We made it to Episode 44 of the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast. In this week's episode, I interview my good friends Kevin Belzer from Fringe Golf.
Golf headcovers have become a way to represent your favorite brands or make your golf bag a personal reflection of yourself. Fringe Golf is creating bold headcover designs for golfers looking to add more flair to their golf bag. More than just an aesthetic addition to your golf bag, Fringe covers are designed to stay in place and deliver a luxurious feel. The bold styles of Fringe Golf are eye catching and sure to make a statement in years to come.
We made it to Episode 44 of the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast. In this week's episode, I interview my good friends Kevin Belzer from Fringe Golf.
Golf headcovers have become a way to represent your favorite brands or make your golf bag a personal reflection of yourself. Fringe Golf is creating bold headcover designs for golfers looking to add more flair to their golf bag. More than just an aesthetic addition to your golf bag, Fringe covers are designed to stay in place and deliver a luxurious feel. The bold styles of Fringe Golf are eye catching and sure to make a statement in years to come.
What's up guys, Paul from golfers authority. Welcome to the behind the call brand podcast. This week, I got my friend, Kevin Belzer from fringe golf. I've talked to, I don't know why he's here to talk first talking to you. I think it was maybe like a year, year and a half. Well, it's been longer than that. I think. Um, I, when you started, I believe. Um, and so Kevin makes really cool head covers. Like it's very innovative ad. The designs are crazy. Cool. I love them. Um, I have one over here. I should have pulled it out for the intro to show you guys, but, uh, welcome to the show. Kevin. Thanks. Thanks for having me. So I don't know if you've ever heard my show. If not, it's not gonna hurt my feelings. I'm gonna tell you guys story first. Kevin and I are supposed to do this yesterday and we've been up being on the phone for like, how long do you like an hour and a half? Probably. So we literally talked for like an hour and a half on, on zoom and then I was like, Oh yeah, I go to work. And he's like, yeah. So do I. So then we started today, but that's, that's like, I just saw Kevin yesterday. It's usually, it's like, Hey, I haven't seen you in a long time. But uh, so Kevin, what, the first question I always ask on the podcast is like, what is your first memory of call? Oh,
Speaker 2:I mean, I, I don't even know. I sort of involves my dad, I guess, but cause I just remember like his clubs that he had, he had pink eye too. Yeah.
Speaker 1:My dad had pink eye twos, which color? I think he had red. Orange. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So like, but he had from like, he even had the woods. So like the wooden one, three and five would I remember? Cause I ended up using when I was like in high school. I, those were the clubs I used, but for some reason I do remember them as a kid,
Speaker 1:Those big ones. Right? Like there are like the, the, the logo is huge on that thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2:For, for real wood, um, woods. They were, I think they were like one of the first ones. If not like the first like oversize, like they were bigger than all the other like wooden clubs.
Speaker 1:Um, what year was that? Like 80 something. Yeah. Yeah. It had to be. So even though Kevin looks like he's 15, he's not, he's 40. Which other than that yesterday, I wish I looked like that. I looked old, dude, everything was on beer. I'm like, it's all wrinkly and old. I look Kevin, Kevin's like he's 25, honestly. I'm so jealous. Um, good jeans. So I got carded the other day. Cause I was, you got carded. Well,
Speaker 2:I was buying spray paint and you have to be,
Speaker 1:What are you gonna go tag something?
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, we also, I also had a mask on too, so I don't know if that made, it made me look. I remember I used to get
Speaker 1:off. I got carded now I would literally just thank the person, you know, I'd be like, Oh thank you so much. You know, but that's a happened. So like, I don't know. I'll tell you a story real quick. My favorite new TV show, even though it's been on for a million years, is the Goldberg's have you ever seen that show?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, because again, um, I used to live in the Philly area. So like, I like that show because there's a lot of references obviously where he's he's from the suburbs there.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, dude. I've never seen that show. We started watching as a family this last week and on whatever Hulu and dude that is the funniest freaking show. And if you grew up in the eighties, like I thought, Oh great show. No, it is so like favorite show. And now we're like rear like calling each other morons in the house, like, come on you moron that's of the data is called everybody.
Speaker 2:It kind of reminds me of like the wonder years, but for a different era, you know, like for like
Speaker 1:It's funny you're I think, you know, that was like so serious, you know? And all this is like, it's like a wonder year. I saw some of this morning to like, like my favorite character, the airy, the brother, dude. He is so funny. And like, I dunno. It just so like yeah, absolutely. Watch last night was, um, it was the face giving episode, like season one out, but anyways, like, so they're, they're playing this game in the basement and I look and like the way they set their set, it's so good because behind them is the GI Joe aircraft carrier and the box. And I was like, they're the, I do aircraft carrier. And like, that was the only thing I ever wanted as a kid. And I'm like, Oh my God, did it shows amazing? Like even, I don't know, sorry. I just thought I dressed there, but I just think, I think eighties that's like maybe I, I just pick off my dad all the time. He, the exact same club. This is just so funny. He still has those clubs, I think in his garage. Um, I had some like really cheap knockoff. I think they were called magic or[inaudible] and I'm like, no, let's say magic. And I remember there's such a big piece of that like I remember in junior high or high school, we were at the driving range and I literally broke the face off the seminar. Like it just felt, it just broke off as her flying into the middle of it, of the driving range. And I'm like, is that the magic dad? So did you like grow up playing golf? Like, were you like really good and like played in high school and all that stuff? Um, not really.
Speaker 2:I start, you know, I was pretty good when I was a junior. I started, uh, I want to say like when I was around like third grade. Um, so I grew up with Florida. Um, and I played in tournaments and stuff as a kid. Uh, so you were good at school? I was good for back then. Like now, you know, you get kids, like if you're not, if you're not shooting are better, you're not like winning any tournaments. Like I was, I was winning as a kid shooting right around for like nine holes. Like if you shot better than like 45, you were good when I was growing up. So like I shoot shooting like 41, 42 for, for nine holes. It was, it was winning stuff. And that's what I
Speaker 1:Crazy like, cause when we were kids, it was different. I just, I feel like an old man saying that, but it was like sports. It wasn't as like intense as it is now. And there wasn't a million travel teams like baseball. There was like one, you know, and it's just a different time. I dunno. It just, yeah, I didn't play, I just played, like I was normal. I was played with my dad and I played, you know, I got really good ones. That was a for, I graduated, well, I got good in college. I think like I shot in the seventies, but I mean it all tanks once you have kids. So, um, so when you grew up, did you go to college or what'd you do?
Speaker 2:Um, I went to the university of Florida, but um, not for call for anything. Um, just for the ladies. So I grew up in Gaye. I grew up in Gainesville and that kind of ended up being like just where I ended up applying is the only school I applied to. Um, and you're growing up in that town. Um, and I say grow up. I, I moved there when I was in sixth grade, so it wasn't like my entire life. Um, but everyone in that town is very like gung ho about the Gators and sort of like in your face and it's noxious. Um, at least it wasn't really growing up. Well, so when I was like in high school, it was when like
Speaker 1:They were good, like super good,
Speaker 2:Like yeah, Danny Wuerffel and all those. And during like when they were going against Tennessee and Tennessee and Peyton Manning and everything, it was just kind of, yeah. I remember that. I did not like them, uh, growing up. And then once I started going to school there, like everything changed though, because I don't know, it was hard for me because,
Speaker 1:So you cared. I mean, that's what it is, right? Like you just started caring about it and then you're like, Hey
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is where I go to school. Like, and now yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like I like went to college, I went to Purdue for undergrad and it was playing cherries. Jewelries was in my frickin psychology class. And I was like, who's this dude? Like, cause he was a red shirt freshman now, which I was like his best friend, but I wasn't, I just, I just talked to him. He was on my crew, but stuff like that. But um, I was there like when, when the Purdue was good, like, uh, like they 2000, they made the Rose bowl and that was a big deal. Cause produce, suck for like a billion years. But like I never cared about like big 10 football come from Arizona. I was like, whatever, who cares? But then once you're in there and you're like, and you see the other fans and the way they act against your team and stuff, like you get all off. Like I hate Notre Dame. I'm going to put out there right now. I hate Notre Dame. They're. Like, and then respect Ohio state, like Ohio state. They always kicked her, but that's okay because they were cool. Like they were just like, yeah, we're good. And but they would travel everywhere. Notre Dame. They're just, you know? Like, they're like, Oh we're rich. We go Notre Notre man. We get to pick our schedule. So when we beat them, it was a big deal. Like it was like a 25 year drought and we went crazy. We were so crazy. We ripped the goalposts out, we threw it in a river. It was like, it was a big river, like close to Purdue. It was funny, I think cost of school, like 20 grand or something, but yeah. That's so then did you play golf in college? Like what was your major?
Speaker 3:And it was a computer engineering. Um, so
Speaker 1:How'd you have a good Peter engineering and what you do now, that's a big jump. Your dad wanted you to be a computer engineer. Yeah, my mom, my parents, dad. That's like my parents.
Speaker 3:It's hard to say. I guess I'm like, I probably was good enough after high school. If I w if I really had like, recruited for Dave recruiting for myself, I was probably good enough to play at a small school, maybe. Um, definitely not like at a school like Florida. Um, yeah, but I, I didn't really have a lot of ambition, you know, when I was in like high school. Cause you know, I probably averaged 38, 39 for nine holes, which back then, like now again, now you're not playing college golf with those kind of scores, but back then I could, I could have played like division three or something like that. I'm pretty sure. Um,
Speaker 1:So then when you graduated, did you like, did you graduate with that with a degree doing that?
Speaker 3:It took me a while actually. So I did an internship and I interned with the PGA tour, uh, really? Yeah, my junior year. And so I was working in their information systems department. Um, that was 2003. Uh, and so I had, it was a summer internship. It was, their headquarters is located at the TPC Sawgrass. So spent, spent the summer in Ponte Vedra. Um, and the cool thing was we got, we got some, our memberships at TPC, so I got half a dozen rounds at the stadium course that was before they redid it. Uh, and then a bunch of rounds, like a lot more at the other course, the Valley. Um, and I know, I think they play a Korn ferry tour event at the, at the Valley now. Uh, but that summer was like kind of the summer that I got a lot better in golf and then decided I want to see how good I can get and see if it would be possible for me to like play professionally and maybe, you know, like earn a living, doing that
Speaker 1:Really. So you just got good cause you were playing a lot and you were naturally good too. Probably. So would that's what happens in fall? I was like, well, how I get better in golf? Just play a lot. Like for reals, like that's yeah. Takita golf play like every day and
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was the first summer or it was, so it was the first time I took a lesson since I started playing too. Um, and that made a difference. I, um, I met another guy there who was doing who's an intern also. So they had a bunch of us interns and we all like live together, but we were all working for different departments within the PGA tour. Um, and I don't remember what department this guy worked in, but he was a collegiate golfer at a smaller school, Jacksonville university. So he was local too. And so since he was local, I just kind of asked him, I'm like, yeah, like, do you take lessons from someone around here that's any good? Or do you recommend anyone? And he told me who he took the lesson from, or he took lessons from. And so I, I booked myself a lesson cause it was just like, eh, I haven't had one since I started playing. And I remember I went there and all the guy did well, the guy started, he was like, let me, let me watch you hit some balls first. And just, you know, I'll just watch you hit a bunch of balls. And it was a day I was hitting the ball well, and you know, I'm sitting there like, yeah, like I wonder what he's going to say. Like, I'm hitting it so good.
Speaker 1:I'm so good. He's gonna be like, Holy, you don't even need lessons.
Speaker 3:Exactly. Um, and no, it was funny. He, he he's, you know, when he stopped me and he was like, you know what, um, he was like, I'm surprised at how well you hit the ball, given the fact that he went through like my setup and how, how crappy my setup was. Am I allowed to put this in minutes? Yeah, go ahead. I don't care. I've already talked to bombs. Yeah. Like he's like, so he, he, he was like, I used to stand really close to the ball and almost had no like hip hinge. And so like, I was like really crowded and a very upright, um, I mean, I don't have any videos of it, but I remember like him changing. He was like, you need to get like, into like a more athletic position, more or less athletic setup. And so all the guy did, my first lesson with him was changed my setup. He didn't like tell me to do anything different with like the motion of my swing. And then all of a sudden I started hitting the ball further and straighter and it was like, huh. And then like I was going out and playing and all of a sudden it was like, if I was, if I was scoring, well, I was shooting like par. And if I wasn't, you know, I was only shooting like maybe like 76 or something like that. And that changed everything. And then it was just like one of those like, Oh, well, I mean, that's all it took was just this one lesson and not, and then I kept, I took more lessons, but then I started like thinking, okay, well let me start practicing. Cause that was one thing I never really did. I never really practiced, you know, just, I just wanted to go out and play and I cared if I played well, but again, I wasn't ambitious enough to like actually work on getting better, I
Speaker 4:Guess until then. And then you're like, Oh, I actually am not that bad. Right. So that's, I've been thinking about lately, like to start getting lessons again, like I got to LA, I got a couple lessons when I was a kid, but then I just feel like I need lessons. I just think like, you learn so much on your own and if you could just like pause and like, be like, Oh, this is the way I want. Um, I'll give you an example. Like my dad, my dad would be very, very, very good at golf, but he's changed his, like everything, his entire life. He's always inventing stuff. And he's like, Oh, I tried this new method, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then next week it's a whole different thing. And they start teaching my kids that, and I'm like, don't teach my kids that because that doesn't even make sense. Right. Like, like he was partying with one arm in all this stupid stuff. And so then my kids are doing that and I'm like, you know, um, like my dad's like super obsessed with Paul. Like he always has been, but I feel like if I just got lessons and I was like, okay, this guy knows what he's doing. I'm going to follow. I'm gonna use what I've learned myself. And then I'm going to follow. He's doing. And I'm assuming that I'll probably become better. Cause I think my, what I want my goal to be this year, well, the next in the works one year is to try to like break Navy again. Like, I don't know, like my kids are getting older, so a little more time. So I'm like, I want to break like consistently. Right. But that's kind of, yeah. I mean, I have all this stuff, right. Like to learn how to do it and all, always training AIDS. I'm like, yeah, that'd be cool. But I think, I think lessons are the key I got fitted last year or two years ago, my irons. And that helped tremendously. Right. Depending on that's stuff you were using before clubs. I mean, I had really nice clothes. I'd like piece of a nineties, like brand freaking new and I could never hit them. Right. I don't give you into my boss actually like two weeks ago. Um, there's like$2,000 honors where they were when I bought them. Um, but like I got some new irons and they weren't fitted for me. The one I bought up there it's like off the shelf. And so then I got these new irons and I'm like, Holy crap. And they're like custom and I'm like, that's the key being custom fitted and lessons. That's how you become good. But um, so then how long were you with that guy? Um, trying to think if I went and took lessons after that summer from or not. Cause, uh, that's, it's not that far away from Gainesville. It's like less than two hours. Um, I actually don't really remember cause I know I started taking lessons from a guy in Gainesville. Um, at some point who really helped my game. Um, he, his wife was on the LPGA tour. He had a lot of
Speaker 3:Experience with, uh, with players who were, you know, trying to take it to a professional level. Um, and I liked that guy's approach. Um, it was, yeah, he was, he was good. He wasn't trying like the good thing I liked was I didn't, I had kind of like a quirky swing. Um, and I never had any, or like he, wasn't the type of guy who was trying to make me do anything like completely different, you know, like, um, cause I mean I could still hit the ball really well the way I Swan. So he was just trying to make me more consistent and hit the ball straighter and stuff like that. But
Speaker 4:So will they tell you, like playing tour events? What were you doing?
Speaker 3:Um, I was playing like mini tour events. So they're professional events. Uh, I, I only did, I did that for like four years. So between 2006 to 2010, um, I tried
Speaker 4:Were your parents like coconut job, a real job here. I mean page for your school to come to you that
Speaker 3:We were, but they also, I mean, I wouldn't have been able to play in any of those tournaments without their like financial help. So they support that sense. Cool. Yeah. Well, no, they were, they were awesome. Um,
Speaker 4:So then you were doing that and then what happened because the reason I'm going to this story, because it's really cool, you will evolve right into what you're doing now is your job. And then how you started to fringe over the last, you know, year or two. So then did you, like, when did you start caddying then?
Speaker 3:2011. So like basically the year after I stopped playing, um, and it, when I stopped playing, I wasn't, it wasn't a for sure, like, at least for me, it wasn't at the time, like this slow down, it was like, okay, I'm going to caddy, uh, for a little bit. And then I'll also try to do both like catty and play and stuff. Um, cause so I, my parents helped me with the golf, with the money, for the golf till I was 30 and that was something we agreed upon. And so that was basically, you know, turned into time's up. Yeah. So, um, I didn't know exactly what I was going to do or what I wanted to do. And I happened to, I had a buddy who was in the PGA program. Um, so he was trying to be, you know, head pro or assistant pro. Um, and this is down in Florida, but he kept looking in the New York, Metro metropolitan area for positions in summer. Um, telling me, I don't know why he wanted that area if, cause again, like at that point I wasn't really like looking into to, to that kind of stuff. So I didn't know why he wanted up there other than like, I know that's a lot of people like go up North, uh, during the winter and in the golf industry and then they'll, they'll come down to Florida or go out to Arizona in the, uh, in the winter and they won't, it's not like usually a year round thing where they'll stay, uh, in Florida or Arizona. So he was looking up there and he was telling me how he was having trouble finding courses that would, that needed an assistant pro, but they would tell him like, Oh, you know, well we, we have a caddy program and if you want, you know, we'd definitely take you on as a caddy. And he never did accept anyone, but he was telling me about it. And he was saying like, yeah, you know, you'd make this much a week caddy. And at this course and this, and so there was a lot, right. It was more than like I had no. And I didn't even know, like there were courses that had caddy programs. Cause so there, there are a bunch in Florida that have caddy programs, but the vast majority are in South Florida. And I lived in Gainesville, which is like North central, Florida. So it's only about, it's like two hours North of Orlando and an hour South of the Georgia border. And there weren't any courses that far North that did caddy programs. So all the courses I played, you know, you just hopped on a cart or you walked if you wanted to. But, um, but I did some research and I saw online that mayor, like it was posted online that Marion golf club, um, was looking for caddies. And I didn't know the, like all the history I knew I heard of Marianne and you know, I did some research and I was like, Oh, so like this right here is one of the whiskey Wicker baskets up here. Um, Marion is the course that has the Wicker baskets for their pins on top of their pins. That's cool. So they hosted the 2013 us open the one that Justin Rose, uh, one, uh, but they were looking for caddies and you know, I sent the caddy master an email and it wasn't like, it was just like, Hey, you know, it was almost just like a feeler cause there was no real like application process. And you know, I'm sitting here like, Oh, I just hope I hear back from him and see what he has to say. And I think it was like the next day or two days later I get a phone call from him and he doesn't ask me any questions or anything. He was just like, Hey, I want you to come up to caddy this summer. And so I was like, and it was in January and at the time, you know, it wasn't, I was still in Florida and I didn't ha it wasn't like I had plans to be up in Pennsylvania and I want it. And then I was looking for jobs in there. I just was like, Oh, well let me see if I, if they probably, because
Speaker 1:Like you were balls, right. Like it was early in the season. Right. Like beginning of the year and you're just doing call them. Right. Are you sending an email? You sent me an email. Yeah. But still like if you initiatives half the battle right there, right there. Like, I mean that's, what if someone reaches out to me, I'm like, okay, that's cool. Now that's the stuff. But I mean like, Oh, that's cool. They're there, you know that's so then what happened then? Is that where you went then?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I went there, um, you know, I asked them, I'm like, well, you know, when do you want me to let you know, by, because again, I wasn't sure it would require me obviously moving up there. Um, so he gave me till like the 1st of March, cause they start their season. Uh, it's usually like the first weekend of April is when they start up there. Uh, so, um, I was weighing my options. I had another club that was going to let me caddy in South Carolina, but it wasn't, it was just a private club and the money was pretty comparable, at least what they were telling me, you know, who knows if at that time it was like, who knows if, what they're telling me is legit or not. Um, but, uh, it was kind of in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina. Um, and so I, the one good thing about it would have been price, cost of living, which is going to be cheaper in South Carolina. And it would've been closer to home. Um, but Marianne is just outside Philadelphia and I don't know, it just kind of sounded like, and it, you know, it's a well-known course, uh, it's where Bobby Jones, uh, completed his grand slam. So that's cool. So I was like, all right, I'll go to Marianne. So yeah, I went up there, uh, brought a car full of stuff, got an apartment. Um, and initially it was like, okay, I'll go for the season. See how it goes. Cause this was sort of going to be like a transition thing for me where like, I was still that first year, I was still thinking, okay, when the season's over, I'm going to go back down to Florida playing tournaments. Um, but I'm coming up here cause I need to make some money cause I don't have any money, you know? Uh, but then after that first year I did go back then Florida played in tournaments, uh, game never really progressed. Uh, and I liked caddy. And so I went back up for a second year and then after that second year I just stayed up there. Like I didn't come back down to Florida. So it was just moving twice a year, just didn't appeal to me. So I just, yeah, people do it like, especially in the caddy industry or even other parts of the golf industry, people do that all the time where they move. They have basically two places where they live a year and just they're moving every year, twice. So even up here, like, so I'm in Wisconsin now, even in Wisconsin. Um, obviously there's not much I can do caddy wise in the winter. So a lot of the caddies where I caddy now, they they're down in Florida or they're down in Arizona.
Speaker 4:Okay. Um, so now where are you kidding now then?
Speaker 3:So I met Stan Valley golf resort, which is a fairly new resort. I want to say they opened up in like 2016. Um, and I got here because in 2018 Mary and shut down to do a restoration. So, you know, they closed down the course, they did redid the fairways, redid all the greens, um, did very minor, um, like very little minor course changes. I mean, I haven't seen it since it's finished, but like I know what they were looking at doing. So they weren't really doing like an overhaul of the layout or anything like that. Um, they just re redoing the fairways, redoing the greens in the, in the rough and that kind of stuff. Um, but yeah, they shut down for a little more than a season. And again, I came out here with another guy from Marianne, um, and we were like, our plan was, we're just going to come out here for the one year. And then when Marion reopens we'll be back there. Um, I think there were actually five of us from Marian that came here, but like the other three people, I hadn't talked to it. So when I got here that one year, it was like a surprise that I saw them there, you know, like, but this other guy, like we, um, we got an apartment together. So we, we knew, uh, like I knew he was going to be there. Uh, but then after that first year, you know, we both went back to Philly, but we decided to come back. We just liked it better. Um, I mean, season was shorter here being in Wisconsin as opposed to like the Philadelphia area. Really? Yeah. We haven't been further North. We are
Speaker 4:Dumb like, Oh yeah, dude. But like, I don't realize that
Speaker 3:It's not that much further North though, but I think maybe just water being on the coast over in Philly maybe. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's don't get as much. Well, that's what I was like. Here's another thing. Why is that Purdue too? Like, there was this like Chicago, I call it the Chicago bubble area and they would get dumped with snow, but then produce like two hours South. We didn't get anything, you know, I think the Lake affects no is like legit. Yeah. Good. You probably guys get it. Cause you're on the, I mean, how far are you from the Lake Michigan then?
Speaker 3:Um, still over an hour. Maybe like there's a company right in the middle of the state pretty much, right? Yeah. I'm like three hours from Chicago. Um, two hours from green Bay. Uh, yeah. You're like the center of the two and a half from Milwaukee and like three hours, three hours from Minneapolis. Yeah. So if you could go in the other direction, um, but yeah, this place is great. Um, yeah, we
Speaker 1:Hallway. So how long have you been there then? And go ahead.
Speaker 3:In my fourth season, fourth season, um,
Speaker 1:You didn't leave, right? You stayed there over the fall, over the winter.
Speaker 3:Um, I left my first year.
Speaker 1:And then, and after that you just stayed there. Did you work during that time or you worked on fringe or is that when you invented for it?
Speaker 3:That's when I started working on fringe. Um, so cause let's see, 2018 then winter 2018 and 19, I was in Philly, came back, worked my second season and then yeah, between my second and third season is when I started doing head covers.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about, let's talk about all right. So when did you have the idea for French? What year was that? It was,
Speaker 3:Was so it was my second season at sand Valley. So 20, 2019. So it was like during the season, it was kinda towards the end. It was something that I kept telling people I was going to do without actually giving it much thought. But in my head I was like, well, if I keep telling people I'm going to, this is what I plan on doing then, you know, it'll kind of force me in a way.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Because you don't want to be a dude and be like, I hate people like that. Like you would keep your mouth shut or do it and then talking about it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Cause it was kind of like, well, people will be like, well, what are you going to do during the winter? Because again, a lot of people who caddy and the caddy up North, they'll go down South to caddy and that's what they do in the winter. And so I would get a lot of like, what are you going to do in the winter? What are you going to do in the winter? And you know, so, but that's what I would tell people, even though I hadn't, again, I hadn't really given it a whole lot of thought, um, or started,
Speaker 1:It was just an idea. I mean, really, right. Like,
Speaker 3:But I figured I tell people and it almost makes me accountable and it'll make me want to do it because then I could be like, yeah, I did it. So,
Speaker 1:So what I guess tell everybody what is French?
Speaker 3:Um, so we make head cover is primarily for drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. Um, I've had a couple people request, putter head covers and I've made some for, for people, but I don't have any like stock ones that I sell on my website. Uh, but for the most part, our designs are, I mean, we're, we're kind of geared towards the unconventional or, you know, like the people that want to like stand out. So we don't have a ton. Um, I've got a couple here that I can show. Um, I know like if you're listening and not watching this, you're not gonna be okay.
Speaker 1:Some people might watch it. Like, I mean, this is probably your mom and dad, your mom Danner has like, here's one that
Speaker 3:Is probably our most new girlfriend, you know, looking one.
Speaker 1:That's cool. I like that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's a plaid, you know, which is fairly traditional, especially with golf, but it's also like the colors of it and the patterns, not like a, I guess what you would call like, like in my professional,
Speaker 1:This is
Speaker 3:Cool. Look at it's it stands out, you know? Um, here's like another one that isn't as less traditional. Um, it's just got a bunch of birds on it. Um, and we call this one birdie dancing, you know,
Speaker 1:See that's awesome. Like I love that one. That's like my favorite one,
Speaker 3:A bunch of different. And majority of them are, again, I wanted wanted ones. Here's our pineapple express hybrid head cover wanted ones that, uh, that stand out. Uh, and yeah. So,
Speaker 1:So then like you decided, Oh, I'm going to make a headquarter company, but I don't know Jack about head covers. Right. I mean, I'm assuming that most people say, and then it's like your path, right? Like you start figuring it out, like, okay, what design? Right. How do you make it? You know, like all these things. So it's like, trust me, I I'm having the same issues. Like I'm like, I'm going to make a new golf brand and then chart figuring it out. That's the fun part of it. Right. Is just solving the problem. Um, so then like you knew, I didn't know anything right outside. You mean you knew what a headquarter was, but you don't want to make one, right. Or how to design one?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, I had two hybrid, so it really was like one of those things where I had two hybrid head covers from sand Valley and like, I, I liked them and they were expensive. Um, I mean, I think I got, I get a discount. So like, you know, they weren't too bad for me, but like they were expensive head covers and they were, um, they were well-made and everything, my biggest issue was kind of just like the designs of, I'm not like the actual design of the, the skeleton or if the, um, the head cover, but just the pattern on it. It wasn't something like, it didn't stand out enough for me, I guess, you know, it wasn't as loud as I wanted it to be, but I mean, it was what they had in the shop. And so that was sort of the reason why I was like, well, you know, maybe I should look at making head covers and um, again, have all these crazy patterns and bright colors and stuff like that. Uh, and so I kinda looked at those had covers that I had and I mean, they were, you could tell, they were like, for the most part, I don't know if they were actually hand-sewn, but they were so, and they, um, they had a lining, they had a shell, uh, and from there I was just thinking to myself, okay, well, I figured out how to sew or learn how to sew. I pretty sure I could figure how to make a head cover. Um, and it took me about a month of like going to Joanne fabric, buying fabric and trying different shapes and sizes, uh, and then getting it to have a nice clean look at the end. Cause I had a couple of designs where I'm like, Oh, this is pretty good shape wise, but then like the technique or the way I sewed it together, like you could see like seams and stuff that I didn't want that I didn't think were, you know, like sort of low quality made it look low quality. And it took me about a month to figure out or to find a good design that looks good. Um, and that looks like something you could sell, you know, or someone would buy and not think, well, this was like a piece of junk, you know? Yeah. Like this cheap, you know? Yep.
Speaker 2:So, I mean, it's, it's pretty innovative because like, and your, and the design of your head covers not like the traditional like barrel or it's not, you know, what is it
Speaker 3:Exactly. I went away from it. It's like some rectangle, um, let me scratch turn around real quick. I can grab like a three-word head cover. So this is what it looks like on a, uh, on a club. Uh, but yeah, I purposely didn't want to go the barrel route because again, I wanted my head covers to stand out. I wanted them to be different, uh, because everybody does that. Exactly. Everyone does barrel and not to knock anyone that's doing barrels. Cause I mean, there's no real reason, but like again, my, I personally wasn't even a fan of the barrel style head covers to begin with too. So that was another thing. Like I wasn't a fan of the barrels plus I didn't want to do what everyone else was doing. So, um, again, there, that's what it looked like on. Um, it's just a rectangle for the most part. Um, we have fleece lining on the interior. Uh, it's got elastic and, and you can't see the elastic, it's a sewn in, in between the shell and the, uh, an aligner. So, you know, it's not gonna fall off your club. Um, but yeah, uh, I can do custom design or like I can do custom head covers too. So, uh, we do that on our site as well. And, uh, I'd say majority of the people just go with a stock, um, version, but I have done a good amount of custom ones too as well. And how long does it take you to do, um, custom? Uh, well, we have different sort of variety is of custom ones that I've done. So like if someone wants, just, let's say one of the stock with, uh, maybe like a number or a logo on it, as long as I have that in stock, that would take like a day for me to do, um, if someone wanted like a custom design, um, probably be like two, three weeks. It kind of depends. I mean, once, once we get the design done. Um, and so the way that works, if someone wanted like a custom design on their head cover from the start, I would work on the design. And then before I would actually go ahead and get the material with the design on it, I, you know, double check with the customer to see if like, get the okay that, Hey, yeah, like this designs, this design is good. Um, and then we'll move forward. And then from that point, it's sort of out of my hands. Um, cause the company, I get my fabric from there pretty fast. Like, I'd say I could use, I usually get stuff in a week, but especially with COVID, um, like last year, um, there were times where it took me closer to three weeks to get some stuff. Um, but I think normally it's only about week and then from there just another couple of days to make the head cover. So it was like one head cover that they wanted it and they wanted it to be custom. I could potentially have it done in a week.
Speaker 1:So did they like tell you when you do a custom how's that work, did they tell you that design, they gave you the design or how did they get it? Well,
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they could do that. They could give me, they could like tell me what they're looking for. And then I would have to maybe sorta come up with a design on my own. And then that's when I would go to like go back to them with the design that I had to see if, um, the D what I came up with to see if they like it. Or
Speaker 1:Do you have an idea of what they like? I'd like, if I said, Hey, I want a really cool flashy bird on. You're like, okay, cool. All right, well, here's a couple of ones we do, you know, and then they can pick or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Or they might give me the design, like you said, um, like I have a buddy, uh, who owns a gym who wanted some with his, his, uh, his Jim's logo on it. And I mean, I made a couple of different designs with it, but I mean, for the most part, he provided the logo for me. Um, and so I, you know, I did a couple of different mock-ups with, uh, with his logo and then he just okayed the ones he liked. I did that. So, so,
Speaker 1:So what percentage of customers non-custom would you say is your business right now?
Speaker 3:Um, it's definitely less than half. No, it's, it's definitely less than half. It's probably closer to a third. Um, Oh yeah. One other thing I've been doing too, and these are, would fall under the custom ones as well. So freak my driver one out. Um, so if you can see, this is my little Florida Gator driver had cover, um, I started making, like, I'll take those garden flags. Do you know what a garden flag is? Like those flags that people put on a stake outside of their house, on their front yard to show what, like team
Speaker 4:They support. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And then all cut and sew a head cover out of that. Um, and so it's a good way for people to be able to like, get one of my head covers, but also like support a team or something. And I won't have, you know, I don't have to worry about
Speaker 4:Licensing and all that crap and be like, how the hell you go down that road? Right.
Speaker 3:The flag is licensed. So once I purchased, you know, the flag, you know, and I, it's actually really smart and I, and I cut. And so it, it turns into my, my product. So, um, I had to do a lot of research to make sure that like,
Speaker 4:You like have a, you probably like, know where to go from people every day. Like, I'm going to go buy a bunch of garden flags, but they're all like you dub and like, you know, Packers, Packers. Yeah. So you should do that. You should, I put you to buy it really cheap somewhere.
Speaker 3:So, yeah. Yeah. They're like
Speaker 4:China, I want a million hacker and they've cost like 20 bucks, but the shipping will be like$10,000.
Speaker 3:So I, I buy, I buy a lot of money Amazon, which is nice. Uh, Amazon's awesome. Cause like I can the turn usually, you know, you get stuff in a day, you buy stuff on Amazon. So, you know, I've had a lot of people ask me for, yeah, I've done. I know I've done wallet to packer ones. Um, and these are people that I've met in real life who are asking for them. So they're not just people like other parts of the country, uh, to packer ones
Speaker 4:Smart. That is like one really smart, like one
Speaker 3:University of Wisconsin. One,
Speaker 4:Because this is pretty durable, right. I mean, it's supposed to be a flag outside your house. This is the last awhile. I mean, those are like anywhere out of state after a couple of years, but that's because around the sun all the time and winter and all that crap. And like, if you're not called back, then it will last a million years. No, it's still pretty durable. That's so smart. Oh my God, dude. Think about this. He's got a smart guy.
Speaker 3:So I got a lot of those, um, last year from, uh, from other caddies. So I was getting a lot of business from people I was meeting in person on, on the job at sand Valley.
Speaker 4:That's so freaking funny. Um,
Speaker 3:The third custom option that I do, that's available Instagram too. I get people reaching out for those kinds of head covers on Instagram.
Speaker 4:Wow. Um, so what's future hold for you then
Speaker 1:Plan.
Speaker 3:Well, so we were talking yesterday and I was telling you how just moved, just bought a house. Um, and so I put a lot of, uh, stuff that I was gonna do for fringe kind of on hold. Um, so maybe not till next winter, but, uh, for the most part, I, I don't do a ton of advertising, um, with the brand. I kinda just let, like, let it run itself. And when orders come in, I make the head covers, uh, I to sort of ramp up and the advertising and drive more traffic. Uh, and that was something I was going to do this winter, but, um, again just ended up buying a house and now I'm just doing all kinds of like home improvement stuff instead. So I'll wait till golf season ends because we're about to start up and a week or like in two weeks here. Yeah.
Speaker 1:When you're going to be busy. Right. I mean even busy, busy. Okay.
Speaker 3:Going to be busy. And again, I'm just a, uh, I'm a one man show here. One main operation, all the head covers are handsome.
Speaker 1:I love what you do. I don't know. Like we talked a lot about yesterday and you're like showing me like your process. And I was like, this dudes are like, I didn't even, I learned so much from you yesterday in our phone call. Like, that's why we're on the phone forever. I was like, that's really smart. That's really smart. You know, like the way you found now, I wouldn't call it a shortcut, but like a faster way of doing that. Makes sense. You know, like without having, I dunno, I just think smart dude, that's really compatible. So it's cause you're a computer engineer, even though you have.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But, um, for the most part, yeah. Like, uh, come out with more designs, uh, and just more patterns when I say design. So I'm not going to try to like come out with like a different style head cover. Um, just keep it simple. Um, I don't know what we have right now. I think we have like maybe a dozen different styles on the website at the moment. I'm not sure if when I come up with, when I bring new ones on, if I might retire some, cause I don't want to, you know, I don't want to have 50 different, you know, styles for people to choose from. I mean, it's, that might not be a bad thing, but I also, I'm one of those people that think when you have that many to pick from, it might be a little too overwhelming for people. And if there's less to choose from, they're more likely to buy. I could be wrong. Like I haven't done any research. It's just sort of my personal feeling. Um, but yeah, more styles ramp up the, uh, the advertising and the marketing. Um, cause again, like right now I, I set up a website. Uh, I know you can find us on Google. She searches, I have, I've done paid Instagram ads and stuff like that. Um, usually when I'm running a promotion, um, but haven't really spent a ton on advertising and that's, that's something I'm looking to probably do. Um, again, when I'm little less busy in the winter next year or at the end of this season,
Speaker 1:Well, I like what you're doing. Um, it's been over, I dunno, how long I been, it's been over a year since you sent me my head covers. It was like
Speaker 3:Around February, I want to say, but it wasn't like, it wasn't like a lot longer than a year.
Speaker 1:It wasn't that maybe it probably was before it was before. COVID I know that, um, I mean we started in January last year, so mostly like right away. I think, I don't even know. I don't even know how we found each other, to be honest, he found me or I found you, I don't remember.
Speaker 3:I found you on Instagram, but I found, um, was a Damon, Damon. I found Damon and I, uh, uh, DMD him.
Speaker 1:So, Oh, that's right. That's right. Um, yeah, time goes by so fast. You last year, the blur, I don't even remember. Um, but I mean, I think you, what you do is cool. I like how you are not doing what everybody else does. You know what I mean? Like you kind of have your own flair number one, but also design. And so that's like cool because there's tons of copycats out there. And I just think it's cool to see that. Um, but you guys need to check out what's your website again? It's fringe golf, something
Speaker 3:Which golf, usa.com. And then on Instagram, it's fringe, golf USA. Also,
Speaker 1:You guys should check out his designs and they're reasonable, like seriously. And they look amazeballs, that's my kid.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. Another, another thing for the future. Um, right now it's not on the site. Uh, at some point I've got it hanging in the back. Uh t-shirts might go on the site and hats. We have beanies on the site right now. Um, so,
Speaker 1:And all that stuff, man, like, it's like so many like moving parts. It's like, Oh yeah, I know. Um, you actually do towels. Um, but like with the material you use now, but I don't think it's, I don't think you want to mess that up though. You know what I mean? Like the actual,
Speaker 3:I wonder if that, if yeah, what we use right now, if that would be,
Speaker 1:It would Jack it up. I think, I, I don't think it ma maybe, maybe that one we looked at yesterday, remember that other one that was like, just came out, whatever it was called. And we're like, Oh yeah, check that one out. The durable one or whatever it was number. So maybe that would be, I don't know. Cause you could make some sick towels quick. You know what I mean? Like, Oh crap. I put them yesterday. Huh?
Speaker 3:I said, I forgot about that. Other, um, that other fabric that we were looking at yesterday, that was cool. I was like,
Speaker 1:You guys have tear off fridge. It's really cool. Like, because there's really nothing. He can't do. I mean really? So it's like, if you have a design, you'd like, like, Hey, I like this design of whatever. He could make it for you. Right. Or he could say, or you could say, Hey, I like your stock designs, which are cool. Like a tiger. One's really full. Like that one a lot. Um, yeah. Look at that. That's like porno tiger right there, man. That's like, that's like sheets.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean that's the tiger King. That's tight. Yeah. Or if you like tiger woods too. Oh, there you go. You're not even thinking golf. No, I
Speaker 1:Was. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Um, that's cool. The other thing I CA I mean, you can't see it unless you have one in your hand, like the material that I use, it's depth. It's not any material that anyone else is using. And it's like super, super soft, but it's heavy duty. So it's not, again, it's not like cheap it's it's it's it, it has a high end look to it.
Speaker 1:No, it does. It's like it's over there. I should grab it, but it's like, it's a cool, I think that's a driver one. I think you gave me over there. I think give me one of each. Yeah. They're all different. Like the one he gave me for my hybrid, this is cool. It was like this, uh, tie. I wouldn't call it tie dye, but look kind of look like a tie I remember was like multicolor, but then he fricking put this like overlay of my logo of the ball guy, Bali. And it was like a hologram wasn't it or something like that. It was sick. It was cool as hell. I was like, Oh, that's next level right there. So he, my dad took it. Um, my dad takes all my stuff, but anyways, thank you for being on the show today. I appreciate it. I appreciate a friendship and you guys gotta support him cause he's really doing something cool. And it's just like a nice normal daughter, dude. And he'd do it on his own right now. But like with what he's doing, I think it really didn't grow a lot. And that's why I wanted to like expose them. Right. Because it's some cool stuff. So they should be on the show and uh, we'll talk soon. All right. Yeah. Thank you.