The Golf Side Hustle: It’s Harder Than It Looks

Have you ever dreamed of a golf side hustle?

Seriously, how much fun would it be to turn that great idea you’ve been kicking around into an honest-to-goodness money-making golf business?

Fun? Absolutely. But there’s also risk, angst, worry, uncertainty and the long hours of thankless hard work, with no guarantees anything will ever come of it.

MyGolfSpy recently spent time with several side hustle business owners. We discovered two common threads: a relentless, infectious enthusiasm for their businesses and an endless supply of energy and self-confidence to forge their ideas into reality.

Products aside, their stories are fascinating. Tiffany Eddy was a TV news anchor turned P.R. professional before starting her company. Jordan Yanni turned an off-hand, off-color remark on the golf course into a hat, and Zach Haber just wanted to go into business with his best friend since kindergarten.

The force of nature that is Brooke Cote? She saw a post-pandemic opportunity, grabbed it and didn’t look back.

Inspiration can be found anywhere but often comes from out of nowhere. It could be from a son’s smelly sneakers, or it could be a form of self-therapy. Regardless, golf side hustles aren’t for the lazy or the risk-averse.

It helps if you have a sense of humor, too.

Tiffany Eddy: Smelly sneakers to Majestic Ballz

Tiffany Eddy definitely has a sense of humor. You can’t start a company called Majestic Ballz without one.

Eddy, an award-winning TV news anchor in New Hampshire, hung up her mic in 2012. She had a good reason.

“I had two little kids,” she tells MyGolfSpy. “I’d go to work at two in the afternoon and get home after midnight. I wasn’t able to see my kids.”

The idea that would become Majestic Ballz came by aromatic accident.

“My son took his shoes off in the car one day and I was like, ‘Whoa, buddy, we gotta get you some sneaker balls because smelling good is majestic.’”

Initially, Majestic Ballz were supposed to be sneaker balls. While playing golf with friends, the idea went a few feet north to men’s underwear.

“That was an aha lightbulb moment,” says Eddy. “I started about a year and a half ago. It took a while because I wanted quality.”

Majestic Ballz underwear is made from soft bamboo and antimicrobial fiber. The website says they’re designed to “cradle the royal jewels with the care and comfort they deserve.”

“It’s quite a lot of work starting something like this,” she explains. “From initial designs to choosing fabric to trademarks to website creation, it’s quite an undertaking.”

Eddy, a lifelong golfer, also offers lounge pants and T-shirts and she’d like to expand into women’s apparel (“for lady ballers,” she says). As always, the emphasis will be on fun.

“Our time here is brief, it’s important to smile and it’s critical to laugh,” she says. “Our goal is to help people have fun and have a good conversation starter. Maybe you’re out on the course and hit an amazing drive. You can say it’s because you’re wearing Majestic Ballz.”

Tyler-Jon Morrison: Putter therapy

You could quibble and say Tyler-Jon Morrison’s Mark X putter isn’t really a side hustle. That’s because Morrison’s day job is Jaxon Golf, his Somerville, Mass-based golf club building, repair and fitting studio.

The company, by the way, is named after his dog.

Morrison was an unhappy corporate America type working for Bose when his father died of cancer in 2013. Golf brought Morrison and his father back together after an estrangement and he didn’t want to lose that connection. He gave his two weeks’ notice and eventually went to work at Golfsmith.

“I learned how to fit people for clubs and learned about clubs and what makes them tick,” he says. “I couldn’t get enough hands-on experience or enough data and I ate it up.”

Morrison continued to dabble after Golfsmith closed but he openly admits to suffering from mental health issues.

“I couldn’t hold a job and I was a human resources nightmare. I needed to do something, so I went back to my roots and started scribbling putter designs. It became an obsessive endeavor and I was able to make it into something palatable, usable and sellable.”

What would eventually become the Mark X putter was a necessary product but not in terms of putting or technology. It was necessary for Tyler and his personal well-being.

“It’s a freedom I can’t express in words,” he says.

The Mark X is center-shafted with removable weights, a built-in forward lean and a convex, rolled face. It also starts at an absurdly low $129.99, with a weight kit an extra $20. You may find similar designs but Morrison makes his from 303 stainless steel for a softer feel and added a three-line alignment system.

Morrison will build it to whatever length, shaft lean and lie angle you want, with your choice of grip.

Jordan Yanni – Hater of three putts

Everything you need to know about Jordan Yanni’s company can be found in its name.

FN3P.

It helps if you say it out loud.

“It started in 2011,” Yanni tells MyGolfSpy. “Someone three-putted and said, ‘That’s an eff’n three-putt.’ I was like, ‘You could put that on a license plate.’ When I moved back to Maine in 2015, I did just that. People loved it.”

Yanni and his wife own and manage properties in Portland, Maine. He’s also worked in promotions and events at ski resorts and owns an indoor golf facility in Portland. With FN3P, he’s into golf apparel.

“I started by putting the logo on hats and selling them at local pro shops,” he says. “Two years ago, I decided to put more money into it and develop my own line.”

Yanni says his first batch of polos looked great but he wasn’t happy with the quality. He’s since improved to the point where he’ll put his $58 polos up against anything. His real challenge, however, is making the business a business.

“I’m doing everything myself and I need to keep money coming in the door,” he says. “The creativity is really fun but the direct-to-consumer part is difficult, what to do on social media is difficult. That’s a full-time job by itself.

Yannie and FN3P are at a tipping point. To grow further, he needs to expand beyond his current skill set.

“I’d like to hire someone with legs underneath them to do some of the things I can’t do. Even small companies have a team of people and investors. I’m funding everything myself and it’s all right. I’m learning and getting the hang of it.”

Bill Brannigan: A business guy in search of a business

Bill Brannigan has worked for more than 30 years for a Fortune 500 healthcare company. His golf side hustle aims were simple: He wanted something he could feel passionate about.

Unlike others we spoke with, Brannigan didn’t start his business. Instead, he found Greenside Golf by accident. Its owner had COVID issues and wanted to sell.

“I bought a pushcart and a bag, expecting to get junk,” Brannigan admits. “But what I got was quality craftsmanship. I wasn’t expecting that.”

Brannigan’s day job is in quality assurance. He was hooked and bought the company.

“In healthcare, everyone has great quality,” he says. “In golf, that’s not the case. Quality varies significantly.”

Brannigan also learned that overseas suppliers are more than anxious to help cut costs, often at the expense of quality.

“My bag manufacturer tells me how much cheaper it would be not to use embroidery. You know what cheaper is? $1.80 per bag. They tell me if I use different tires on my cart, it would be cheaper. That doesn’t matter to me. You’re going to charge me $3 more for better tires? My customers will pay that, or at least the customers I’m looking for will.

“I’m still going to be less expensive than my competitors because I’m small and don’t have the same marketing budget.”

Brannigan, who lives in upstate New York near Saratoga, is business-savvy enough to know he has to turn a profit but profit isn’t the impetus behind his golf side hustle.

“I need to be proud of what I do. I have no intention of going broke here but making money isn’t what drives me. What drives me is that I can sell you something I’m proud of and you’ll be happy with.”

Brooke Cote: Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

Brooke Cote is a force of nature. If you talk with the founder and CEO of Smoke Shoe Golf, a women’s apparel company, be prepared to engage warp speed.

“I grew up in a blue-collar family,” says Cote. “Mom’s a lunch lady, Dad’s a welder. If I needed sports equipment, Mom would work a night job slicing deli meat at the grocery store. We had all the love in the world but golf was never an option.”

Cote started Smoke Show Golf last year at age 31. She saw opportunity knocking as more women started playing golf. Other emerging brands were slow on the uptake and lacked distinctive apparel for women.

“So here I am, a single girl paying my own bills, and I gotta start saving a couple hundred bucks a month to start my own company.”

The learning curve was steep. It took nearly a year to get Smoke Show’s first products ready for prime time.

“I never took any business or graphic design classes but I was doing this all on my own. One company asked if I had a tech pack ready to go. I’m like, ‘What’s a tech pack?’ It’s basically a blueprint of a shirt but I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

Cote prides herself on attention to detail and offers a wide range of sizes from extra small to double XL.

“I love going to tournaments and seeing all these girls wearing my shirts, seeing all the colors and all the smiles. Hey, if you want to go out and play golf, don’t be afraid. If you’re not good at it, at least you can look good doing it. Grab a fun shirt and have a good time.”

Zach Haber: Saddle up, tee off

Zach Haber and Aaron Goldschmidt have been partners in crime since kindergarten. Now, in their mid-30s, they’re still at it with their golf side hustle, lowercase Golf Bags.

It’s a cross between a golf bag, a backpack and a pannier.

For the uninitiated, a pannier is a basket or bag attached to a bike or motorcycle.

“We got the idea during COVID,” says Haber. “We were in Denver and rode our bikes to the golf course. There were bike racks but no bikes. There was no way to transport your clubs safely.”

The idea marinated until last year when Goldschmidt’s girlfriend gave them the kick in the pants they needed.

“Later that day, we were on a Google Meet sketching out concepts,” he says. “Imagine urban environments, whether on foot, on a bike, on the subway or bus, anywhere you can’t easily transport a golf bag.”

The lowercase bag is designed to carry up to six clubs for the ride to the driving range, simulator or par-3 course in the city. They don’t have anything to sell yet but they plan a Kickstarter campaign this fall to raise money and build up pre-orders. The goal is to have a booth at the PGA Show in January.

“Aaron and I have always had the same goals in mind,” Haber says. “It’s difficult getting something like this off the ground. And once it is off the ground, execution is critical. It has to be done right.”

Haber says branding and marketing are the biggest challenges. They’re trying to decide whether to outsource or take the plunge and do it themselves. Either way, it’s a risk.

“We hope the Kickstarter will generate more funding.”

Golf side hustles: The final word

The small business success recipe never changes. It’s three parts hustle, two parts patience and a healthy dollop of self-confidence.

“It’s a struggle,” says Cote. “I spend money, I don’t make it yet.”

“If this thing makes a little money and lets me do stuff with my family, that’s great,” adds Yanni. “I’d love for it to go big but I’m not willing to sell out to do that.”

What’s refreshing is how each business reflects its owner’s personality. After all, you don’t start an underwear company called Majestic Ballz if you don’t have a sense of humor.

“It’s important not to take yourself too seriously,” emphasizes Eddy.

For Brannigan, delivering quality and doing it right is in his DNA.

“If I’m just buying something out of a catalog and reselling it, then I’m not doing anything,” he says. “If that’s what it was, I’d just move on to something else.”

Cote does have an ulterior motive for Smoke Show Golf. She’d like to give back.

“Ten percent of my profits go to the Ron Burton Training Village Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) program,” says Cote, whose background is in bio-med. “I’m writing small checks now. I’d like it to be in the tens of thousands eventually.”

Balancing a regular job with a golf side hustle can be complicated. For Morrison, the two come into conflict daily.

“When someone comes into my shop to try an Anser-style putter or a cool new mallet from Maltby, I’d be doing them wrong by steering them toward my putter. But when you have 500 putter heads in your basement, all you want to do is promote your brand.”

As for advice for anyone looking to start their own golf side hustle, Morrison puts it plainly:

“Don’t quit your day job.”

The post The Golf Side Hustle: It’s Harder Than It Looks appeared first on MyGolfSpy.