Everyone has a story, and to be frank, I wouldn't consider mine to be very unique. Growing up in Vancouver, Canada, I was a pretty normal kid. I participated in most sports, and although I would consider myself to be athletic in the sense that I picked up sports quicker than most, I didn't exactly have the dedication to one, in particular, to excel. That was until the summer of '96.
My grandparents had a house on Shuswap Lake, which is about five hours northeast of Vancouver. That memorable July, our family-owned resort, Scotch Creek Cottages opened for business, so I spent Saturdays cleaning cabins. It was one day out of the 92 summer days when my Grandma asked, "Do you want to go play pitch & putt?" I said yes that day, and haven't stopped saying yes to golf since.
In April of '97, Tiger won his first Masters by 12 strokes. My mind gravitates to that moment when I'm asked when I fell in love with golf. In 2000 I received a used set of Ben Hogan Apex muscle back's and a $200 all-you-can-play membership to Shuswap Lake Estates. I recall getting dropped off in the mornings and 36 holes later getting picked up. This routine became a religion. Now, a fairweather golfer, then, wind nor rain could stop me from practicing my pursuit.
Fast forward to 2018, gone are the days of double rounds and gifted golf clubs. I needed a new set of wedges, but after searching, and feeling both baffled by the price, and uninspired by the selection, I thought the golf industry needs to do better. In the months that followed my revelation, I wrestled with my admiration of the sport and what it was. The companies and their historical influences, the players, the essence of the sport. The dichotomy of the past versus the present, and how I could make my mark.
The learning curve, not for the agnostic of golfers. It was and still is a 24/hr, 365-day commitment. The untangling of decades-old Marketing, re-fashioning it to its purest form, where a swoosh or an extra gleam doesn't influence the price or the play.
It would be too simple to say I started haywoodgolf because I wanted an inexpensive alternative for people when choosing their clubs. I could throw around sentiments like changing the world and leaving something behind, and while all these things ring true, the best way to articulate why haywoodgolf exists is that everyone has a story, so why shouldn’t this be mine?