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PGA Show Notes: Greenup making the best of recycled coffee grounds

Full Swing continues pursuit of improved performance data; PuttBuddies has a firm leg to stand on

ORLANDO, Florida — What will they think of next?

The New Product Zone at the PGA Show in Orlando always produces some head-turning items. But can you imagine your golf tees made of coffee?

That’s correct. Greenup, a Denmark-based company, has invented and designed tees, divot tools, ball marks and pencils from recycled coffee grounds.

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Greenup uses recycled coffee grounds to create tees, pencils and divot tools.

Greenup is now partnering with Volle Golf to soon begin distributing the unique product in the United States. Volle is already helping get the product placed in large box stores in Australia, Japan and New Zealand.   

“It's very, very eco-friendly. There is no deforesting, no cutting down trees and no microplastic,” says Kristian Kohn, Greenup director and co-founder. “And on top of that you still get the same durability and functionality.”

Conventional golf tees are normally made out of wood or plastic.  

“We collect the coffee grinds, dry them out and then make a little bit of magic,” Kohn says. “It’s very simple technology, but saying that, it’s not simple collecting the coffee and executing the separation and the drying. That's kind of complicated.”

A package of 25 tees retails for $8. Kohn said the company should launch in the United States in a few months and will explore some different packaging options.

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Kohn says the startup company is 2½ years old and he is excited to see how the firm can grow with distribution starting in the United States and with the golf season rolling toward spring.

“I do believe proof of concept is already there, but when we start selling more tees in North America we can add local production and it will create jobs,” he says.

The most crowded section of the PGA Show floor belongs to the dozen or so golf simulator companies. Attendees were lined up five deep at many locations for a chance to take a swing or two and await their results.

FULL SWING NOT RESTING ON LAURELS
Full Swing, founded back in 1986 as the first such simulator company in the United States, likely never dreamed that competition would become so fierce and that some golf simulator setups would cost more than $60,000. Or that there would be a pro golf league staged indoors using golf simulators. 

“Well, we've been in business for almost 40 years now so people can call us kind of the pioneers of the space,” says Evan El Saden, Full Swing’s vice president of product innovation and programs.

"We’ve had an opportunity to create intellectual property that we protect and iterate on all the time," he added of the firm’s dual-tracking technology that has now evolved into tri-tracking technology. "Our IP really allows the simulator to get instantaneous transitions of the ball into the virtual world and then shot shaping wherever the ball hits the screen ... and allows the ball to appear where you actually hit the screen."

On Wednesday, Full Swing announced a strategic partnership with Clippd, a new technology that allows golfers and instructors to input, connect and elevate performance data into a single platform.

"Complacency is the enemy of achievement," says El Saden when asked about possible competitors.  

Full Swing’s list of brand ambassadors is truly impressive — from Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm to football quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

"Those ambassadors wouldn’t  be with us unless our technology was tried and proven. So, it's a good testimonial for what we do," El Saden says. "And the advent of TGL kind of speaks to where we are in the space relative to the competition. It’s a tech infused golf league, so why not pick the best tech to run a tech infused golf league? They had their chance to pick all these other companies you're talking about but they chose us and it's for a reason."

PuttBuddies
Chris Nolin's PuttBuddies divot tools and ball marks feature light-hearted cartoon and movie characters.

A PRODUCT WITH LEGS
Chris Nolin was playing golf two years ago and noticed that a divot tool looked a lot like something with legs.

And to his surprise, his innovative business idea to turn divot tools into his knockoff version of cartoon characters and others soon had “legs.”

Playing with the idea on Etsy, his creative divot tool designs became the No. 1 seller — not just golf products, but top seller — of all products on the e-commerce online platform for a week.

“They went insanely viral,” says Nolin, who is showcasing his product at the PGA Show. “I said, ‘OK, I’ve got to do something with this.”’

Nolin took the money from the Etsy sales and started exploring licensing deals.

“It turned out no one had seen a product like ours, and they were all really excited,” said Nolin, the founder and CEO of PuttBuddies.

Fast forward to today and Nolan has struck deals with some heavyweights.

“We were the first golf company in 20 years to license Barbie and Mattel. We got Paramount, SpongeBob, South Park, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Nolan, 35, says. “It has been really cool, as an artist, to be able to collaborate with TV shows and cartoons that I grew up watching.”

And this spring, PuttBuddies is launching an entire Warner Brothers collection, which will include Batman, Superman and an official Caddyshack product line.

Nolin has even done a version of former NFL All-Pro defensive back Ed Reed, who wanted a design for his charity golf tournament. Reed’s helmet comes off and is used as the ball marker.

The divot tool/ball marker magnetic combination retails for $30 and is available online and in such locations as Golf Galaxy and the PGA Superstore.


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