Canoos Golf with Josh & Tadd Farmer

In this episode, brothers Josh and Tad Farmer share the inspiring story of reviving Canoos golf shoes, a unique brand of boat shoes with golf spikes. They discuss the brand's history, the creation process of the innovative shoes, and their exciting plans for the future, including upcoming product launches and business strategies.

https://www.canoos.com/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Driver off the deck for coin cutters is driver off the deck. They're hopling the driver off the deck. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

You have to put your foot on the gas. You pull out the driver off the deck and you put it on the drain all the way up the hill.

unknown 0:22

Don't stop, don't stop, just do it back again.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Welcome back to another episode of Off the Deck. Of course, Off the Deck is brought to you by Idaca Golf. I'm rocking their Capri Polo tonight. Uh, they are doing some incredible stuff. They just dropped their Miami drop. Uh, so check that out. Some floral patterns, some really great stuff there. Make sure to visit visit idaca ideca.gov to check out everything and use OTD25 at checkout for 25% off. That's Idak.gov. And like I said, 25% off using promo code OTD25. Joining us tonight, Josh and Tad Farmer from Canoes Golf. Guys, how are y'all doing?

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Good. Good. Hey, thanks for having us on, man. Uh, tad won't say it, but he loves to listen to me talk. Okay. So this is gonna be like the best hour of this week. So thank thank you from him. Thank you from him.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yes.

unknown 1:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Well, I'll just sit back and let you guys go back and forth. I mean, assume being brothers, there's plenty of banter that I yeah, this is basically Thanksgiving, right? We're just at the dinner table together. Pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Um it's like a weekly occurrence with us. Okay. Like we both live in the same town. Our parents are still here, so we see each other all the time. So it's a lot of.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Let's start there. So what are what are Josh? I'll start with you first. What is your background, and then we'll go to Tad, and then we'll talk about what canoes is and and what you guys are doing with that.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Uh so we're both born and raised from Benton, Arkansas. It's a town uh just outside of Little Rock. Uh, I would call it a big, small town. Uh, grew up, went to high school here, off to college at Washington Badvision University is out where I went. Tad played football at Arkansas Tech. Uh, I went on to law school, became a lawyer. That's my professional background. Uh, got an MBA before law school, and just loved the game of golf all the way. Sounds like you love school too. I was glutton for school punishment. Um, never been really competitive at golf, but you know, I just I love it. I adore it. If if you invite Tad and me to come play on your four-man charity scramble, he's the guy that's gonna effortlessly slap it out in the fairway, and I'm the guy with the playlist and the snatch, you know, just bringing the vibes.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

And so so what are you doing full-time now, Josh? I'm a logger mill. Okay, okay, so you're you're practicing, okay. Yep, yep. And Tad?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

So, same story. I have an engineering background, worked in private aerospace for about 10 years, and then transitioned, got into sales, and then I've been in uh medical sales for the last 15 years. So I drive all over the state of Arkansas and a little bit of Memphis. Um, but yeah, play football and just uh a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Nice, nice. And so did you guys both grow up playing golf, or is that something that later in later in life picked up? What did that look like?

SPEAKER_03 3:13

You know, we had an amazing youth golf program ran by a local course here where every Tuesday it was, man, it's just like a perfect snapshot of Americana. I think you had to call, tag, keep me straight, you had to call the pro shop like on Thursday before and get a tea time for Tuesday or Wednesday.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Maybe Thursday or Sunday. You had you had to call and set your tea time. Uh, and so like if you're if you had a friend that played in the junior group, you would call and say, Hey, uh Josh and I want a tea time. We're in the nine-hole division, and they'll say, Okay, we got you at 9 30 on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

And and you'd show up on on a Tuesday, Mob would drop us off with a with an igloo, uh, sandwiches, chips, and and drinks, and like a dollar and change, and you would go out to the course, and there would easily be 300, 400 kids all over the course with pushcards. What? Yes. It's uh I've talked to people all over, and it's it was a it was just a gem of a of a program. I don't know anybody else that had one like it. They would start you off with some basic lessons the first year you played, just kind of nine to three swings, and then they just cut you loose. And they would publish the scores in the paper, I want to say, like on Thursday or Friday, you could see what you shot. Yeah. Yes. And uh it was it was awesome. That's how we started playing off. I was never really serious, seriously competitive out there. I think it was more of just mom needing to get us out of the house because she would drop us off like at 7, 7:30 a.m. And there was a cut it was a country club, but semi-private, public, and there was a swimming pool there. And so we would play our six holes, nine holes, carry our igloo over to the swimming pool and just finish out the day over there, and she'd swing around, you know, 5, 5:30 and scoop us up. That's so now they had a payphone there. I guess that was a dollar quarters. If we ever had to call home, we would you know drop the quarters in the payphone. Hey mom, we're we're ready to go. Right. And we did we did that from ages probably eight to fourteen.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Wow. Yeah, very good. Every Tuesday. Every Tuesday. It was great. That's it's it's one of the greatest things. I I'm sad that our kids don't have. Right, right. It was it was just really cool. And it was just, man, unsupervised kid time. Yeah. You go play golf, and there was an adult to tell you what to do, other than the the uh people who manage the pro shop and the commissioners of the league. Um, I think I got in trouble one time for running on the practice screen, but other than that, it was all good.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

So fast forward to the afternoon pool party.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Yeah, right, right, right. Yeah, that's hard to beat. We we actually went on, we both went on to life at that pool in in high school and a little bit in college. What was the name of this golf course?

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Long Hills Golf Course. Is it still around? It is. It is. I live in the I live in the neighborhood that's attached to it. It's it's changed uh a quite a bit since we were kids. Uh, like when we first started, there were no houses out here. And so kind of mid-90s, they changed the back nine configuration to develop a neighborhood. Uh, and then later on, kind of uh maybe 10-15 years ago, the golf course was gonna close. And so they ended up selling it to a uh to a uh property management company that built some apartments and kind of redesigned the golf course again, and it's uh it's not great. It it has been on if you do you know the Instagram account design disasters where they'll oh yeah, okay, it's been highlighted on that account, and so uh we've got a lot of good memories, it's just not quite what it was back in the the 90s. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

It's got really hard fairways, so if you top it, it might go 200. Uh a bad dolpher can really move it around out there.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

So not hard by level of difficulty, hard by the substance. It's concrete.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

That's awesome. You you may you may hit the fairway and scuff your ball. Wow, okay.

unknown 7:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

But we I f I still play there pretty regularly. I was out there yesterday just chipping around, putting and stuff. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

I love that. So we we chatted via DM and we're talking about canoes. Tell me about canoes and what you guys are doing with canoes.

SPEAKER_03 7:45

I'm gonna take you back uh 10, 11 years. I was the first one of people I knew to buy into canoes. I bought them online. It was a it was a brand that existed before we took over. Really? Okay, yeah. I bought a pair in 2015 and just loved them. In fact, I've got a bunch of pairs down here. I've no, it's these. Okay. This is the original pair that I bought. Wow. And they're boat shoes uh with golf spikes built in the sole. These things are worn down, as you can see. Yeah. And uh just loved them. Just loved them. And I would wear them and and I would have conversations with people that would see them for the first time, and it the conversation always went the exact same way. Hey man, I've never seen anyone play in boat shoes. How do you how are you gripping? How do you even stand and turn? Oh, these aren't boat shoes, these are my golf shoes. Look at the spikes. Yeah. And oh man, those are awesome. I need to get a pair. I need to get a pair. And I just loved them. And I would rotate them in and out of my my golf shoe rotation. And fast forward, I don't know, five or six years, I bought a second pair. This is this is pair number two, they're 80. Untied, but um, got several hundred rounds in these guys. And unbeknownst to me, they they shuttered, they they shut down shop really in 2019 and started to wind down 20 and and 21. And I always kind of kept my eye on the brand. Every now and then would check on the website. And around 21-22, I just figured out like they weren't they were gone, they weren't there anymore. Didn't really think too much about it. Um, last summer I was playing with a group of guys, I think we were actually playing the long heels. And there was one guy, it was the first time he played with me, and I broke these out. And he's he's like, Man, what are what kind of shoes are these? What are you why are you playing boat shoes? Oh, these are my golf, go for the whole bit. These are my golf shoes. He says, Where can I buy a pair? I'm like, you can't. You you can't buy a pair. They're no, they're no more. These are one of a limited number out there in the wild. And he uh he kept bringing it up. Like every two holes, he would just, man, I love those shoes, dude. I wish I could get some shoes. Those are sweet. I was like, yeah, man, thanks, you know, whatever. And uh I I think I was like, well, just go check on eBay. They there might be some out there on eBay, and I do think there's a handful of pairs out there if you want to go buy some of the old inventory off eBay. And he just kept kind of piling on, and it got me thinking, like, I love these shoes. I think they're incredible. They're they're great quality, they're cool. I just love them. And so I got to think, well, if I love them and other people love them, I want to know what happened, what happened to the brand. And if I have a negative, positive uh aspect to my character, it's that I've got too much follow-through on stuff. Like if I if I think about it, you know, it's a little dangerous. I'm gonna follow it through to the end. And so one afternoon I had some free time and I said, I'm gonna, I am going to find whoever it was that started this brand, and I'm gonna get them on the phone and I'm gonna figure out what happened. I want to know. And so I started googling around canoe's golf shoes. I figured out they were patented. I didn't know they were patented. As a lawyer, I knew how to run patent searches and check stuff out a little bit. So I start searching for the patents for canoe's golf, find the patent for the shoes, and then find these three names that the patent was assigned to, these three guys in Pennsylvania. And so then I start Googling uh these guys' names, and I finally find an email address. I'm like, okay, well, here we go. So I pack out an email that was something to the effect of hey, longtime fan, love the brand, love the shoes. I've got three questions. Number one, do you have a storage unit full of inventory? I need a new pair. I've got buddies that want pair. We would love to buy the storage unit. You know, that's that's I I just want more of these shoes. Number two, if you don't, you know, if I can find investors or capital, would you consider relaunching the bread? Would love to see you guys up and go again. I need a new pair. Or number three, I need a new pair. I need a new pair. It's all about me. Uh number three, would you just consider selling it? And I got an email, I mean, within 10 or 15 minutes that said, Hey, can you hop on a Zoom call tomorrow? Okay, sure. So hop on, talk with the guys, they tell me the story of how it got started, which is really cool. And they said, Yeah, we we've been praying and dreaming for you to come along for years. That this was our baby. This was something that we started together. It was three college friends, and we and they just ran out of capacity. They found up other opportunities they had to pursue. And they said, Yeah, we've been wanting for someone to pick up this torch and run with it. So, yes, we would love to sell it to you. We will open our playbook, we'll introduce you to all of our connections. Anybody that we know, we'll introduce you to, we'll set you up with a manufacturer. You can just pick it up and run with it. And that was in September, October. Football season was in full.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

I think October, maybe of what of what year and last year.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

Last year.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Okay, okay. So this is within six months.

unknown 13:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Absolutely. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

Yeah, six, six to nine months. And so here we are. We're now we're we went and traded prototypes back and forth with the manufacturer. Tad did his engineering thing, made a couple tweaks to make some small improvements, and we're expecting our first inventory to land here in three, four weeks.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

That's incredible. So, what was what what was the genesis for the creation of the shoe? So, for the listeners who couldn't aren't watching on YouTube, Josh held up a uh what it looks like, and it uh I hope y'all take this as not a uh negative comment. It's we're gonna say sperries with dolphins. That's what I was gonna say. It's a sperry with both.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

That's exactly how I describe them to everybody. We message people all the time on on Instagram and like, think of a sperries with spikes.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Yep, that's exactly what it looks like. So, how did that and what what was the cause of the creation of it?

SPEAKER_03 13:50

So these guys would meet up with their buddies, uh, they're in their 20s, they would meet up a couple times a week and play golf. And one day one of them went out and forgot his golf shoes, had a pair of sperries, and so he put them on, played. Of course, he was slipping all over the place. And uh Champ Sports, I don't know if Champ Sports is even around anymore. I haven't seen Champ Sports in a minute, but Champ Sports used to sell these uh screw-in spikes that you could screw into like any shoe. Um, and so he was like, Man, I really like wearing sperries. He went and bought a pair of those spikes, screwed them into those sperries, and those became his golf shoes. Well, he goes out with his buddies and shows them to them, and they're like, dude, I want I want a pair. Can you make me a pair of these? So yeah, so he starts making them for his friends, and then before he knows it, he's making them for friends of friends. And he says, you know what? I'm just gonna buy a wholesale order of these spikes. So he calls Chance Corporate, wherever their headquarters is. Hey, I want to order a wholesale order of these spikes. And whoever it was on the other phone, man, they changed his life and now changed our lives. Because they said, What are you doing? Why do you need a wholesale order of these spikes? You random individual. He says, Well, I'm making golf shoes out of them. I'm making the I'm taking sparities, I'm screwing them in and making these boat golf shoes. They said, Well, don't do that, just make the shoe. And he's like, Well, I don't know anything about making shoes. I didn't even I don't know anything about that. They said, Well, we'll we'll set you up with a manufacturer and someone we think that could probably do it for you, and you just go with them and just make it yourself. And so, boom, they did.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

So they hook up with um with the manufacturer that we still use and worked on it, designed it, and it's it's taken off to here today in 2026.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

And so you said deliveries coming in the first or the first orders that'll be delivered in the next, you said three or four weeks. Uh what I guess you're doing pre-sale right now or what?

SPEAKER_03 15:48

We've been running some pre-sale. We we turned on our pre-sale right around the masters. Uh that ever, you know, that's hype golf attention. Yeah. And uh had a pretty pretty good, successful first weekend. Uh, our next big marketing push will be around Father's Day to try and see how much of our inventory we can push off before we start taking next steps.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

So, did they sell y'all the brand and and uh you said they opened the books, everything at a premium or pennies on the dollar?

SPEAKER_03 16:17

Stuff well, so uh the conversation. We had a couple Zoom calls with them, and these guys were super cool. I I loved them, and they still they'll text us every now and then, and and we'll text them. And uh they said, here's the thing, we don't actually owe it. Um, our our buddy's um really rich dad funded the whole thing. So he he owns like all of it, and we've got a very minority stake, you know. Whatever you buy it for, he we'll get a little something, but he it's going to him. And he's a retired investment banker in Boston. And so we get on the phone, and and you can Google this guy's name, and there's all sorts of news stories and stuff about it. It was it's kind of legendary guy. We get on the phone with him, and he sounds like the godfather, and we would we would time our phone calls around the New England Patriots games on on Sundays, you know, and depending on whether they won or lost, was how good or bad the conversation would go. Yeah, thankfully, um what's his name, May? He had a good year, so we had a lot of good phone conferences.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah, they made it to the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Yeah, they're awesome. And um, so we became PAPS fans pretty quickly there. And uh so we talked to him, and it was it was just interesting dynamic because he's 80, I think, is what he told us. Okay, yeah. And it really, the whole vibe really got his juices flowing again. He was really wanting to negotiate with the Young Bucks and try and win the deal. And so we went back and forth on stuff and finally met to a number that we were comfortable with and a deal that he was comfortable with and signed the papers, and then it was off and around it. That's all we know.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

Well, congratulations. So, was there any inventory locked in any new storage buildings anywhere? None. Nope.

unknown 18:04

No.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Okay, they had sold all of it or given it all away back in like 2019, 2020, I think.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Okay, so this has been starting from the ground up, and and what is lead time looking like for you guys? I know you said first order's arriving in about a month, but what what is when did y'all place that initial order?

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Back in January, I think. Okay, January, February. But we had to we had to remake the molds. I'm saying words I don't exactly understand.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Like those are some of the first conversations with the manufacturers, like, okay, do you still have the molds? Uh, because the the sole, the outsole is molded, and he was like, We've still got them, let me check. So a couple days later, he comes back, he's like, Hey, the molds are all rusted out, we can't really salvage them, we'll need new molds. He was like, What sizes do you want? And so Josh wears a size 10, and Josh has a ton of experience with the the previous generation, so he's like, Okay, let's do size 10. So we we bought a mold and they made a size pair of size 10 and they sent them over. Josh played in them, he's like, Okay, these are great. And so then we had to start figuring out, you know, what sizes do we need? Like, we're bootstrapping this thing. We can't go from size 8 to 15 and every half size in between. And so we did some some statistical analysis to say, okay, I think here's the progression that we need. And so we had to kick off tooling for for all of those sizes, and so that caused probably uh a few weeks to maybe a month delay, and then kind of in the meantime, we had to pick out colors, and so the manufacturer sent us, we thought he was gonna send us two pairs, one of each color, and they show up and Josh gets a brown and Josh gets a navy, and he's like, crap, I can't even I can't play in these, like I'm I can't go missing my shoes.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

You could so you would be showcasing your entire color line. That's right. Basketball players do it all the time now, right now.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Right, just mix them up there. And so uh so we kicked off manufacturing, and that it really didn't take too terribly long. The I think the surprise to me was just how long overseas shipments and freight liners, and it's been a really uh interesting learning experience.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

And uh so tell me more about that. What what other than the the lead time and and just dealing with the manufacturers, what else have you got?

SPEAKER_01 20:38

The the forms you need, like you've gotta like the forms that impact the tariffs that will pay, that kind of stuff. And then it's like you have to give um uh power of attorney to them so that they can negotiate with the government and do all that stuff. And then, you know, they're on a boat uh coming across the seas, and then they'll land, I think, in LA, and then they'll loop around and come to Memphis, and then they'll get on a truck in Memphis, and uh I think the plan is to come to my house, and so we're gonna make some room here in a couple weeks and you know, store quite a few hundred pairs of shoes.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

So I'm fascinated just in general by the shoe, uh, largely because one of my favorite things to do is is after I've played a few loops and actual shoes, and maybe the competitive rounds are completed and we're still just whether it's uh joined up as a big group and just messing around, take off my shoes and and let my feet breathe a little bit. So I I I suspect there's some level of comfort that you pe people might wear these even like post-round. Like if you've played, I don't and you tell me, I'm I've never worn them, I but I plan on wearing some at some point. Is it something if I'm are you Josh? Are you playing a competitive round in these or is it more of the casual? Leisurely round. What is that?

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Let's define competitive. What do you determine as a competitive round?

SPEAKER_03 22:08

I'll I'll say this is one of the questions. Yeah, this is one of the questions I've gotten from what I would call serious golfers. I know a few college golfers or college golfers to be, and they say, Man, like, can I turn in those? I believe, I believe if Rory McElroy can drive the ball 350 yards in whatever Nike series he's wearing, he can drive it 350 yards in these. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Yeah, I would agree. Like, uh, so full disclosure, like, I had never won a pair. My pair showed up uh what maybe a few weeks ago because I I had the manufacturer send myself a pair in each color, and then uh a pair for an influencer that I'm gonna play golf with here in a few weeks. And so we took them out and tested on. I was really impressed at the level of traction. I did not think it hindered my golf game one bit. I don't play a ton, but I mean I had a pretty good day that day.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

So no one of the my complaints uh, and I'm my days of wearing sperries are are a little uh behind me. Um, but they used to get slimy on the inside um or sweaty, just kind of grimy. Is that something that happens with these, or what's what kind of material is on the inside?

SPEAKER_03 23:26

So they've got leather uh insoles, and then it's sort of a what would you call the the foot, the insole here that you get?

SPEAKER_01 23:36

I think the soul, so the sole is kind of like what you would see in a um like any other shoe. So it's like a orthopedic type, you know, a good comfortable insole, but it's got kind of a um uh like a leather texture to it.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Okay. That sounds different than Josh has played in his.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

I mean, even this latest pair, he's probably played in them, I don't know, 10, 20 times maybe already.

SPEAKER_03 24:03

These right here, these are the prototypes. These aren't even the final edition. That's what they sent me before they sent the dual-colored pair. I've got 20 rounds in these this year, I'm sure. And uh another question we get is some guys are like, man, I don't I don't really like not wearing socks. Do they stink? I was going, I was about to ask that. Yeah. They don't, they they smell like leather. Wow, okay. They smell like just like leather shoes. Um I wear lots of lots of loafers at to work and stuff every day. I probably ever wear socks unless I'm going to the gym. And because of the it's the leather uh interior, they just don't stink.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Yeah, okay. That's good to know. So so what is long-term plan for canoes? Um I mean, first order's coming in soon. So that well, I'll only back up a second because I am Tad, you mentioning that all of the shoes are being delivered to your house. What does distribution look like?

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Well, it probably looks like me printing a shipping label and uh packing it up and dropping it at UPS or FedEx on my way to work each day. And y'all have already got a bunch of pre-orders, right? We do. Okay. We do. We've got a decent amount, and we've got uh we've got a guy that was connected with the original founders that's on board helping us promote, and I think he's he's maybe already got a golf trip group uh willing to buy maybe 20 pairs or so. So like, you know, it'll be I think kind of long term, it'll be slow growth uh for a while to kind of get the name out there, and then we've got some some ideas on kind of where we go next with like a canvas version. The the the original canoes made uh a can canvas style shoe as well, which I I think we'll we'll add, and women's shoes and see how big we can make this thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Yeah, so right now there's brown and navy available on the site, and I think let's see, you go from sizes nine, nine and a half, ten, ten and a half, eleven, and then twelve and thirteen. And like you said, you did some market analysis, and that's generally speaking, what most people are gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

It covers probably about 70 to 72 percent of men's shoes. Okay, and so it's like okay, if we can get close to three-fourths of guys out there, that's that's okay, that's doable. I think we've got some friends that have really small feet, and they're they're kind of mad that we we didn't make a size eight and and we didn't make a size 15.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

And I was like, Yeah, and I got a buddy the buddy that was originally the the guy that wouldn't let it go that was like, Man, I really want these, I really want these. He's a size 15, so he's irked. And I was like, Well, man, these molds cost money. I've got to be able to sell enough size 15s to pay for the mold, you know. Yeah, maybe in round four we'll get you.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

But that's hilarious. So distribution and everything, but yeah, what what is you you said the slow growth? Are you guys just gonna stay web-based and selling through social media and selling your website? Are you gonna try and get any any pro shops locally?

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Or we've we've kicked around the idea of going pro shops. I think the original founders, that was their ideal business model was to get in in the as many shops as possible. I think that is it's just the two of us with uh you know fairly full-time jobs, and we both have large families. I've got four kids, who's got three, so we're we're fairly busy. Uh, I'm not sure we've got that kind of hustle in us to go out and run down pro shops and stuff. So we're kicking around a few ideas on maybe there's uh a different alternative to how we approach pro shops, but uh, we'll hopefully come up with something.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

So, Ted, you just pointed out something that's pretty important. Um, you do have seven sets of hands between the two of y'all that can help label boxes. So that oh yes, yeah, but that's actually the work.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

The cool thing is is like the way I I think this is gonna work. Um, so when we went through the design process, I had seen another brand do this idea to where they're not shipping the shoes in cardboard. And so we went to the manufacturer and was like, what does this look like? And so we designed the shoe carrier, and that's what the shoes will come to us in. We're just gonna take that and slide it into a bag and then slap a label on it. Yeah, it's a pretty rigid structure. Uh, and that way, like if if you want a shoe bag, you can use it, but if not, like it's an alternative for us using a cardboard box.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

I am very familiar with the brand you were talking about. I I own about 30% of the city. I think they do a great job.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah, yeah. I think it's I think with canoes, you could uh put the canoes on in your car, and if you wanted to, you know, throw some beverages in that shoe carrier to slide in, you could probably get away with it.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

And that's how the other company markets it. They're like, hey, this is a shag bag, yeah, you catch all, make it a cooler or whatever. That's that's brilliant. So are you? I guess you're gonna save some on shipping then by going soft sided.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

I think so. Yes. Okay. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Yeah. Um, man, this is this is really cool. And have you gotten any other prototypes in that you've been able to distribute? Like you mentioned, you were playing with an influencer. What kind of feedback do you take from them?

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Uh I well, I'm taking it to him. Uh it just works out. I'm gonna be in Phoenix for a sales meeting here in a few weeks. And so I've guy I've followed on my personal account for years. I'd messaged him. He was like, Those are really cool. I'd wear those. He's like, I want to wear those in the summer with no show socks. I was like, okay, awesome. I'll get you a pair. And so he and I are gonna meet up and play here in uh two or three weeks, I think. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

That's very cool. So if if listeners want to find you guys, what's the best way to track down canoes?

SPEAKER_01 29:51

So on Instagram, it's canoes.gov. And then uh, I believe it's the same on TikTok, and then online it's canoes.com. C-A-N-O-O-S.com. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

Perfect. Well, I want to ask you guys some some quick hitter questions um before before we get out of here. Uh, and I'll start with you, Josh. What is the favorite your favorite new course to play in the last 12 months?

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Okay, so near us, in there is uh a very uh low-key retirement community of people from all over the country in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. Are you talking about illusion? There are no um I think I'm I I've got another story about election. Uh no, there's a village of of nine courses. Um, God, they're all probably within 15 miles of each other of this small community. It's called Hot Springs Village, and people from all over the country come and retire there, and they play all these courses, and they've all got a bunch of senior citizen activities for them to do. But I played one out there I have not played in a long time ever. It was called Cortez, and it was just awesome. I had a great day. Probably love it because I played well that day. Um, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

And you were in canoes, correct? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

So you don't play in any other kind of golf shoe. So when I committed, uh when I committed to go all in on this, I threw all my other shoes away. I love it. I mean, you said you said you, if anything, you're gonna follow through.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

You're gonna do it, baby. Which I I it'd be a tough sell for you to be playing golf in something else and try, and then somebody's like, hey, what do you do? And by the time this thing is a full-time gig, you can't be like, oh, I own a golf shoe company. Oh, these are the games.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Oh no, the Marshalls stopped us a couple weeks ago because we both had we had different colors on, and he looked at us and goes, uh, I've never seen anybody play golf in shoes like that. And so I walked over and showed them to him. He was like, That's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Yeah, that's that's really cool. Tad, what's your favorite course new to you in the last public?

SPEAKER_01 31:59

I think uh I'm trying to think new courses I've played in the last year. Maybe one of the uh Disney courses. I think it's uh Magnolia at Disney World and Orlando is probably one of the few new places. I sadly um between kids and work, I don't I don't get to venture out and play that much anymore.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Okay. What's your favorite club in the bag right now, Tad?

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Ooh, uh Seveniron.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Okay, Josh Four Iron. Four iron? Why four iron? That's disgusting.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

I slapped it. Okay. I and and I when I pull my driver out, most of the time it goes uh 300 yards. It goes 150 uh forward and then another 150 right.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

It goes and then takes a right turn. Yeah, yeah. Josh, Josh plays this big banana curl, um, and he has for a really long time now. So when the driver's not working, four iron's the backup.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

Okay. Two years ago, I said, you know what, we gotta this, we I've been doing this too long. And surely there's another way. And so I can hit a four iron 215, maybe 220, and that that gets me in range. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Uh, Tad, I'll start with you on this one. What is the craziest comment you've gotten from a family member regarding starting this company?

SPEAKER_01 33:16

You know, uh really everybody's been very supportive of it. I mean, they I think my my wife thought it was kind of a crazy idea, and she was like, whatever, just go for it. Um, but they've all been really supportive and it's it's fun. I mean, it gives Josh and I an opportunity to work together, so that's that's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 33:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Josh?

SPEAKER_03 33:41

Same. Um I've had a couple of projects, not uh one to this scale, where I've approached my wife and said, Hey, I don't think I don't think I'm gonna do this, but I'm thinking about maybe we should maybe we should look at buying X, or maybe we should do this. What what do you think? And and that's the first conversation of five conversations where the fifth conversation is me going, all right, we're doing it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

And here we are. Oh, that's that's great. Uh all right, Josh. Your dream force them. They can be dead or alive. Who would be in it?

SPEAKER_03 34:18

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Um, me, Tad, Brotherly Love. I like it. I was wondering if we were gonna include each other or not.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

Um Scotty and Speed. And Speith. I've always liked those Dallas guys. I I root for them. They're just I'm a I'm a Shefford fanboy, man. I love all the stories about him like, you know, winning the free car from the car lot, and then he's like looking at used suburban for his wife. And I I I just I love all that. So he just seems like the most normal guy. Yeah. Especially to have the success that he has. I love just to, you know, I really follow him around. I have no business, you know, playing the same track as him on the same day, but but it'd be fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Tad, your dream foresome.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

So I'd probably go with Josh, and then I'd probably uh He wasn't gonna say that before, but I was we're we're pretty close. Uh John Daly. Oh, because John's a fellow Arkansan and is uh just seems like a really great individual and good time. And then a fourth one. Maybe Jack Nicholas. I'd like to see that. That'd be fun.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

That that's uh oil and water with Jack and and and Daly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

Yeah, we probably with John, you ride with Jack.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

That'll be the vibes.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Um, guys, thanks for taking time to come on and and talk about your brand. I'm really excited to keep up with canoes and see what you guys do. Uh see the launch. Uh, I already know what I'm gonna get my father for Father's Day now, thanks to having you guys on the show. So be looking for that order to ship to Birmingham uh in the next day or si day or two. Um, but uh guys, again, tell people where they can find your shoes. What's the website? What's the URL? And then what does shipping time look like for when they place orders?

SPEAKER_03 36:16

Sure. And so um, in response, thank you for having us. Man, there have been moments along the way over the last nine months where, you know, we we've had conversations and like, are we crazy? Are we is this stupid? Is this the dumbest idea ever, or is it awesome? I, you know, and we feel like it's awesome, but maybe it's stupid. And it's days like today when you'll give us, you know, 45 minutes of attention and talk about it that makes us feel a little bit like maybe we're not as crazy as we think we are. So thank you for giving us the platform and the time to discuss it. Absolutely. Um www.canoews.com and shipping time will be uh we'll ship them out within 48 hours of an order, won't we, Ted? Oh yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

So you've already got stock, you already have inventory in?

SPEAKER_01 37:10

No, no, no. Once once the inventory gets here in a few weeks, we uh we'll ship what has already been ordered that day or the next day. And then I think ongoing, we'll we'll get them shipped out almost, you know, same day if if possible, just depending on when the order's place. But they should be delivered uh within a couple days, I would imagine. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you guys again for Josh and Tad Farmer. I'm Josh Decker, and this has been another episode of Off the Deck.