- Tell us something about yourself, your background
I have been around the game of golf since I was 7 years old. My Grandfather who passed away at the young age of 88 played his whole life and did his best to get me in the game. I enjoyed hanging out with him and constantly working on my swing every time we spent time together. He always used the term “GAP”…..Grip, Alignment, Posture which is embedded in my mind. I watched this man make his first hole in one when he was in his late 60’s at the 13th hole (Alcatraz) at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus, Indiana where he played many years. I will never forget that moment as long as I live. Golf was his life. I still have his old wooden sign in my office with an Epitaph of a golfer which says ; “Under the wide and open sky, Dig the grave and let me lie; Gladly I’ve lived and gladly die, Away from this world of strife; This be the epitaph for me-‘Here he lies where he longed to be – Lies in death by the nineteenth tee. Where he lied all through his life.’”
I didn’t really get the bug for the game until I was in college where I played every spare moment. Over the years I worked at the game and eventually got down to a 4 handicap. My wife (Kelley) and I raised two outstanding young men. Chase (the oldest) was a great player from 7th grade through his senior year going to state multiple times and playing varsity at Hamilton Southeastern all four years in high school. This is not an easy feat where we live as he had 1000 kids in his graduating class and they are usually a state contender. My wife and I became golf crazy following this kid around high school golf and all the junior tour events he played in all over the Midwest and one in Florida at Sawgrass that we will never forget.
- Tell us about the product/s you invented with a brief explanation
GloveRide™: The permanent residence for your golf glove
- How/Why did you start inventing. How did you get from idea to finished product?
In the late 90’s, early 2000’s I worked for a company who manufactured Velcro strapping for the voice and data industry. At some point I decided to take a piece with a couple strap accessories and added a fastener to it so it could hang off my golf bag. This allowed me to attach multiple golf gloves and allow them to hang freely and dry/hang in a natural position. It wasn’t much to look at but it served its pupose. I noticed I didn’t need to buy as many golf gloves over the summer as I learned to rotate 2 or three gloves.
As my oldest son Chase began to get serious with golf, my Velcro strapping that had hung from my bag for years started disappearing. He decided it worked well for him and kept taking off with it. At some point I got on line to try and find something similar but I could not find anything. For years I struggled with marketing a piece of Velcro until the advent of the poker chip ball mark. Being able to customize the chip gave us the marketing piece we were missing. We were able to design an opening with “locks” to allow one to take the chip out for use and then put back for safe keeping.
When Kelley and I started this venture, we had two non-compromising goals in mind; we will follow our oldest son’s footsteps and have a give back component like “The First Tee” and we will make this product in the US. Every product we sell there is a contribution to The First Tee and we make the product 35 minutes from where we live in Indianapolis.
- Let us know of useful resources that helped you i.e. Books, websites, software
PhotoShop
Notability
WIX
Keynote…
Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
–End of Interview–
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