Off the Deck
Golf is so much more than the scorecard and those birdies that are rarely made. It's about the people you meet along the way. From lifelong bonds to unexpected fast friends, Off the Deck highlights the lives and stories built through the game of golf.
Off the Deck
Nic Rolla and Silly Banana Golf Co.
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Driver off the deck for Corey Constant is driver off the deck. They're hopling. So the driver off the deck. I think you would try this, right? Oh my god. 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.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to another episode of Off the Deck. My name is Josh Decker. I am still still dealing with a cold that I brought home from Paris that I cannot kick. So uh normally I like to think that I sound a little bit better than this. Um Off the Deck is brought to you by Ideca Golf. Uh they are crushing it right now with their hoodies. Uh I'm wearing the current hoodie right now. Uh, and you make sure you use promo code OTD25 for 25% off everything at ideca.gov. That's id-a-k a dot golf. You all have heard me talk about their golf glove. Um, I think I've played now 12 rounds with the same glove, um, and I'm not that good. So that's a lot of swings to put one golf glove through. Uh, but again, that's promo code OTD25 for 25% off everything at itica.golf. Mr. Nick Rala, man, how are you doing? Welcome to the show. Oh, good, man. Glad to be here. I'm glad to have you on the show. We've been talking about this for quite some time, and it's really funny. I was thinking about how we met. Um, and we met because of this show, and Mr. Tourvisor and Vibes himself, Derek Langson ended up going on a golf trip with me and put me in touch with you. But before we talk about what you do, I want to learn more about who Nick Rolla is. Where do you live? What's your nine to five? What's what's life like for you these days? For sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that was the uh fun little thing we did there with the uh the trip out to land, man. So excited to get more into that. But uh daily nine to five, I'm a mortgage lender, help people buy houses. So uh anybody out there who's looking to buy, give me a shot. Um, but yeah, that's kind of my daily nine to five. Um do that, and then kind of weekends, nights, I kind of do my uh my little SP golf co nice.
SPEAKER_01So and where is home for you?
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, home is uh Illinois, just outside St.
SPEAKER_01Louis. Okay. So for for the listeners, he is wearing a Gimme golf hat. So how long have you been part of part of Gimme and and that wonderful group of people? It's awesome, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Uh I've been a member for I think this is my third year, I believe. So yeah, three years already. So yeah. And which which house are you part of? Uh I'm kind of a nomad with Derek. We're both Illinois guys, you know. So we got the two St. Louis houses, north and south, and we're kind of directly in the middle of both of them. I think it's almost like a mild difference between the two. So we like to say we're nomads, but uh, I think we're mostly kind of on the uh the south side is where we're slated, I guess. How is the golf game? It's coming along. It's coming along, you know. The last couple years here, we've really put in the work and uh we've seen some improvement.
SPEAKER_01So it's uh it's been fun. What's what's been the biggest part of your game that's improved? Or where have you seen the most improvement?
SPEAKER_02Driving and putting. Okay. Yeah. Made the switch to the mallet last year and just putts dropped instantly. Yeah. So that and just keeping it in play off the T has been two huge factors.
SPEAKER_01So Yeah, it's it's crazy how how easy the game gets when you hit it in the center of the fairway and then also hit it into the center of the cup. Like you're right. I wish I knew what that felt like because lately I haven't, um, which that's that's a a podcast for another day. Um, so I was uh like I said, we were uh was introduced to you through Derek Langston. Derek and I um met through this podcast. Um, of course, he's also a Gimme Golf guy, like you just referenced. Um, and we were going out on a trip to Landman, and I was working on putting some swag together. And he's like, Hey, you need to holler at my man Nick um at SB Golf. So tell me, let's start at the beginning um of SB Golf and and maybe you want to talk about what it is first, and then we can talk about how it's evolved over time because I imagine this just kind of began as a small hobby and it's transformed over time. Is that a fair assessment?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. So the easiest way to describe it and it's kind of to show it to you. So if you want to design something live here, and I can kind of run you through the process, show you what it looks like kind of live. I'll cut it and then at the end I'll ship it to you.
SPEAKER_01That would yeah, absolutely. That that's sick. So we're gonna so but what are you gonna make though? We gotta tell what is SB Golf.
SPEAKER_02So SB Golf Club is just my little uh side project here. I started up uh last year, I think was my first year doing it here, starting up in uh January. So um in my second year, almost done with my second year of it here, but just small golf accessories, custom did it tools, ball markers, um, club work, that sort of thing. Um so just kind of started as a side project, had a little bit extra time with uh with work. So just pick something up because I wanted to do something golf related and kind of just on a whim. Yeah. Really?
SPEAKER_01So and it was were you already because it's it and I guess I've got my the ball marker you made for me here for for 7-Eleven. It is cut out of is it laser cut out of metal? Or tell me tell me what I'm holding in my hand here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so it's uh blank ball markers that I get here sourced, and then I got a laser machine that I etch into them. Um I like to cut pretty deep in there so you can see the paint fill like uh like the one you got there. But uh it's it's just been kind of like I don't know, it's just anything that I kind of want to do with it, I can kind of do. So it's kind of evolved, like you said, over time. You know, I had a little vision for it, you know, kind of creating my own stuff and yeah, putting that out there. And then almost immediately I kind of pivoted to this custom thing for you know customers where you can do one-off pieces for affordable, you know, like a lot of these places. You you have to order multiple numbers or something, and you know, it can get pretty expensive, and it's tough to do one-offs a lot of the time too. So I wanted something that was pretty affordable in the golf space because golf's already expensive and uh something that I can kind of do whatever with. So yeah, just kind of fill the little gap there uh immediately, which is kind of neat.
SPEAKER_01I love that. And and you were incredibly easy to work with for our project. So it but I guess now I'll hand it over to you. I tell me how this process works, and I guess we're about to build a ball, or I guess cut out a ball marker would be the more appropriate way to put it um on the show. So yeah, let's do it. All right. Well, first off, what do you want to make? Um, ooh, okay. I so I have plenty of ball markers. Um or should we should we do a ball marker? You tell me divot tool or ball marker? One of both. Okay, let's do both. Let's do both. I'll do it, but yeah, do a ball marker and a divot tool. Sure. You got any uh custom off-the-deck ones? Uh I not that have been laser engraved. I've had someone that like printed one off, but nothing that's been laser engraved engraved, no.
SPEAKER_02Okay. You want to do something personal?
SPEAKER_01Um, and I guess crazy settings, we can do anything. Yeah, all these stuff you're asking me are questions that you can provide to your customers, correct? So everything that I'm experiencing is what you provide.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so usually when somebody comes to me, they already have kind of an idea of what they want to do. So I'm putting you on the spot a little bit here, you know. So um it's they'll come to me with an idea and they're like, hey, here's what it is. And depending on what it is, you know, they'll send me an image or something um that they want to work with. And a lot of the times I can just pull that image that they sent me directly into my software and use that image.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_02So um I've had people create stuff on like Chat GPT or AI and send that to me, and it just kind of cuts out pretty well with the uh the software we have. So that's pretty much the process. Any the idea, I kind of go back and forth as to the design, what kind of ball marker you want, um, paint, fill, all that sort of stuff um that I can do here, and then kind of let you create it from the start. So I guess that's where we're at here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I gotta think about this for a second. Um and I guess it's two-sided, right? Or I guess the ball marker would be double-sided. Um I think on one side I would like the initials of my daughter and wife. So it'd be J C D and W E D.
SPEAKER_02Let's see, can I flip this camera around here anyway?
SPEAKER_01But so you're you're inputting this into a what kind of what kind of program? So this is uh I have an X tool.
SPEAKER_02Um pretty popular laser machine, you know. Um when I got into this, I had zero background, zero experience, anything when it came to really design. Oh yeah, no design. I'm in banking. I I do more than this, you know. So uh yeah, I had no idea. Um I ordered the machine gun on a whim here. Appreciate my wife for letting me do that. Uh, it's a little bit of a discussion, so appreciate that. Um, but as soon as I ordered it, I downloaded the software and just got and started tinkering around with it while I waited the couple weeks for everything to show up and then um just kind of familiarized myself through that. So I would love to flip this camera around. Point it at my screen, if you can see that. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Focused well. Yeah, it's if it could be tilted up and to the left a little bit. Left. Yep, there we go. There we go. So for listeners, he's flipped his camera around and is now showing this software that uh again he's he said he bought on a whim. Um which this is the uh this is fascinating to me that you were just like, yeah, you know what? I think I want to figure out how to create or or buy a a laser machine and then take it and use it for the purpose of golf. I feel like most of these hobbies come from people buying something like that, like this machine for other purposes, and then find the niche, if that's fair.
SPEAKER_02Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I I've had plenty of requests for for things not golf related, you know, just people finding out one way or another that I have this and and looking to do something. So I don't mind doing those things as well here, but obviously, you know, us, we love golf, and this is kind of where our uh our love lies. So do what you love, and you don't really feel like you're working, right? Right, absolutely. All right, so we were going with initials here. So what were the uh the initials again?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so my wife is J C D and my daughter is W E D. W E D? Yep.
SPEAKER_02Perfect. Then you get to choose fonts. Okay. And then I have a ton of fonts. So I don't know if you have something that you're kind of looking for right off the bat, kind of something more boxy, modern, I like that one.
SPEAKER_01Or the one you yeah, the one you were just showing. Go back one or two. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, yeah. So we just picked a pretty easy a pretty easy font here, and he's just moving it around on the screen. This is so cool. Do you want to do some dancing letters?
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_01Scotty Cameron dancing letters? Yes, let's do some Scotty Cameron dancing letters for sure. Alright, cool. And while you're working on this, Nick, it what size orders? I know you mentioned like one-offs. Is this something that you're you if somebody wants to order one like you're creating for me right now, you're happy to do that? Or is there a minimum that you require?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Happy to do one-offs, like I said. I I thought it was kind of difficult to find anything kind of custom golf related for fairly decent price in the uh when I was looking around for kind of small stuff like this. So I wanted to make sure that you know, most people only need one ball marker unless you're ordering for a trip or something. So I wanted to make sure that people could kind of get something specific to them and customized and at a one-off, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and while you're making these letters dance, uh, I want to talk about what you made for me. So we had a group you guys have heard that we went to Landman and we did two different teams. We did team Big Gulp against Team Slurpee. Um, and I had Nick do team ball marks. Um, one side on every ball mark was exactly the same. Um, same paint fill, same logo, just basically 7 Eleven, kind of a playoff of uh a combination of the 7 Eleven convenience stores and landman's logo. And then on the reverse side, we had eight that were big gulp and eight that were slurpy. And Nick was incredible to work with. Um any requests that I fired off via email or text within a matter of minutes, he had some version of what I was looking for back to me for me to either approve or we weren't to we wanted to tinker it a little bit more to get it correct and and kind of how we wanted to look. But he was able to match the paint fill, the paint fill beautifully for both uh the red that is slurpy and then the orange that is big gulp. And then I wanted the date etched on there too. So we have uh just 2026 etched on these ball marks. Um, but it was it was a fun process to go through. And when I got them in, I was absolutely elated with the quality. I mean, they turned out just fantastic.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate that. I try to make it as easy as possible to work with here because you know, um, most of the time it's it's a little bit different than uh a normal process. A lot of that stuff you can uh submit online, you know, what you want, and then it's an order form that goes to somebody and you never really talk to them. So this way I kind of touch base with the customer here and kind of get exactly what you want, you know. Um at the end of the day, it's coming out of your brain, but I'm the one kind of making it. So I want to get it as close to that vision in your head as possible. And you did, you crushed it. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01So you got the letters for for both my wife and daughter on the screen. Is this gonna be on one side? This can be wherever you want it. Okay.
SPEAKER_02So how about for this? You can toss this on a divot tool? I think this would be great on uh a divot tool, one side of each. So let me uh let me show you a couple things we got here.
SPEAKER_01So and talk about the divot tools, because I I've seen the I've seen what Derek has shown me that he has. Um how how would you for the listeners, how do you describe them without just showing the image of it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so everything I work with is brass or stainless steel for the most part. Um, those are the two materials that I can do the most with. So uh sorry, we went vertical again. Um so on there we can do uh I can do a lot of stuff with it. So I can torch it to get it like a uh a rainbow patina on the stainless steel here. Or on the um brass ones, we can do a dark patina, you know, kind of like a rustic look. Okay. So it's it's fun because I get to play with fire, which is always fun. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01We love playing with boys, boys love playing with fire.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and uh one of the things that uh I didn't realize once I started this up, but uh kind of along the way it progressed, you know, like we talked about, is just tinkering with different things and figuring out, you know, what does what and what can I do with you know the limited materials that I have, you know, which has been a lot of fun, you know. So yeah. Um I think this is gonna look good on the dimet tool here. Uh I said I got a nice long spot to work with, so on both sides, initials, and come out pretty good. Awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that is so that's a how do you describe that actual dimmit tool? Because it's not one that like pops open, it's not spring loaded, it is a fixed divot tool, I guess. Yeah, prong. Okay. Single prong. Okay. So yeah. Yeah, that'll look great. That will look so good. All right. Cool. We're gonna do a ball marker too, or yeah. Can you do a ball marker with the off-the-deck logo?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Absolutely. I think you stand up again here. I know I'm probably killing you on this podcast with the uh the moving the camera thing here.
SPEAKER_01We'll just we'll put a disclaimer before the YouTube video that if anyone watches it, you should consume a beverage beforehand.
SPEAKER_02Oh all right. Let me uh let me grab your logo real quick here. Sorry, you know, I think it's because it's upside down. There we go. We're back.
SPEAKER_01I think we're upside down now. It looks upside down on my end, but that's fine.
SPEAKER_02We'll get there. Like I said, we don't uh we don't do this very often. We're not per. This is awesome. This is so cool. All right. Let's see. I'm gonna grab your logo here and grab it and pull it into the software.
SPEAKER_01While you're doing that, how did how did you meet Derek Langson? Did you did y'all meet through Gimme or elsewhere?
SPEAKER_02No, we've known each other since before Gimme. Um we randomly met, I think, at softball, hit mutual friends, um, and linked up one time and just became buddies and you know, golfed ever since. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01That guy is a vibe. I mean, I he is, isn't he? I don't know how anybody could have a bad experience hanging out with Derek Langson. Um, yeah, shout out to advisor and vibes. Uh, I mean, he is I'd never met him until we did this podcast, and then just he showed up at Landman and it was like we were going 100 miles an hour the entire trip, which was fantastic. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You're right. It's almost impossible to have a bad time with Derek here. Um trust me, I've tried on the golf course, had some bad days, and I've tried to have a bad time with him. He's uh he doesn't let you, he won't let you do it. You know, it's it's just not something that he's gonna let you do. So I now appreciate that because I definitely need that out there sometimes.
SPEAKER_01Where does the name SB Golf come from?
SPEAKER_02Okay, so that's a little bit of a story itself here. So again, when I started this, it was kind of starting it on a whim. Um, once I got the idea in my head, I knew I wanted to do this. But again, the name's a big thing, and I didn't have any ideas. No ideas. So um it was during the height of COVID. Um, before when my kid was real small, he was like, you know, three, four years old. He's playing at home a lot of the times while I'm working, or he's over at my my parents' house and my dad's working there, you know. So he sees us working from home all the time, and he'll he'll be playing by himself. And he decided, you know, he had to start his own little business over there, and he named it Silly Bananas. So basically, I stole the naming rights from him.
SPEAKER_01That is so great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So your logo is a banana, so I've wondered where that came from. And I was like, well, that's it has nothing to do with your initials. Like, where does SB Golf come from? That is one of the best naming stories I think I've ever heard.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate it. I know it's it's one of those stories that I need to uh to get up on the website here once I get the uh get it edited and and you know adjusted a little bit. It's kind of a work in progress doing that over time because I much more enjoy doing this stuff than working on the website. So right, right, right. Yeah. Uh but yeah, it's it's one of those I need to put it on there, um, you know, about us type of deal. So it's fun. He helps me down here all the time. He'll he'll grab stuff and bring it over to me, you know. So he loves doing it too. That's awesome. That's awesome. Silly bananas. Alright, so I got your logo imported in here.
SPEAKER_01And what what part of this process takes you the most time?
SPEAKER_02So the cutting is the thing that takes the most time. Um, the actual laser cutting. Uh, because what I do is the laser machine, a lot of the times we see on like water bottles and stuff, how it kind of like etches, you know, yeah um to something on the surface of it. It goes by layers, and so everything I cut is in layers. So I have to cut about a hundred layers deep on any given ball marker to be able to paint fill it.
SPEAKER_01And you said a hundred depth? A hundred, yeah. Okay. That that well, that kind of answers a follow-up question because I was curious how many passes, like of the big gulp one that I've got here, uh that you did, that turned out so great, which might I don't know if my light will pick it up, but I was wondering how many passes you had to do of that laser in order to, like you said, get the depth to actually fill it. So a hundred passes. How many and how many can you do at one time? Uh I usually only do one. So even if it's the same design, you can only do one at a time. Okay. I could do more, but I only like doing one at a time. Okay.
SPEAKER_02We lost your neck. Oh sorry about that. I had a call com and cut me off here. Um sorry, were we? Uh so you only like to do one at a time. Oh yeah, I only like to do one at a time just because a lot of the time it's the the centering on it. I want to make sure everything's centered correctly. So whenever the laser is cutting, I want to be cutting from straight down versus cutting if I have you know eight of them laid out on the surface, it's going to be cutting from different angles. Oh. And I want to make sure that everything is exactly the same.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Which the uniformity of what I ordered from you again, that was 16 ball marks, eight of which were identical. Um, it was it was tremendous. I mean, you could couldn't tell any any two of them apart unless they were the different teams.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I try to make them as close as possible here on that, you know. Just uh I know it's always gonna be a little bit off because, especially with like the peak the patine on everything, you know, it's not gonna be the same. But uh getting as close to the same as possible is kind of the goal here.
SPEAKER_01Okay. See, I I was expecting continue to say that the paint filling is what takes the most time because that feels super tedious. Uh yeah it can.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Definitely the most time that I put into it. Right. Um aside from it actually cutting. It's definitely the longest stage. Yeah. Definitely tedious. Yeah. All right. Well I got it here. So next thing. You want to pick out what ball marker you want? Yeah. Yeah. What are the options? Actually, you know what?
SPEAKER_01I got a couple new ones for you. Oh, okay. Hold on. For the listeners, Nick sent me imagery of I think 12 different styles of ball marker to choose from, some of which had like rough edges, some that were um round, some that were other shapes that are escaping me at the moment. But there was almost like overwhelming of how many options that I had to pick from when we were choosing this ball marker.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I definitely uh it can definitely get overwhelming because like I said whenever somebody starts the process here and you know they have their idea, they want to put this on a ball marker but they don't know I'm going to ask 20 follow-up questions about what ball marker you want, how you want it patina, you know, um all this other stuff. So what do you got here? I got a couple new ones that are fairly similar to what you've seen, you know, brass, but they're thick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really thick. I think real thick ones would be a thinner one. Got it. And I if I can can I pick the color or the paint fill of you absolutely can. Yeah because I think like silver with a navy off the deck filled in would be pretty thick.
SPEAKER_02You got it you want the uh edges or do you want wraps?
SPEAKER_01Uh so the edges are what it was that just like not tapered on here. Um kind of like beveled yeah it's kind of like got that uh yeah let's go with that one like flat cut yeah like that perfect what jerseys do I see in the background that you have hanging up the Tony Twist and there's a Jeremy Roanick over there if you can see it.
SPEAKER_02Okay yeah um it's a Coors jersey not a blackhaw jersey I would like that to be well documented I was about to well documented that that is a Coors light jersey and not a black box jersey hanging in my house.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Alright got you here the thin one nice just you can see the difference of them oh wow yeah so so the thin version of your that that you offer is that two times the size of the thin one? Yeah okay yeah that looks substantial I'm not I I prefer not to put a manhole cover down on the green.
SPEAKER_02For sure yeah you know I get it yeah you like to be nice to your playing partners yes yeah uh do you want me to hit it with some fire and patina it yeah yeah absolutely so do you do this before cutting it uh I do it after. Okay. So I'll cut it like this and then afterwards I'll hit it with the fire and patina it so give it a little bit of a rainbow effect.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah. That sounds incredible. Let's do it. Uh let's go silver also got it. So they match.
SPEAKER_02Do you want me to match them or do you want me to do them different with patina? So it's the same thing, but I can do it two different colors. What you tell me what you think looks best. I'll do two so you can see two different ones. Okay. So it's it's kind of neat because it depending on how long I heat it up it'll come out with different colors at the end.
SPEAKER_01Really? Man is that is that is there a solution you have to put the metal in to cause that or is it just tell me how that works. Yeah I quench it in oil.
SPEAKER_02So I heat it up with a torch here and then I will just dip it in some oil to give it a little bit of color and it'll come out you know depending on how hot it is what what color it is. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah that's yeah I'm let's do it this sounds this is a good deal I'm sure the listeners are like well this is a dumb episode because Josh is just picking out what he wants for his tool. But it's it's just a shopping episode. Yeah right yeah but the process and everything that you do before it even goes into the lasering machine and that's I I mean I've wanted to chat with you since I experienced purchasing from you anyway um because this is part of the reason this show exists is I love showcasing people who have some side hustle or do something and and it's because of golf and it I think it's really cool that you bought the machine and you're like yeah because I want to make golf accessories. So yeah I'm incredibly lucky that uh I get to be the recipient of uh two pieces that you've made well live on the podcast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah no I'm happy to do it like I said it's uh I it's the best way to showcase kind of what I do and what it is you know it's uh you design it and I'll make it type of deal.
SPEAKER_01So yeah easiest way. So are you gonna start putting something in the laser now or are we still a few steps away from that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah if you want me to um I can definitely do that. So if you look I'll flip it back around here so you can see but I got the logo in here. Perfect.
SPEAKER_01Sorry probably not looking very good there we can see we can see it great yeah we can see it great JCD with my wife Jacqueline Christine Decker and then my daughter Whitaker Elsie Decker um which I can't that is gonna be so cool to have on a Divot tool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah so actually here you know what this is going to be a cool idea here let me fire it up once it connects so we're gonna go Divot tool first here and when you say fire it up and once it connects you're talking about connecting to the actual laser connecting the actual laser machine yep so and then once it fires up here I'll be able to focus it and get a image of what we're seeing. Does it require does the laser require any kind of maintenance? Uh yeah yeah so uh as you saw I kind of do this from my basement not probably the best place to have this where you're playing with fire and everything else but um yeah I got a I have a filter on it so it filters out all the the cutout or the uh the dust from the machine here from you know the uh the material that we're working with. So it's uh filters and a lot of other like small things like steel wool and other little accessories but yeah the the machine maintenance is probably the uh the biggest part of it.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And so for the listeners he he's turned on the laser and it connected and then the table where either the divot tool or the ball marker sits is now showing as an image on his screen. So he's placed the divot tool underneath the letters that were typed on the screen and Nick correct me if I'm wrong here but wherever you place that once you hit I'm gonna just jokingly say the red button and fire it that's gonna cut right there. Is that correct? You got it that's so you don't have to like you don't have to hold it down or position it or or fasten it to that table at all? Nope. Wow okay I might have to put a laser on my Christmas list.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah. So once you get it all centered and on there it's you know it's it's pretty non-intrusive you know it's it's a laser cutting it so it's not like it's really pushing too much on it or gonna move it really. So yeah it's kind of just set it and go. Okay. Alright sorry I gotta get it focused here. So the biggest thing about uh making sure everything cuts at depth here you know so we can do paint fill is getting this thing focused. Um because obviously the digit tool and the ball marker are all gonna be like different heights from the late point of the laser. So whenever it focuses down you have to make sure it's focused correctly so it cuts uh precisely not blurry.
SPEAKER_01So I know I nerdy I didn't know that it was possible for a laser to cut blurry but it makes complete sense now how how you just described it. And so this pronged divot tool that he's cutting for me has two flat sides and so one of those flat sides is going to have my wife's initials and the other flat side is going to have my daughter's initials. Yep so this one's ready to fire here if you're ready for it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah so um I did the size look good you want it a little bit smaller here letters more spread out uh you can go a little bit smaller yeah that's perfect love it's yeah all right so next thing we'll do is frame it's like I said I like to make sure everything is exactly in line here so hit a little framing button and then take you on the journey with me. Sorry I hit the button comes over here and you can see the actual laser machine he's got the cutting surface there so I just want to make sure that it's lined up with both sides and right in the middle there.
SPEAKER_01Shut the cage start now comes the big red button set it screen oh wow and you can see it and how long will it take to do a hundred passes on that design? On this specific one it is gonna take 12 minutes and three seconds. Okay and that's for all three letters that's for all three wow yep okay man that's awesome I'm I cannot wait to get these in my hand like this this is gonna be one of the coolest things I've ever gotten thank you for doing this this is this is of course no appreciate you have me on here no no appreciate you having me on here this is a thumbnail um well let's talk a little bit about you like you St. Louis while these while that's back there cutting yeah um and I and I want to of course respect your time I know kids and all that um you've got better things to do than being blocked off just for this um so golf game you said right now driver and putting is working out great have you played golf forever or is this something that's new to you? When did you start playing the game?
SPEAKER_02I picked golf up in college um I played hockey all my life you know uh I played hockey at McKenzie University here and one day a buddy on the hockey team called me at like 10 o'clock he's like hey what are you doing I'm like just got down with class he's like you want to go golfing like I've I don't golf like I don't even have clubs.
SPEAKER_01He's like it's an excuse to drink beer at 12 o'clock on a Tuesday right I'm like all right I could I could I could try this you know and hooked just instantly hooked you know um it's hockey golf they kind of go hand in hand now so it's yeah it was just instant I play golf more than I play hockey now so it's it's completely taken over yeah so I had my cousin on the show early on once once we began the podcast he lives down in Jacksonville Florida and that's how he started playing also was a beer league hockey team like he play he was playing hockey and they're like no let's come play golf with us and apparently professional hockey players are some sticks like they can play golf and I I I mean I can only imagine that like as good as their eye hand coordination is with a puck that's going 80 miles an hour imagine if they get to hit something that's stationary like you would think so you would think so but not the case for you no it's tough that's tough it was tough so what uh are you are you playing weekly monthly I mean obviously with everything with Gimme you've got uh like the indoor simulator stuff you can go enjoy what's what's your go-to track around St.
SPEAKER_02Louis uh well that's kind of why I'm a part of Gimme's because I don't have a go-to track I like going I like variety I love having uh disposal of courses around we're kind of spoiled here I don't know if Derek told you anything about you know the St. Louis area but we're pretty spoiled when it comes to golf you know we got a ton of golf courses around a ton of public golf courses around here especially on the Illinois side and it's we got some really nice ones some hidden gems and then we also have you know if you want to play cheap golf we have some I want to call them goat tracks because they're kind of hidden gym esque but they're we have a ton and it's it's just super nice. We're spoiled here. So that's the whole reason I don't remember a gimme is because I like variety I like to be able to play all over the place. I can't imagine just playing one one course over and over again you know so uh variety's the spice of life same with golf yeah yeah yeah uh has your son started playing yet a little bit he likes to just try and swing as hard as he can and uh and hit the ball so he's getting there okay it's one of those things he's he's kind of got no choice he's gonna he's gonna be into it you know so it's a matter of not forcing him too much early on so so how old is how old is he now? He just turned seven okay just turned seven now is he old enough to comprehend that you stole his business name I don't think he's fully grasped it yet okay um I think once he gets older he's really gonna you know hammer me for it but uh you know at this point I think it's just he thinks it's pretty cool that you know he came up with this and and now it's a real thing.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. Yeah. So so when whenever someone finishes like that one's cutting and you said it'd take like 12 minutes what tell me the process is it do you have to let it rest or once the laser's done cutting you can tell you can just flip it over and cut the other side and then your paint filling? Yeah I'll flip it over cut the other side immediately. Wow okay yeah and then I'm just gonna let you know the colors to paint fill and you're well I guess you gotta you'll burn it first, right? Yep, I'll burn it then I'll paint fill it. Okay. Yep. And what is if somebody is looking to do something like a guy's trip or like I did with Landman what is your typical lead time on a project like that?
SPEAKER_02Depending on how many it is um it's a week to you know two weeks probably okay yeah um so I just so you know like uh one ball marker for guys trip you know both sides design everything just cutting is probably gonna take close to two hours for one ball marker so just the cut time alone is kind of what takes the the lead time out so long.
SPEAKER_01Yeah yeah and if you're doing one at a time so that your laser's centered over it then yeah you gotta replace and replace and replace yeah I'm kind of familiar with with just the the the process of that because my friend who does towels um his machine I think he can do like five towels at a time so if if somebody comes to him and orders 200 towels I can't do the math on how often he has to replace towels but he's having to replace those towels quite a bit once the embroidery's done on a towel then you got to replace I mean so that can be if you've got a big order I can see how that can take a lot of time and it's just the checks and balances I guess that kind of go in every single time to make sure it's exactly where it's supposed to be and and you strike me as someone who's a perfectionist which I very much appreciate especially with what you're constructing here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah I can see how that could take a minute yeah definitely like I said uh everything's gonna be different because it's all hand done you know so there are going to be you know small differences with I think it's kind of neat you know tiny things different within the same design and everything but I strive to get you know the design everything as close on the same uh you know centered everything as possible on on all the pieces that I do so it's the way that looks all uniform.
SPEAKER_01Uh well I'm really excited like I said to get these in my hand like this is this you mentioned this and this is one of the coolest things I think we've done on the show of uh real-time creating a ball marker and Dibot tool especially that are custom um if somebody wants to place an order with you how do they go about finding your is it through your website Instagram what's your preferred method of contact either one um you know I on my website I have like a uh a section there where you can kind of put in your requests all your information upload pictures that sort of thing and then from there like I said it's it's pretty hands-on so it's a lot of back and forth via email once uh once it comes through or via text depending on if it's like Instagram or something like that.
SPEAKER_02So um it's just a lot of back and forth through kind of whatever communication you prefer and it doesn't really bother me one way or the other so awesome.
SPEAKER_01Well let me give you a few quick hitter questions and then we'll get you out of here. Oh yeah. What's your favorite club in the bag right now? Driver. Okay.
SPEAKER_02What driver is it uh I just okay I only got one round so I probably shouldn't say driver because I did just get the quantum so I was playing the elite before it um but got a warranty from Callaway and they sent me the uh quantum thank you Callaway appreciate that only got one round it it had a little accident on a little crackage um not quite sure where it came from just kind of showed up one day um so don't know what the culprit was maybe club in the bag hitting it or something yeah um not quite sure so hey Callaway they're fantastic they're warranty sent the driver beforehand so I was never without a driver which is nice so yeah but driver sorry that was not a quick hitter that was a slow hitter. Yeah no that's fine if you could put together a dream for some dead or alive who would it be oh no um nobody in my family golfs okay so I I I don't have to I don't have to worry about going you know family and that sort of thing you want to you don't offend anybody anybody else I need a sick force I'm going here I mean let's let's take the goat tiger okay gotta take the goat um let me get uh let me get Ricky okay Ricky's always been my guy since I started I had some amp irons with like the first irons I ever ordered when I got into golfing college you know orange grips on them big Ricky guy let me get Ricky and MJ Michael Jordan oh god that yeah just if you could just watch Tiger and and MJ and betting the gambling that would go on the entire reason yeah I think that would be phenomenal. Now I kind of want to get Ricky out of there and get somebody else in there that's gonna be uh spicing things up too uh what's your favorite course uh around you there in the St. Louis area Greenbrier Country Club which I get to play this Monday in the tournament uh get to play there about once a year in a tournament and it's coming up so it's my favorite track. Spun it the first time didn't really think too much of it like oh wow nice country club next year played the same tournament and I'm like whoa how did I not fall in love with this the first time so yeah that's been my uh my favorite one since I played it that's awesome that's that's really cool.
SPEAKER_01Nick this has been uh a lot of fun I've I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing your process from end to end. I mean this is uh pretty unique for a podcast for someone to create something uh live on the show so thanks for doing that man this has been really really cool of course man happy to do it like I said we got uh a minute and forty nine seconds until this side's done here so okay you got a minute and forty five seconds yeah we can yeah we can look at wait a minute and forty five seconds yeah I'll pull off there and show you what the uh the one side looks here so okay okay so I guess I need to figure out the paint fill what I guess you have every color on the rainbow yes what do you want um uh let's see yeah my wife would probably choose green that would be her favorite color but I don't know that I want to do my their favorite colors I might want to do my favorite colors I might I might go I'm an Auburn graduate so I might go orange and blue.
SPEAKER_02Okay orange and blue is gonna look real good with the patina on it too. Okay perfect yeah then let's yeah let's do orange and blue where's all my paper at SB Golf Coast sticker it works like paper oh just to write down what I want on it yeah yeah all right and then we can do the same on the on the ball mark too since you said the patina's gonna look so good with it we can absolutely we can so ooh changing up the color on the uh on the logo yeah let's do it I'm all I'm yeah I'm all for variety what did you say variety is not for life exactly it said it's it's same with golf you know course is everything it's everything right uh you did say orange and black right orange and blue blue blue yeah I'm like Arburn's blue yeah orange and blue that's why we check we'll match the Arburn blue too I like to mix paint too okay and yeah what are you thinking like a darker blue then would be our color yeah I like it.
SPEAKER_01Alright so that's not walking back over the laser wow that's so cool so yeah so he's just in a matter of 12 minutes has laser etched JCD into the side of that divot tool that he can paint fill for me.
SPEAKER_02Man that's awesome that is awesome it's fun like you said I I love doing this and it's it's just been a ton of fun since I started I tell everybody I have so much fun doing this like yeah it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah your your joy is contagious I can tell that you you feel exactly how you just described like it's you're not there's no lies being told there like you're having an absolute blast doing it and that's that's a lot of fun to see it sure is it sure is Nick thank you again for take for taking time to come on the show I can't wait to see the the spall mark in this Divit tool um that it's very kind of you to to do that live on the air um so thanks. Absolutely man happy for having me or happy for having me happy to do it thanks for having me for Nick Rolla I'm Josh Decker and this has been another episode of Off the Deck
