Mike and I are heading off to see the 2010 US Open Championship in Pebble Beach. We'll start off by watching the practice rounds on Wednesday as well as the morning tee times for Thursday and Friday. I have had the good fortune to attend some great golf events, but this will be my first Major. I was lucky enough to attend the Ryder Cup at Valhalla in 2008, but a US Open at Pebble might go to the top of the list for me.

Where PURE plays into the Championship

I was able to watch the first round of the Senior PGA Championships in Parker, CO and saw some pros using our grips. It is such a great validation for what we are doing when we see the best players in the world competing with our product in the bag.  It really is amazing to see the guys you follow on TV/ internet choosing to play PURE grips. For me, it just enhances my enjoyment of watching the game of golf played at the highest level. I think that PGA Tour pros playing our grips is an amazing statement about the performance and quality of our products. Most PGA Tour players do not receive endorsement contracts for grips, so they can play any product they want. Knowing that more and more are choosing ours every week is a really great feeling. I am SUPER excited to see our grips in competition this week at Pebble Beach in the US Open!

While we will definitely be looking out for the guys who are playing our grips, as a fan I am excited to see lots of players at the US Open. I love to watch Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas, Ricky Barnes and to be honest, I am really going to cheer for a guy named Erik Compton. I saw his story on a PGA Tour broadcast and I see he is playing this week. I wish him great luck!

Industry Motivators and the Golf Community

A lot of the people we meet in the golf industry complain about how infrequently they are able to play golf. We don’t want to be that company, and I am fortunate to have partners that agree. We got into this business because we love to play golf, so we try to play together as much as we can and we try to work in some time to play when we travel.   So, safe to say my partner Mike will take his obligatory beating in California this week. We fly in Wednesday and Mike will be toast that afternoon at Pajaro Valley Golf Club in Royal Oaks, CA. Maybe I can post you guys some video of Mike crying on the blog.

Since we started PURE Grips, we really felt that as a team, we had a good perspective of life as golfers, not as industry insiders. Sometimes this is a bad scenario in starting a business, but the golf community seems to be so open and helpful. I think part of that comes from the product, that story always seems to open doors for us. But, I also think people genuinely want to see a start-up, particularly one marketing an American made product, succeed against the Goliaths of industry.  

*Picture of Pebble Beach from Golf & Lifestyle