him down.

"Our plans of returning Wilson Staff to a global, premium golf brand are still in the early stages and we have not changed them," Moir said. "It is clear we have a long way to go to reach our goals.

"But as we look at the overall launch, there are specific markets that have only been seeded with the new Wilson Staff products some four or five months ago. It's going to take some time until we can get our full messaging across to the golf consumer.

"As we begin our preparation to launch the 2006 Wilson Staff product line and certain models become available during the fall of this year and into early next, we will certainly look for different ways to help move out existing product."

Look for one of Wilson's new '06 products to be an iron called Ci6, which is reputed to be a combination of Wilson Pi5 irons (for better players) and Di5 (game improvement) irons. Moir said the Ci6 will debut later this year.