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Justin Brady: From the Jethro’s BBQ studio, I’m Justin Brady and this is the Iowa Business Podcast. is up. Since two, 2019, golf is up 41%, 42%, depending on what data set you look at. And an Iowa company, right here, made in Iowa, is riding that wave in a very big way. That’s who we’re talking to today. Jared Doerfler is the founder of Hana Golf, and you join us today, of course, in the studio. Thank you so much for coming in here. We’re gonna dig into golf, local manufacturing, and putters

Jared Doerfler: Hmm. 30 minutes is not enough, Justin, but I’m looking forward to it

Justin Brady: So congratulations everybody, this is gonna be, um, you get a benefit from a three-hour Rogan style podcast. No, just kidding, we’re not gonna do that to you. Um, before we get started, obviously we appreciate Dentons Davis Brown for, uh, sponsoring this show. They actually send in their attorneys to break down very complicated issues. Ri- the most recent one with Joellen Whitney was on, uh, how, like, how AI regulations and how AI implementation and security and how, how collecting too much data at work actually might not be a good thing for you, actually might get you in legal hot water. So if you’re a leader that’s, uh, looking to implement AI tools, I would recommend you go watch that. It’s Iowa Business. Uh, it’s Iowapodcast.com/business. So Jared, hand- handmade, or CNC made, however you wanna say that, putters in Iowa. W- why?

Jared Doerfler: Uh, as far as I know, we’re the only company in Iowa doing it. Maybe that’s for good re- good reason. But why? Um, th- it’s a pretty complicated, I think, answer, and I think everyone’s why is different when they wanna start a business. Uh, I kinda always had the itch to start a business. Uh, Dad was diagnosed with MS in 2012. My dad is actually originally from Des Moines, uh, went to Valley High School and then went to Iowa State. Um, and then he told me he was gonna retire in 2023, and in his retirement, he, he really can’t do the things that, that he, uh, enjoys to do. He’s in, he’s in a wheelchair now, and he can’t cycle. Uh, he u- uses a hand cycle actually. It’s awesome. Uh, you know, he can’t do a lot of things, but he, he, he’s got a great attitude, and when he told me that, I’m thinking to myself, “Life’s way too short.” And, um, I’m, I’m only getting older. Uh, we had two kids at the time. Uh, now we have three and, you know, life’s only gonna get more challenging to, to start something. So, uh, that was the initial kinda kick to, to say, “You know what? Why not?” Uh, I don’t wanna die when I’m, you know, whatever, 75 or 80 and say, “Ah, geez, I wish I would’ve started something.”

Justin Brady: Yeah, so it’s, it’s like already beyond, uh, w- well, fr- at least from my perspective, it’s already beyond just a hobby project. It’s a, it’s a viable, like pretty incredible business model you’ve got here. And what’s crazy is golf. Golf is sacred. Like, and, and you probably know this better than anybody, but golf is this sacred thing. People take it very seriously. People are like, even people who aren’t professional at all are like obsessed over equipment, balance, and technique, and precision, and all this. And so most people kind of think about golf equipment as they would like a Japanese sword maker. It’s passed down from generations to generations, and forged through steel, and every little… But you self-taught yourself, and y- you taught yourself how to do, uh, CNC machining, and milling, and all this. You taught yourself this, and you’re a boutique golf maker, of course, at a non-boutique price level. A very easy entry level, not entry level, but a very good price. So this is, this is cra- you taught yourself how to do this how? Just watching YouTube videos? Or explain this.

Jared Doerfler: Correct. Yeah. Um, I- I’m a bit naive in some things in life, which I think is a good thing, and then also a bad thing. Um, yeah, quit my job, uh, July 2023. Uh, bought a CNC mill, put it in my garage, uh, at our house, and, uh, never seen one before. So I thought, all right, you know, I, I’ve, you know, watched a few YouTube videos, seen some guys on Instagram. You know, it can’t be that hard. Uh, c- um, you know, I was, I was pretty wrong. Uh, there’s like really three components into going to make a putter. So you have CAD, which is our, you know, our 3D model, uh, that I had to teach myself, then CAM, which is, uh, the tool path function of c- of CAD, and then it’s operating a CNC mill, which, you know, there’s a ton of that goes into that. So, um, I didn’t real- realize that there’s, you know, be those three components to kind of go in there, uh, to, to make putters. But, you know, over the course of about nine months, I taught myself, uh, you know, taught myself everything that I could to launch this company. And, you know, since then, you know, I’ve hired a couple people that are tool and die, uh, trained, um, and they do an excellent job. So, um, yeah, I mean, I’ve taught myself everything.

Justin Brady: Nine months? You taught yourself how to do this whole thing in nine months

Jared Doerfler: Yeah. I, I thought it was gonna be a little bit shorter, but again, I mean, I’m a, I’m an I’m an eternal optimist, which is a problem. And again, I’m naive, but, um, yeah, it w- it was about nine months. I start… I quit my job July of ’23, uh, and then we launched Honda Golf in July of ’24

Justin Brady: What was the… ‘Cause most people, especially nine months of training and obsession, uh, creating this thing, most people have a problem they’re trying to solve. They don’t just say, “I like golf. I’m gonna do a golf club company. I’m gonna teach myself CNC and go through this process and, you know, um, for nine months and beat myself up just for the heck of it.” No one says that. So clearly there was some obsession, some problem, some opportunity you saw or something you were trying to fix. What was that?

Jared Doerfler: Yeah. Uh, so I, I played golf at UNI, and so I graduated in 2011. When I got to UNI, uh, my coach gave me a new putter because it had a large grip on it. For anyone that, you know, likes a lot of golf, it was like an original SuperStroke grip. Uh, when I graduated, I gave that back to him, that putter. That putter, he got on a tour truck, and it was a prototype, and, you know, since I graduated, I tried to find that putter. I could never really find it. Um, so then I went through this thing, like, uh, a thing, but I designed my own putter, like, in the winter of 2022. You know how it is in Iowa. It gets a little cold in January, a little dark, and- Does it? I was bored. Um, so I designed this putter and, and, you know, had somebody make it for me, and I loved that process. And then, you know, throughout going through that, I’m like, you know what? Um, I think there’s an opportunity here. Uh, I hate selling on price, but y- to be blunt, you know, the putter market’s gotten out of control with how much it costs to make a putter. Um, you know, if you, if you buy an American-made putter, uh, you know, you’re looking anywhere from, like, $400 to $700 right now, um, just for a base entry, uh, putter, and there’s not many companies that are making putters in America anymore. And if they are making them in America, uh, they’re not making them them- themselves. And so I thought that was a, a really good opportunity for us to add value to the customer.

Justin Brady: Yeah. So why? Like, why– Do you, do you… ‘Cause yeah, a lot of them are imported- Mm-hmm … um, made overseas and imported in. Why is that? And, uh, I mean, there, there are a lot of questions I have here. Of course, you’re making putters in Iowa, in the United States. That’s a challenge in and of itself, as you probably know. Why the emphasis on local, domestic? Is, is it a better thing? Is it just more of a beat the chest, American-made thing? Why?

Jared Doerfler: Why make them in America? Why make them in Iowa? Yeah. Well, if, if we wanna get really deep and philosophical, I believe in the American dream, and I believe in, uh, creating jobs in America, and I believe in American manufacturing. My granddad came from nothing, born in 1926, was in manufacturing for a good part of his life. My father, uh, in manufacturing for his whole career. Uh, manufacturing’s in my blood. Um, I believe in doing things, um… If I’m gonna do something that may not be the easy way, but it might be the hard way, it’s most definitely the more challenging way to, to make these ourselves versus to find a, you know, a partner or somebody in China or in Asia to make these. Um, but we have the opportunity to listen to our customers and pivot much quicker. We have the opportunity to design and prototype much quicker. And so that has allowed us, I think, some different, uh, different opportunities and, and different, um, yeah, I mean, mainly different opportunities to support, uh, a lot of people locally in the state. You know, 30% of our orders come from Iowans.

Justin Brady: What? Really?

Jared Doerfler: Really? Correct, yeah. Whoa. Wow And, um, a- and so, you know, we, we hear those customers and what they want differently. If we had somebody else that was, you know, making these for us, uh, it’d be quite the change, and, uh, there’s always MOQs and stuff like that. So I believe in supporting, you know, growing, uh, growing the local economy as well as we can, creating jobs, um, a- and manufacturing jobs.

Justin Brady: There, I’ve often wondered if the future of manufacturing is hyper-local. If it’s, um, the future of manufacturing, and you can feel free to say, “Well, in our case, yes,” or, or, “Well, that’s total BS.” I’ve al- also, like, uh, we’ve even seen companies like Tesla, obviously a bigger brand, but they’re, they’re starting to look at manufacturing in local tight areas and shipping locally. And so I’ve often wondered if that translates to manufacturing, whereas we don’t have these massive plants of 1,000 people shipping product all over the world, but we have hundreds of plants all around the world shipping to the regional areas. And of course, maybe, um, we have manufacturers like yourself spread out throughout the whole world that are focusing on certain areas. I’m assuming you’re… I mean, you, I know you ship globally and nationally, but 30% in Iowa is crazy. Do you think that you could have a sustainable business, um, catering to the Midwest?

Jared Doerfler: Uh, I mean 100%. So, um, I mean, Iowa is one of the top three states, um, just in, in per capita for, for golf courses and golfers. Um, people don’t really realize that. If you go drive- Right …drive- down any little, uh, any little two-lane road in Iowa and come upon a town of 500 people, they’re gonna have a golf course. That’s very rare. Um, so Iowans love golf, and we support golf. And yes, I mean, uh, believe it or not, so Iowa’s number one for us, and then it goes, you know, uh, Texas, Florida, California, New York, Illinois. So, uh, you know, w- we’re, we, we wanna be a, a global brand and, you know, we have shipped to about 10 countries and we’ve shipped to all 50 states, and we’ll continue to do that. But, you know, from a Midwest standpoint, we wanna be Iowa’s golf company and, you know, we want… my my ultimate, you know, one of my ultimate goals is, you know, if you’re a golfer in Iowa, like I would love for you to play our stuff, but if, if you don’t, at least, uh, at least want you to know who we are. And so I want to be proud that, that we’re in the state

Justin Brady: Is it difficult to manuf- you know, you’re ma- you’re making, do you call it handmade on it? ‘Cause obviously you have to use a machine to make it, but I’m assuming you call these handmade putters. We, we don’t call them handmade, but Yeah … Yep proper name. Uh, I’m, I’m like a Top Golfer, right? I just got into Topgolf. I can hit the ball 100% of the time now. It does not go where I want it 200% of the time. That’s big for me. People are laughing, but that, y’all are laughing out there at me. But I, that’s a big deal for me actually hitting the ball. I’m a soccer person, so like, you know, it’s a bigger target. Um, but boutique made, um, in Iowa, is it really, really hard to do this? ‘Cause I’ve heard, I don’t know if you see the Smarter Every Day guy, Destin, YouTube

Jared Doerfler: I have not.

Justin Brady: uh, making a grill scrubber, and he talks about how absolutely difficult it is to start manufacturing things in the USA. He has a different process. Are you finding this to be true?

Jared Doerfler: It’s wildly challenging. Um, I don’t, I don’t know if I knew how hard it was. I knew it was gonna be hard to manufacture, and I came from a manufacturing company, um, pri- in my prior job. Um, it, it’s incredibly challenging. Um, you look at it from just like a CapEx standpoint to get started, um, y- you know, puts us in a hole. And then, you know, we- then you have to go out, and we have to go out and compete for labor. Um, then we have to go out and, and, you know, start manufacturing. Our raw material costs are much higher ’cause the scale. Um, so y- you know, if we look at that versus, you know, hey, let’s go find somebody else to mill these for us, the heads, and we’ll assemble them, you know, our capital, our capital expenditure cost is to start, um, is, is significantly lower. We’re looking at just, you know, hey, we’re gonna buy 100 pu- 100 putter heads, and that’s gonna cost us, I don’t know, 150 bucks a piece. Well, I don’t know what that is, 10,500. Who knows? But versus, you know, 150,000 for a couple mills and all the other ancillary equipment, um, it, it’s pretty difficult to do

Justin Brady: So it’s just a, it’s just, um… Now is that a problem because of your scale? Or, you know, ’cause small orders are harder. You know, the, you place larger orders, you get lower prices. It’s kinda how it works. Is, is manufacturing these putters in the US, Iowa specifically, challenging because we’re in the US, or is it challenging just because you’re a boutique, uh, creator and you’re small volume?

Jared Doerfler: I actually think, so like from a manufacturing standpoint, we’re on the easier side of manufacturing. I think it can be a lot more challenging. You know, if you look at like, you brought up Tesla earlier, but to start a car company in America I think is, would be insanely difficult, um, for a, for a lot of different reasons. Um, but y- y- you know, and from a CapEx standpoint, what we’re doing is it was relatively low on the CapEx standpoint of manufacturing. So, you know, al- albeit that, you know, it’s self-funded and bootstrapped, um, you know, still, still w- you know, a lot of money for, for, for me at least, uh, to get this started. Um, yeah, I, I think it’s probably more of a, more a boutique putter sure, um, putter-wise, but I, I just think that, you know, if, if we’re looking at manufacturing as a whole, um, we’re, we’re not near as hard as what some people are or what, what it is to start a company

Justin Brady: Because you’re just like shaping steel and some other people are putting circuit boards and stuff and, you know, that kind- Is this what you’re talking about?

Jared Doerfler: Well, I just think from a CapEx standpoint. Like a CNC mill, you’re looking at like, you could spend, you know, it, it varies greatly, but you could spend anywhere from $80,000 to a couple million dollars on a CNC mill. But, you know, my, my prior company that I was at, if we wanted to s- you know, buy a new piece of equipment, we’re looking at seven figures. And like a guy like me can’t go out and do a seven-figure, you know, seven-figure, uh, purchase on a piece of equipment to start a company. So that’s why I think that the, there is a little bit of a gateway to get into it. However, to succeed and to continue to grow is, um, is a challenge.

Justin Brady: The boutique market, again, non-golfer, golf idiot here. Uh, but the boutique market generally is like 1,000 bucks, 1,200 bucks, somewhere in there. And you have more of the mass market stuff that’s in the 3 to 400 r- range. You’re kind of hitting the mass market price, but with a boutique approach. So is that the, is that because you figured out a really clever way to unique putters? Or is that because you are trying to compete on price, but also quality at the same time, and beating yourself up from a margin

Jared Doerfler: Yeah. I mean, our margins are, they, they could be better, but I, I like where we’re trending. So, like, our average order value on a putter is $360, although it’s, you know, our putters start at 295. Um, we have a lot of value that we add to the customer, and a lot of value where they don’t have to pay for either. But what, where I think we’re hitting the sweet spot right now is that, you know, there’s a ton of options that a customer can, can really add to their putter. They can add, you know, different sight lines, different sight line colors. They can have different lie angles, um, um, you know, different colors, different shafts. And, you know, if, if you’re gonna go into a, you know, Dick’s Sporting Goods, you can’t. That doesn’t exist. Right. You’re, You’re, buying a $500, $600 lab putter that, um, you know, that is, that’s what it is. It’s 70-degree lie angle. It’s got that sight line. It’s got that color. And so we’re trying to take this approach of, “Hey, look, we’re direct to consumer. Um, we don’t sell through another channel outside of a few specific golf courses. Um, we’re not really in retail,” so we’re able to at least, you know, retain a, a little bit better margin there. Um, no, I think it’s, it w- it’s very intentional of what we’re doing. Um, whether or not, you know … Look, I’ve, we’ve been at it for two years. It’s, it’s worked this far. We’ll see how it continues to work. We may always adjust going forward, but, um, you know, I like where we’re at

Justin Brady: You, you mentioned a lot of customizations there, that you can’t go into a Dick’s Sporting Goods, a Scheels, um, and whatever other, you know, name your retailer. Um, and you, you just basically are ordering stock. I think you have some options of length of club, obviously. But you mentioned a whole lot of cust- customizations. Do you see your customers highly customizing everything?

Jared Doerfler: Yes. So 40, 40% of our putters, uh, get initials milled in the bottom, um, which is an option. 30% add a different grip. And then, uh, if you look at just from a sight line standpoint, it’s very, very fragmented. So that means that it’s not all one. Um, length is, you know, uh, length’s the, the easiest thing you can do from a customization standpoint, but that varies anywhere from, you know, we had one yesterday that came in at 32 and a half inches, and one that was at 37 inches on Monday. So, um, yeah, I mean, it, it always varies kind of where we’re at, but I believe we can add a lot of value there

Justin Brady: Is the customization one of the reasons you’re growing? Because, and I don’t know this to be true, but whether it’s real, um, or whether it’s in a golfer’s head, they all probably want something extremely custom to them. And you do see professionals even with golf swings, their golf swings are very different. They’re, they have the same similar technique, but their swings are different. So is golfing really… Do golfers want this ex- insane level of customization and you are meeting that market need, and this is why Hana Golf is growing?

Jared Doerfler: Th- that’s definitely part of it. So when we’ve, we have added two new putters, you know, this spring and, and early summer, and those putters had, you know, quite, quite a bit of customization to them. So we have six models. Our other four don’t have as much customization, and what we’ve seen is those two putters have done extremely well for us, uh, in the spring. And we will eventually relaunch our four, may not even call it a relaunch, but add, you know, be able to add the option of changing sight lines and, and lie angles and such going forward. Um, yes, it is. Okay, so, uh, it could be in a golfer’s head, sure. But, you know, maybe a golfer’s used to a sight line, you know, on a blade putter that only has a top line or only has a top dot. You walk into, you know, again, Dick’s Sporting Goods, you want a Scotty Cameron that only has a flange line. That’s, you know, generally what they make and sell to retail. Well, okay, we can, you can order it on our website. It’s gonna be quite a bit cheaper. Um, we’re making it in America, we’re making it ourselves, and you get to put the top, uh, the sight line that you want on it

Justin Brady: I was… One of the questions I want to ask, which I can’t because of your unique position is, will people pray a, pay a premium for American-made? But you’re finding a way to match the market with a premium American-made product. I mean, this goes back to the margin question earlier. I don’t wanna beat it, like, a dead horse. But this is really interesting to me because normally I challenge a founder on that line, which is, “Hey, American-made, rah, rah, that’s great. Are people gonna pay for it?” And you found a way not to do that which is crazy. Um, I wanted to ask about, and this is not a political show at all, but, um, have the tariffs helped you or hurt you? And I’m not gonna ask your opinion or political opinion, but the tariffs are putting prices on these things being shipped in, which drives up the costs. You’re not paying those costs, but you may be paying some in materials. So just temporarily, has that been an aid? Has that been a hurt? Or you’re like, “No, we’re kind of paying the same amount as everybody else, so it’s kind of a wash”?

Jared Doerfler: I have a, I have a deep philosophical take on this, and so I won’t get too, too much into it. And it’s funny ’cause I’m, I think I’m kind of wedged between Zach Lane and, and Rob Sand on your show right now, which is crazy that, well, you’re crazy. Those guys are so much smarter than me. So I

Justin Brady: Did you just make a golf pun, by the way? Wedged between- good point, I did. I didn’t, I didn’t even mean to do that. So, um, here, I’ll put it like this, is from what our steel suppliers have told us, and this is what I’ve been told, I’m not a steel expert, but several have, is that we use 303 stainless steel in our putters flat bar. There is not a single steel mill in America that makes that.

Jared Doerfler: What? There’s not one. wow Oh. So tariffs, yes, have, have hurt us. Our metal comes from Portugal or Italy, and then it gets, you know, shipped over on a boat, processed at different, you know, different value-added steel companies, um, a- and then, you know, we order from them. And so yes, it has. While I’m trying to build a, an American-made company, I’m getting hurt. And so I don’t, I don’t lo- I don’t love that. Um, if we had steel mills in America that were able to, um, manufacture and produce 303 stainless steel flat bar, I think it’d be a little bit different story for us. But yeah, it has had a, a bit of a negative impact from our metal pricing. Our metal pricing’s gone up, um, like right around 60% since April of ’25.

Justin Brady: So is it a wash then? Um, ’cause the metal pricing hurts you makes total sense. I don’t think anybody from the left or right would disagree with that. Hopefully, hopefully not. Um, does– Is it kind of a wash because competitors shipping clubs in are paying a tariff? Or, or you’re like, “No, overall it’s, for now it’s a negative.”

Jared Doerfler: It’s, it’s generally a wash. Um, because I mean, you have a lot of companies that are making their stuff in Asia, and so they’re getting tariffed, and then a lot of companies are also using flat bar. So it’s generally a wash. It’s not a competitive disadvantage

Justin Brady: Yeah. You mentioned, um, labor being a challenge. Um, obviously, and this is something we’ve covered here, is finding the tool and die makers, finding the people that do precision stuff is getting harder and harder. I actually think I already see that changing. Uh, one company I’ve worked with closely, Accumold up in Ankeny, um, in the past, um, they, they have this really great pipeline where they’re training up talent. I, I think it’s maybe a temporary problem. I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem in the long run. Do you see– Are you using any AI, any technology, any advantages in that area to scale and keep your labor costs low, or do you see that being an advantage in the near future?

Jared Doerfler: I think AI will play an advantage for us. It’s not right now, but in CAD and CAM for sure. And there’s a few tools out there that are early, and I don’t really wanna waste our time with it. But yes, th- there is an, there is an opportunity there, um, to basically, you know, aid us into our CAD and CAM and our tool paths, and so that maybe we don’t have to hire a designer or a CAM engineer down the road. Um, that could certainly help. So as far as labor, um, yeah, I, I agree with you. I mean, there’s, uh, we, we have, like, our tool and die guy. Um, he, he’s been with me for alm- two years. He started as an intern, and he’s been full-time for a little over a year, and he, he’s a rare breed, um, i- in the most positive way possible. Uh, he, he’s, he’s got the greatest work ethic I’ve ever seen. He’s 21 years old. Um, but yes, I mean, so he went to tool and die school, saw the opportunity to do that, and now is, you know, playing a huge part in our success, um, going forward

Justin Brady: 21 years old, tool and die. Because most people will tell you the tool and die people are all the 70-year-olds aging out. And so you’re sitting here saying, “No, I have this, this, this, like, 21-year-old whiz kid tool and die guy.” Like, is this unique to you, or is this a… Do you think, and maybe you m- maybe you don’t know the answer to this, but is the 21-year-old tool and die guy at Hana Golf unique to you guys, or is this a trend we’re seeing across the country?

Jared Doerfler: Uh, it’s tough for me to answer that. it is. You can say, “I have no clue, dude.” I don’t know, but I’ll tell you this is like, um, there’s, there, I’ve, uh, there’s no, I’ve never seen anyone else like him. So I mean, I think I l- I hit a bit of a unicorn. I got lucky. You know, at 20 years old, he started working full time for us after he graduated from Tool & Die. We have a Tool & Die intern right now. He’s 19. He’s going to Hawkeye. Um, again, Gen Z has done really well for us when I think Gen Z gets a bad rap. I don’t know if that’s really localized for us in the Cedar Valley. Um, but yeah, no, I mean, we’ve had, we’ve had pretty good luck. Uh, it’s been, it’s been actually really promising to see

Justin Brady: What are some of the challenges that you’ve been running into, whether it’s Iowa or whe- You’ve talked about some of them, but are there any challenges that you’ve run into being in Iowa? ‘Cause you, you, you proudly display that on your website. Yeah. Like, that’s really up there. It’s like made in Iowa. Has that been an advantage or has it been a challenge?

Jared Doerfler: a- Uh, it definitely has not been a challenge. It’s been an advantage for us. So, you know, years ago, so, like, TaylorMade was founded, like, outside of Chicago, and they moved to Southern California. All the companies are in Southern California now. Um, I think it’s a really good opportunity and story to tell that we’re, look, we’re in Iowa, we’re in the Midwest. And so, um, you know, we want something that the Iowa golfers can be proud of. And, you know, hopefully in the future, you know, our putter will be played on tour. And, um, you know, you can wa- watch on a Sunday and be like, “Hey, that guy’s, you know, his shop’s 30 minutes down the road.” Um, that’s really what, kinda what we aspire to do. Really?

Justin Brady: That’d be cool. Do we have any PGA people listening to this? If you do, get a, get a club and take it out there and wave it around.

Jared Doerfler: you have any- Get a- Yeah

Justin Brady: I wanna talk about the limited drops. Mm. This is really cool. The … You’re playing to your advantage of a boutique dealer by having these limited drops. Of course, in my mind, I this, this, I can’t I’m gonna tick off every golfer in the state. But in my mind, like, there’s not that much variation to a club that can really, you know, again, is it, is it really, you know, little angles and changes. How much can you tweak something? But you’ve had a lot of success on the limited drops. They sell out all the time. So is it just premium materials? Is it, like, inlays? What are, why are these premium drops selling out? And I guess, how many times can you sell a premium drop putter to a golfer before they’re like, “All right, bro, I have, like, 10 of these. I don’t need

Jared Doerfler: we’re gonna find out. Um, yeah, we- we’ve been really fortunate on our drops. They’ve, they’ve, they’ve sold out in about, you know, less than a couple minutes. Um, our last two sold out it took longer. They sold out in about an hour, which, you know, that’s, so that’s what I’m tell- that’s what I’m saying. Like, you know, I, uh, I don’t know, we’ll see how long it lasts. We did a private drop, um, for our two anniversary. So anyone that had bought something from us in the first two years, um, did a private drop. We sold, uh, you know, we sold a little over 60 putters doing that. And, um, we did a really cool finish, cool head cover, added a few things on there that this putter will never even be published on our website. So there’s some mystique to it. You had to have a password to, uh, to, to get into the, to, to the website. So anyway, going back to this, um, y- you know, first of all, if you’re gonna do limited drop putters, you go anywhere on these boutique sites, you’re looking at 800 or 2,500 bucks. Our value’s there. Um, and we, we do an awesome finish. Um, we, we do, uh, lately we’ve been doing this aged copper plate, uh, finish, which is- I

Justin Brady: cool

Jared Doerfler: saw that. That’s dope … it’s, it’s like the coolest finish that I… I’m biased ’cause we make them, but it’s like the coolest finish I’ve seen on a putter ever, and you can’t get that anywhere else. And so it looks cool. It looks, it looks pretty sexy, and so, I mean, it does well

Justin Brady: Is there an aftermarket for this stuff? Like, do people buy it, they really love it, they aftermarket it and they buy a new one? Is that something you’re like, “That’s cool.” Is that something you’re like, “Ah, I don’t like, know if I like that”?

Jared Doerfler: I don’t like the aftermarket. Um, we try to stay away from that ’cause we make people initial them.

Justin Brady: Yeah. Oh

Jared Doerfler: um, that doesn’t mean that somebody could sell an initialed putter on eBay. Uh, haven’t seen it yet. Um, I’m sure somebody maybe has sold one to a buddy. What we’ve seen in the past is groups of people getting on the website, a group of three or four trying to buy one putter for their dad. Really? Right. And so, you know, two of them will buy, and then, you know, of course then, “Oh, hey, we both bought, so we have to cancel,” which we put it back on the website and it sells pretty quickly. But that’s generally w- kind of what we see because we’ve had good demand on these. Um, I don’t know how long it’s gonna last for. We’re gonna have to be a little bit more creative, I think, on our next drop going forward. Um, but it’s something that, you know, I love doing, and I love the rush of it, and, um, it’s a pretty cool thing we can add value to our customers that, that have supported us for a long time, too.

Justin Brady: Are there any collaborations or sponsorships you’re working on over at Hana Golf?

Jared Doerfler: We’ve done also, also a, a good question. We did a collab with Bridgestone Golf, which, um, you know, Bridgestone, you’re thinking maybe tires, but they have a really good golf ball. Um, that’s kind of really …Yeah. that’s only kind of really where they play. Um, as far as I’m aware, too, they make the ball in Georgia. Uh, they’re a smaller company o- owned by Bridgestone, um, in, in Japan. But, you know, their golf, their golf is smaller. And if you … You know who Tiger Woods is, which I’m sure everyone does, is Tiger Woods plays their golf balls. So it’s a, it’s a really good company. We, we did a drop with them, um, in last spring, which, which was really, really fun to do, and it was, gave us good validation. We did a drop, a weird drop. I shouldn’t say a weird drop. It was an awesome drop, kind of a weird relationship, uh, meshed together with Athletic Greens, um- Really? last fall. Yeah, that was, that was a lot of fun. Huh. And we’re, we’re trying to get in- you make the AG1 We did. Really? Yeah. It Was They actually- Was it green? It was not, but It was painted green. Oh. Um, their designers did an awesome job designing what they wanted on the bottom of the putter and, um, it turned out really cool.

Justin Brady: Is this something you’re doing, like private label stuff? Are you getting into private label

Jared Doerfler: Not really. We’ve done… I, I mean, I would consider those, like, more… So that Athletic Greens ones was, was a private drop for them. Um, they, they post on their socials and, but that was a, an event for some of their influencers. Um, but we’ll do, we’ll do private orders. Um, a- and it’s been, it’s been good for us. It’s been fun. You know, Silo Club, shout out to them, um, in Nevada, just opened a nine-hole golf course. Probably it’s gonna be one of the best nine-hole courses in the country. Um, for, for all their founding members, they did 24 putters, uh, you know, at, uh, a drop for them when, when they opened here in June. So that, that was, that was really cool. But yeah, we’ll, we’ll do some of those, uh, those group orders and those private drops for, for those types of companies. Now we’re trying to evaluate, like, NIL, and that doesn’t really work for us ’cause, you know… And, like, I don’t really pay myself anything, and, like, if anyone wants to follow, like, me or us on social media, like, I’m pretty transparent about, like, what I’m paying myself and what our, like, what our company does from, like, a, a revenue standpoint. And, um, I don’t pay myself a lot, so it’s hard for me to really see about NIL. But what I’m really focused on right now is high school talent that’s, uh, from rural Iowa. And, and why? I, I’m was f- I’m from Mason City, not super small town, but I went to Newman Catholic, small school, and, uh, these, these rural kids are, are just completely overlooked. And so, Judd Jurowski, who’s from Grundy Center, Iowa, is, uh, a freshman at Stanford this year. Uh, it’s one of the most unique stories in golf, that he’s from Grundy Center, Iowa, and going to play golf at Stanford, where Tiger played, and Stanford is one of the premier programs in the country. And so, you know, we worked with Judd, and he’s got a handful of our putters. He’s been playing it for a year and a half. That’s been a lot of fun. Another, another kid we have is Chloe Bolte, who’s in Missouri State. She’s from Sumner, Iowa. She’s an absolute stud. Uh, won her very first tournament. Well, she got tied for first her very first tournament in college, uh, last year as a freshman. So, um, you know, working with, like, a lot of these, uh, I would call them underdogs, uh, is, is kind of fitting for us and, and who we wanna work with going forward in the high school market and then as they get into college.

Justin Brady: You’re almost taking an investor standpoint to golfers. You know, coming in early and investing in them way early before they pop on the market, you know? Or before they, you know, take off I guess would be the better, uh, phrase. Um, real, this is a real quick question. If you partner with AG1, with golf clubs on an influencer program, does that mean Andrew Huberman of Huberman Lab has a Hana golf

Jared Doerfler: I don’t know if he was there.

Justin Brady: club? I don’t know if he was. You don’t know if he was there? Yeah.

Jared Doerfler: Yeah. It, it was a really cool. thing that they did and, and yeah, we, we should look. Yeah

Justin Brady: Yeah. Andrew Huberman, if you’re listening, probably isn’t. But anyway, if he is, uh, let us know. We would like to see it. Um, last question, probably a really, really quick one, um, ’cause I’m over time now, but it’s my show, I get to do what I want. How’d you distribute this? I mean, founders know you don’t just make something and people buy it. What was your distribution channel? How did you… I mean, 30% Iowa is pretty significant. What, what was the secret there?

Jared Doerfler: So I know you’re a little long, so I’ll just sum it up quickly. In 2021, I started a golf newsletter, um, and I grew an audience. Um, it’s called, it was called Perfect Putt. I sold it last, last fall. Um, and we, you know, we grew it to, not huge, 11,000 subscribers. And then, you know, while I was wr- writing that, I, um, I grew an audience on Twitter and LinkedIn. And so we had, I don’t know, 20, 20, 25,000 followers on Twitter when I launched Perfect … or when I launched Hana Golf, then I had Perfect Putt, and so I had distribution. And, you know, that’s been the best thing that I think has ever happened t- to Hana Golf, is that I had built-in distribution. People trusted, uh, me, they trusted us. Um, owning your own media and owning your own distribution is wildly insane and important, um, and it can go a long way. I can’t imagine starting a putter company right now without, you know, from scratch. Just, well, you know, s- creating a Twitter account or Instagram account from zero, um, would’ve been insanely challenging. So that’s how we got started and, you know, we just do a lot of storytelling on, on social media.

Justin Brady: Yeah, I would say if there’s one problem every founder has, it’s not a great idea. You know, sometimes it’s bad product market fit, but it’s not a gr- it’s not they, they struggle with ideas. Almost all of them struggle with distribution or under, or, and that starts with they struggle with understanding the value of distribution. They all believe in what I call is the, uh, founder baby bias, which is, you know, they have a new baby, they have eyes for their baby. They’re like, “Oh my gosh.” But everybody else in public’s like, “Bro, I’ve seen 1,000 babies. I’m gonna see 1,000 more. They don’t… I don’t care.” You know? And so they all struggle with that, is they, they see this amazing idea, and then they put it out there expecting it to go gangbusters, and it doesn’t. The distribution has to be made, and it sounds like you, you know, you, you made that through Perfect Putt, you made that through content over years, created that distribution. And then, and then when you created Hana Golf, you had that distribution that was ready for that message. That’s key. That’s a big, big, big deal. Uh, c- so congratulations to you, Jared Doerfler, the founder of Hana Golf. Hana Golf, excuse me. See, I

Jared Doerfler: You got, you got it, Justin

Justin Brady: Uh, thank you so much for coming on the Iowa Business Podcast. I really appreciate it.

Jared Doerfler: Thanks for having us and, uh, thanks for sharing our story

Justin Brady: Absolutely