It’s entirely safe to say that Swag Golf is one of the game’s non-traditional companies. Swag’s executives like to say the company is “disruptive.”
If you’re not familiar with Swag, a look at its website would quickly confirm that the Illinois-based company doesn’t make your grandfather’s or your father’s or maybe even your brother-in-law’s headcovers. Known from the beginning as a high-end putter company and for its original motto, “Don’t Give a Putt,” many of Swag’s creations feature caricatures of skulls and dead presidents wearing sunglasses in all manner of iridescent colors.
So, it’s either an upset or a coup — maybe both — that unconventional Swag convinced the ultra-traditional PGA of America to choose it to design the players’ staff bags for the U.S. Ryder Cup team that will compete against the Europeans in September at Bethpage Black in New York.
The result is a creation that features the best of two worlds, as far as Swag is concerned. From afar, the bag is emblazoned with the letters “USA” in traditional red, white and blue with stars and stripes that you would expect from a Ryder Cup bag. You’ll find the Swag imprint up close. Etched into the bag’s panels are the Liberty Bell, Mount Rushmore, the White House and the Capitol Building. A Swag-inspired “seal” is on the front panel, inscribed with “Liberty and Justice Fore All” and “In Keegan We Trust” — a nod to U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Keegan Bradley.
“We used old sort of etching illustrations that you might see on currency, or stock certificates,” says A.J. Getz, Swag creative director. “We wanted to make sure that we are packing a lot of detail into this bag. We liked the idea that the design works on multiple levels. From afar it reads very patriotic, bold and modern, but as you get up close and personal with the bag, you can see a depth of craft and an attention to detail.”
On the bag’s bottom panel is a reproduction of Bethpage Black’s famous first-tee sign that reads: “WARNING: The Black Course Is An Extremely Difficult Course Which We Recommend Only For Highly Skilled Golfers.”
The collaboration between Swag and the PGA had its genesis in 2021 when U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Steve Stricker asked his wife, Nicki, to contact Swag to make some special headcovers as captain’s gifts for the players. The players were so struck by the design that many of them used the Swag headcovers during the matches instead of the company with which the PGA had partnered. The scenario repeated itself at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome with Zach Johnson as captain.
“It's obviously hard to tell Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau what they can and can't use,” says Griffin Glatt, chief revenue officer at Swag.
The under-the-radar relationship became official after Glatt approached the PGA of America with the idea of going further than gifted headcovers. But that would require that Swag would walk a fine line between traditional and, well, Swag.
We needed to know if (the PGA) would allow Swag to be Swag,” Glatt says. “And that was sort of our largest hangup during the whole thing, was, if we're going to do this deal, we want Swag to be brought to life in the in a way that we're proud of and give credit to the PGA of America.”
There were eight different presentations of Swag’s design before Bradley signed off on the current model. Having Ryder Cup players use a Swag bag will bring the company a level of exposure the company has yet to experience.
“It provides a different type of validity to the brand and it's our largest marketing moment ever,” Glatt says. “But this was about much more than selling golf bags. This is about showing up on the global stage and having this be the most recognizable moment ever for us as a brand. And it's been great thus far. And I think we're, you know, we're very hopeful that will continue to happen, obviously in the lead up to the Ryder Cup, and then obviously, peak during that week at Bethpage."
Swag will offer the Ryder Cup bags — in staff and stand styles — on its website (swag.golf), along with Dick’s Sporting Goods (dicks.com) and Golf Galaxy (golfgalaxy.com). A select number of Dick’s and Golf Galaxy brick-and-mortar stores will have the bags in stock, beginning June 13.
