Remember the first time you went golfing with your father, brother, or uncle? I still can recall my father giving me all the typical instructions and warnings that fathers give their sons that first day out on the course. "Stay with me, when I say duck—you duck!”. “When Paul [my dad’s golfing buddy] misses a shot, really, really, duck...and watch out for flying clubs, etc."
Well, I was 8 years old then and my father not only loved the game of golf, but it was in part, how he earned his living. He was an announcer and sports director for WBBM (CBS affiliate in Chicago, IL), and the year was 1964. My father, Joe Foss was a very good golfer and was very excited about the prospects of teaching his love & skill for the game of golf to my brother Jay and me.
As fate would have it, he suffered a severe stroke in the prime of his career and he was unable to continue working, or playing the game of golf, he loved so dearly. We still have the oversized get-well card that was signed by the touring pro's playing in the Western Open that year; including signatures from such greats as: Billy Casper, Chi-Chi Rodriguez, (a young Raymond Floyd), Tony Lema, Gene Littler, etc. Although left paralyzed from the stroke, dad could still give my brother and me verbal golf instructions…and he followed the tour on TV and radio until he died in 1982.
The golf clubs that once seemed so big to me became the set I played with for years, but I assure you they never achieved the same scratch-golf numbers that once adorned the scorecards when my father wielded them so gracefully. Nonetheless, golf has always appealed to me as a game that is enjoyable no matter what the skill level or social economic status you have attained.
Although the clubs I learned on were tour blades, the (leather) grips had lost their luster long before my brother or I had learned to play, so we never really knew the difference until we got older and sampled new clubs…WOW what a difference! When my wife became pregnant with our twins in 1991, I bought my first set of new clubs. Soon after that, the new clubs I used the most (driver, 7-iron, pitching wedge, etc.) started to lose the new feel on the grips. I used to sand them with sandpaper to get that "feel" back, but soon found out that you can only take away so much material from the grip before it becomes "unusable". There was nothing but pine tar, bee’s-wax or, re-gripping available on the market, which were messy and picked up dirt on the grips. Re-gripping is the best option, but you cannot always do that before a round.
I thought if I could find the right material and develop a method (tube that is always on the golf bag when/if you needed it for applying that new feel to golf grips ON THE GOLF COURSE instead of having to take them out of service twice per year, I might have a business. I would be doing a service to all the golfers like me who want consistency in every shot, but don’t necessarily re-grip their clubs every season, as they should. After trying to market the invention in 2002 with little money, I all but gave up on the product…until my partner Bill stepped forward.
Bill O’Connell is a brilliant insurance executive, and is a very smart businessman, who happens to love golf too. His company sponsored an event at the International in Denver in 2003, and he asked if he could get some of my product to give "as golf gifts" at his hospitality tent at the event. It was a little magical...Similar to the Post-It Notes story, soon after the event, people were calling him saying, “Where can I get that?” He ended up buying the patent, trademark and offered to have me join him in marketing the product.
Bill took Gotta-Grip to an old acquaintance that happened to be the Chairman of a parent company of a large promotional products manufacturing supplier. They too, saw the benefit of Gotta-Grip. We had licensed them the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell through their distributors in the Ad Specialty, Promotional Products market (an 18 billion dollar per year market), for custom-embroidered golf gifts at tournaments, and as sales gifts.
When Mr. O’Connell retired from the insurance industry in 2007, we decided to begin marketing Gotta-Grip ourselves. We are the suppliers to promotional distributors who call on corporate, promotional, and charity tournament markets.
Well, I was 8 years old then and my father not only loved the game of golf, but it was in part, how he earned his living. He was an announcer and sports director for WBBM (CBS affiliate in Chicago, IL), and the year was 1964. My father, Joe Foss was a very good golfer and was very excited about the prospects of teaching his love & skill for the game of golf to my brother Jay and me.
As fate would have it, he suffered a severe stroke in the prime of his career and he was unable to continue working, or playing the game of golf, he loved so dearly. We still have the oversized get-well card that was signed by the touring pro's playing in the Western Open that year; including signatures from such greats as: Billy Casper, Chi-Chi Rodriguez, (a young Raymond Floyd), Tony Lema, Gene Littler, etc. Although left paralyzed from the stroke, dad could still give my brother and me verbal golf instructions…and he followed the tour on TV and radio until he died in 1982.
The golf clubs that once seemed so big to me became the set I played with for years, but I assure you they never achieved the same scratch-golf numbers that once adorned the scorecards when my father wielded them so gracefully. Nonetheless, golf has always appealed to me as a game that is enjoyable no matter what the skill level or social economic status you have attained.
Although the clubs I learned on were tour blades, the (leather) grips had lost their luster long before my brother or I had learned to play, so we never really knew the difference until we got older and sampled new clubs…WOW what a difference! When my wife became pregnant with our twins in 1991, I bought my first set of new clubs. Soon after that, the new clubs I used the most (driver, 7-iron, pitching wedge, etc.) started to lose the new feel on the grips. I used to sand them with sandpaper to get that "feel" back, but soon found out that you can only take away so much material from the grip before it becomes "unusable". There was nothing but pine tar, bee’s-wax or, re-gripping available on the market, which were messy and picked up dirt on the grips. Re-gripping is the best option, but you cannot always do that before a round.
I thought if I could find the right material and develop a method (tube that is always on the golf bag when/if you needed it for applying that new feel to golf grips ON THE GOLF COURSE instead of having to take them out of service twice per year, I might have a business. I would be doing a service to all the golfers like me who want consistency in every shot, but don’t necessarily re-grip their clubs every season, as they should. After trying to market the invention in 2002 with little money, I all but gave up on the product…until my partner Bill stepped forward.
Bill O’Connell is a brilliant insurance executive, and is a very smart businessman, who happens to love golf too. His company sponsored an event at the International in Denver in 2003, and he asked if he could get some of my product to give "as golf gifts" at his hospitality tent at the event. It was a little magical...Similar to the Post-It Notes story, soon after the event, people were calling him saying, “Where can I get that?” He ended up buying the patent, trademark and offered to have me join him in marketing the product.
Bill took Gotta-Grip to an old acquaintance that happened to be the Chairman of a parent company of a large promotional products manufacturing supplier. They too, saw the benefit of Gotta-Grip. We had licensed them the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell through their distributors in the Ad Specialty, Promotional Products market (an 18 billion dollar per year market), for custom-embroidered golf gifts at tournaments, and as sales gifts.
When Mr. O’Connell retired from the insurance industry in 2007, we decided to begin marketing Gotta-Grip ourselves. We are the suppliers to promotional distributors who call on corporate, promotional, and charity tournament markets.
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