The Hole Story - Golf Podcast

The Story of SNYDER Golf with Tino Dietrich

• BestBall • Season 4 • Episode 32

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0:00 | 49:17

What goes into creating a golf ball that can compete with the biggest names in the game?

In this episode, we sit down with Tino Dietrich of SNYDER Golf Balls to hear the story behind one of the fastest-growing brands in golf. Tino shares how SNYDER Golf was founded, what sets their golf balls apart in a crowded marketplace, and why more golfers are making the switch.

We dive into the technology, performance, and testing behind the SNYDER lineup, discuss the challenges of building a golf equipment brand, and explore what the future holds for the company. Whether you're a gear junkie, a competitive player, or simply curious about the business side of golf, this conversation offers a fascinating look inside the world of golf ball manufacturing.

Tune in to learn more about SNYDER Golf Balls, the passion driving the brand, and why finding the right golf ball might have a bigger impact on your game than you think.

Follow, share, and subscribe for more golf stories, insights, and conversations from across the game.

https://snydergolfusa.com/

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*Music by AlexGrohl via Pixabay

SPEAKER_00

Yes, there is a wall full of balls. There's just very few good ones out there. And again, a golf ball looks like a golf ball, doesn't necessarily is a golf ball.

SPEAKER_02

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Whole Story Podcast. Robbie and Jonathan here. Jonathan, for those that can't see, Jonathan is in masters mode. He's got his pink Augusta Green Jackets. I do a pink and green Augusta Green Jackets hat on with the Azalea logo. It's looking uh it's looking like you're ready to walk out on the course.

SPEAKER_01

I am fortunate enough this year that I've got two Monday badges coming my way. And I've already decided a long time ago that this was going to be my Monday at the Masters hat. I thought about getting something that says local, but this screams local, but only for those who know. It was a short little thing from our minor league baseball team. And it's a great hat. Like it's I mean, this is just a cool looking hat. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And for those interested andor concerned, he said two tickets, and Robbie is not the recipient of the other one.

SPEAKER_01

I've got I've got kids that have never been. So we're we're uh we're rotating through some children who are gonna have their first master's experience. Yeah. I hope they appreciate it. Unless they tick me off. Years from now, years from now, they'll be like, Right, I got to go then. Unless it's they've got two weeks to make me upset, and then Robbie could be the villain for the afternoon.

SPEAKER_02

Man, that's funny. That's funny. Well, today we had the privilege of talking with Tino Dietrich, head uh the CEO and founder of Snyder Golf USA. He brought incredible German engineering and the golf ball to the US for golfers like us and you out there to uh to check out. They're doing some uh some really cool things in the golf ball space. Jonathan, what did you think about our our conversation with Tina?

SPEAKER_01

I thought one of the funniest things was the fact that Schneider actually means Taylor, but apparently that one is already used in the golf world. So they had to just made by Taylor Golf, yes. Right. They had to go to an Americanized version of Schneider. Uh so yeah, I I you know I am 100% the guy on the show that knows nothing about golf, um, including how things are made and what that means. And so being able to talk about like why it's important to have a golf ball that fits you, what goes on inside of that golf ball, and how it may, may, because I still have a pretty bad swing, it may help my golf game. So anything that helps me get a little bit closer to not being angry every single time I hit a golf ball, that sounds that sounds fantastic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it uh is a good chat. It's cool to hear just the history of companies, and we talk to a lot of companies and hear their origin stories. Um, so it's really cool to hear somebody like Tino describe what happened long ago and then kind of the how he's taken that and bringing it to a whole new market and saying, hey, here's something really good that you folks in America should check out. So uh great conversation with Tino talking about Snyder Golf. Go to Snydergolf USA.com and it's S-N-Y-D-E-R. Um, and you can learn all about it. They'll have links in the show notes, but they're doing some cool things there, so be sure to check that out after you listen to this episode. Uh I will also say we are trying to continue to grow this thing to help tell more stories about places and companies like Snyder Golf. So do like and subscribe on whatever podcast platform or YouTube that you are on, because that that helps. So all of them. What's that?

SPEAKER_01

Just go to all of them. Go to all of them.

SPEAKER_02

That finds two. That's just true. Don't just pick one. Right. Go do them all for sure. Do it all for sure. Jonathan, we are rocking some zero restriction outer wear. I've got a Beadratdy hoodie or uh golf shirt on. Right. Um, yeah, looking uh looking good and our our stuff from Summit Golf Brands.

SPEAKER_01

These light zero restrictions are my go-to like daily wear. They're super thin, so even if it's 70, 80 degrees in the spring, you're not too hot, but you throw on a t-shirt or something underneath in the winter. Let's be honest, I'm not going outside in the winter. So it's it works out really well there, too. So I love them, fit great. Uh I wish I had 18 of them in different colors. I don't think they made 18 colors, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you're colorblind, so they can just tell you that. And then that's true.

SPEAKER_01

They're all just black.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, for real. Uh, but no, we appreciate working with those guys. If you go to any of the websites, B Drady, Zero Restriction, Fairway, and Green, you can use Best Ball 20 and save 20% off some great stuff there. So, yeah, let's uh let's get to our chat talking about Snyder golf balls with Tino Dietrich. Y'all enjoy. So today we are joined by Tino Dietrich with Snyder Golf. Tino, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. Good morning. Good morning. Well, you you mentioned you are in Miami now, but uh that's not a Miami accent. So you uh obviously from Germany originally?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I'm from uh the northern part of Germany, Hamburg is my home.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, very nice. Let's uh let we always, you know, we we'll get to the Snyder golf thing. We love hearing about the cool things that people are doing in the game, but we like hearing stories about people, and we want to hear your story. Like, when did you get involved with golf? When did you start playing? How much time do we have?

SPEAKER_00

As long as you need. I'm trying to come up with the short the elevator pitch version of it. So I used to play uh field hockey. I know it's not that super popular in in in the states, but um, I was uh competitive and then I switched schools uh when I was like 16. Um and uh I used to also play golf, but when I switched schools, uh I went to the southern part of Germany and there was no hockey. So I kind of thought, what else can I do? I wasn't good at tennis or basketball or anything or even soccer, even though that's super popular. So I focused on golf. And um what happened is uh there were all these competitions and and kids were traveling around school competition and this and that, but not so much in golf. And again, we're talking like 40 years ago, believe it or not. Um, and and so I had that crazy idea and I said, let's let's do this, let's start a school competition. So that's what I started. I had to find a sponsor, so I called the companies that were involved in in sponsoring golf, in this case, Audi. And I think I called that guy like 20 times a day. It was, you know, no mobile phones 40 years ago, no email. So I turned the the uh uh local post office into my office and I bribed the the the the the woman that worked there with chocolate to take calls for me and write down notes. And and um believe it or not, at a certain point, um um you know they they accepted and they said what whatever it is you want from us, just stop calling and uh we do it. And uh that's how the Audi Cup was uh born. And today that is the German amateur championship because at that time there was no amateur championship, there was nothing in golf. So what happened is uh about two years later I received a season assist letter from the German Golf Association, DGV, and they said, Look, uh it's great what you're doing, but you can't do that, you know, because amateur and professional, and you know, you gotta follow regulations. It's kind of the PGA of Germany, right? So and I I was 16, I was like, okay, tough luck. And uh, you know, I they were like, We can sue you or you can uh hand it over. And I was like, let me think about it. Okay. So and yeah, and today that's the that's the amateur championships in in Germany. And I mean, you know, life, Snyder is actually the official golf ball of the German Golf Association. Hey. And even the people that you know, the woman that uh worked at the DGB today, her son is actually heading the the youth department and the DGV. So you know how it is.

SPEAKER_02

Jokes on them, you get your uh your payback with the official sponsorship.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I know. Did you uh did you hire the lady from the post office to be your executive assistant? No, I think she was about to retire.

SPEAKER_02

She was pretty old.

SPEAKER_00

She lost the chocolate though.

SPEAKER_02

Her last name was Schneider, though. It's weird.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Well, it was, I mean, wild, wild days, right?

SPEAKER_02

All right, so you started amateur golf competitions and obviously love playing golf. How did how did Schneider golf balls come about then? Where did that idea come from?

SPEAKER_00

What's the origin story there? Yeah, so the founder, uh founder's name is uh Schneider, which really translates into Taylor, but I guess Taylor was taken already, so they didn't want another letter made by a Taylor, maybe.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You know, but but uh they came up with Schneider as an internationalized uh version of Schneider. But what happened is in Germany, if you want to play golf, which was, you know, even 40 years ago, you have to be a member of the German Golf Association. I mean, there are other ways to do it, but I would say people who play golf in Germany, probably 90% or 85% are a member of the German Golf Association. So you're registered and and you have your handicap and so on and so forth. And uh you get a card which just looks like a credit card, but you can also upload it digitalized in in in your wallet. And um there's the the Snyder Bowls on every card, um, because of being the official ball. So I what happened is in you know, life kicks in, you stop playing golf. I used to be in in uh UC at Syracuse. Uh I was on on the golf team there. Um, and uh, but but you know, you know, then you get busy. So I stopped playing, and then in COVID, I got very, very, very sick, and I ended up in the ICU and I barely made it out there, but I had to. Um, I was like way overweight, and the doctors told me, hey, you gotta lose some weight. And I lost uh 90 pounds, which um, you know, they didn't tell me to lose 90 pounds, they told me like, hey, lose like 10 or 20. Um, and I went fully in like, okay, let's do this right. So, but one one thing uh because I couldn't really walk long and this and that, so I you know, golf, and that was COVID. I mean, you couldn't do a lot of things anyway, right? So golf was one of the very few things, like so many people, it got you know, I got back into golf. So, but one thing that really, you know, being in golf for so long, and and then I had this pause, and I bought, you know, new clubs and obviously some balls, and I was like, man, that really is expensive. So I thought, like everybody else, I'm super smart, so I bought the super mint and the triple mint conditioned uh lake balls and so on and so forth, but you know, for what it was, you know, still expensive. And then uh I was in Germany for for treatment and I received a promotion email from from the golf association, and there was Snyder golf balls. And I said, you know what, let's try them. You know, I I've tried pretty much everybody out there, Vice and Encore and blah, blah, blah. You know, so I tried these balls and I was like, man, those balls are really cool. So I ordered more to take them home in my suitcase, but you know, suitcase got a little heavy, you know. I uh so I ordered when I got back, I ordered more, and the package didn't arrive, so I called the company and I was like, hey, you lost my package. And and the guy who picked up was like, you know what? I'm in the warehouse. I cannot help you, I'm just the owner, but um, I'll find someone. And I said, Well, since I have you on the phone, and we started talking for like, I don't know, an hour and a half, you know, him in the warehouse and me on the phone in the car. And um, I said, Man, you know, I can't get them in the US and so on and so forth. So I flew back, I finally got the package, flew back and had this idea. And I said, Why not? You know, this these are so good. Americans need these balls. I mean, I did it for myself to be super selfish. I thought, I need these balls, but it doesn't make sense to start a company just for yourself. You know, it's like I'm I'm not the president, but I'm also the client, right? And that old ad, if you remember, maybe. Yeah. So yeah, that was me. So this is how it all started, you know, the DGV and me and this and that. So it's a funny story. And he started it with his kids, and I started it with my son here in in the US. So it's a father-son story.

SPEAKER_02

So there's a just a big story for you to get golf balls, really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I mean, and I still need them, you know. I'm always happy.

SPEAKER_01

We've tried to convince our wives that we need golf balls, but they've never said, okay, let's start a golf ball company. So, what made you decide to jump into that big lake? Because it's not like you can't go to a store and find an entire wall ball, a wall of balls. And to be honest, I have no idea which one I'm supposed to grab other than the one that's on sale, right? Like normally and probably not yellow, but that's just because I'm colorblind. So like what not on purpose. Yeah, not on purpose. I just can't find it if it's there in green grass. So what made you decide to take that leap? Because that's not an easy, easy place to be, an easy space to be in.

SPEAKER_00

Not at all. Here is what I see. I take myself and um maybe the people that I spoke to. I think everybody, as I mentioned before, you know, I did it too. Um, you buy the lake balls, the use balls, but really, and I didn't know that either until I really start to look into it. You shouldn't play a use ball. It's a random object. You can take a walnut if you want to, right? It's the same kind of idea. It's a random object. You can take a stone for that purpose, you know. Lake balls, after just a few hours, balls take on water, you know. So they're gone. You know, it's like that. There's no pull out the paddles and do a reanimation, you know, stand back, no, it's not gonna happen. Ball is gone, you know, those are out of the equation. And yes, I agree with you. Then people go and buy whatever is on sale, but just because a golf ball is looks very much similar from the outside, there's a lot going on in the inside. And you wouldn't do that with a tennis ball. Or I often say if you buy a nice car, you wouldn't just go and buy used tires, or you have a summer and you buy winter tires or winter and summer tires, you know how that could end up. And uh, there are a few areas where I say used is just not a good idea. You know, I always say, go on a shooting range, you know, somebody hands you a used uh bullet, you're like, nah, thanks, you know, a used toothbrush, you know, nah, thanks, used golf balls. It's much pretty much the same idea. So that part, but that part is big business. And it's just because people are not educated. So, but if you start to educate yourself and you say, don't do that, don't pick up a ball that you found there in the woods, you know. So that's one part of the equation. The other part is that you have all these premium brands, and yes, there is a wall full of balls. There's just very few good ones out there. And again, a golf ball looks like a golf ball, doesn't necessarily is a golf ball. Some of them are really bad, bad, bad. You know, you shouldn't play them. And in addition, your game is different than mine, it's different than, you know, Tom Dick and Harry's. So educate yourself, understand if your swing speed, you know, people like Titus Pro V1, because Scotty plays it, and I'm like, well, first, you're not Scotty. Second, he's not gonna go into a PGA superstore and grab a dozen of, hey, I gotta play the Masters in an hour. Give me just a dozen of those titles. And but people are like, hmm, really? Like, yeah. You know, basketball, those guys who run around in in whatever shoe they have, that's not the shoe they bought at FootJi or Foot Locker or whatever it is that you know you buy your shoes at. You know, and and and once you start thinking about all that, it all starts to make sense. And I understand that everybody says that, but we really have nice balls. We really have nice balls. And I think the price that we are offering them at is highly competitive. So if I can provide a solution to a real problem, because people buy, you know, the $600 putter, the magic driver, then they take lessons, then they do that, and then they screw it all up for a dollar fifty on a golf ball, I don't get it. I don't get it. And then you're like, oh, but my pro recommends well, your pro is on the payroll of you know, XYZ. So of course he recommends that, you know. And I went to so many ball fittings, the guy is so bored, he's not even looking at at the stats and yeah, you should play the XYZ. And I'm like, why? Well, it's a good ball, it fits you. I'm like, why? Well, it just fits you, and I was like, duh.

SPEAKER_01

Well so provide some education on that side. So obviously, again, you can see a whole wall of balls. I think there's 8,000 websites where you can do a ball fitting, but talk through what it means because it sounds like clear there's there's something structurally different based on your golf game that fits. So since there is an inside, if you cut a ball in half, which I'd just I'd cut off my finger if I tried to do that. So yeah. If you cut a ball in half, and let's say there's the I you know, I have a swing speed that's typically over a hundred miles an hour, someone else that's you know 60, 70 years old might be 85 miles an hour. What's the inside of that ball difference look like and why is that important?

SPEAKER_00

So the best way to describe it is you take a tennis ball and a record ball, right? And you squeeze both. There is a difference, right? The the tennis ball is more squishy, and that that's the compression. That's number one. How hard is a ball, how soft is a ball? Just to go from the very basics. There's a lot that goes into a golf ball, believe it or not. The material, the dimples, you name it, you know, the spin rate. But let's stick to compression for a second. When you hit that ball and you refer to swing speed, there's an energy transfer happening between you or your club and the ball. Now, if your swing speed is not very high and you hit a hard ball, the energy has not such a good chance to transfer from your club into the ball, which means you don't control the ball, which means also anything that you do is not as forgiving, right? And a good way to look at this too is you take a hardball and a softball and you drop them on a floor, and you see how a heartball doesn't bounce as high as the softball. Why? Because of the energy transfer, right? So, and people see that in putting because putting is a great example where your swing speed probably is like Scotty Shaffler's, right? You may not be as accurate, although I think he's not such a great putter, but whoever is a great putter out there, you just take them, you know. So, but that all makes it all people go like, uh-huh. I never thought about that. No, I I didn't either. But that explains what I just told you. So lower swing speed, softer ball, better energy transfer. And what happens was our balls, you talked about cut them open. We show them, we we we have them on the website cut open because our process, our what's called the German design standard, really makes sure that every ball is highly, highly, highly top quality in terms of how that whole inside looks like. Because the energy transfers from the outside into the core where it is stored. And if it doesn't transfer, you know, straight into the ball, what happened is the energy goes into some corner of the ball, and then you think you shanked it, but maybe it's just the ball that just took the energy you transferred into the ball in a wrong way, which is a lake ball as an example. Because the humidity destroys the inside. You can also shank it and then it shangs. Shangs it's like a torbo shank.

SPEAKER_02

It took the energy from the hazel and put it into the golf ball.

SPEAKER_00

But you get my point, you know, the fade, the hook, and this and that. And you know, a good player who wants to really make sure that you can manipulate your shot in terms of spin, in terms of make it stop on the green. But if you don't have that energy transfer as optimized as possible for your game, you don't get nothing done, period.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you mentioned the German design standard. So how has I mean, everybody when we think of something that's German made, you think of like the BMWs. And just incredible machines. Exactly. And Schneider goes I owe them that. Yeah. But but you think of like really high standards, really great made. So how have y'all taken those things and put it into something I'd say simple, like a golf ball? Like, what are y'all doing that's different than others that are making golf balls?

SPEAKER_00

You see, first of all, of course a golf ball can be simple, but the more complex ones, we're one of the very few companies that have, believe it or not, two five-piece balls. And I always say those two five-piece balls are like a Ducati, you know, or like an AMG or like a Porsche Tobo. And if you just started driving, if you're right now on a scooter, you shouldn't just move over to a Ducati. I mean, you can, but you know, don't be surprised if it ends up. Good luck. So yeah. And that explains the five-piece balls we have. It's a highly complex product. You know, layer by layer has to be built in a way that it's done right. And that differentiates the boys from men. And the core in itself, and what people often don't know, is that the whole energy transfer discussion and research was expedited by what happened in sneakers. Because the material you have in sneakers and the whole research in terms of how to make sure that when you run on a road or something and you want to, you know, protect your joints, you know, how to buffer that that that that bounce and whatnot, that really also happened in golf. So a lot of these companies that that do that are involved in the same areas. So a lot of that research spilled over. And we're based in that actually in the not in the northern region. Our headquarters are in the southern region, right next to Stuttgart, which is where Porsche Mercedes is, and so on and so forth. So we the founder, Mr. Schneider, is um, I always say he's a little bit like the guy from Back to the Future, the crazy professor, you know, just not the long hair. But he's as accurate as as you can get. You know, he's very German. Um, and uh he takes pride in his product, you know. And I always say it looks like he polishes every freaking dimple on every golf ball, you know. Like, but I think that is a huge difference because he says, Whatever carries my name, I really want to make sure that it is a hundred percent. He's not even settling for 90. And like if you go and say, hey, you know what, that's he's like, nope, can't do. Can't do you see it in the packaging, you see it in the ball itself, you see it with everything the company does. And he takes pride, you know, because he says people out there, they deserve that. DTC people say, like, oh, it has to be cheap. Well, no, it doesn't. It has to be in a way that whatever you do there, it's best value, high quality, best price, period. And not medium quality, best price, or low price, and you know, and does its job. And I think a good company that you can refer to is uh Harry's, you know, they they also bought a German Blake company for their razor blades.

SPEAKER_02

Very nice. So uh how uh how is the word getting out about Snyder golf balls, right? I know obviously you have uh made a uh huge, I would say, investment because it's your time, it's your livelihood, it's what you do with bringing the word to the US. So what is the strategy of getting the the goodness of Snyder in front of golfers?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I mean, first of all, we we do everything we can to, you know, get the ball into people's hands. So we do you know, we we pay close attention to that. Because um we see a retention rate of over fifty percent in Germany, which means everybody who buys a ball, you know, many of them come back, which in in you know any industry is is very high, which also tells you that the quality is good, period. People really once they found their ball, they stick to it. It's almost like toothpaste, you know, don't there's no reason. And I understand that some people go by price, but to enjoy the game, once you find what works for you, um, you know, people are really once you really find it and you see the difference, you will understand what I'm talking about. So it is essential for us to make sure that people can get their hands on the ball. Um, that's number one. And number two is uh obviously social media and uh anything around you know that angle, call it digital, whatever you want to call it, is what we do. And whatever opportunity we can get to present the ball is what we do. We're looking into we're just a year uh, you know, in the US now with a pretty new company, and um we see phenomenal responses. I mean, uh I think we have like an average four point seven or four point eight star review across the board from Amazon to Shopify.

SPEAKER_01

That's great. Are you in greengrass locations or is that not where you're at right now?

SPEAKER_00

Very interesting. Very, very few. And um the reason is simple. If you put it out there and people are not educated, which goes hand in hand with what I said earlier about, you know, take pride and make sure that people really understand what this is. Because I don't if you have a swing speed of uh 47, you know, you said you have a hundred, but if you have like I don't know, sixty, I don't want you to play our ducati, right? You you're better off with a soft plus. So the people in the stores, they are like, whatever, you know, buy whatever, you know, like you don't want that. So once we figure out the process to really also make sure that people have a more educated experience when it comes to purchasing a ball, I think that's when we push for the next level.

SPEAKER_01

When it overseas, obviously it's been around for a while in Europe, and it's you said it's being used as the official golf ball. Does that transfer over where maybe there's a professional that's coming over that's German that says, I'd really like to use this golf ball instead of Nike or Bridgestone or whatever that might be?

SPEAKER_00

We have a few on the DP world too who play the ball. You see, was people like what tour player plays your ball? And I'm like, it wouldn't really matter because your game is not even, you know, the worst tour player is probably still better than you are. But you know, and then if I ask you, like, uh, who who won TPC? Like, who won TPC? Young. Okay, what ball did he play? People are like, uh a white one, I believe. Yeah, exactly. Good call. You see, so getting involved in that, you really have to pay for marketing dollars that at the end the consumer pays for. You know, that's what people don't understand. And don't get confused. There, we have a lot of people who really like the ball, and we actually develop our balls and our our I call it the Swiss army knife of balls called the Ace. What happened is we had a few people on the DP tour and we have a ball called the Tour. It's super spinny, and you know, they said, Hey, we can play this and we can drill a hole into the green and find oil. And I said, That's great. You know, they can really make it spin. It's crazy. Like however, because of the spinny, you know, then we lose a little distance. So how how about taking the pro X and the Tour and find something in between? And so we send out the Pro X and the Tour on a date night, and you know, here's the ace. That's the baby, so to say.

SPEAKER_02

That's uh a great way to describe it. Jonathan and I have both done the online fitting because we uh you know we're f fascinated by what what something's gonna tell us we need. You know, I uh I'm on an eight eight handicapped Jonathan 15, 16, somewhere in that range right now. And and so yeah, it it it does a good job, I think, of at least kind of narrowing down, hey, here's where you should go. So is that what you're trying to do? Like encourage people to come?

SPEAKER_00

And more and more and more. I think I call it edutainment, right? People don't want to get lectured, they want to have a good experience. I'm not saying that ball fitting is great, but at least it's something. And we also, you know, when you buy a ball and you really don't like it, we send you a sleeve off a different model based on the feedback that you give us. And you ask about what ball should I play? Look, we have scratch golfers, we have uh tour professionals, and I just met with someone from the senior tour, and we had a long discussion because it was someone else from the Conferry tour, and so we were sitting together, and so they ended up playing two different balls, even though they were everybody had a different goal. You know, he's like, I'm looking for this, I want that. So there is no one size fits all. People think that, but maybe you want, which is why we have these two five-piece balls. And my you would say, oh, somebody who plays this well, they should probably play the prox. Believe it or not, those two did not go for the pro X. One went for the ace and one went for the pro. So, you know, because one said, I need this more than that, and I like that feel of the irons better, and then and and and, you know. And it comes also down to putting, which a lot of people underestimate. You know, people go like drive, drive, you know, how far can I hit it? And I say, well, there's one club that you probably need on every hole, which is the putter. So try and putt with the ball too. You know, don't don't look how if you can hit it 280 or 310 or whatever it is that you want to hit, it was your driver. Perfect. But how is the wedge? How's the putter?

SPEAKER_02

Is that the game is is really where you feel it because you know you want to be able to control the ball. But yeah, knowing that your your typical putting stroke and kind of your feel is gonna execute the way you want. I I can really understand that for sure. Jonathan wants to know how it putts from like a hundred yards because it's a good thing. That was my next question, actually.

SPEAKER_01

Is there some sort of feel? Yeah, I've I've eliminated uh my my short game because it's so bad. So I just start putting from bunkers from brains around. I'm more likely to putt from a bunker than anyone you've ever met. I'm a hundred percent gonna putt if I'm within 20 yards and there's not too much in front of me. And I'll be honest, I'll be a little humble breaker. I'm pretty good at it. Like I've got some good I've been I've been I've gotten some up and downs that were pretty impressive from the bunker that no one expected. I'm just a little top spin, and you can get all sorts of things out of a bunker.

SPEAKER_00

Even though I'm not the ball fitting system, you know, and it's not you know, I'm not the mastermind behind it, I probably think you should play a tour or an ace and try those. You probably you probably like those.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. As long as it takes care of the hard slice to the to the woods, I would say it would be it's interesting because but let me just say something, because we have another thing called um stable ball response.

SPEAKER_00

So, what we did, what I talked about earlier, is the way the energy is transferred into the ball and then distributed, because the balls are built the way they are built or designed the way they are designed, it is actually more forgiving if you play the right ball. Now it gets technical in terms of what material is used, and and and and and but that matters a lot, you know, because we were laughing about it, and it does. And you set control around the green. People don't really all they think about is driver and driver, and let me hit a driver and and a driver. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

If you putt with a driver from 50 yards out, it will give you a little bit of bump. It's it's actually a little trick I've got in the bag. You don't really need badges, do you? I'm com I'm committed to putting from everywhere. Yeah. I love it. I will have to say, personally, uh, and this is how I've probably decided this is the right ball, is because I'm a huge Top Gear fan, and I've watched them for uh over for decades now. And the only thing running in the back of my head is why did this work so well? And every single one of them say, Well, it's German, it has to. Don't doubt it. There's an episode in my head of them where they were they had these race cars or whatever, and that James was in an Audi, and the paint was ruined on every single car except for the Audi. And they're like, James, why is your Audi fight? He said, It's German, that's how it's done. Uh, there's something to it, right? There is something to it, 100%.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. Well, tell us we talked about the ball fitting and stuff, but a couple other things that kind of stood out to me. You do academic programs and this thing called co-branded balls. So tell us about what that is like for like companies that wanna want to do advertising and stuff, and I think it's on the ace and the tour ball that basically they can say, hey, it's uh you know, the ABC company ball, or how does that work? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So what happened is in, and I mean, many companies do the logo balls, you know, so like happy birthday, Bob, or whatever, you know. Um, if the name is too long, it might be you have to spread it out to two balds. But um, in all jokes aside, so we we wear the official ball of the uh Porsche Cup. So we did the whole Porsche uh packaging and and and and the balls and everything. And because of our affiliation with the German Golf Association, we did more and more and more. So we we're working with uh insurance companies, banks, but also was golf courses. And what happens is in Germany, a lot of the you know, local savings banks and whatnot, they they put their logo onto vaults to support the purchase. So it's kind of an advertorial, if you want to say so. That's how we really came up with that. What we don't have in Germany, what you have over here, for example, you have universities branding their balls, right? High schools, uh, high school teams, and you know, because uh sports in Germany is not as crazy as it is over. It is crazy too, and it starts to spill over, but the whole environment in Germany is a little different. So, but the idea, the concept is the same. So we work with companies, we did it here with uh charities too, you know, where they find a company, they're looking for a ball, raise awareness, yada yada yup. So, yeah, that's what we do.

SPEAKER_02

Very nice. Well, Jonathan and I have been doing this one thing, and I want to quiz you. Uh, we've been doing this thing this year where one of our, so we obviously do this podcast and we do some other social content and videos, and one of our guests on one of our roundtables said, I want you guys to track the number of golf balls that y'all lose. Because has anybody ever tracked, you know, average, let's say eight and fifteen, sixteen handicaps. Have you tracked the number of golf balls you lose? So I want to quiz you what would you say an eight and a sixteen handicap? How many golf, how many holes can you play with one golf ball before you lose it? Because we've got stats at least through the first half of the year or the first two and a half months of the year. I wish it was half.

SPEAKER_01

I've lost enough balls that I wish it was half. But last for a year. It's oh it's the budget, right?

SPEAKER_00

It almost sounds like sounds like the representatives discussing the budget.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's March.

SPEAKER_02

It's so I mean uh of a 16 handicap, how how many how many holes do you think they can play before they lose a golf ball?

SPEAKER_00

I think um a 16 handicap probably on an on a round loses three balls, three to four balls. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Right now Jonathan is is keeping a ball for every uh he loses a ball every 7.4 holes.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

I would like to point out 90% of the time I lose two balls on one hole, and then I go I go the rest of the third. And it happens to the best of us. Oh and John's icon. I'd like to apologize to my wife. She ex experienced my nine-hole debacle on her anniversary. I lost seven balls in nine holes on a course that I play all the time. It was her comment was. We're still married, but don't worry. She said, At least I know your other family doesn't play golf because I've gone so much. It's like if you're cheating on me, they don't play golf.

SPEAKER_02

What uh about I love how about an eight handicap? How how often do you think uh how many how many holes can can someone get through? I'd say eight to nine. All right. Uh well uh right now I am I'm losing one every 13.3 holes. So Robbie's better than an eight, though.

SPEAKER_01

He's been down to a five. No, yeah, yeah. Oh, definitely not. Vanity and definitely not.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it it happened.

SPEAKER_03

But we played in Florida.

SPEAKER_02

We played in Florida, and uh one course had my number.

SPEAKER_01

I uh I deposited many into the water. That was that was we were literally just finding balls in the woods at that point. We're like, we just don't care. Let's just survive this.

SPEAKER_00

It's a it's an interesting thing. Sometimes it's interesting too human.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. There are rounds and rounds, you know. I mean, I don't know. Look, my son the other day came home and I think he shot like a 75 or 76 or something, and he's like, Yeah, I figured it out. It changed this. And I looked at him and I said, I'm now playing a little longer than you are. Not a lot, but you know, been there, done that. So enjoy as long as it lasts. And he's like, Nope, I figured it out. I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_01

Trust me, those are the most dangerous words in golf. The most dangerous words in golf. Figured it out. I'm like, man, I don't know. That should be the logo on a golf ball. Figured it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Well, Jonathan, Jonathan does sales training and consulting, and I had the idea for to put on the side of a golf ball, like you suck at golf, be better at sales, or something like that. Right. Like, call Jonathan.

SPEAKER_00

But you know, I'm I'm also after after a certain amount of holds, you you, you know, a golf ball should last a round. And that's one thing that people tell us is the quality of our balls is just so nice because they don't scuff that much and this and that. Um, I mean, of course, if you hit a cart path and and so on, you know, depends on how rough it is. But you know, after one round of uh, you know, 18 holes, you should swap the ball, you know, if you're not if it's not already in the water. If it's not already somewhere, refer in the woods.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let it let it retire to a good life on a shelf and not in the bottom of a pond.

SPEAKER_00

I like the Johnson's though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. Well, you know, Tina, this this has been great, man. We um let's start wrapping up with some some fun stuff. Uh what is the story of your most memorable golf shot? It wasn't mine.

SPEAKER_00

That's I tell you that. It was my son's. So we went to Papple for the second time, and we played um Spyglass and par three. It's the hole that Rory had a hole in one a couple of months later. So we're there for his birthday. He just turned 21 um a few weeks earlier, and boom, believe it or not, he has a hole in one. Wait, wait, he played the Snyder ball. We didn't have many at that time, you know, so we kept it like a diamond. So he played that hole, and believe it or not, goes in. And the reason why I will, I mean, first of all, it's a hole in one spyglass, what else, you know. But we came down to the lodge and people were waving at us. I mean, I'm like, how how fast can news travel? And so we walked into the bar and everybody was like, Hey Casper, that's my son's name, you know. Oh, that's not good news. And the bar key, the bartender is like, you know, that you could have insured yourself, you know. Like, now you're telling me that? And he's like, Well, you should have done that last year because we had a kid just a couple of months ago, and the dad didn't have to pay drinks for everybody. It was just chocolate milk for everyone, you know. Like, nah. So, yeah, I remember that probably for the rest of my life. Yeah, what a great story.

SPEAKER_02

What a great story. I will say though, I think that is one of the the silliest traditions in golf. Like, if you hit a hole in one, you have to buy for everybody else. Like, everybody should be buying for that person, right? It's their day, not your day. Oh, me as a dad. Right. That's true. That's true. You already pay for spyglass, so like, come on.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly somebody else cover this tab. Very nice. Well, another thing we like to do is what we call the quick nine. So just a little back and forth. Uh, what is the favorite course that you've ever played? Spanish Bay? All right.

SPEAKER_00

What course is at the top of your bucket list? There's so many. So many, but TPC is probably one of them. That'd be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02

What could you hit it like 385 like uh Cam Young did on the last haul? Of course. Of course. Just with a three ball. Yeah, with a three with it. And then put it from there, right, Jonathan? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I take Jonathan with me for that.

SPEAKER_01

That's right. What is your favorite course that no one knows about?

SPEAKER_00

Probably one of the courses I played in Vietnam. We were in Danang in the middle of Vietnam, and they got some great golf over there.

SPEAKER_01

Really?

SPEAKER_00

There are like a handful of courses we played, and there was one was better than the other. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. What what's your favorite course in Germany? This is a bonus question.

SPEAKER_00

I like I have two, both in in Bavaria. One is called Margaretenhof at Lake Tigansey. And uh I also like uh what's called Badvisi. It's really next to it, and those are really two very, very nice courses in the Alps. Really nice and gorgeous views over the Alps and the lakes, and sounds sounds amazing. Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_02

Who would be in your dream for some?

SPEAKER_00

Hmm, I definitely would uh love to have Banalanger in there. I clearly uh Balesteros, I would love because just such a gentleman. Maybe John Rahm. Um, because if he has this great saying you have to have a memory of a goldfish. So I would like to play that round with him to to learn that. And maybe Lee Trevino. I love it.

SPEAKER_01

That's an eclectic group right there. Yeah. What is your favorite snack at the turn?

SPEAKER_00

When I can get one is a rap, is a chicken rap. A chicken sees a rap, or I don't know why, but it's for me, it's a golf thing. That's a good golf thing. Yep. All right. Uh favorite golf course logo. Great question. I that uh probably Papple just because it's so iconic. Yeah. Yeah. It's just it it's just it's so many memories and stuff like that, even though it's not my favorite course. I mean, it's great, don't don't get me wrong, but you know, I think the history carries more and weighs more than anything.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. All right. So you visit a lot of places. What has been your favorite Pro Shop purchase?

SPEAKER_03

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00

That is a good one. Wow. I mean, I buy logo balls, even though they are not Snyder yet. Wherever I go, I buy myself and my son a logo ball. So that's what I do with wherever I go, just to keep a memory. Um, I have a lot of them, obviously.

SPEAKER_01

I was about to say, how many of those do you have?

SPEAKER_00

I have to count them. I would say over a hundred.

SPEAKER_02

That's great. That's great. All right. This question is what is one thing golfers should do?

SPEAKER_00

One thing they really should do is learn about what ball they should play. It's it uh I don't understand. It's the most underrated piece of equipment in everyone's back because they've got so many use balls and lake balls and whatnot in there, they should get rid of all of that.

SPEAKER_01

And it's the one thing you have to use every single time you play golf.

SPEAKER_00

And yeah, and they pay so much attention to everything. They got all these bells and whistles. We got an ad out, you know, showing a golf ball with bells and whistles and our ball, and we're just just ball, right? So I don't get it. People pay so much attention to shaft and putter and this and that, and then they screw it all up with the thing that they play that thing with. You know, I I don't get it.

SPEAKER_01

Shout out to my buddy Sherv, if he's listening to this, he pays attention to everything, including the length of his shorts, because he usually wears his wife's shorts. That's an internal joke there, but he'll get it. But he he just uses whatever used balls he can find online. So come on, Sherv. Let's get this right. All right. Last last question here. Finish this sentence.

SPEAKER_00

The best part of golf is the best part of golf is the memories you can shape when playing with great people.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. What an answer. That's a great great way to wrap it up there. Tino, this has been a lot of fun, man. Tell everybody, it will include links in the show notes for sure, but tell everybody where they can find out more about Snyder and get some golf balls on order.

SPEAKER_00

Snydergolf USA.com. S-N-Y-D-E-R golf. If you can't spell that, then probably wrong. Yeah. And USA, I mean, come on.com.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. We'll have links for that for your social uh channels, things like that. But this has been a lot of fun. Thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well, for uh Tino and Jonathan, this is Robbie, and y'all have been listening to another episode of the Whole Story Podcast.

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Jonathan Hill

Co-host
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Robby Woodard

Co-host