Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2: Morning.
Speaker 3: Everybody's d J n V Jess Hilarius Charlamagne the guy.
Speaker 3: We are the Breakfast Club. He got a special guest
Speaker 3: in the building.
Speaker 2: Yes, we have Elijah One.
Speaker 3: Did I say that right? John Cole Okay and Earl Cooper,
Speaker 3: welcome brothers.
Speaker 2: Elija One.
Speaker 4: I always hear your first name as a last name.
Speaker 4: I've never I've never met an Elijah One. Who was
Speaker 4: Elijah One? Who was the first name.
Speaker 1: That's because, yeah, I was born in Houston.
Speaker 5: I was born in Houston, but my family was a
Speaker 5: big rock They were both big Rockets fans, and yeah,
Speaker 5: just one thing led to another. First name is last name?
Speaker 5: Is my first name? Got so his name that was
Speaker 5: that was my father. He was born in South Memphis
Speaker 5: and he changed his name joined the Black Panthers when
Speaker 5: he was about twenty four. Cage his name from Robert
Speaker 5: Rutliche to Kwamea Johanaku and now I'm Elijah one Ja.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they want the slave master name.
Speaker 2: What's your ancestry?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Nigerian, Okay, but it's uh, it's a name, but uh,
Speaker 5: but it's split in between the two.
Speaker 1: They were just big Houston Rockets.
Speaker 6: And then when I first met Earl, I didn't realize
Speaker 6: I never met a young Earl before.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you got to grow into definitely, you ain't growing
Speaker 7: to it yet. You still look too young for Earl.
Speaker 1: Butright I got I got.
Speaker 8: A son on the way. He's gonna be Earl too.
Speaker 2: I mean, DMNX made it a classic name.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right about that.
Speaker 3: So how did you guys get into golf? What what
Speaker 3: made you say? Golf is the sport that I want
Speaker 3: to do. I want to try. I love and talk
Speaker 3: about that your passion for golf.
Speaker 5: A friend of the family introduced me to the game.
Speaker 5: I grew up with his sons playing golf. We all
Speaker 5: ended up getting golf scholarships to college.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 5: But the thing was, we ended up playing basketball and
Speaker 5: golf growing up, so we're really competitive.
Speaker 1: And it was just on the east side of Atlanta.
Speaker 5: I mean it was a way to stay out of
Speaker 5: the streets for real, like off Bouldercrest Road, you know,
Speaker 5: east side.
Speaker 1: It was tough.
Speaker 5: But right when I leave, because right when I leave
Speaker 5: the golf course, I mean the hood is right there.
Speaker 5: But like when I'm at the golf course, like it
Speaker 5: was positive influences always at the golf course. I didn't
Speaker 5: really have that as much at home as much at home,
Speaker 5: but why not go to the golf course and actually
Speaker 5: get that? So judges, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, these are the
Speaker 5: people that I'm looking up to, Like, how are these
Speaker 5: people at eleven am on a Tuesday just out and
Speaker 5: about doing their own thing? And now it was golf.
Speaker 5: So I just wanted to be a part of that
Speaker 5: and have that to be a part of my life.
Speaker 5: So that's what really just pushed me to it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and you're from Delaware.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, I'm from Delaware and really yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: Why don't know people really get it from there?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 8: I told you two how long with two of us?
Speaker 8: Two black people?
Speaker 7: But you played golf too, right?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 9: I started playing golf at the age of six inner
Speaker 9: city Youth GoF program. It was called the LPGA Urban
Speaker 9: Youth Golf Program, and my parents just signed me up,
Speaker 9: like nobody in my family played. And I often like
Speaker 9: to say I'm happy that my dad didn't listen to
Speaker 9: a six year old because left up to me, I
Speaker 9: was like, I don't want to do this, you know
Speaker 9: where all my friends where everybody looked like me, but
Speaker 9: he kept me in it. And then at thirteen, I
Speaker 9: ended up winning a Golf Channel drive chip and putt,
Speaker 9: which is like a free trip to Disney World. I
Speaker 9: was on TV and I'm like, man, if every golf
Speaker 9: tournament like this, I'm ready to practice.
Speaker 8: And you know, it was fortunate enough.
Speaker 9: Elajauwana and I you know, had a golf scholarship the
Speaker 9: Morese College and played on the golf team there and
Speaker 9: that's where we met.
Speaker 2: Break that down for you said it's called the Inner City.
Speaker 9: It was called the LPGA, which is a Ladies Professional
Speaker 9: Golf Association. So they had a ladies major event in
Speaker 9: Wilming teams called the McDonald Championship and they created like
Speaker 9: a nonprofit off of that and it was that urban
Speaker 9: youth GoF program. So again just trying to get young
Speaker 9: kids involved in the game. And then for us, I'll
Speaker 9: say that's what also kind of helped shape our point
Speaker 9: of view because everyone's like, well, how did y'all get here?
Speaker 9: And these programs are great, but you need an evolved adult,
Speaker 9: right Like all of you all have kids, so you're
Speaker 9: not just gonna drop call it a ten year old
Speaker 9: off at a golf course, right, or the average age
Speaker 9: is a fifty year old white man, right, and he
Speaker 9: come back like what happened?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 8: So it takes an evolved adult.
Speaker 9: And that's one of the things that we're always constantly
Speaker 9: encouraging people like go with the kid, you know what
Speaker 9: I mean, whatever that may be.
Speaker 8: So a lot of our focus has.
Speaker 9: Been on young professionals, not necessarily just the kids because
Speaker 9: we don't even make kids close just shit.
Speaker 4: I wonder how much Tiger Woods made people feel like,
Speaker 4: influence people, influence people to touch, reach out the young
Speaker 4: black kid and try to get them involved.
Speaker 9: In go I mean he was yeah, everything for us
Speaker 9: like coming up Tiger Woods was you know, he dominated it.
Speaker 8: He made us want to watch it. You know, you
Speaker 8: want to be just like Tiger when.
Speaker 5: I mean the catalyst for me when I was thirteen,
Speaker 5: actually I was playing golf at It's across from East
Speaker 5: Lake Country Club in Atlanta where they hold it to
Speaker 5: a championship.
Speaker 1: Y'all definitely got to come out for that.
Speaker 5: But across from there, Charlie Yates Junior Academy in two
Speaker 5: thousand and one actually got sponsored by Nike to go
Speaker 5: up to Chicago I got a thirty minute lesson from
Speaker 5: Tiger Woods and Earlwoods at the time when his father
Speaker 5: was still here. So I mean, ever since then, I
Speaker 5: just been on it. You know, I've been hungry for
Speaker 5: the game. I mean everything that it entitles, as far
Speaker 5: as like gives you, you know, and just the people
Speaker 5: that it surrounds you, that surrounds you because you play it.
Speaker 1: So it's the wonders for me.
Speaker 7: But what made you y'all want to stick with it?
Speaker 8: Though?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 6: Because I know you said if you when you were six,
Speaker 6: you wouldn't want to do it.
Speaker 2: It's born.
Speaker 6: That's the first thing that you know, people arguing they
Speaker 6: say about it.
Speaker 7: What made y'all want.
Speaker 6: To stick with it? Y'all actually have a golfing brand.
Speaker 6: Like what people are buying is y'all got stores about
Speaker 6: to open up and airports and everything. Y'all's still about
Speaker 6: to have y'all peril and what North Stroum.
Speaker 8: Like right now right here in New York.
Speaker 6: Yeah, what made y'all want to stick with that? You
Speaker 6: don't really see a lot of us in golf.
Speaker 1: Right Yeah.
Speaker 5: So honestly, for me, golf changed my life. I mean,
Speaker 5: as far as temperament, resilience, you know, I mean everything
Speaker 5: that I am as far as like just hard work
Speaker 5: and structure. I mean, because when you look at golf
Speaker 5: and every shot that you take in golf, it's individual.
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying. You can't look at the
Speaker 5: entire thing is you get it lost. But that's just
Speaker 5: like life. You got to take you one step at
Speaker 5: a time, a day at a time, you know. And
Speaker 5: golf just taught me to be really intricate on each
Speaker 5: single detail.
Speaker 1: And that's I literally just relate that.
Speaker 5: Over to my professional career as far as corporate finance
Speaker 5: when I was in that about to become VP of
Speaker 5: sales over to here running a business. You know, there's
Speaker 5: steps to it and you have to build systems to
Speaker 5: be successful.
Speaker 1: And it's crazy.
Speaker 5: I use all of those things from golf to relay
Speaker 5: it onto my business and it's been working.
Speaker 3: When do you take the step to be professional as
Speaker 3: far as a golfer? Right, you know, you see all
Speaker 3: these people, everybody's into golf, and but when is it professional?
Speaker 3: And break it down a little bit like we all
Speaker 3: know basketball, we know thee A draft, we all know football,
Speaker 3: we know thee A draft, we know baseball you go
Speaker 3: into the d League or the farm League as they
Speaker 3: call it. So how does golf work when it comes
Speaker 3: to that, Because you were a presonal time, So I'm.
Speaker 9: A PGA professional. So I mean, so PGA professionals are
Speaker 9: the men and women. We're experts in the golf business.
Speaker 9: So at every golf course there there's a person that
Speaker 9: managed that and so more that's what I did. So
Speaker 9: you get your pg certification. It's twenty eight thousand PGA
Speaker 9: members across the country. Out of that twenty eight thousand,
Speaker 9: there's roughly like three hundred African Americans, right, so the
Speaker 9: number is you know, that's less than half a one percent, right,
Speaker 9: So there's definitely a lot of work to be done there.
Speaker 9: But that's what I'm considered a PGA professional versus Elijah
Speaker 9: On you want to explain it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean the reason that I started this brand was,
Speaker 5: I mean back when I after I graduated from Morehouse
Speaker 5: Majors accounting minor in finance, I turned pro and golf.
Speaker 5: I did that for a couple of years, won a
Speaker 5: couple of mini tour events, but got to a point
Speaker 5: that just couldn't afford it anymore, you know, taking them
Speaker 5: by our jobs, carboy, caddy in and like hustling. However,
Speaker 5: I can get it to fund my golf career. Last
Speaker 5: time me and my mom got in an argument. She
Speaker 5: was like, you know, it's about that time you get
Speaker 5: a job.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: And so had to stop that and I started my
Speaker 5: finance career. I was in commercial finance for about ten years.
Speaker 5: But it got to a point, Like I said, I
Speaker 5: wanted to play professional golf, but I knew it we
Speaker 5: already find sponsors. So to your point, the only way
Speaker 5: to turn pro is to have sponsors in the game.
Speaker 3: I mean good enough where sponsors finds you.
Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely, and it's full circle for me. Actually, I'm
Speaker 5: turning back pro and golf in June. That's the reason
Speaker 5: I started the brand because I was like, I can't
Speaker 5: find any sponsors. Why not take the entrepreneur route and
Speaker 5: sponsor myself. So now I have a Southern company in
Speaker 5: Georgia power being one of my one of my sponsors
Speaker 5: for professional golf, along with a couple of other companies
Speaker 5: in Atlanta. But it's I mean, the whole thing is
Speaker 5: sponsorship is dollars. If you can raise that and that
Speaker 5: company can see what they can really get out of you,
Speaker 5: where it comes to like a certain type of customer,
Speaker 5: a certain type of feel, they'll pay you for it.
Speaker 3: And then you need to be a professional, Like how
Speaker 3: much do they need to sponsor, like say a company
Speaker 3: like that to put you in the league to go
Speaker 3: against the tiger Woods or whoever the top professional is now.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it varies from tour to tour because some tour
Speaker 5: entry fees or I mean it ranges from a thousand
Speaker 5: to sometimes five thousand dollars for an entry fee.
Speaker 1: Into the tournament. So that doesn't include.
Speaker 5: You know, travel, your caddy, food, rent, you know, something breaks,
Speaker 5: you know, So it would range from anywhere I would
Speaker 5: say one seventy five one hundred and seventy five thousand
Speaker 5: to two hundred and fifty thousand.
Speaker 2: And that I love both of y'all.
Speaker 4: I love y'all stories because y'all represent I like when
Speaker 4: people get into an industry and they show all sides
Speaker 4: of the industry. When I hear PGA professional, I'm thinking
Speaker 4: that's a player, right, somebody who does the business. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and that's that's like, damn, there's so many different ways
Speaker 4: for us to be involved in this.
Speaker 1: In this sport.
Speaker 9: Yeah, sure, no, I completely agree, And I feel like
Speaker 9: that's one of the things that I'll say really just
Speaker 9: excites me about our business is the fact that we're
Speaker 9: having an impact on the sport without actually playing it, right,
Speaker 9: And so it's kind of like a basketball analogy would
Speaker 9: be like we're working in the front office, right, and
Speaker 9: so we're getting everyone excited and bringing everyone along with us, right.
Speaker 9: Like when you think about when the brand started, it
Speaker 9: was right before COVID and then you know, our first
Speaker 9: viral moment was Chris Paul wearing it had to toe
Speaker 9: when he was a player, when he was a president
Speaker 9: of the NBA Players Association, the night of the boycott,
Speaker 9: the event that happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and so like
Speaker 9: that's that's how we kind of went viral, but it
Speaker 9: was through basketball, and then from there, you know, we
Speaker 9: got hooked up with Michael Jordan and we've had like
Speaker 9: CC Sabathia, Victor Cruz, you know, Peka's, Steve Stout, like.
Speaker 8: You name it.
Speaker 9: All of these guys are like, we see exactly what
Speaker 9: you guys are doing, right, Like you are bringing in
Speaker 9: people into the game culturally relevant and in a way
Speaker 9: like Our tagline is, you know, be authentic, So.
Speaker 8: That's that's all we require.
Speaker 7: And your logo I love it, rockleball Man, rock Obama.
Speaker 8: It's cat You sure.
Speaker 4: I think they know I'm looking at them, looking at.
Speaker 2: The radio, swinging the golf club.
Speaker 5: Yes, it was crazy, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: The logo is actually me. I created it. I ain't
Speaker 1: gonna lie.
Speaker 4: I just know I never looked at it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I created the logo. I wanted to turn pro.
Speaker 5: Like I said, it was gonna go on my bag
Speaker 5: in my polo and then I showed it to him.
Speaker 1: He was just like, yo, put that show a T shirt.
Speaker 5: So I did, went downtown Detroit and I maybe got
Speaker 5: stopped one hundred times in two hours, just like who
Speaker 5: are you? What's that logo? Where can I get it?
Speaker 5: And do you play golf? That's why I know I
Speaker 5: had something.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's fly even even if you're not in
Speaker 2: the golfers, just to fly over show.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Now that's one of the things we always say, like,
Speaker 9: you know you don't play polo, but you wear Ralph Laurent, correct, right,
Speaker 9: so you don't have to play golf in order to
Speaker 9: wear east Side Golf And like even a jacket, like
Speaker 9: we got a Jeff Hamilton jacket, Like that's not you
Speaker 9: know what I mean, You're not going out on a
Speaker 9: golf course with that.
Speaker 8: But we do make golf clothes for the golfer.
Speaker 9: But at the end of the day, like our whole
Speaker 9: strategy was like meet people where they are right. And
Speaker 9: that's why it's important to come up on like this
Speaker 9: platform because this is where the people at right and
Speaker 9: they need to know and hear like no golf is
Speaker 9: available for you golf when you think about it, majority
Speaker 9: of golf courses are public parks owned by municipalities, so
Speaker 9: your tax dollars go towards that, and so again just
Speaker 9: encouraging people to go out.
Speaker 8: There and experience that.
Speaker 9: As matter of fact, we actually have a community day
Speaker 9: coming up in Wilmington this Friday this week, and again
Speaker 9: it's a great like microcosma like what we're trying to
Speaker 9: create where we buy out the entire golf course so
Speaker 9: everybody comes and it's not just we like to say,
Speaker 9: it's not just like underrepresented communities will fly in for
Speaker 9: our events as well. We certainly bring the community out,
Speaker 9: but we pay for everything, the food, the lessons, the range,
Speaker 9: the golf course, and it's an unbelievable atmosphere that's created
Speaker 9: when you eliminate the financial burden and people can really
Speaker 9: discover how great the game is and just meet other people.
Speaker 3: I was gonna ask, it's, you know, with golf being
Speaker 3: so expensive, how do you get our community to get involved? Like,
Speaker 3: because clubs are expensive, bringing the time at the golf
Speaker 3: course is expensive. It's not like, you know, you grab
Speaker 3: a basketball and get a park and you just go shoot.
Speaker 3: So it makes it so expensive. So what do you
Speaker 3: tell people? How could they start if they want to
Speaker 3: get into it and don't have the finances.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, there's plenty of ways to start first,
Speaker 9: you gotta you know, the hard part is just kind
Speaker 9: of finding a golf course. Once you find a golf course,
Speaker 9: there are programs out there.
Speaker 3: Should you start there? Should start at a range first?
Speaker 9: Well, just I'm saying that most golf courses have a range.
Speaker 9: It may be small, but you can start at a
Speaker 9: range or indoor simulator. But getting the clubs, I think
Speaker 9: again it's a misnomer that you have to you know,
Speaker 9: buy this whole set that's fitted. No, you know, I
Speaker 9: think that's the worst thing to do.
Speaker 7: Especially problem, like what what are they doing?
Speaker 9: Yeah, in the beginning, I'm always we're always encouraging people
Speaker 9: to go get starter sets, and starter sets can range
Speaker 9: anywhere from five hundred dollars to seven hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 9: You can go to a golf galaxy also pick up
Speaker 9: Eastside Golf there and that'll give you all the equipment.
Speaker 9: And in the beginning, you're you know, it's just changing
Speaker 9: a lot. Even if you don't have that, you could
Speaker 9: go to the range and just say, hey, can I
Speaker 9: borrow a seven iron or just one club and typically
Speaker 9: they have those clubs, they're available. So look, I mean
Speaker 9: we spend money, you know what I mean, on clothes,
Speaker 9: on all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 8: So what our biggest thing is, we just want.
Speaker 9: People to recognize the value. And when young professionals understand, like, look,
Speaker 9: you guys work at iHeartMedia. They have golf events, so
Speaker 9: it's an opportunity to engage whether it be artists, account execs, whoever,
Speaker 9: like decision makers and you get a chance to spend
Speaker 9: that quality time with them.
Speaker 8: And that's the like big unline.
Speaker 9: Like oftentimes when golf opportunities come up, we're on the sidelines.
Speaker 9: We're like, man, I ain't going out there. I don't
Speaker 9: want to embarrass myself. But that's where the deals are happening.
Speaker 2: Let imagine a question.
Speaker 4: I can think of times right like when I was younger,
Speaker 4: you know, me and my now wife walking into you know,
Speaker 4: restaurants in South Carolina seeing nothing but white people in there,
Speaker 4: nothing but white people working there, and seeing ourselves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're same for us.
Speaker 4: And I remember one time in particular, you know, we
Speaker 4: went to one and it was like, oh no, we're leaving,
Speaker 4: and the waitresses like what the woman to do was like,
Speaker 4: why y'all leaving?
Speaker 2: Because too many white people?
Speaker 4: And I was like, yeah, the golf course probably is
Speaker 4: ten times as intimidating as that, just because it's like,
Speaker 4: we don't.
Speaker 2: See each other out there. So if a couple of
Speaker 2: guys just pull up on the golf course, are there going,
Speaker 2: are they going to be welcomed?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I mean, well, so they have private country clubs, and
Speaker 5: then they have municipalities, as he once said, public parks downtown,
Speaker 5: what you pay your tax.
Speaker 2: Dollars on, that's where we need to be.
Speaker 5: Yeah, a lot of those, a lot of those golf
Speaker 5: courses are definitely welcoming, they notice your first time coming
Speaker 5: out there. And on top of that, you know, some
Speaker 5: of these golf courses have bucket of balls might be
Speaker 5: twelve bucks.
Speaker 1: And play it against sports and yeah.
Speaker 3: Play is with Y'ALLBA, what is your problem?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, golf balls oh.
Speaker 4: Man man continue cheap, continue downtown, bucket of golf balls
Speaker 4: might be twelve bucks.
Speaker 5: But then you can go to play it again sports
Speaker 5: and get a whole thing of clubs, fourteen clubs for
Speaker 5: one hundred dollars, twenty five dollars. And this is an investment,
Speaker 5: you know, like whatever, And I see this all the time.
Speaker 5: Whatever you do with your life, I don't.
Speaker 1: Care what you do. If you play golf, it will.
Speaker 5: Increase that revenue, it will increase whatever opportunities you have.
Speaker 1: So many different types of people play golf.
Speaker 5: I mean, I've met guys that you know, own movie companies,
Speaker 5: guys investors out in Colo Alto, I mean, all the
Speaker 5: way over to being at Liberty National, Ironman family that
Speaker 5: sold Rebok. You know, all of these different types of
Speaker 5: people play golf. Doctors, lawyers, the same type of people
Speaker 5: that grew up seeing but the connection that they have
Speaker 5: in their circle. I mean if you play golf, you
Speaker 5: can go out. Oh, let me invite my guy. All
Speaker 5: of a sudden, you got to force them, three four
Speaker 5: guys out there playing golf and you don't know who
Speaker 5: it is.
Speaker 1: You know, relax.
Speaker 7: Is a sensitive you say, for something to figure out.
Speaker 1: Wow, y'all don't have gay ears.
Speaker 2: Yes, this guy has.
Speaker 4: I'm listening to you because I'm intrigued by what you don't.
Speaker 2: I've heard that before.
Speaker 4: I've heard everybody say that, you know, they golf because
Speaker 4: it's great for networking. And then you know, I've golfed once.
Speaker 4: I was terrible at it. I got frustrated. But it's
Speaker 4: a time for men to do something we don't do,
Speaker 4: which is talk.
Speaker 2: You know, for a long period of time. It's good
Speaker 2: bonding for men.
Speaker 8: I think, yeah, no, I agree. I think on the
Speaker 8: golf course though, yeah, yes, yeah no.
Speaker 9: And it's funny you said men because we actually we're
Speaker 9: doing a campaign featuring Justin Tuck just talking about fathers
Speaker 9: because a lot of times, again you're talking about that
Speaker 9: opportunity to bond and like it's a great sport, like
Speaker 9: to just go out there and a lot of times
Speaker 9: that's a man's hobby, you know, I mean, well, we
Speaker 9: definitely support the women to get out there as well.
Speaker 8: And I agree that golf can be intimidating.
Speaker 9: Like, look, I was the first African American golf professional
Speaker 9: at two golf courses that were over one hundred years old,
Speaker 9: WHOA so Detroit Golf Club and Womington Country Club and Wimington.
Speaker 9: I started out as a caddy there, right, So like
Speaker 9: you used to dream of going in the clubhouse like, man, like,
Speaker 9: what would that be like?
Speaker 8: And you know the point. And I feel like the
Speaker 8: reason why.
Speaker 9: I took both of those roles was simply because he's
Speaker 9: an opportunity to reset the standard.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 9: They don't know, they've never even interact with someone at
Speaker 9: that level in that position, and so it's important that
Speaker 9: we you go and kind of push through that uncomfortableness.
Speaker 9: And that's kind of what I'm saying, where as an adult,
Speaker 9: if the adults can go, we know it's just gonna.
Speaker 8: They're gonna look up to you.
Speaker 9: You know, and so if they see you doing the
Speaker 9: goal for us, we don't want it to be a
Speaker 9: shock when we show up or minority show up and
Speaker 9: they're playing golf.
Speaker 8: We want that to be normalized.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 9: But that's up to us to normalize it amongst that generation,
Speaker 9: just like we normalize everything else. So it could be
Speaker 9: something as simple as like going to the movies or
Speaker 9: every summer of y'all.
Speaker 8: Go to this place, whatever it may be, it's just normal.
Speaker 8: Just you saw it. And so that's the thing.
Speaker 9: Our goal is that we want this next generation to
Speaker 9: really say, you know what, I may pay golf once
Speaker 9: or twice a year, and I'm cool with that, but
Speaker 9: at least when the opportunity comes, we're not sitting on
Speaker 9: the sideline.
Speaker 2: That's why labels suck.
Speaker 4: And it's like, you know who says golf is a explorer.
Speaker 4: Imagine if Cooper Flag, you know, a liar bird felt
Speaker 4: like that about basketball. Like yo, if you got of
Speaker 4: love for something, you should be able to you know,
Speaker 4: embrace it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, going back to your logo to now, because most
Speaker 6: people may think it is a white sport and that
Speaker 6: because that's what we've seen, you know, up until now,
Speaker 6: and you know a little bit before, did they Did
Speaker 6: you ever receive any flag about the black man with
Speaker 6: the golf club and the chain and the jeans?
Speaker 1: For sure? For sure, I mean I'll take it a
Speaker 1: step back.
Speaker 5: I uh It was a point I went to this
Speaker 5: country club in Michigan and I was wearing these pants
Speaker 5: and these white guys on the range. It was a
Speaker 5: private country club. Uh, these white guys on the range
Speaker 5: had on the same pants. Now, I didn't have any
Speaker 5: belt loops on the pants, but I got singled out
Speaker 5: and lo and behold, I ended up getting kicked off
Speaker 5: the course. There were some other ones that I had on.
Speaker 5: This was this was maybe like four years ago and
Speaker 5: we had just started making pants. Yeah wild whilst at
Speaker 5: the business had a Jordan got kicked off, but was
Speaker 5: dress call dress code, so uh definitely said yo, lit
Speaker 5: old caf.
Speaker 1: I just wear these for today, Like, nah, you gotta
Speaker 1: go on and change.
Speaker 5: I come back and change, get back on the driver range,
Speaker 5: and it's just like, yeah, how can I help you?
Speaker 5: Like you gotta wait till the member gets here, you know.
Speaker 5: And you know that was four years ago, and it's
Speaker 5: crazy to say now we have clothes that are being
Speaker 5: sold in that pro shop.
Speaker 1: But I say that because it's the same logo.
Speaker 5: You know, this logo was me And I mean there
Speaker 5: was a point when I first came out with it,
Speaker 5: I got asked, yo, is that a noose around that,
Speaker 5: you know, Like I didn't know what that was and
Speaker 5: I'm like, it's a cube link chain, Like, come.
Speaker 4: On, that's just a funny joke for you. Yeah, him
Speaker 4: to ask that a goddamn yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But either way it goes given a slack on it.
Speaker 5: I mean to be honest, even my man like when
Speaker 5: you first started, like it was just like, I don't
Speaker 5: know if that's gonna work, you know, just from his
Speaker 5: experience being in that.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's gonna work.
Speaker 5: And I didn't go through the PGA school and PJA program,
Speaker 5: but I didn't work at a golf country club. I
Speaker 5: just wanted it bad, you know, and showing who I am,
Speaker 5: And that's our tagline, be authentic.
Speaker 1: That's why.
Speaker 5: That's how I want everybody to show up at the
Speaker 5: golf course. That's what's going to grow the game, is
Speaker 5: you being yourself and continuously being yourself even though it's
Speaker 5: out at the golf course. A lot of people might
Speaker 5: see the golf course or country club. It might feel
Speaker 5: like that's corporate America or I got to change.
Speaker 1: Up how I am.
Speaker 5: Like nah, like I want you to be yourself and
Speaker 5: where east Side Golf while you're doing it looking good.
Speaker 4: Well, we haven't seen that influence yet, you know, at
Speaker 4: least in Tennis. You know, Venus Arena were unapologetically black.
Speaker 4: Sia No was like, I'm not black, I'm cobblin Asian
Speaker 4: or whatever.
Speaker 9: He said, Yeah, yeah, no, you're right. I mean, and
Speaker 9: that's really again, that's up to us. And like for us,
Speaker 9: even our strategy, like we said earlier, all of the
Speaker 9: culturally relevant people that we engage with, we needed that
Speaker 9: first and lifestyle, like we were selling our stuff and
Speaker 9: up n YC.
Speaker 8: We were selling it in.
Speaker 9: Bodega, you know, all of the top tier street where accounts.
Speaker 9: And now we're transitioning to more big stores and now
Speaker 9: transitioning to the golf course.
Speaker 8: Right because at the end.
Speaker 9: Of the day, if we just showed up, you're right,
Speaker 9: it was just two black guys with a logo, even
Speaker 9: though we did play golf.
Speaker 8: It's just like, well where the rest of y'all at?
Speaker 8: Is that really a model? Is that a business? And
Speaker 8: we have proven that.
Speaker 9: I mean you've seen it, you know even you know,
Speaker 9: look at what kal It has done, you know in
Speaker 9: the golf space. And we were with cald very early
Speaker 9: on along that journey, you know what I'm saying. He's
Speaker 9: actually in one of we have a documentary and he was,
Speaker 9: you know, featured in our documentary talking about the Jordan's
Speaker 9: shoes and.
Speaker 8: The impact that we had there.
Speaker 9: So like, I think what we've done now is like
Speaker 9: build a community and like build a proven model on June.
Speaker 8: What's the June one?
Speaker 9: It'll be six years, right, I'm sorry, No, I'm just saying,
Speaker 9: like a lot of companies don't even make it the
Speaker 9: six years, right, And so it's certainly it's a real
Speaker 9: thing that we got. It's just again we have to
Speaker 9: continue to push and support each other.
Speaker 4: Has Calin had real impact on golf because I never
Speaker 4: can tell if he's really in love with golfer if
Speaker 4: he's just pushing sneakers.
Speaker 8: Now, I mean he has. He was on the O
Speaker 8: were Golf digest. I mean they got a lot of excitement.
Speaker 9: He's got a lot of followers, he's got big influence, right,
Speaker 9: and so you know, we've been fortunate enough to work
Speaker 9: with him to go to his golf events. He supported
Speaker 9: our merch. You know, he's always shouting us out, like
Speaker 9: we delivered him a locker and like all of that
Speaker 9: and so now it's been it's been huge because as
Speaker 9: also when you think about it, like in order to
Speaker 9: grow golf, it's gonna happen in this room like they
Speaker 9: need us. Everything is trying to grow, and this is
Speaker 9: the only market that they haven't tapped yet.
Speaker 6: Listen, man, y'all got some of the dopest collections. You'll
Speaker 6: had me and my husband out there golf great listen,
Speaker 6: and I'm telling you it was all kinds of people.
Speaker 7: What is that?
Speaker 8: What is that?
Speaker 7: What brand is that?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 6: Because yes, y'all hear in some of the what y'all
Speaker 6: say street, y'all wouldn't call.
Speaker 8: That street where would'all like lifestyle?
Speaker 7: Lifestyle?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 6: But then y'all also do have like a high quality
Speaker 6: performance apparel brand right where I had to send this
Speaker 6: skirt on and the slex my husband would have slacks.
Speaker 6: Y'all even had to shoes. Y'all got some of the
Speaker 6: dopest collaborations with Jordan's. I think he had the yeah yeah,
Speaker 6: and then I had the ax, Yeah you can change
Speaker 6: the uh with a color.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you can change the smoosh.
Speaker 6: I was up there like I've been doing this a lion,
Speaker 6: and everything was ok looking the part man, so it's
Speaker 6: definitely quality.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and then.
Speaker 7: Tell us about the Detroit store in the airport.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: So finally, Well, so our first brick and mortar we
Speaker 5: actually have in Tokyo, Japan.
Speaker 1: We in that maybe two and a half three years ago.
Speaker 5: Our second brick and mortar were actually building that Detroit
Speaker 5: Airport U D T W. And the main reason is
Speaker 5: because we have a I mean big history there, him
Speaker 5: being the first black PJ professionally Detroit golf club, me
Speaker 5: being me starting the brand in Detroit downtown on the
Speaker 5: east side of Detroit. You know, it's just full circle
Speaker 5: for us. So why not start well, why not build that,
Speaker 5: uh that store in Detroit. Watch actually the PGA show
Speaker 5: that they have at the beginning of the year A
Speaker 5: it's like a big, big box retail show and we
Speaker 5: sell to all these different country clubs. We went there
Speaker 5: in February twenty twenty and Learry got approached by some
Speaker 5: Asian gentlemen, you know, Japanese guys, and they loved us
Speaker 5: so much. They was just like, Yo, we want to
Speaker 5: bring that over to Tokyo. Sent them like a ten
Speaker 5: thousand They sent us a ten thousand dollars PO we
Speaker 5: sent them back merch. It sold out in twenty four
Speaker 5: hours and ever since then, it just grew from there
Speaker 5: and then we ended up getting a relationship with a
Speaker 5: gentleman as a distributor and then opened our first store
Speaker 5: in Tokyo.
Speaker 2: Congratulations. I wanted to ask y'all about the golf world.
Speaker 4: Is the golf world embracing this cultural shift that's happening.
Speaker 8: I think yes. I think they just don't know what
Speaker 8: to do right.
Speaker 9: So it's like using the word like collaboration or like
Speaker 9: feature or remix they like, we don't know.
Speaker 8: They obviously want it because like right now, like YouTube.
Speaker 9: Golf is exploding, like exploding, Like YouTube golf in some
Speaker 9: cases are more popular than what the golf you see
Speaker 9: in on TV.
Speaker 2: What is YouTube golf?
Speaker 9: So YouTube golf is where they basically have like influencers
Speaker 9: go out there and they film their around playing golf
Speaker 9: or like they're talking and the cameras and they're pulling
Speaker 9: in pros. But I think they are embracing it some
Speaker 9: there's always gonna be some resistance as well. I think
Speaker 9: where we are though we recently just signed our PGA
Speaker 9: Tour Professional one Kid by the name of Joseph Bramlett.
Speaker 9: Bramlet Bramlett, I'm thirty seven years old, went to Stanford.
Speaker 9: You know, he's the second African American that's playing regularly
Speaker 9: out there on tour outside of Tiger Woods. But actually
Speaker 9: this week we have a kid playing in a major championship.
Speaker 9: His name is a Huginio Chachar and he's playing the
Speaker 9: PGA Championship, which is like a big deal.
Speaker 8: So you got the Masters the PGA this week.
Speaker 9: And how we basically want the position is like telling
Speaker 9: these guys that be their authentic self but also at
Speaker 9: the same time, like they're waving the flag for us, right,
Speaker 9: kind of showing them, you know that on and off
Speaker 9: the course lifestyle, Like we're even gonna be having these
Speaker 9: guys do not a tunnel walk, but like a walk
Speaker 9: up right, Like we're styling them from the moment they
Speaker 9: get out the car to they changing. So we're really
Speaker 9: just exactly we're really bringing that influence. And you know,
Speaker 9: we do have an investment from the PGA of America,
Speaker 9: so they invested in our company. So you know we've
Speaker 9: been raising capital as well to just grow and expand
Speaker 9: because as you all know, as business folks. You need money,
Speaker 9: you know, you need to either relationship with a bank,
Speaker 9: you need you know, family and friends. You need something
Speaker 9: to be able to grow. And so especially too, like
Speaker 9: now we're getting in the Norse Strooms, Golf Galaxy, House
Speaker 9: of Sport, We're going into snipes and seventy doors there.
Speaker 9: So like those are big, big purchase orders, right, and
Speaker 9: so you're buying on future, So you definitely need you know,
Speaker 9: that financial cash flow.
Speaker 4: And I see, yeah, you're investing in the as well.
Speaker 8: Yes, yeah, yes, the miles.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so far three hundred thousand.
Speaker 5: First year, I think about two years ago we gave
Speaker 5: fifty thousand and it's just been up ever since. We
Speaker 5: have an invitation at Liberty National right over in.
Speaker 2: Jersey every year the east Side Collegiate.
Speaker 5: That actually is at Frisco, Texas. We have the east
Speaker 5: Side Golf Invitational, four college teams. The only play in
Speaker 5: that tournament is a fundraiser for the Moreholes college golf team.
Speaker 1: Gotch Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: So Mercedes Bands has been one of our primary sponsors.
Speaker 5: We're both Mercedes Bands and USA Ambassadors. They sponsored the
Speaker 5: tournament and we ended up giving the boys probably about
Speaker 5: one hundred grand every year and it's just been growing.
Speaker 5: Now they have author Blank Foundation down in Atlanta actually
Speaker 5: gifted them an entire simulator rooms.
Speaker 1: So that means a.
Speaker 5: Simulator room probably about this size where they get the putt,
Speaker 5: hit golf shots all times of the night, or just
Speaker 5: get in that practice whenever they can.
Speaker 9: So yeah, so I would just say it was like
Speaker 9: it was so important to us because we can't sit
Speaker 9: up here and be successful and not support the program.
Speaker 9: That's how we met, right, like saying, well, we're here,
Speaker 9: but you know what's up with Mare's college golf team.
Speaker 9: And so that's always been a passion of ours to
Speaker 9: make sure that those boys are set.
Speaker 8: Up the right way.
Speaker 9: And you know, we just laid the foundation and now
Speaker 9: it's just great to see other organizations and other partners.
Speaker 9: So when we go into these rooms, were always thinking
Speaker 9: about them.
Speaker 4: So listen, when y'all buy the east Side east Side
Speaker 4: Golf golf course, yeah sure you can invest.
Speaker 2: No, that's next, right, You'll got to have your own
Speaker 2: golf course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're working on it.
Speaker 8: He was talking about it in the Green.
Speaker 1: That's real for.
Speaker 6: Your own golf course, or y'all gonna have your own
Speaker 6: golf clubs golf balls, golf like your own east Side
Speaker 6: Golf branded golf balls.
Speaker 7: Golf equipment.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so golf equipment is very expensive to make. Definitely
Speaker 5: golf clubs. That's why partly Nike got out of the business.
Speaker 5: But we did collaborate with bridge Stone Golf on our
Speaker 5: own golf ball, so we do have your own golf
Speaker 5: Balls's just a tour BX. They already use it, but
Speaker 5: me and Earl actually on the box itself.
Speaker 1: So they sell it.
Speaker 5: BJS Superstore sell that at a few few other places
Speaker 5: golf courses as well. So I mean, it's just that
Speaker 5: that equipment thing is a really tricky thing just because
Speaker 5: it takes a huge investment on the front end, you know,
Speaker 5: and if you don't sell, and if you don't have
Speaker 5: probably number the number one, two, three, or four or
Speaker 5: five player in the world playing your golf clubs, it's
Speaker 5: gonna be kind of hard to sell them.
Speaker 2: Who's the leader in that world?
Speaker 1: As far as selling the golf clothes.
Speaker 8: Tailor made, I say tailor made, tailor made, So they
Speaker 8: got like Roy McElroy, he's right now.
Speaker 1: Scotti Scheffler, who is number one in the world.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, they got that on lock but like you said,
Speaker 9: I mean, we have a whole offering. Right, you go
Speaker 9: to eastside golf dot com and you're gonna see something
Speaker 9: on there for you, you know what I mean, whether you're
Speaker 9: a man, whether you're a woman, where you're just getting
Speaker 9: started and ultimately, like the goal was not necessarily to
Speaker 9: make golf clothes quote unquote, just make dope shit, you
Speaker 9: know what I mean, we gonna find it right, Like, look,
Speaker 9: Tim's weren't made.
Speaker 2: For construction right in the street.
Speaker 1: That is not made for the street.
Speaker 9: Right, that's not waterproof, which is crazy, right, but that's
Speaker 9: the point that but we wear them all the time,
Speaker 9: like that's a staple.
Speaker 8: Right.
Speaker 9: So it's just one of those things where like and
Speaker 9: we love it, like you know what I mean, when
Speaker 9: our product is showing up court side, you know what
Speaker 9: I mean, when our product is showing up in music videos.
Speaker 9: Like literally we did a collab with with paper Planes
Speaker 9: and if It's Bleak did a video with it on
Speaker 9: with Benny the Butcher, Right, So it's just because it's dope.
Speaker 8: It's not like we seated it.
Speaker 9: It was just like he was looking at it and
Speaker 9: it's like, yo, that's flying, Like that's ultimately what we
Speaker 9: want to create, because that's going to give us the
Speaker 9: confidence that we need when we go to the golf course.
Speaker 9: To your point, it's almost like anxiety when people sitting
Speaker 9: in them parking lots getting ready to go, like, man,
Speaker 9: I don't want nobody to match with me. What they
Speaker 9: gonna say all of that. So it's like if you
Speaker 9: got your shit on and you're looking good, it just
Speaker 9: kind of alleviates that. And I feel like that's also
Speaker 9: our next step where when you are headed to the
Speaker 9: golf course, you could go on eastside golf dot com
Speaker 9: and just get some small little tutorials, right, just get
Speaker 9: the verbiage down so you feel just a little bit
Speaker 9: more comfortable when you go in there speaking the language saying, hey,
Speaker 9: how much.
Speaker 8: Is a bucket of balls?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 8: Where's this? What's that?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 9: You know, what's your you know how much you charge
Speaker 9: for tea time? Like just basic language?
Speaker 2: No more than four, no more than just selling for
Speaker 2: no more than four?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, sure, that's how can they find How can
Speaker 3: they go to the site if they want more information?
Speaker 1: Yeah, here finals on eastside golf dot com.
Speaker 5: We actually have a TikTok at east Side Golf and
Speaker 5: our Instagram is at east Side Golf.
Speaker 8: Yeah, go download our app as well. We got a
Speaker 8: really dope app.
Speaker 9: We have a lot of exclusives product on their merch shoes,
Speaker 9: everything at east Side Golf.
Speaker 4: Man, respect to y'all brothers and everything that y'all have built,
Speaker 4: everything that y'all are building.
Speaker 2: This is very very inspiring.
Speaker 1: Man. Now we got to get y'all out on the
Speaker 1: golf course. That's the next time. That's the next thing.
Speaker 8: She was, she was and Baltimore holding it down.
Speaker 2: I feel like God is calling me to learn.
Speaker 4: I tried it one time, but man, I swung at
Speaker 4: that ball like thirty times and and hit it and
Speaker 4: just like I'm just gonna ride around with you all.
Speaker 1: We got a professional coach right here.
Speaker 9: I got you want to get you all out there.
Speaker 9: But yeah, it's a great like family atmosphere too.
Speaker 3: Like that's like my son plays. My son I played
Speaker 3: in college and I stopped since college. Okay, but it
Speaker 3: was one of those things. We go out there, we
Speaker 3: drink and we have fun to our ship and then
Speaker 3: come back to go to class.
Speaker 1: But handed, but my.
Speaker 3: Son actually plays, and I was like, I got to
Speaker 3: get back out there.
Speaker 1: But just having a.
Speaker 9: Time understand the time is definitely a thing, but it's
Speaker 9: just so worth it.
Speaker 2: We go to top golf, top golf.
Speaker 3: That's top top, top golf, top golf.
Speaker 2: Yeah, success to you.
Speaker 1: Good morning, mm hmm. Wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 1: Breakfast Club