Launching a successful brand is difficult. Launching two is even harder. In the case of John Ashworth, co-founder of Linksoul, as well as the cult-classic brand that still bears his last name, Ashworth Golf, that’s precisely what he’s done. (Did I mention helping save legendary golf course Goat Hill in Oceanside, Calif?)

Ashworth’s life has revolved around golf, as he explained when we sat down at Linksoul’s HQ in Oceanside. Our conversation meandered from his memories of his golfing father and grandparents to his time as a collegiate golfer at Arizona to starting the Ashworth brand and beyond. But one thing remained exceptionally clear: golf has been at the center of his life since his youngest years growing up in nearby Escondido. 

Passion for the Game

Ashworth’s passion for the game was born from of his renunciation of Sunday school. “My mom got on this kick of like, ‘Dang it, you kids are going to go to Sunday school.’ So, I went to Sunday school and I just hated it. So I must have complained enough that my dad finally said, ‘You can either go to Sunday school or caddie for me on Sunday mornings.’ I said, ‘Well, I hate Sunday school so I’m going to caddie for Dad.’”

He and his buddies were dawn patrollers. “We’d get a donut, he’d get a coffee, drive out to San Luis Ray. His buddies were great. They were always nice to me. So, yeah, every Sunday I’d go caddie for him and that’s where it all started, I guess.”

Ashworth began playing the following summer after his dad gifted him a set of kid’s clubs. Junior golf followed and, like so many of us, he was hooked. “I was totally in. It was awesome.”

But playing golf and running a business inside the golf industry are two very different things. Ashworth describes his foray into the golf apparel industry pretty succinctly. It was a fluke.

Launching Linksoul

After graduating from college, Ashworth caddied for PGA Tour player Mark Wiebe for a year. Gerry Montiel, a sponsor of Wiebe’s, hired Ashworth when he decided the life of a caddie wasn’t for him. Montiel brought Ashworth on at his Denver-area sporting goods stores as a merchandise buyer for golf and tennis. The stores later closed but Montiel offered to bring Ashworth along for his next venture, whatever it might be, in appreciation for his help in liquidating multiple retail spaces. It was an arduous task but it was also a crash course in operating a business. 

Montiel posed a simple question: “If you could do anything, what would you do?” Ashworth’s reply was terse: “Golf clothing absolutely sucks … like it’s terrible. I’ve been around it my whole life. I had to buy this stuff to put in our stores and it’s stuff I would never even wear. So I would start a clothing line and sell it to the golf business, you know, into the golf community.”

Montiel loved the idea and, despite John’s own misgivings, he wanted to use Ashworth as the brand’s name. The rest is industry history. The brand was later sold but Ashworth wasn’t done with golf apparel. Years later, he would lean on some of the same philosophies to launch Linksoul.

Co-founded by Ashworth and Geoff Cunningham in collaboration with a group of family and friends, Linksoul was born from a simple phrase, Tempus Fugit (time flies). The group rallied around the notion that how one spends their time is foremost and that a life filled with family, friends, physical activity, creativity and nature is a life well lived. Golf plays a key role in that thinking as well as at the company itself, where golf is mandatory on Fridays. Sitting with Ashworth in his office on a quiet Friday morning, I can attest that this is true. The space was largely deserted as most employees had left their desks for nearby Goat Hill Park. 

Ashworth’s initial inspiration that led to the formation of his eponymous first venture still drives much of the product vision at Linksoul. “I was always really aware of what I wanted to wear, even as a junior golfer. I wanted to look cool and have my own style. And then when I got to high school, it wasn’t really that cool to be a golfer. I wouldn’t even tell people I’m on the golf team. So, you know, I didn’t wear typical golf clothes. Being from the Southern California, I was influenced more by surf companies like HangTen, OP, stuff like that.”

Roots

Linksoul is inherently Southern Californian, not just in its vibe and aesthetic but in its product creation approach. The temperate weather of SoCal continues to drive the company’s overarching approach to fabrications. Linksoul utilizes cotton alongside blended fibers in the vast majority of its golf essentials. That soft hand is absolutely critical to the team at Linksoul. Perhaps a bit of polyester PTSD played a role as Ashworth recounts from his college golf days. “When I went to college at Arizona, we had these terrible polyester uniforms and I absolutely hated them. They were just gross, the feel of them, everything. I just wasn’t used to it. That was always in the back of my mind.”

While fabric is central to the philosophy, comfort is undeniably king at Linksoul. Fabric is obviously a major component and, as mentioned, soft-hand fabrics are incredibly important to the comfort-first philosophy. Walking golf, as Ashworth explained, is how the game is meant to be played and what we wear needs to align to those needs. Tidy, but never form-fitting, classic but never stuffy, Linksoul’s ease of wearing is evident from just how unassumingly it sits on a hanger. 

And while that cotton-rich philosophy may sound antithetical to modern performance golf apparel, the team at Linksoul has been hard at work on fabric innovations that will be launching this spring. The fabrics they’re introducing will include the trademark softness for which the brand is known but it will be matched with high-performance moisture-wicking and breathability.

Aesthetically, Linksoul’s breezy “California cool” vibe transitions seamlessly from 18 holes to just about anything the day has in store. The brand offers a sizeable assortment of lifestyle silhouettes that embody the same classically comfortable approach and versatility as their golf collections. It’s really at this intersection of golf and lifestyle where the brand excels. 

Building Community

As my conversation with John continued, the theme of community and golf’s role in it came into sharp focus. It would be a disservice to talk about Linksoul without diving into what could be described as a parallel passion project, Goat Hill Park Golf Club. Goat Hill’s legend has grown swiftly due in large part to the philosophy Ashworth explained during our discussion. 

To the friends and investors who made possible the resurrection of Goat Hill, it was a simple idea: golf should serve as the hub of a community to bring people together and, through inclusivity and access, stoke a lifelong fire for the game. Perched above much of the city of Oceanside on 75 acres, the 4,500-yard par-65 layout does exactly that. Reasonable greens fees, a free kids’ three-hole chip-and-putt course, gardens complete with honey-bearing hives, a refurbished covered driving range with simulator bays, patio seating, a stone fire pit and endless amounts of positive vibes separate this gem from just about every other course in North County San Diego and likely much more of the golfing universe. Did I mention dogs are welcome? It’s truly what golf should be and borrows some of its approach from many of the more blue-collar clubs of the UK and Europe, blended with its SoCal geography and cultural nonchalance. 

About a decade earlier, a group rallied by Ashworth and friends lobbied residents to vote against the development of housing on the land. Through sheer determination and a lot of passion they transformed the once nearly grassless and neglected track into what locals and golf-obsessed travelers alike now describe as one of the best experiences in golf. (Full disclosure: I’m one of those locals.) The restoration and renovations are ongoing and illustrate ownership’s commitment to continuous improvement. 

While golf is the draw, the “Park” in Goat Hill Park is undoubtedly the focus. It serves so many beyond just the golfers enamored with its challenging 18 holes, hosting regular local events inside and outside of the game. The small pro shop features Linksoul wares predominantly and feels like an extension of Linksoul’s Highway 101 “Lab,” a beautifully decorated and pristinely merchandised storefront. 

Linksoul Lab

The Linksoul Lab, outfitted with a handmade wooden ping-pong table that doubles as a product display, surfboards, skateboards and whiskey cabinet, feels like the welcome lovechild of a Scottish links clubhouse and a California surf shack. One would venture to guess that is exactly what the Linksoul team was after. The retail space is literally the face of the brand’s headquarters, attached to the offices where Ashworth and I sat down to chat. It’s a fitting location, less than two miles from Goat Hill Park. 

Both properties are situated in unpretentious Oceanside, the northern-most city in San Diego County, whose blue-collar heritage still manages to proudly shine despite the backdrop of construction cranes and property developers hustling to profitably polish away its grit. From its workplace, to storefront, to art gallery and event space, the company’s community thematic are omnipresent, and Linksoul lovingly embrace that “Oside” grit. 

What’s in a Name

When I asked John about the inherent connection between The Goat, Goat Hill’s affectionate shorthand, and Linksoul, he said, “That’s, Linksoul. That’s really the name of the game in golf, you know? Golf links souls together, right?”

Indeed, it does, John. Indeed, it does. 

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