The Hole Story - Golf Podcast

What Happens When Baseball Meets Golf? The Story of Sluggers Golf with Jeff Call

• BestBall • Season 4 • Episode 44

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Discover how Jeff Call transformed his passion for baseball and golf into a thriving business, creating personalized baseball glove head covers that tell a story. Learn about the creative process, lessons from the game, and tips for growing a niche brand in the sports accessory industry.

https://www.sluggersgolf.com/

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*Music by AlexGrohl via Pixabay

SPEAKER_02

A baseball glove for me, you know, and I think for everybody who's played at any like level, a baseball glove is the piece of the pie that is you.

SPEAKER_01

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Whole Story Podcast. Uh Jonathan is smiling uh because we had a great chat about baseball and golf today with our guest Jeff Call of Slugger's Golf. Jonathan?

SPEAKER_00

It's not John Smoltz. We're still like that's the epitome of who I want on the show. That would be my favorite show thing ever. Because then maybe that could lead to Greg Maddox and a couple other amazing baseball players. But if you don't want to listen about baseball, just get to like the 10-minute mark. We talked a lot about baseball to start, but I mean, why wouldn't we? Like the entire thing of this particular guy, Slugger's Golf. The coolest head covers. We were just in Pennsylvania and we saw, I think Mizuno's starting to come out with golf bags that look Sun Mountain.

SPEAKER_01

Sun Mountain. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So like if you've seen a couple of the new stuff that's out there, it looks like it's got a baseballish feel to the actual bag. This guy has gone completely way past that. You can bring in, you can send in your own glove that maybe has a memory or it listen to the story about the handprint. It's amazing. Like I'm already trying to figure out which which baseball glove I'm sending in so I can get a head cover. Uh and I don't even have like I only have one driver, but I'm gonna start carrying extra woods or something just so I can make sure I have a place to put this thing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. No, a really cool story uh about a guy that loves baseball, uh, loves head covers. He said he was collecting head covers for a long time and then figured out that he could make uh he could make his own. Yeah, pretty cool story about the coyote. Yeah, the coyote thinks me too. So anyway, uh great chat with Jeff Call, Sluggers Golf. Uh, you guys are gonna like it. Uh always many thanks to Summit Golf brands. They don't make head covers uh and they don't make clothes at a baseball glove. They do make some great stuff though. So be dratdy, zero restriction, fairway and green. Use best ball 20 at any of those websites, and you can save 20% off your order. So let's uh let's play ball. Let's jump in and uh and chat with Jeff Call of Sluggers Golf. Y'all enjoy all right joining us today on the whole story, Mr. Jeff Call with Sluggers Golf. Jeff, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02

Doing really well. Doing great. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely, man. We're we're excited. You you're talking to two uh two huge baseball fans, yeah, um, and golf fans. Uh and fans is probably the the extent of of that. Like the playing days are long past us. We still try to play golf, but um you know, checking out what you're doing with Sluggers Golf, man. We're uh we're excited to learn more about you and your story.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, well, cool, great. Yeah, you know, that was um that was baseball was my thing for many, many, many years. For many, many years. I goofed around with golf a little bit as a kid. Seeing as I'm older than Tigers, I'm older than Tigers. Kids really didn't play golf. Kids really didn't play golf unless your dad was at a country club or you know, someone was pushing you along to play golf. Nobody played golf, so you know I probably picked up my first club at about 11 or 12. And by the time I hit high school, so like maybe two, three years later, two, three years, you know, 13, 14, uh I put them down and didn't really pick them back up seriously again for 35 years. Uh played baseball through a little bit of college ball, junior college, junior college, and then um and then uh would just mess around with golf. You know, we would go and get drunk with my buddies once a year at some high school tournament where we'd get plastered and try and hit the ball as hard as we could and hit massive slices, and that was it. But then uh 47 I tore an ACL and started playing golf, and started playing golf. Um retired a couple years after that and was working in the golf industry just as a part-time gig. Made myself a head cover. People kept asking me where'd you get it? And that's how Sluggers Golf was born. That's how Slug's golf was born of a baseball injury. You didn't tell your year.

SPEAKER_00

Did you tell your ACL playing baseball or pickleball?

SPEAKER_02

Baseball. Was still playing hardball.

SPEAKER_00

Where were you playing baseball at 47 years old? How's that work?

SPEAKER_02

How can I find that? I was raking their pitching too. I hit 537 and that's no exaggeration. They uh was at high school we it was, you know, probably a dozen teams throughout San Diego County in the 35 and over league. And um it's fun. You know, we had a couple we one of the guys on my team was a former major league pitcher. He had uh pitched for maybe you know, he got a cup of job type situation and tore uh tore his elbow, blew his elbow out, Tommy John surgery, and that was it for him. But still a stud baseball player, you know. The guy the guys who make it to the bigs usually played every position there was under the sun in high school. So, you know, I would say the caliber of play was just under high school ball. You know, like a high school a good high school team would have killed us. But it is a lot of fun, you know, and you still got to swing it relatively real pitching, you know, real pitching BP. But it was funny.

SPEAKER_00

I need to find an adult league. Um they're out there. Uh my son and I have heard what happens in the middle of the year. I don't I don't care. I pull I pull muscles getting out of bed. I might as well do it doing something fun.

SPEAKER_02

My first at bat, I I had played a little when I was younger too, and but I hadn't swung a bat and actually run the pads for 10 years when I went back to play. And my first at bat, I hit one in the gap between first, like basically up the middle, a little leaning towards shortstop. And I took off like I was 20, pulled the right groin with the first step, pulled the left groin with the second step. So it's thrown out at first. You're growing, groin.

SPEAKER_00

My son and I my son and I have this conversation all the time. He's 15, soon to be 16. He plays football, and he's fine. He's not super athletic, but he's fine. I played college baseball, and so we'll be at like a local minor league team or something like that. He's like, Do you think you could play for these guys? I'm like, Well, how much time do I have to prepare? Exactly. I mean, they're low A ball. And he's like, if I gave you a year, I'm like, if you gave me a year, I absolutely could make this team. He's like, There's no way. I'm like, oh sure. I was like, now I'm not going anywhere else, and I I don't know what it's gonna look like after that, like you said, after that first hit. But I can still lay down a bunt. I was a catcher, definitely can't do that anymore. Like, that would ruin me. But I could play first base, like I could still make picks and have no problem fielding balls. So, yeah, I don't know if any of that's real, but man, if I could find an adult baseball league, I would absolutely that would be so much fun.

SPEAKER_02

Throw it in Google, man. I guarantee they're out there. We've got them all over San Diego, County, LA County. Like it's it's super competitive. They have like a World Series um where it's nationwide where these teams get together and it and the competition's pretty good. Like you get a lot of the guys, you know, you'll get these 18 the 18 and over openly. There's still dudes out there late 40s, early 50s that have never put it down, and they're still out there playing against the kids. Um, but you know, they also bracket it so that you can play, you know, 35 and over and 50 and over. The 50 and over starts getting like it's I I wouldn't even play in it now, even with the no eight even with no eight and no right knee. I I it the competition sucks at that point because it the quality of play really drops off. Yeah, they there's a lot of guys didn't even play high school ball in there.

SPEAKER_00

I had a memory pop up on Facebook, another one of my when I win the lottery things. Uh I'm a Cardinals fan from the Midwest, and they have fantasy camps, right? You can go play fantasy camps. And so I literally listed out and tag most of them on Facebook all of my buddies that I played high school or college baseball with. And I'm like, I would absolutely pay for every single one of us to go to Cardinals camp. We'd put together two nine-man teams. I even had like all my old coaches that I'm still friends with. I'm like, we will go to this thing when I win the lottery and we'll just dominate and have. I mean, I didn't I didn't put I think I put myself as the as a catcher because I'd be like, I'll work out hard enough to play one game as a catcher and then never be able to move right again.

SPEAKER_02

It'll just sound like it'll just sound like popcorn every time you go down to get it.

SPEAKER_00

My my ankles, my ankles would uh now the new style of catching, the problem with the new style of catching is now like I'm old enough, I can't get up from the new style of catching. I can get down to one knee and be a little flexible that way. But trying to get up, like any type of speed, it's just like let me put my arm down and see if I can get myself off the ground.

SPEAKER_02

They do tournaments, they had uh the guy that got me back into playing. Got me back into playing, uh, played in one at the field of dreams field of dreams that they have. Oh yeah, and they do like throwback unis and stuff like that. So it's it's a lot of fun. And they, you know, that's a multiple-day tournament. Um, but yeah, they're all there's tournaments all over the place. And it, you know, just by like just the like the kids with the travel ball, it's the same thing for adults with the adult league. It's out there.

SPEAKER_00

Multi-day is where you lost me. I don't think I could like give me one game, not a doubleheader. Like I think give me about three or four days to recover. I should be all right.

SPEAKER_01

Jeff, uh, Jeff, I'll just meet you on the golf course. I play baseball too, but uh I am uh I am I think smart enough to know that I had somebody tell me one time after 30, stop playing basketball because you're not gonna impress anybody and you're only gonna get hurt. Yep. And so yeah, I've kind of kind of given up the uh any pretty much any sport besides playing some golf, trying not to hurt myself there.

SPEAKER_02

Well that's that's it. Um golf is where people go when they when they get hurt, basically, and they're still competitive. And they're still competitive.

SPEAKER_01

I know. I know. Well, tell us uh tell us the sluggers golf story. Like, did you say, all right, I'm done with baseball? Like, what can I do with this thing? Uh this glove, and is that how it all started? A little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know, I had seen I started working part-time in the golf space. I would go out with uh like a track man unit and do long drive contests and stuff at charity events and corporate golf events. Um, and I had seen someone that had turned a baseball club into uh head cover. And I'm a bit of like a head cover guy. Like I like to collect them almost like a sneaker head, sneaker head cover head. So I I just like cool stuff like that. And when the first time I saw one, I was just like, oh my god, I gotta have it.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god, I gotta have it.

SPEAKER_02

So um found a guy who was making head covers, reached out to him, told him what I was doing, and um and uh he helped me make one. Like we just he had never made one, but he's like, I think I can do it. So we kind of just talked through it and figured it out together. Figured it out, and he made the head cover for me. Um I was bringing it out to these events, you know. I was doing you know three events a week, and it's uh you know, call it 144 people is a full event, so anywhere from the 100 to 150 people three times a week. People were coming by going, Hey, where'd you get it? Where'd you get it? Where'd you get it? And that was really how it started. Um, I worked with that guy for a little bit. The price point wasn't working for him, like he wasn't making enough money for the amount of time it took him to make a baseball glove head cover. Um, so he stuck with just your basic head covers, you know, like embroidered two pieces of leather, two pieces like a you know, like a mitten without a thumb. And he he was just like, I can't, you know, it's not worth it to me to do these. So I was just like, well, if I want to do these, I gotta figure it out. So I bought a $3,000 professional machine, $250 worth of old beat-up baseball gloves from a guy that owned this played again sports franchise and uh sat down, taught myself how to sew and started making head covers. And you know, you it's a little intimidating at first um because you don't know what you're doing. Because you don't I was like, I can't really make a mistake here. I'm not gonna screw anything up. Nobody cares if I make a mistake, so just go for it. So just go for it. Make mistakes, and I did a lot of mistakes, stabbed my thumb a couple times with an industrial sewing machine, which other than the fact that it smashes your finger, it's pretty painless because the needle's sharp and it goes through real quick and it goes through you're basically just going ahead and giving yourself some stitches at the same time, and you can stitch it at the same time, yeah. So but yeah, I just started doing it, and you know, my one of my very first sets that I ever did was for David Justice. Um real nice guy, real nice guy. They give him a little bit of a bad rap. I mean, he has an ego, but I can tell you every professional player has an ego. They all do. You don't get there without one. Like you gotta have that kind of killer instinct and think you're you know badass. And they were, and they are, and he is, and he's a great guy, super nice guy. But uh the dude that I did the um golf stuff with was his coach. He coached him in golf, and Dave's just like a rabid golfer. So he I told him, Hey, get me a glove, I'll make you something. Just don't give me anything. I don't want a World Series glove. Get me something that doesn't matter, so if I mess up I'm not going, oh sorry, here's the pieces of your glove back. And I made him a couple head covers and he helped me out a little bit, and it just kind of has just snowballed over the last two years.

SPEAKER_01

With all his time with the Braves, it was probably a division series glove, those for real.

SPEAKER_02

No, it was a minor league glove he gave me.

SPEAKER_01

Uh oh, wow, nice.

SPEAKER_02

And one of the on this is actually something, you know, the podcasting thing is something I've considered getting into because having now done, gosh, probably 25 ex-major league players. Um I've done head covers for that about that many. They all I get to hear their story and the stories are where it's at, man. These guys, and they tell you the behind the scenes stuff, which is fantastic. And when I had Dave, I asked him what if you could have because he won two World Series with the I I'm not sure if both were with the Yankees, but I know one for sure was with the Yankees. Um he might have had one with Atlanta, I can't remember. But uh I go, if you could have the two World Series rings, or you could win two majors as a golfer, as a golfer, what would you do? And he just goes, Oh man. He's like, Oh he goes, Do I get to win the masters twice? And I'm like, two majors, you pick them. I'm like, whatever you want. And he goes, Okay, I'd I I if I had to pick, I'd pick the masters. He goes, let me think about it. And he's literally sat there for like silent for a good 30 seconds or longer. He goes, you know, I I gotta stick with the baseball. And he goes, you know, I'm gonna tell you why. He goes, I would have missed out on all those bus rides in the minors, I would have missed out on all the guys, I would have missed out on the stories and the time together. He goes, and that to me was the most important part of my game. He goes, Yeah, I love winning the World Series, but to hear those stories from guys like him, it's man, it was cool as hell, you know. And I had the opportunity to hear him say it, and I'm just standing there with a shit-eating grin, watching him talk, and I'm just like, oh my god, this is the ultimate fanboy moment. And it was, you know, that's the cool part of what I do is meeting you know ball players and getting to hear the stories.

SPEAKER_00

So you've sold 25 of these things then. Is that what you say? Just 25 total?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. This this is this past week, yeah. It's uh it's something else keeping up with it for sure. But you know, there's a lot baseball glove for me, you know, and I think for everybody who's played at any like level, a baseball glove is the piece of the pie that is you. A bat, you know, don't get me wrong, you can have a bat that's important, you know, you can have you know, a lucky hat or a pair of socks that you don't wash all season because they were your lucky socks. You know, that kind of stuff goes into baseball. But with a glove, it's a piece of you. And the way you break it in, everything is different, you know. And this is something I see every day when I receive someone's glove, is it's it's got different wear marks. You can see how they play the game, you know, like a first baseman's mitt where the fingertips are all smashed down and it's got the bowed out thumb. And you can tell how they how they fielded the ball. Like that glove hit the ground every time. You know, uh, I'll find sunflower seeds, I've found pennies, I've found all kinds of stuff inside of gloves when I take them apart.

SPEAKER_01

Nail file, whatever.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, sandpaper, right? Little sticker. But it, you know, the glove is the biggest portion that is has your attachment. You know, it's got the outside, it's got the the palm section, and then inside where the handprint is, you see people's handprint. You know, the sweat, the literal blood, sweat, and tears that goes into the game. And it's like I I know I sound corny and sentimental, but that to me is it's that's the that's it, man. That's the years of hard work that and emotional input there or the commitment to the game that's in there, and that stuff's cool. Yeah, um yeah, um one quick little story, and I'm sorry if I digress a little here, but no, no, you're great, I had a lady send me in a head cover and her hut it was for her husband's son from a previous marriage who had passed away, and it was the kid's glove. And I don't know how old he was, but he was he was an adult male, because it's my like when I put my hand in the glove, I could feel that you know it wasn't like a 14-year-old kid that had it, it was an adult. But whenever he had passed away, they send me the glove and I took it apart. This was for this past Christmas. I take it apart, and like I said, inside is the piece where this kid's handprint is. And initially I was like, how can I incorporate it into the glove? Um, or into the head cover, excuse me. Uh and there was no way for me to do it in a way that it was cool. And then I was like, this might mean more I don't know that he wants that on his head cover every time he plays. The glove itself is there. So I took it out, got it wet, laid it flat, cleaned it up, got all the dirt and dust and grime off of it, and then pressed it under a like I have like this 50-pound kettlebell. Uh, and I just pressed it flat. Went down to the five and under store, bought a frame, put it on there on some on some felt, and sent it along with him. And you know, he called me with like I could hear he was crying. I could hear he was crying. And it was just like I I'm choking up now as a as a father of an 11-year-old daughter that like knowing what it must be to lose your child, and but then to get something that literally has his handprint on his back. And he was just like, I can't thank you enough. And um and you know, I did 25 years in the mortgage industry and made a lot of money. And I don't make a lot of money doing these head covers, believe it or not. Someday I hope to, but uh I don't. And the stories and the emails and the thank yous that I get from people when I turn that sentimental item into something special. That means so much more to me than any of the money I ever made as a mortgage loan officer. It means the world to me to hear people say I love it. I love this. And it you know, it brings a new life to something that was sitting in the garage collecting dust in a bag somewhere or in a box. So I mean, I know I talk too much, I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, right. This is it. You you talk about that connection to a glove, though. Like, I literally, if I go out and play catch, I've got two boys, and if we're playing catch, I literally have my very first glove that I started playing baseball with when I was 10 years old. And it's a little infield plat, it's almost like it's not even real leather, it's like a plastic something. Right. And I have I've I have re-stitched. Once I got into baseball in high school and college, I've my favorite thing to do every offseason was to completely redo my entire glove. I would grab the leather, I had the toolkit, the whole deal. I met some old guy that taught me how to re-stitch them all. And so I would redo as a catcher. So I'd redo the the webbing and everything else every year. And so I the number of times I fixed this plastic glove. And even my son, he's like, that glove doesn't fit your hand. I'm like, you can throw whatever you want, man. I'm gonna catch it in this car, it's gonna be just fine. How old is your son? So is your son? He's 15. Okay. 15 and 16, yeah. Unfortunately, I'm I I love my kid and I'm not disappointed in him. I have to tell myself that whenever I realize that he's not a baseball player and never will be, and it's okay. I tried, he's left-handed. I tried to turn him into a pitcher a long time ago, and he just maybe if he got into it now, like he's like, What if I went and played now? I'm like, dude, you're gonna be a junior. Like, you don't just walk onto a varsity baseball field having never played baseball before, unless you want to work. And if you want to work, I will put you through it because I know exactly what to do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But he he's doing football and other sports, he's in theater. Like, I'm super proud of him. There is A slight disappointment. Every once in a while we're like, dude, you're left-handed. Like, you could you know how much movement you can put on that little fastball? No doubt.

SPEAKER_02

Pressure here. But they used to sign when I my age, they used to sign you if you could throw 90 and we're left-handed.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, if you were lefty and yeah, if you hit 90, you were probably going D1. Like that was almost automatic. Yeah, I feel the same way. So talk about the like do did you have a special glove? Uh is is the driver the one thing? Because you mentioned it sounds like long drive competition. So you hit 567. That must have included some bombs too. Was it was it the yeah, I even cover part or the glove part? Like what drew you into that? Let's say that again. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03

Let's say that again, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00

Was it really the head cover part or the glove part that kind of really made that click the first time?

SPEAKER_02

Well, that's a that's a really good question. I haven't thought of that. Um, you know, I I just liked head covers to begin with, but then when it became when I saw a glove turned into a head cover, I was just like, it was like the holy grail.

SPEAKER_03

Like the holy grail.

SPEAKER_02

I was like, oh my god, that is the coolest thing ever. Like I gotta, I gotta get one of these. Like I gotta, I gotta do this. Like, this is it, it was it was it was weird. Like it was like I said, it was like seeing the holy grail. Like I knew that that was it. Um little quick, I want to tell you a quick story. A few years ago, when I first started thinking about doing head covers, it wasn't the baseball gloves, it was just general head covers. I was playing with a buddy, I dropped a head cover, and we went back looking for it. We get back to the we find we come back up the up the uh cart path and we get to this the hole, like maybe three holes back, and there's a coyote, and it's roll I thought it had a squirrel, and it's rolling around on the grass and rolling on this, like look like a carcass. And I'm thinking my dogs have done that where they roll on something dead, you know. Um so I get out there, it was my head cut. And this coyote picks up my head cover and like takes off with it. And we start chasing it in the in the uh in the cart. And we get up into the it gets up on the side of the hill, and it's the grass starts getting about three, four feet deep, and I'm like, you SOB. And he's got it in his mouth, and he's he's going up the hill. So I'm just like, damn it. I'm like, well, whatever, you know, that's the end of that. So we go back, we take off, we finish our round, we come back, and we get back to the clubhouse, and coming down the main road into this into the course is this coyote. And I don't know if it's the same coyote, but it's coming from the direction that that one had run, and it doesn't have a head cover. And I'm like, okay, well, let's see. So we'd roll up and on the way out, we drive real slow, and sure enough, and it dropped my head cover on the side of the road coming into the course, and I picked it up. I go, This is a sign from God. I gotta I gotta get into these head covers. The Great Spirit's telling me the coyote was trying to lead me to the head cover, but it was just kind of a weird little thing that happened. And my buddy, I had told him at the time, I'm like, Man, I should make some head covers. And this was that was probably a year before I actually did the baseball glove ones. And it's been like serendipitous. I've met so many people along the way that have just been the and it's all been put in front of me because of golf. And I the two things coming together like they did has just been it's weird. It's weird. Like I said, the serendipity of it, the people, the groups. We did, you know, we meet a lot of ex-ball players because a lot of them turn to golf. They can't give up the long ball, they can't give up the long ball, and they go and they want to hit that golf ball three times as far as they ever hit a baseball. You know what I'm talking about. Like you hit one, you're like, All right, get out of here, baby. Like, you know, like hammer one, you're like, that's right.

SPEAKER_00

My nickname was Punch and Judy. Uh I was a left-handed leadoff bunter. So I haven't I'm serious, it's all right. I hit one home run. I love hitting the ball far with uh with a uh with a driver. I do remember, and I and I never played golf until I was like almost 30. And so did not even pick up a club, really. I didn't do anything in high school, nothing like that. And I remember my uncle played golf, but he lived in Chicago. He was six or seven hours away from us, and he mentioned because yeah, you go to Wrigley and realize you could hit it out of the field with my 9-iron. And I'm like, what are you talking about? That's not possible. You can't hit a ball that far. Because I had no concept of how far ball, how far a golf ball would go. And now I'm like, Oh, you really could stand on the home plate and use your 9-iron. That's kind of weird, but for some reason I couldn't, I mean, I couldn't how to get a ball out of the infantry.

SPEAKER_02

If you're pricing, if you're pricey, you can do it with a 56. You can do it with a 50. That's right.

SPEAKER_01

Well, talk to us a little bit about the uh the process, right? You mentioned people are sending you gloves. So uh they like you said, it's it's uh an item that's full of stories that they want to they want to preserve. It's got it's probably sitting on a shelf or in a garage or in a box somewhere. So they're sending you these things and you're returning them for something that they can use for a long time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's and that's it. That's that's I would say about 80-90% of the time it's somebody sending me in a glove. Um I do offer I do I do offer a bit of a service. I I keep service. Jesus probably about 90 gloves I have in a big storage bin. And you know, I go any I'm kind of a junkie, I'm on eBay looking all the time to find something that's a deal. And I'll you know, find if I find something that's a good quality, I know people are gonna like it, I'll just buy it and throw it in the bucket. And somebody likes it, great. I'll use that. Or I use the one they send me. Or I use the one. And you know, I that's part of the way I promote it when I do actually try to actually try to sell sell the business, so to speak, is you know, don't let it sit in the garage and collect dust. What good is it? What good is it? You know, they oh hey, look, we're we're moving, or we're cleaning out the garage and we're gonna do a yard sale. Oh, hey, look, there it is again. Well, right back in the box, right back up on the shelf where it sits for another five years, doesn't get seen. The the memories and the stories behind it are forgotten, and it's to me, it's like giving it a little bit more respect. Sometimes, you know, people are like, Oh, I don't want to cut, I don't want to cut it. I understand that, yeah, definitely. But at the same time, like if it's just collecting dust in a box, bring it out, get it done, bring new memories to it. Because how many of us still hang out with those guys from high school or college when we go play around to golf and we drink you know, six pack of beers and bullshit and hit hit balls as far as we can, you know, and shoulda woulda coulda's about like you know, it's it's it's like the most therapeutic thing you can do is play golf with your buddies. And you you you bring those memories to that same head cover like you did when it was a glove, like you did when it was a glove, and you get to see it again, you know. It's it's in the garage on a on a pedestal, your driver or your you know, whatever glove you do, but it's sitting right there and you go, Ah, look, there it is. Think about those things. It's it's fun, it's just fine.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I'm holding on to my glove just in case the Augusta uh minor league baseball team needs someone to be like a second base.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm uh I'm I'm uh hats are my hair. Hats are my hair. So I'm a big fan of different minor league teams because they've got uh so many cool hats. You know, the Green Jackets had uh a couple years ago they did one it was the um it was the uh what's the sandwich? The pimento cheese sandwich.

SPEAKER_00

The pimento cheese.

SPEAKER_02

I have that one.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I've got I don't have that one. I do have the uh the Azaleas there, the Azaleas. I got a pink and green one. Yeah, I actually wore that one to the Masters this year. That was a good hat to wear there. And then uh I just got uh essentially a a four-seat season pass for general admission. Oh, cool. So I went to my first game the other day, and they do a um uh a turkey for Hispanic recognition, like Hispanic weekend. So I got a little colorful turkey hat. I I love minor league hats the same way. Like they always do fun things. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_01

So how do you uh how do you grow this? Do you partner with baseball glove companies? Do you partner with baseball players, or like you said, go to some of these tournaments where they're getting getting the old guys back together and showing them off?

SPEAKER_02

So I mean 99% of the like paid advertisement I've done has either been Instagram or TikTok. Uh it's really inexpensive. It's a great way to be seen. Great way to be seen. Um influencers are a big a big part of it. Like if you if you can find people that are you know have have a footprint already. Uh first person that really helped me out is a guy who goes by Jimmy Tropicana. I don't know if you're familiar with him at all. Oh yeah. Uh he helped he helped uh you know Manolo smack that shit, the Latin dude that does that stuff. Okay, so those two are buddies. So those two are. I don't know how they I don't know their backstory all like fully, but I know that they're real life buddies, they're good good friends. And Jimmy had was a barber by trade, had a spot up here just east of Los Angeles, north of me, and did a barber shop, and then he called it the barbershop and golf society. And he started doing tournaments, like setting up tournaments, getting guys together to play, and that's kind of where he got his start. I played with them for a little bit, but they were a little bit more of a drive than I like to make. So I started playing a little bit more locally of where I live now. I'm north of San Diego by Temecula. So started playing up here and ran into him one day at he was shooting content at one of the local courses. He saw my hair covers, he's like, dude, those are cool. And I'm like, You want one? Because I knew he had a couple hundred thousand followers, and I'm like, I'd be happy to make you one if you uh just pop it on your uh Instagram for me. So that's what I did, and he did a little 30-second video for me. And we got 185,000 views in the first 24 hours, and I probably got about 400 emails out of it. Um probably um 25 to 30 total sales from it, but it was you know, it gave me that push. I didn't even have a TikTok at the time. I started a TikTok, and within a week I had 3,000 followers. 3,000 followers. So it was, you know, and that's you know, as you know, as you're doing your podcast, you know, that stuff it builds on itself. It builds on itself. Somebody's friend likes something, then it goes to all their friends, and then it, you know, it gets that little the snowball effect going, and that's a big part of it for me. Um the events, going out to events and putting it in front of people. I've worked, I've I've worked with a couple of different baseball glove companies who I won't mention, but um but um one of the one of the they're a they're a pretty large manufacturer, yet still relatively small as far as the business is concerned. They no one played golf. No one played golf, they're just baseball, so they couldn't wrap their head around what I was trying to do. And I'm like, look, I'm like, I'll buy pre-made gloves from them. Pre-made gloves. And we worked on that, but they they didn't see the potential, so it didn't quite work out. So it didn't quite work out. Then I found a boutique maker. He does very like small runs of stuff. Um and he wanted he's a golfer, so he's like, okay, that's that's that's cool. But they you know, they're they're we're still kind of negotiating with them. They're gonna do we have something cool coming out. Sunday golf is I believe I want to say in like August, September is coming out with a custom bag, and like I can't tell you everything. But it's so cool. Like this bag, I've seen it from the everything on it is custom, and everything on it is for their company, and the niche that this baseball glove maker is in, and it's gonna be badass. So they're they're gonna take my prototype that I gave them and they're gonna give it away as part of the introduction into the bags. So, you know, fingers crossed, I'll do something more with them down the route down the line. And uh yeah, so I'm getting opportunities there. And then there's one other I can't talk about, but you would it it it rhymes with Rawlings. It rhymes with Rawlings. Um I've in negotiations talked to those guys a little bit. You know, they so we'll see how that goes. Maybe maybe I get something there and then it's maybe I get something there and then it's they buy me up. I think I cash the check, I buy a jet, and all I do is golf with Arnold Palmer.

SPEAKER_00

All you do is play golf with with baseball players. That that would be the interesting thing. Like you talk about the connections and the people and that kind of stuff. You I mean I always told people if they're like, if you could play professional baseball, what would you be? I'm like, I'd be a starting pitcher. And they're like, Why? Because I work every five days and the other three or four, like I can just go play golf and enjoy life on the team's dime.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And and and have access to pretty much whatever you want when it comes to those types of things. But so I mean, is that something like you think you see it as, hey, we could take this somewhere? I mean, you've obviously been in business before, and it sounds like maybe sold something uh from that side. So like grow it, get it into the right space and the right organization, and then the vision I have for sluggers is we're we're at working on it right now.

SPEAKER_02

I should have something towards the end of summer here where it's more of a uh manufactured, pre-manufactured type situation. Manufactured type situation. Along the lines of what you'd get if if I get it had someone make baseball gloves for me. So we're looking for something that's this isn't we're not looking for a flimsy, cheapy piece of junk that's gonna fall us fall apart in a year. I want something that's gonna last. Um I've got a couple prototypes out there, we're having those built out right now. And I want to try and get something that is in the price range where people can go, okay, this is this is this is cool. I can afford it. This is cool. Like the custom stuff, even though I'm not the most expensive out there, it's not cheap. You know, you're gonna spend $300 pretty much minimum. That's about where it's at uh with tax and everything else. It's about $300. Um prices can go up from there. But I want to give people an opportunity to get something that's cool, uh, something that's fun, something that meets that beat baseball niche. So it's not outrageous for your run-of-the-mill guy who's dropping 60 bucks in a Muni once a week. He's not going, damn, you know, that's as much as a new putter. I don't want to have to spend that. I want to get something that people can afford to buy. And you know, like with Sunday golf, these guys are they're in dick sporting goods, they're in Costco. They're you know, so right. So if we can get something in going like that, then it's you know, for me, it's a situation where I can keep my my custom stuff. My custom stuff and hopefully dream of all dreams in the sound of all dreams out there. But be the Scotty Cameron of Head Guards, be the Scotty Cameron of Headcott. You know, be a be a brand inside of a brand inside doing really cool custom stuff that I you know juices me, that gets me going, that makes me feel like excited to make a versus sitting and just meaning self-manufacturing head covers, you know, because I can I could do the same head cover over and over and over again, and it just becomes a job. I the it's the the creative part is a lot of fun. I've never considered myself an artist or anything along those lines, but you know it there is an artistic portion to it and it's fun, you know. You get to go do something like man, I'm gonna I'm gonna try this. Like, I have a guy right now, he's bought six head covers from me so far. Um and I did something really special for him. He doesn't know it yet. But I did it, yeah, I went all out and made him came up with some really cool ideas. Um he had a trapeze glove, you know, so the winding web. Winding web. And I've done those. I've done them where it's you know the trapeze is the at the top, and you know, just kind of flip it upside down, make it look like a cool head cover. But this one I I I went out all out on it for him, and I did it probably put three times the amount of time I would normally put into a head cover into it because I want to give him something special because he's been so supportive. But those types of projects juice me. You know, I get all work, I'm like, yeah, this is fun. And I enjoy it. So that's that is down the line. I'd like to be in a position where it'd probably be a little bit more pricey, probably take a little more time, but where I can really just be creative about it and you know, hopefully make a nice living into my leave my daughter with something. Leave my daughter, you know. I'm 55 now, so I'm hoping to make it another 30 years. Hopefully 25 of those are on a golf course.

SPEAKER_00

You need I just want to see the first part of your coyote series whenever you start doing your custom ones. Like you got to give a little nod to the thing that got you involved.

SPEAKER_02

I should maybe cover like a figure out a way to add it into like my logos or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That'd be awesome. Well, I know you uh you enjoy playing golf, uh, and so uh let's kind of shift the conversation and kind of talk a little bit more about that. Uh we ask everybody this question. We want to know the story of your most memorable golf shot. We know the story of your most memorable coyote eating head cover, but how about a golf shot?

SPEAKER_02

Ooh, let's see. I uh I was playing this, isn't that that long ago? Um I've only been playing for about a little over seven years, and I would say December, January, December this year, I was playing it with a buddy, and we had played uh it was a US US Open qualifier. Um and one of the kids that was playing with us worked at the course and was practicing before the qualifier. So we went out and played with him and another him and his buddy, and then the two of us, and we get out there and I went back to back eagle. Um hit hit one. I'm keeping up with this. I gotta I can still hit the ball pretty long. Like realistically, I'm I'm I'm I'm probably averaging just shy of 300 on a drive, but I've my longest drive ever is 365, and that was I was 53. So, you know, a couple years ago. I can still hit it. Like I can get out of 320, 330. And that's on a track, man. That's not BS. We have a track. That's not BS. But um I hit a nice drive and it wasn't let's see. I was a little light rough to the right, just below the below the green. So it was a it hit a 60 degree wedge up on two and it went in. It bone hopped and went in. And the kid saw it, he's like, oh, so I'm like an awesome eagle. You know, that's fantastic. Gotta love that. And then we get to the next holes par five. I absolutely just unload one. And then it was probably about two. And um five iron on and made the pun. So back to back eagles. So that was that was pretty cool. Plus, my buddy had a four-stroke lead on me at the time, and he bogied both holes. So I mean, I put him in my rear view mirror at that point, and it was the end of him for the day. But yeah, that was those are my that was probably my favorite golf thing, was the back-to-back eagles.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, another thing we like to do with all our guests is what we call the quick nine. So a little just a quick back and forth here. First question is what is the favorite course that you've played?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, it's um called Soleil. S-O-U-L-E. It's a kind of a small little out-of-the-way spot in OHI, California. Oj, California. It's the bang for your buck. I I probably shouldn't be giving them away because the locals will hate me. But I think I paid 60 bucks on a Tuesday to play it, and it was pristine. There's nobody out there. It was like kind of like the cool misty day. Beautiful. Soleil golf course, OHI, California.

SPEAKER_01

That's awesome. I love it. What course is on the top of your bucket list?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I got a lot of those. Um we all do. The list is Augusta, obviously, but that's never gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00

Um they need head covers too. They probably have baseball fans.

SPEAKER_02

You never know. I mean, you never know, man. I'm meeting people, I might get lucky and find find a member that's a baseball fan and get away with I mean Augusta would be it. But something I think I can actually get on. I I I'd really like to play uh Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's always a good one. All right. I know you might have already mentioned it. Maybe we'll exclude that one. What's the favorite course that no one knows about? Yeah, that's it. Soleil. It's gotta be Soleil.

SPEAKER_02

Soleil is a great if you ever get out there, man. You know there's something like Ventura is an area where it just kind of turns into Central California, so you don't get that it's not quite as hot. Ohio's almost a Santa Barbara, man. It's a great if you ever get a chance to play that course, do it. There's a private course that that's there, and it's cut you can get on, but it's it's pricey, but it's so lays better. Even one of the locals is like, dude, this is the spot. You know, he was a this guy was a stick too, so I believe him. Nice. All right, who would be in your dream force on Jack Tiger and um uh Jesus Christ. Honestly, yeah, I mean that would be a great one, but um that'd be fun. Yeah. Jack Tiger and John Daly. And I'd be in the bad kids' cart with John.

SPEAKER_00

What is your uh favorite snack on the turn?

SPEAKER_02

Uh uh high noon. High noon. A little vod vodka soda. Uh uh I'm not hot dogs are okay, but I'm not a hot dog guy. I'm more of a like uh uh turkey sandwich. Club sandwich, something like that.

SPEAKER_01

Alright. Uh favorite golf course logo.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, whi whistling straits. Oh, that's I love that logo. I love that logo. Oh, that's that's that's that's it.

SPEAKER_00

I think that's so cool. It sounds like you're gonna have a lot to choose from, but what has been your favorite pro shop purchase?

SPEAKER_02

Favorite pro shop purchase? I don't I don't really buy much at the pro shops, honestly. I think there's a there's a local course here. Um what's it? What is it? They had a I'm trying to remember the name of the course. I can't remember the name of the course. Tus is it Tustin Rachel? Anyway, they had some they just had a really cool hat that I bought. Um, that's what it was. THC is what the hat says. And it's it and it's it's Tustin. Tustin Oh, I can't remember Tustin Country Country Club or something. I can't remember, but it that it's THC is their is their logo, and I just thought it was funny. I'm like, you guys are you guys are probably selling a million of these hats. So I I did buy one of the hats.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. None of them play golf.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's a nice course, too. It's not like I just I was surprised that they did it because it was almost like out of character for the type of course it was that they would have those, but I bet there's selling a lot of those online, you know? Green ones.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. All right. Well, I know uh one answer is buy uh head cover from Slugger's golf. But what is what is one thing golfers should do?

SPEAKER_02

Slow down. Slow down. We're trying to kill it. I spent six years of the seven plus that I've been playing trying to smash the ball. People swing so damn hard, and I realize that you know, a 70% swing hit square, you know, you flush it, you're getting 95% of that club out of it. And uh I defy 99.9% of the golfers out there to swing as hard as they can as hard as they can and hit the center of the club. 95% of the time. They can't. They're gonna they're gonna miss 95% of the time. So slow down. Make good contact. Learn to make good contact. I think striking the ball is the one of the most important things there is. Um you can play around with all kinds of different swing stuff, but the people who hit the center of the club face are the ones that put the ball where they want it to go. And the game is to get the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible, not hit it as far as you possibly can.

SPEAKER_00

So I love it. Well, once you stop being able to get it in as fewest strokes as possible, then your goal becomes hit it as far as you can.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. When you can hit it flush every single time, go ahead and swing a little harder. You know, and you start small. You know, like my wife is she likes the game, but just doesn't have time to play, and I teaching her to chip and putting because the rest of it will when you can chip the ball where you want it to go, then you can move to the next club where you it hit it a little farther, then a little farther, then a little farther, and then eventually you're just doing the same thing you did when it was three feet, you're trying to hit it three feet straight. Now you're hitting it, you know, 200 yards straight or 150 yards straight. Or, you know, for a man it's three, you know, 300 yards straight.

SPEAKER_00

I've heard of things like that. Last question here. Finish this sentence. The best part of golf is time with your friends.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, agreed.

SPEAKER_01

Agreed. Uh Jeff, this is awesome, man. Love what you're doing. Um, tell everybody where they can find out more and get a uh head cover from me at Sluggers Golf.

SPEAKER_02

So I have uh my website is uh www.sluggersgolf.com. Um also if you want to get a good look at some of my stuff, it's on Instagram, also at Sluggersgolf. And it's the same on TikTok. Um I do have a Facebook presence, but I would say most of my stuff is Instagram and TikTok. So if they want to get a real good idea of what I can do, um see some of my past work, it's Slugger, uh, excuse me, Instagram and TikTok are the two places to really go and take a look. Really go and take a look.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. Well, we will definitely put links in uh in the show notes for this episode for all those things. And uh yeah, we really appreciate what uh what you're doing for the game and appreciate you joining us today to tell the story. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02

I thank you for your time. I you know, this is my first time on a podcast. So I appreciate it. Hopefully, it's not fun. Yeah, I was having a good time.

SPEAKER_01

We'll do we'll do a look back here in a year when you're blowing up, and we'll be like, we got to talk to them.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I'll make sure you get some freebies.

SPEAKER_01

I love it. Well, for uh for Jeff at Silver's Go office is Robbie and Jonathan. You'll been listening to another episode of the whole story podcast.

Head Shot

Jonathan Hill

Co-host
Head Shot

Robby Woodard

Co-host