Player Profile
Home Course – Del Mar Country Club
Handicap – 5.3 (Low Index)
Lowest Round – 74 (Rancho Bernardo Inn)
Golfstix is an online marketplace to buy and sell golf gear. The easy-to-use, worry-free platform offers a verification service to identify counterfeits, eliminate scammers, and guarantee trust between users.
Meet the tech founder who is changing the way golfers buy and sell golf clubs online
Why did you start this business?
Quite frankly, I was tired of getting scammed.
As a club junkie and collector, I’ve bought and sold clubs on almost every online platform including eBay, GolfWRX, Facebook groups, and more.
Unfortunately many enthusiasts and I have fallen victim to scammers with peer-to-peer transactions. Buyers and sellers have been ripped off in so many ways – from counterfeit items to fraudulent chargebacks to sellers not shipping items as promised – no platform existed to avoid these nightmares. I had enough.
After co-founding a fintech company and taking it public a few years ago, I decided it was time for my next venture… to provide the safest, most secure marketplace to buy and sell golf gear. Golfstix was born.
Why Golfstix? What is the differentiated value?
It’s estimated that more than 2 million counterfeit clubs are produced each year, according to the U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group (i.e. Callaway, Cleveland, Cobra, PXG, Ping, Scotty Cameron, Srixon, TaylorMade, Titleist and others). It’s a real problem for the secondary or peer-to-peer market.
Our innovative Golfstix Verified service is the ultimate solution to prevent fraud and guarantee trust between users. Available to both buyers and sellers, Golfstix Verified is a video-recorded package inspection performed by industry experts before the item is shipped to the buyer. We verify that the item is authentic and prevent other peer-to-peer marketplace scams, including fraudulent chargebacks and returns.
We also offer Golfstix Studio services or ‘retrofitting’ at checkout, in which any new or used seller listing can be custom built to your personal specs including length, loft, lie, and swingweight. We offer additional club component options including new grips, premium shafts, and custom ferrules.
So let’s say you find a great quality set of used clubs on our marketplace but want them shortened one-half inch, bent 2 degrees flat, and new mid-sized grips installed. We can do it all for you in one seamless transaction, at a fraction of the price it costs from a pro shop or custom club builder.
Golfstix is designed for the golfer, by the golfer. At the end of the day, I wanted to build a platform with more added-value and less fees than eBay… and we’ve done just that.
Golfstix Verified service prevents counterfeits, scams, and guarantees trust between users. Club specs are also confirmed on purchases.
How did you become so passionate about golf?
I played competitive sports all of my life. I was an All-American volleyball player in high-school and when I finally realized I wasn’t going to be 6’6” (I’m only 6’1”) I knew my days of volleyball at the next level were numbered. San Diego State forced my hand as a freshman when they cut their NCAA Division I Champion Men’s program in 2000 due to a Title IX measure. It was time to move on.
I lived on the beach in Oceanside and my college roommate worked at Goat Hill Park nearby. We played often and I fell in love with the game. My putting always sucked and I knew it was holding me back to scoring better. Tiger always talked about his ‘feels’ and so I decided to dive hard into ‘putting feels’ to hone my craft. Different head shapes, materials, weights, necks, etc. It was years before all of the putter fitting technology existed. It was ‘buy and try’ and then eventually I’d ‘flip’ or sell on eBay or other platforms.
Golfstix is designed for the golfer, by the golfer. At the end of the day, I wanted to build a platform with more value and less fees than eBay… and we’ve done just that.
Through GolfWRX threads and Facebook groups, I discovered a world of handcrafted putters made by steelsmiths all over the world. Many collectors equate them to ‘works of art’ as opposed to just another club in the bag. Believe it or not, there’s been many talented putter craftsmen to make premium, fine-milled putters over the years not named Scotty Cameron. T.P. Mills, Byron Morgan, Tyson Lamb, Lamont Mann, and Kari Lajosi to name just a few. But none of these putters are available at your local pro shop or at Golf Galaxy. I bought and sold through independent seller marketplaces and learned a lot along the way to becoming a self-proclaimed ‘collector’.
Putters turned into vintage classic clubs, persimmon woods (MacGregor and Wood Bros), and coveted hickory clubs from Scotland (Tom Stewart). I started collecting older stuff and discovered a new-found appreciation for the game. In fact, my buddies and I will take out hickory sets to play at Del Mar CC and have an absolute blast. They’re not as hard to hit as you think and they ‘feel’ amazing!
What have been some challenges you have overcome in your business?
We protected our registered mark from another company in the golf industry that wished for us to change our name. It wasn’t happening for me. I love our brand! Despite my efforts to collaborate and grow together, they chose to pursue legal action. Over six figures in legal fees and a year later, we defended our mark and won. Golfstix is here to stay people!
Fortunately [knocks on wood], we haven’t had any other major setbacks in our early development and get-to-market phase. I’m pleased to say we’ve been ‘boot-strappy’ to date. I raised $2MM from an angel investor and have had a very tight monthly burn rate for the past 3 years. I think VC-backed tech deals can get out of control with their fundraising and spending. Human capital is great but I’m convinced we’ve done extremely well with the money we’ve spent and milestones we’ve achieved. We haven’t splurged on any key hire salaries. I’m excited to see how much we can grow with another strategic $1MM of seed capital and a more significant Series A round in the next few years. User acquisition is our focus now… attracting sellers and buyers (i.e. supply and demand).
I’m pleased to say we’ve been ‘boot-strappy’ to date… we’ve done extremely well with the money we’ve spent and the milestones we’ve achieved.
What’s next for Golfstix?
Spreading the word to the masses. We’ve been so tight-lipped about the platform to get everything right during our beta launch last year that we’re finally at a place where we can confidently market ourselves and leverage golf industry relationships to grow the user base. Upcoming limited-drop ‘Premium Auctions’ and collabs with boutique golf brands should create some exciting buzz on social media.
Development-wise, we have several initiatives we are releasing soon. For sellers, we’re launching an eBay integration with cross-channel inventory management for power-sellers. They’ll be able to link their existing eBay store with Golfstix and instantly copy their listings to sell on Golfstix and multiple channels moving forward.
And I think buyers will be most excited about our AI-powered Golfstix Studio ‘Remote Fitting’ feature, in which users can record their swing on the range using their mobile phone and get fit remotely. You won’t have to spend thousands of dollars to get fit for brand new clubs. You’ll finally be able to get custom-fit for a quality used set at a fraction of the price of other club fitters, such as GOLFTEC, Club Champion, and True Spec Golf.
It should be a very busy and exciting 2024!
Feel free to drop Steve a note at [email protected] or visit Golfstix.com to buy or sell golf gear, safely and securely.
