Hello PURE grippers,

As you probably know, Hank Haney has an incredible circle of friends - and being part of that circle has its benefits.  

For several years now, Hank has offered his time to the American Century Championship while asking for little in return. This year was his chance to give back to his friends and partners, and he came through in a big way. Hank was able to get all his partners an invite to the American Century Championship to show off their products and help service all of the 82 Celebrities who were participating in the event.

The American Century Championship takes place near Lake Tahoe at Edgewood Golf Course in Stateline, Nevada. The event started in 1990 and has developed a reputation for allowing the public to get close to their favorite celebrities. But just because they’re famous for something other than golf, doesn’t mean they don’t take it seriously.   

The championship is run like a PGA tour event and has cash prizes for the winners.  The championship brings in an average of about 80 celebrities a year to compete for a total purse of $600,000.  So where do PURE grips and the rest of Hank’s partners fit in?

Hank Haney is always looking for ways to get his partners maximum exposure.  With all of the events Hank has going on throughout the year, anyone associated with Hank Haney is bound to get great exposure in multiple places.  With attendance exceeding 40,000 for the week, the American Century Championship couldn’t be a better place to get exposure.  With Hank’s great relationship with American Century he was able to get Crocs, Garia Carts and PURE grips a spot to showcase their goods.   

When the opportunity was presented to us to be a part of the American Century Championship, it was a no brainer.  But how do we get these celebrities excited about our custom golf grips when they’re given a backpack full of other cool gifts?  The answer: We fully customized the correct golf grips for every celebrity in the event with their names and a logo to go along with their careers.  How cool is that!

So did this customization idea work?  At the start of the event we found ourselves wondering if we had done enough to make these celebrities get excited about PURE grips.  It didn’t take long for us to get the news we hoped for when Vince Coleman’s wife came over and told us we were by far the best gift the celebrities were given.  So the customized grips did work! For the next 4 days, we introduced PURE grips to about 90% of the field and installed grips for over a third of them. 

It’s difficult for us to choose our favorite moment of the week, but here are a few: 

Home Run Redemption

It is probably too long ago for most of you to remember, but Joe Carter hit the World Series winning home run in 1993 for the Blue Jays to beat the Philadelphia Phillies.  Mike, who is a huge Phillies fan, remembers that home run like it was yesterday, so when he saw Joe Carter on the range there was no doubt on what their conversation would be about.  It took almost 20 years and Joe Carter having a brand new set of PURE grips installed for Mike to finally let go of the heartbreak and disappointment. 

One Happy Surfer

Wes had his moment in the sun when Kelly Slater arrived at the range.  We made some custom golf club grips for Kelly about a year ago, but never really knew if he received them. This was a perfect time for Wes to find out!  As soon as Wes introduced himself, Kelly pulled out a club showing off a PURE grip and said how much he loved them! What can make you feel better than having an 11 time world champion surfer saying how much they love your product?  

Re-Gripping a Running Back

Even Darin, the owner of two shares of Green Bay Packers stock, was willing to trade them in for a week to meet one of the best running backs of all time. When Marcus Allen brought his clubs over to the tent, it gave Darin the perfect opportunity to show him how easily PURE grips can be custom fitted to multiple sizes.  Marcus couldn’t have been more pleased with how quickly we were able to re-grip a golf club, and even talked about us making it to his foundation’s golf tournament. 

Looking back on all the celebrities we talked to, it’s definitely hard to pick my favorite; however Joey Porter’s reaction really stands out.  As soon as I showed Joey Porter the custom grips we made for him, his response was, “So that’s how we do it!” He immediately had us put them on.  

What an exciting event and a great way to get the PURE grips name out there.  Please take a look at the tournament website. It’s an event you don’t want to miss!  http://tahoecelebritygolf.com/