Off the Deck

Tyler Johnson and Charlie Golf Co.

• BestBall • Season 2 • Episode 18

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0:00 | 40:07

In this episode, Tyler Johnson of Charlie Golf shares the inspiring story behind his innovative kids golf brand, from inception to success. Discover how a personal need sparked a business that now partners with major golf venues and celebrities, blending entrepreneurship with passion for golf.

https://charliegolfco.com/

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SPEAKER_00

Driver off the deck for Cole Connor. Here's driver off the deck. They're hopling. The driver off the deck. I think you would try this, right? Oh my gosh. You have to put your foot on the gas. You pull out the driver off the deck and you put it on the drain all the way up the hill.

unknown

Don't stop, don't stop, get back.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome back to another episode of Off the Deck. Uh, quick shout out to Itica Golf, our title sponsor. Uh, I'm wearing the Sebastian hoodie today. Super lightweight, really comfortable. Um, honestly, it's easy to throw on whether you're heading to the course or out to dinner. If you want one, head to itica.gov. Make sure you use promo code OTD25 for 25% off your order. That promo code is no joke. Again, that's OTD25 for 25% off your order. And their spring line just dropped. So go check them out. We really appreciate Ida being part of the show. And we are thrilled to welcome Mr. Tyler Johnson of Charlie Golf to off the deck. How you doing, Tyler?

SPEAKER_01

Doing great. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, thanks for taking time to come on the show. Um, for the listeners, who are you and what do you do?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I'm Tyler Johnson. Uh I started Charlie Golf about two and a half years ago. It's a kids' golf brand. So uh golf bags for two to five year olds, and then we also do have a junior line as well for the five to eight-year-olds that next size up. So focus strictly on uh kids' golf bags and kids' golf clubs.

SPEAKER_02

So I love y'all have beautifully explained kind of the the story about how this came to be, especially all the family connections with Grandpa Bertie, um, and then everything with your kids. But but tell me, if you can, um give a synopsis of of what that says on the site, or even a more extended version of why you decided to start this kid golf bag brand.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I mean, it goes it goes all the way back. I mean, I would say when like I was two, three years old or so, my dad had a club for me. He cut down an old adult club, put a grip on it. You know, it was my club. He still has it in his uh in his basement now. So, you know, it's sort of one of those full circle things. When I had my kid, I wanted to get him out to the golf course. Our daughter was just born at the time. So it was one of those things where, okay, what can I do with Charlie to get him outside of the house? You know, mom's with the new baby. Uh so I just took him out to the driving range and he had his old cut-down adult clubs that my dad cut down for him. He had like a, you know, a couple clubs, a blue grip on the one putter or on the driver uh that we just carried around. And it was that one day when I was, you know, went out to the driving range in, you know, the middle of Iowa summer. I was hauling these two clubs around, you know, his couple golf balls and whatever. And I didn't have a bag for him at the time. Uh so right after that, like there was one of those aha moments where I'm like, I, you know, he needs a golf bag, right? So I went online and I started looking for one. And uh, I just for a three-year-old at the time, I was thinking, okay, what's the easiest, most simplest thing that we can do for, you know, a kid, but a toddler, like I know how he is with bags. Like he can't put on a backpack, a two-strap backpack by himself. Like, we don't need to make this complicated. Right. And when I was searching for it, I was like, I cannot find the uh literally the simplest bag. Uh so I, you know, thought of the wax canvas leather style bags, uh, the Sunday style carry bags, you know, and make it miniature, I guess, for an for a kid to carry around. And that was one of the biggest things. It's like I want my kid to be able to carry around his own bag. So I don't necessarily have to, but I wanted him to have like ownership of the bag. So, you know, being able to lift it up, pick, put it down, um, it's very easy for him to access it when it's just on the ground. I mean, you know, he's three, four feet tall or whatever. So it's very easy for them to uh manage that bag.

SPEAKER_02

So and how many iterations did you go through before you had what we see now for purchase? Like I can't, I mean, because the golf bag kind of exists already, like that it's uh it's pretty much been perfected, but not for a two or three-year-old. So how did what was that process like?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so we went through uh, I don't know, probably three or four samples, went through uh multiple vendors as well or partners to try to figure out how to how to manufacture them. Uh I would say it it was we were actually pretty close on the the first go-around with it. Like I got the one bag back and I'm like, wow, this is really close. But the strap was probably the biggest challenge because it came with like, you know, like when when it sent back, the size of the bag was good, the quality was really good. Um, but the strap, when I when my son put it on, and he was, you know, at that time, he was the perfect model. Like he was my test subject with it. Like, this bag is for him. So when he went to go put it on, the strap was so big and rigid that it just like fell forward or fell backward. So we spent some time really working on the strap to make sure it's extremely flexible and very thin as well, because you know, the shoulder from on a three and a half year old, you only have so much room to work with. So it has to be able to fit on that shoulder. So the the strap was honestly one of the biggest things that we went back and forth on to make sure we got that uh, you know, nailed down. So it was a few iterations. I have I still have one of the sample bags hanging up here from uh a manufacturer, and I just hold on to it because it's like it just doesn't even compare to what we actually ended up going with and like what what everybody knows Charlie Gulf has today. Uh it's you can just definitely tell the different uh quality. There's it just it looks cheap. Uh so I I still hold it, I still have it on display because you know it's sort of fun to look back at those early bags to sort of see where it started and then sort of where where it went to.

SPEAKER_02

Did did he ever get tired of being the test subject?

SPEAKER_01

No, I don't think no, because he was he loved the golf, like he he thought the golf bag was so cool and like it was his own. So like he took ownership of it, like he loved he loved that. So uh he he never thought anything of it. I know we took that one prototype that we had with the big strap out uh just to you know take it out to the golf course. It didn't phase him one bit. Like he still loved the bag, uh, he still carried it like by the handle. So it, you know, I knew I was on to something at that point when uh sort of my kid was that like he loved the golf bag that much that I'm like, well, maybe there's other parents in my in my situation that you know just want something easy for their kids. And uh yeah, sure enough, it it seems like that's the case.

SPEAKER_02

So I I love that, and and right before we started recording, I mentioned I love that you're recording from your warehouse. So is this is now full time for you, correct?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I've been full-time Charlie Golf uh since January 2025. Um I did so we launched in November 2023. We had 150 golf bags that we had for launch and and sold those out in uh it was 28 minutes. I I had the timer going with it and all that stuff. So uh we we sold them out right away uh in that November of 2023, and we did drops after that. So we had probably eight or nine drops for the next six months where we would sell out of hundreds of bags at a time. I'm talking 300, 400. Uh, I think we got all the way up to 700 at one point, and we just kept we kept taking as like the revenue that we got and ordered as many bags as possible for that next drop. And we kept doing that until we sort of met the demand of a wait list that we created online. So that's that's how it started, like in in November 2023. And then all of that in 2024, I was doing this on the side. And during those drops, I knew that I had, I knew when the bags were coming in. So I could schedule them on a Friday, a Friday drop, and then I could get my mom and my dad and uh my aunt would come up at times, but I I would be able to get help to come up on that Saturday to help me or Sunday uh to get everything packed and then out the door on Monday, go back to my full-time job, and then sort of do that over and over and over again. And then we got to like May of 2024, and we had, you know, one of our biggest months of of all time, still to this day, that May of 2024 was one of our biggest months. Uh, because we introduced clubs and we introduced it and we had a drop of bags as well during that month. So at that point, I knew that, okay, I think I'm on to something. I think I can do this full time. So May of 2024 is when it went into my head, like, I I'm pretty sure I can do this full time. I didn't let my employer know until November of 2024 that I was gonna leave, and then January 2025 is when I went full time with Charlie Golf.

SPEAKER_02

So what were you what was the what was the full-time gig before you went full time with Charlie Golf? Anything remotely close to textiles and bags or nothing at all.

SPEAKER_01

I was in sales, marketing. There was an entrepreneurship type feel to the role that I had. I had a lot of ownership of this uh one part of the company that they were trying to launch, a new subdivision. Uh so for the last like um few years with the company, I was trying to get this product off the ground. It was a software product that complemented the main uh product at the at the company that I worked for. But it was, you know, I I had a feel of marketing, I had a feel of SEO, sort of had that feel of the entrepreneurship, like I had ownership of that product. So um yeah, that's what I did before. Nothing related to uh golf bag, nothing in the golf industry, anything like that. Just completely um yeah, yeah, not even close.

SPEAKER_02

That's fascinating. So, and we had originally uh we've had to reschedule this a couple times, and I'm I'm glad we had to reschedule it because one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, we can still talk about it, was your master's your Georgia drop. So I guess it's not a master's drop, we gotta be careful there, or we'll get a cease and assist. And we know, August, they're listening. Um but how quickly did those sell out? And for the listeners, what you did a uh a girls and a boys, what did those designs look like? And then how quickly did they sell out?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so we decided to do a Georgia drop. And this is one of the first times we've done like a limited edition bag. And what we did was a um, we call it the green peach and the pink azalea. So the pink azalea had a checkerboard front pattern to the pocket, and then azaleas embroidered randomly on the body of the bag, and then the green was um had a checkerboard green front pocket to it, and then peaches embroidered, you know, randomly on the body of the bag as well. Um, we went through that pro this was a great learning experience for me because I haven't really done a limited drop like this in really, I don't think, since I started, you know, Charlie Golf. And I've always had these ideas of potentially doing limited style bags and like for specific events, right? So we did that. Um we got a family photographer involved that I found out, you know, later on. Like she's been doing our family uh pictures for five, six years or whatever. So she actually had a lot of experience with brand stuff. And we went up there to do a photo shoot with all the kids in their caddy uniforms and all that stuff. And uh it was just fun to see that like come together. And the the photos turned out great. And uh yeah, we we created a lot of buzz sort of beforehand of actually dropping those. And then the the day that we dropped them, the pink bags sold out, and we only had 16 of the pink bags and 16 of the the green ones. So, you know, we didn't have very many of them, but the pink ones sold out in in like a minute, and then the green ones sold out in about seven or eight minutes. That's nuts. So, so what lesson did you learn? Well, I learned how to go through the whole, it takes a lot of planning to do um like those drops. So I, you know, just the whole planning process takes time, and I'm one of the guys that like I don't plan very well. I sort of am more of the spur of the moment, like if something comes to my head, I might act on it. Um, but the whole planning process of, you know, creating the bags, getting the photo shoot ready to go, like what's gonna be involved in the photo shoot, uh, getting the pictures back, getting the social media, creating the wait list, launching them, you know, getting them out the door. So like there's a whole process behind it that just doesn't happen overnight. Like there is like I had to you you have to think about some of these things. So uh it was good to do, and then like we're gonna try to do one here uh in the next couple months for um US Open July 4th, America 250 themed bags.

SPEAKER_02

That's really cool. Yeah, that those were really, really cool bags. I think they're still you might be able to see the images on your website, but because I encourage people to go look at those because they were really cute, really fun. Unfortunately, my daughter has outgrown them, or I would have tried to snag one for her. But yeah, just the the stylization of them, the peaches, it was very, very well done. And to your point, the photo shoot, y'all crushed it. I mean, the kids in the in the caddy uniforms looked great. Like it was all very endearing, cute, fun.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, I think it's one of the one of my favorite videos that I love is like I saw her do a behind the scenes one, and it's just you can't even picture we got a five and a half year old, a three and a half year old, and a one-year-old, and we're in this photo shoot room and trying to keep them somewhat occupied while doing some of these shoots, and like while Charlie was getting his picture taken with the bag, what's Olivia doing and what's the one-year-old doing? So, like the behind the scenes thing is like, I love looking at that video because seeing like them actually what it looked like and then how the pictures turned out is uh, you know, I I I love seeing that stuff and I love the behind the scenes. I think I think our audience does too, is um sort of how how we go about doing things, and uh people can definitely relate to that, especially if they have young kids.

SPEAKER_02

For sure. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, because because that's uh that's a three-ring circus of uh especially the ages you mentioned, trying to keep them corralled and then also trying to keep their attention for a photo shoot. That's that's a heavy lift.

SPEAKER_01

So I re I remember we were doing the photo shoot of just the bags at the time. The kids had their uniforms on, we were getting sort of them ready to go. They went outside, it was like a decent day, and they went outside and they come back and they had mud, like you know, sort of on one one of the knees and whatever else. So it's like, okay, uh, we can keep you inside for for the rest of the time now, right?

SPEAKER_02

So it started out with bags. When when did you decide to take the plunge into doing the clubs?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so the clubs I always like when I started Charlie Golf, and when I start like when I did the bags, it was one of those things like I want to have clubs at some point. And I actually started the process of the clubs about the same time that I started the process of the bags as well. It's just the clubs took so much longer. There was there's just a lot more that goes into like the the manufacturing of the club, the style of the club, the weights of the club. There's just a lot more that goes into it, but I wanted to have clubs for my kid because I saw him use the adult cutdown clubs that my dad made for him, and he had a hard time swinging them. So I mean, they were just they're steel shafts, uh old steel heads, like just they're just too big for him, too heavy. So I knew that I really wanted to have clubs at some point that, you know, a three and a half year old to five-year-old could swing like e relatively easily. So um we went into that process, you know, starting probably about uh October of 2023, started going down the rabbit hole trying to figure that out. And then we did, I got the first prototypes in about March of 2024, and I remember taking them out uh to the golf course with my kid, and he was just uh so excited about them and like being able to swing them. And I'll never forget either the first time we had the the one prototype set that we had, he had those seven-iron and he's walking with it, and he drags it right across like the a gravel uh cart path area, and it's just like, well, you know, these things better be durable. And and sure enough, he's the same set that we had, that same first prototype set, is the set that he's still using uh to this day. So they've held up uh obviously really, really well. Um, but going down to when we launched them, so March of 2024 is when I got that prototype in. And I probably one of the biggest risks that I've taken with the business so far was actually doing a pre-order for those clubs. Um, because I started a pre-order in March of 2024, and that was to uh like help fund the purchase of the clubs that I was bringing in because you know we're um we've been bootstrapped the entire time. We've it's solely it's fully self-funded. Uh so like that was a big purchase for us at that time in that early stage of the business. And it's just crazy how many people supported us and would wait six to eight weeks to get these clubs in their hands. So that's you know, when we did the pre-order and then we finally got them in in May of 2024 um and got got them out the door and then released them to the rest of the wait list. I I only did a pre-order of about like 300 of those clubs, and once they once we hit that 300 mark, I I called it good because I just didn't I didn't want to have that feeling of um, okay, what if we did 500 or 600 or however many? And this is the first time that we're bringing these clubs in. I know what the prototype looks like, but there's also this risk of okay, what if we get it and something is wrong with what we receive? So I didn't like that feeling. Uh it worked out very, very well for us. It helped us literally take our brand from one level to a wholly different level there.

SPEAKER_02

So, what percentage of your business now is clubs versus bags?

SPEAKER_01

I mean, it's it's pretty pretty split. I would say 65% have bagging clubs. And then, yeah, you what we do have some that just buy clubs only, and then we do have some that buy just bag only. Decent amount of just bag only, too.

SPEAKER_02

So and and uh I love that uh there's uh I guess what it what's the saying that um the need or necessity is what uh causes innovation or whatever, and like you experiencing this with your son is what what led you now to be in a warehouse with a bunch of toddler and junior golf bags, which is fascinating to me. Um when you so I and you can personalize the bags on your website. So what do you is there a lot of personalization, or the majority of the purchases that you receive, someone just wants one right off the rack and that's being shipped out. What is what does that typically look like?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we're I mean, about 70% of our bags are personalized with a name. So um and we do that.

SPEAKER_02

Are you doing all that embroidery?

SPEAKER_01

We do all the personalization of the bags here. So we have two um high like high-end industrial embroidery machines that we run uh the personalizations on. So the cool thing about it is like I I do my very best to get all orders out the next day. It's probably too high of a standard, and I probably stress myself out about it at times, but like the the cool thing is that we control that personalization process of like the name on the bag that we can do it. I it like it doesn't take that long to do. Um, but you have to have the machine and you you have to have a little knowledge of how to do it. I've I've just learned it all through YouTube and training videos and whatever. And I do simple stuff. A lot of the time I'm doing simple stuff, it's just text. Um, you know, we're we're starting to get into more logo work as well, but um, yeah, we can we we typically, if we get an order today, I do my very best. A lot of the times we get it out the next day, even with the personalization. Um, you know, I know some people might have deadlines, birthdays, whatever, so we do our best to get them out as fast as possible.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and you had some pretty impressive embroidery. Uh, if there's two two cases I'm thinking about, um, the Speath family. Um was that a bit of a pinch me moment? Did you know that was coming at where it was coming in, or or how did you find out about that?

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's a I mean, it's decent, decent relatively long story, but it goes back to October of 2024. And I I I actually tweeted about this. I think I put it on my LinkedIn or tweeted it or did something with it. Um, that I remember the day vividly. It was a Friday, like Friday at around five o'clock, five thirty. I remember just getting to my house. For some reason, I look at my email and I see this subject line that says custom bag Sammy Speith. And I'm like, huh, this is interesting. Like, this spam or whatever. Then I looked at my Twitter and I had a DM from the same person. So I'm like, okay, well, they they somehow found us or whatever. They sent us this email, and that's when the conversation actually started. Because I was down in the dumps that day. I remember, like, I feel like we barely sold anything throughout the day. And as an entrepreneur and in this type of business, when you don't have there's a lot of roller coasters. There's the days that you feel, oh my gosh, this thing's gonna explode. And there's days where you feel like you barely sell anything, and you're like, Oh gosh, I better dust off my resume. And it was one of those I'm dusting off my resume, like I hope this thing can keep going type type days. Yeah. So uh I remember that and we started the conversation. I think that next week we had the initial conversations. Hey, can you do this? What what are your capabilities? Is this something you're interested in? And we started those conversations. And it took us a little while to finalize the designs and what that design would look like, uh, the colors of the bags and all that. Um, and I remember getting the bags in my hands. I think it was toward the end of January. I had them in my hands, and I I immediately thought this could this could be a home run. Like this, this could be really big for us. Um, just like seeing them. So I was extremely anxious leading up to the Masters Power 3 uh tournament. But days in advance, I was I didn't want anybody to talk to me about it because you know they people ask there, like, you know, are your bags gonna be out there at the par three contest? And I'm like, because of over the last two years they have, or last three years now they have. So like you set this expectation in 2024, they showed up. It was awesome. 2025, I was nervous. I'm like, are we gonna get any out there? They showed up again. And then this year, it's one of those, okay, I think Speath's gonna carry, but I don't know. I have no I really no idea if they are. Yeah, and I don't think I have anybody else that necessarily has the bag, uh, like a bag. So I am fingers crossed that uh Speath is gonna have that bag out there. And sure enough, like uh huge sigh of relief when I saw that bag out there uh on that Wednesday of the Part 3 contest. And then um, yeah, social media really loved it. And uh there are some good stories behind it as well. And I think one of the biggest ones was like two months after I um launched Charlie Golf, I sent a DM to Jordan Spieth on Instagram, and I said basically, hey Jordan, we just launched this Tyler Golf business. Uh, thought of you and Sammy like for the par three contest, you know, let me know if you're interested, something like that. And I I I don't know why I thought of that, but Instagram saves all the DMs, and I looked up Jordan Speath, you know, on Instagram, looked at the conversation, the message, and sure enough, it was there. So I took that screenshot, and it's just funny, like years later, how that actually ended up happening, like through a roundabout way, it actually ended up happening, which I thought was really cool.

SPEAKER_02

That yeah, that's that's very cool. I mean, it and that gave you activations for days, right? Like, like you've got the Speath family. I mean, uh, we all think he should have more than one green jacket. I think we're all astonished that he hasn't won like four masters at this point. But to to have his kids representing your brand and using your bags at the par three at the most iconic golf venue on the planet is has to be a pinch me moment.

SPEAKER_01

It was big time pinch me moment, and like like he shared our story, like one of our posts that we had the bags, like the pictures of the bags, and like uh it was just it was just awesome to see. It was honestly just the the biggest sigh of relief once it once it happened. I can't even weigh off my shoulders. And then it was a bunch of enjoy like we thoroughly enjoyed it then. And uh yeah, it's it's one of those moments that I'm gonna look back on the brand of like Charlie Golf in years to come, and it's gonna be one of those iconic moments that I'll I'll always remember, and I think it's always gonna be sort of uh associated with our brand as well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's really cool. And now you've branched out into clubs. I saw recently you're you're doing bags for Wingfoot. Is that are you proactively reaching out to these clubs or are they finding you and asking you for orders?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's it's pretty crazy. I have not done one active outreach to any of these clubs. That's awesome. Um they've all reached out to me directly, as far as through either the website or a DM on Instagram or Twitter or whatever. They've all reached out to me. They said, hey, seen your story, followed your story, love what you're doing. And then they also see like you get one club that has done it, and then you know, you get another club that does it, and then these other clubs start seeing, okay, what are the capabilities, possibilities of us bringing these in. So uh yeah, I have not done one ounce of outreach. It's all been organic, people, uh clubs coming to us, and it's pretty cool. I think we have now like five major championship venues um in our lineup now. So I'm I'm trying to keep like those major championship ones, uh, like those venues sort of uh separated in a way, uh, just because I think it's really cool.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. If especially like you don't you don't want just random golf club calling you and and then then them ending up in a post but after a post of Wingfoot like that. Like, yeah, like yeah, if you can keep it just major venues and some of the iconic courses around the country and globe, that that kind of sets you in a uh sets you apart from anybody else. That's that's really cool.

SPEAKER_01

Are there it's really cool some of the courses that we get to talk to. Uh, you know, and I could I always joke with my buddies, I'm like, you know, wonder if I just ask for tea time. We can do exchange, right? I'll give you the bags. Can I get four guys out there to go play? Right. You know, type of thing, because there's there's some really cool golf courses that we've been uh lucky enough to work with.

SPEAKER_02

And are those becoming record recurring orders or just one-time orders?

SPEAKER_01

They have been recurring uh for the most for the most part. So like I know a few, a couple off the top of my head that I just know immediately is MacArthur down in um South Florida. Uh they were actually one of, I think they were the first golf course. So the the uh head pro there has followed my story on Twitter for a long time, since the very beginning. He ordered one for his daughter, and he's like, Okay, I'm gonna figure out how I can get our logo on this. He actually ended up just reaching out and said, Hey, are you able to put a logo on this? I'm like, yes. And I had no idea how to go about doing that at the time. And it was like you figure it out, right? Like I just figured out how to do it and how to go through that process of doing it. So he was one of the first ones, and I think at this point he's had four or five reorders. He's up to like 33 or 35 bags that he's ordered in in probably less than two years. And then Eastwood Ho is another big one. Uh Jeffrey Patrick, I don't know if you know him or follow him uh on Twitter or Instagram or whatever, but he's some he's one of the merchandisers at Eastward Ho. He was one of our very first customers that bought on the on the very first drop, the first 150 bags. Him and I had some conversation leading up to that point, and he supported me and bought one of the bags um right away. And then uh, sure enough, like years, years later, we he I think he's had like four reorders. He's up to like 25 bags that he sold uh in his pro shop as well.

SPEAKER_02

That's really cool. That's that's that's awesome to hear. I love the success that you're having and how, like I said, uh just the necessity of your son needing it has now blossomed into you having this business. Um so what's on if you want to share uh on the horizon for future drops, um, anything else that you're working on that may be a very limited run. Do you have anything like that coming up?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I I sort of touched based on it real briefly, but US Open, July 4th, America 250, working on some red, white, and blue styled bags. Um and that's that's where we're gonna try to do that in the you know, middle to beginning of June. Uh that's sort of the next one that we have on the on the agenda. And then we might do something in the fall as well, uh, before like the holiday season. But um, yeah, those I mean the the uh a red, white, and blue theme bag is sort of our what's next on the on the list for a limited edition bag.

SPEAKER_02

Nice. Nice. So uh I have never played golf in Iowa, and I want to I'm gonna pivot a little bit here. What part of Iowa are you in? North Central.

SPEAKER_01

The I I don't know if you've ever heard of the University of Northern Iowa. That is the the city that I live in, Cedar Falls, Iowa. So it's where I went to school. We actually ended up coming back uh to Cedar Falls. Um, but yeah, uh University of Northern Iowa. I played on the college golf team uh way back when uh and ended up here again.

SPEAKER_02

So so what is the golf scene like around you now and how often do you get to play?

SPEAKER_01

Uh so the golf scene, a lot of golf courses around. So if you're not familiar with Iowa, nine hole uh golf courses are everywhere. Every small town has them. And I think I I think it's like the uh there's some there's some research on this. If you Google it, quick, most nine hole golf courses per capita in the country. There are tons of I I grew up playing nine-hole golf course. Uh I always took my son to a nine-hole golf course uh when we were living in a different town. Uh, so like nine-hole golf courses I have a special spot in my heart for. Um, I love just sort of the quirkiness of them. I the the conditions I could care less about. Like I grew up on a golf course that did not have water fairways, did not have sand bunkers, had telephone lines running down one and two, in-course out of bounds, driving range was an old range or an old field that was just cut down, like water tower in the background. I love that stuff. I I and I think it's great for kids to learn the game as well. Like, there's not as much pressure. You don't feel like there's that much pressure at a golf course like that. So, special spot for nine-hole golf courses, they're everywhere in Iowa. Um, and then we uh we have a great 18-hole golf course here in Sear Falls that um the where we played, you know, every once in a while, uh swim pool for the kids and stuff like that. So uh it's it's a great golf course. I personally think it's one of the best in the state. Could be biased, but I do think it's one of the better ones in the state.

SPEAKER_02

Nice. So yeah, there's a couple uh I try I get up to uh Sioux City when I go to uh Landman and was trying to play a place there just so I could because I want to play golf in all 50 states, um, and I have not checked off Iowa yet. So that's one of the reasons I was curious about just golf in Iowa. That but that's fascinating about the nine holes or about the nine-hole courses, and that Iowa has more than any other state in the country. Like that's yeah, you do a good research on it.

SPEAKER_01

Somebody fact check me on this. I've done it before. That there is some research out there on this, and you go to any small town, can almost guarantee you that there's a there's a golf course there.

SPEAKER_02

A little nine-holer. That's really cool. So Charlie, Olivia, are they playing? And I guess how old's Annie now? Is Annie old enough to play or no?

SPEAKER_01

No, Annie just turned one. Olivia's three and a half, and then Charlie's five and a half. So I'm gonna have one of these moments here in the summer where it's gonna um I don't want to say hurt me, but like it's gonna be one of those moments where he transitions out of his little bag and into the bigger bag. Um, you know, it's it's he's getting very, very close to it. And I know that day's coming. So um, but it's he plays, he'll he'll go out there, he loves going out there. Um, Olivia will will go out, she'll ride in the golf cart, she'll swing a couple of times, but she enjoys the golf cart. And then obviously Annie just started walking the other day. So we still got a little time for her.

SPEAKER_02

So Charlie is still playing a Charlie bag, and then he's about he's gonna transition to one of the juniors. Is that what you're saying? Okay. Yep. Has he already picked out his new bag?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the blue one. The navy blue sandbag is the one that he wants. He's sticking with blue, so I think he'll always have a blue golf bag.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, I know you have many more important things to do than talk with me on a podcast, but I got a couple quick questions and we'll get you out of here. Um, what's a dream foresome for you, dead or alive?

SPEAKER_01

Let's see. I'm gonna say Patrick Mahomes. I'll put Tiger Woods in there. I'm gonna go old school because he's one of my favorite basketball players. Uh Shaquille O'Neal. Nice. That's a little bit something different.

SPEAKER_02

That's gonna be a fun group. That's gonna be a really fun group.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. We're we're big Patrick Mahomes fans on uh in our in our household. So and I know it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_02

So you're Chiefs fans too or just Mahomes fans?

SPEAKER_01

We're we're Chiefs anything Kansas City. So I lived in Kansas City from like 2010 to basically 2020. So anything Royals, Chiefs, big fans of.

SPEAKER_02

So you were living in Kansas City when the Royals won the World Series?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, back to back, yes. We I was there at the yeah, I I did not go to the World Series games. I was at the ACL ALCS Game 5 in 2014. And then we also went to a playoff game uh in 2015 as well. Um so yeah, that was awesome. Uh great for the city. I'll never for probably one of my favorite sports teams that I'll probably ever cheer for, um, you know, past or even at this point. Uh that those Kansas City Royals teams from 2014-2015 were it was special. It was awesome. It was fun to be a part of that. And then going back in 2020, 20 uh 12, the Chiefs were horrible. They were like two and fourteen that year. You know, they had the first draft pick, and then it was fun to sort of see that right after the Royals, uh, the Patrick Mahomes era started, and uh got to experience that as well.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, those Royals teams, uh because I've been thinking about it uh in regards to my Braves, there were those Royals teams, if the starting pitcher could go six innings, or maybe even just five innings, it was over. Like it like there was there they had two setup guys in a closure that would come in and just mow you down. There was awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was awesome. And then they showed that in the playoffs during that time. And I think that's when there was like a moment there where like that that bullpen, then people started trying to do that, you know, years, you know, right afterwards because uh that obviously huge parts of their success.

SPEAKER_02

Right. What's your favorite club in the bag right now?

SPEAKER_01

So I just got a whole new set of clubs. Okay. Brand new set of clubs. So uh I got some I got some Mira irons. So I don't know if you're familiar with Mira. We did a collab with Mira, so it's like one of those where when I'm looking at new clubs, they gave us a chance, they gave us an opportunity. I'm brand loyal to Mira. So uh I'm gonna say uh my Mira eight iron.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Are we are we flushing it with consistency, or is it like is that just why you love it, or what what's what's to love about that eight iron?

SPEAKER_01

Just feel comfortable over an eight iron. So I typically hit a little draw and uh I just I just feel comfortable with an eight iron in my hand.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. What's your favorite course outside of the state of Iowa?

SPEAKER_01

Uh I'm gonna be heading back out there again this summer. It is uh at the Prairie Club, the Dunes course at uh the Prairie Club.

SPEAKER_02

Nice. Okay. Do you prefer to do sweep or golden hour?

SPEAKER_01

Golden Hour. Yeah, I I like I like chasing the sun.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_01

And it's peaceful. I just feel like it's more peaceful.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, there's there's something to be said about that time of day for me also, just like sun setting, probably don't have your shoes on, like it it's yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and you might have been through the you might have gone through a day of work and it's just sort of relaxing and peaceful. Um yeah, definitely like that.

SPEAKER_02

Uh and then last, do you hit it off the deck? Say that again. Do you hit it off the deck?

SPEAKER_01

No. You're talking driver off the deck? Yeah. No. I I would probably top it. Uh I mean, I've I've tried. I'm not very good at it.

SPEAKER_02

My wife's been telling me I need to compile answers to that question for a new intro. Uh, and your response just then would would probably make make the intro.

SPEAKER_01

Uh that's it.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks for taking time to come on the show and and tell the story about Charlie Goff. It was uh truly an inspiration to hear just all the work and blood, sweat, and tears you put into it. And it seems like you're having a lot of fun with it, which that's infectious. Uh so thanks for sharing that.

SPEAKER_01

I'll tell you, my one of my main motivations is to never go back to a nine-to-five job ever again. Uh, I thoroughly enjoy like doing this. And like Sundays I'm itching to get back to like get my hands on something. So it's it's thoroughly like I thoroughly enjoy it. Um we're gonna just try to keep it rolling for as long as we can.

SPEAKER_02

I love it. I love it. Well, thank you again for Tyler Johnson. I'm Josh Decker, and this has been another episode of Off the Deck.

Head Shot

Josh Decker

Host