Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: I'm Brandon Hill from Boise, Idaho, and I play at
Speaker 2: Eagle Hills Golf Course.
Speaker 1: Welcome to golf Mart. Hi.
Speaker 3: This is Robert Hill from Heburn, Kentucky, and I play
Speaker 3: at Boo Links Golf Course.
Speaker 1: This is Golf Smarter number one, twenty eight. And now
Speaker 1: we have a new mission to prove that we made
Speaker 1: the right decision.
Speaker 2: And the right decision doesn't just mean the right decision
Speaker 2: for us, it means the right decision for the consumer.
Speaker 2: This is ultimately going to produce better product, hopefully at
Speaker 2: better prices, and just an all around better experience that
Speaker 2: goes beyond what anybody's experienced before simply by buying a putter.
Speaker 2: So we like the challenge of needing to sort of
Speaker 2: re earn everybody's trust, and so far, I think we're
Speaker 2: doing a pretty good job. I mean it's funny, like
Speaker 2: you read the comments online. I got really overwhelmed a
Speaker 2: week after the announcement was made. And when we screw up,
Speaker 2: because we're so engaged with everybody, it always seems like
Speaker 2: a much bigger deal. Like when somebody gets a crooked grip,
Speaker 2: they put it on a lab rats page with fifty
Speaker 2: thousand fans and they lose their minds. But six months
Speaker 2: ago we'd put a crooked grip out somebody to take
Speaker 2: a picture of it and say what gives and everybody
Speaker 2: be like, man, take it easy. They're a small company
Speaker 2: from Oregon, leave malone. It's just one grip, don't worry
Speaker 2: about it. And people would like have our backs. A
Speaker 2: week after the announcement comes up, somebody put a picture
Speaker 2: up of a crooked grip up there.
Speaker 1: It's like Cee already cutting corners.
Speaker 3: Lab Golf's newest heel shafted putter impresses old school skeptics
Speaker 3: with CEO Samon. This is Golf Smarter, sharing stories, tips
Speaker 3: and insights from great golf minds to help you lower
Speaker 3: your score and raise your golf IQ. Here's your host,
Speaker 3: Fred Green. Welcome back to the Golf Smarter podcast.
Speaker 1: Sam, Thanks Fred, thanks for having me back.
Speaker 3: Pal Uh you kidding. I would have you on more often,
Speaker 3: but I know that you're so busy doing your own
Speaker 3: social media. My god, you're everywhere. It's worked very well
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 1: By the way. I like it out here in social media.
Speaker 3: And yeah, yeah, between the podcasts and the videos and
Speaker 3: getting people fitted and showing off their new putter and
Speaker 3: how to do it. But I think my favorite has
Speaker 3: beat the boss.
Speaker 2: We've got to We've got to get another one out there.
Speaker 2: We've got two episodes in the can or one episode
Speaker 2: in the can, maybe two, I don't remember, but one
Speaker 2: of them is against my brother and it's a pretty
Speaker 2: epic match.
Speaker 3: Oh, now that one I'd like to see. I definitely,
Speaker 3: because you know I when I was up there with
Speaker 3: you and my friend Kevin, uh, we played with you
Speaker 3: and Liam and so getting you getting to watch you
Speaker 3: two play together is always a who Yeah, he's so
Speaker 3: much fun.
Speaker 2: Liam's great and he's such a good player, and we
Speaker 2: didn't have him stuck in the shop building putters.
Speaker 1: He'd he could. He could be making a few bucks
Speaker 1: at this game, but.
Speaker 3: Probably but you know, I mean, he's living a dreams.
Speaker 3: You're you're you're all telling him to live a dream.
Speaker 1: We're all having some fun for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and talk about a dream. So the last time
Speaker 3: you were on I remember asking you, so, I mean,
Speaker 3: what do you do? Can you sell the company? This
Speaker 3: Morne You're like, no, we can't sell the company. It's
Speaker 3: too big, no one can buy it. And if the
Speaker 3: only reason they'd buy it is to shut it down.
Speaker 3: I won't let that happen. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: I believe you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know that I said exactly that really,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean we obviously had to kind of
Speaker 2: mum as the word, you know, when you're when you're
Speaker 2: going through transaction stuff and contractually bound enough to speak
Speaker 2: of anything.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what exactly our last one was, but.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we've been we'd been you know, working
Speaker 2: towards some kind of transaction for better part of the
Speaker 2: last two plus years, so we would have been, you know,
Speaker 2: at least testing the waters by the last time I
Speaker 2: was on your show.
Speaker 1: But yeah, man, I mean, everything just moves so fast, and.
Speaker 2: Uh it's it's impossible to convey the just weekly volatility
Speaker 2: that is, you know, our lives of this last you know,
Speaker 2: three months, and you know, we we pivot a lot,
Speaker 2: you have to, you know, in order to to to
Speaker 2: compete in this industry. And so yeah, we uh yeah,
Speaker 2: we started started a process looking for a potential partner
Speaker 2: or buyer a couple of years ago and courted by
Speaker 2: any number of uh private equity firms. Once we you know,
Speaker 2: put it out to market, a couple of other you know,
Speaker 2: potential strategic buyers and stuff, and I found some bad asses.
Speaker 3: And it was so funny that when I heard the announcement,
Speaker 3: I was in Paris, Like, you want me to go
Speaker 3: knock on a door, I would send you a text
Speaker 3: you want me to go knock on a door for
Speaker 3: You'd say, maybe I can do while I'm here. I
Speaker 3: couldn't believe it. Yeah, it was a Parisian company, a
Speaker 3: French company that that invested and so how does that work?
Speaker 3: So they there, they don't come in and take over
Speaker 3: the company based on what I've read about this private
Speaker 3: equity firm that kind of lets people do what they're doing.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean it's different depending upon the firm. Right,
Speaker 1: like there was be fair like none of the ones that.
Speaker 2: Ultimately you know, kind of made it to the final
Speaker 2: you know, eight or so of potential suitors, none of
Speaker 2: them had designs to shut the company down and take
Speaker 2: it over.
Speaker 1: I mean, lab is a very very unique business.
Speaker 2: There's no it's not like you know, a pe firm
Speaker 2: that owns a bunch of gas stations buying a small
Speaker 2: little gas station company and just rebranding it and putting
Speaker 2: it into the mix, like there's there's no no how
Speaker 2: or there's no there's no widespread industry know how of how.
Speaker 1: To do what we do.
Speaker 2: Only you'd be a fool not to realize that a
Speaker 2: lot of what makes Labs so special as the culture
Speaker 2: and the people and so, you know, to to buy
Speaker 2: up a company like ours and then try to do
Speaker 2: it differently or better than what we're doing would just
Speaker 2: be silly. So the people that were that were you know,
Speaker 2: serious about partnering with us all understood that like we
Speaker 2: weren't going to leave Cross well, you know that I
Speaker 2: wasn't going to go anywhere, and the the you know,
Speaker 2: all the executives and the higher level folks that have
Speaker 2: been with us since the beginning, we're going to go anywhere,
Speaker 2: and uh.
Speaker 1: You know, and they didn't want us to.
Speaker 2: And so with with el Catterton, who you know, yes,
Speaker 2: was originally funded by Bernard Arnaut, you know, from Louis Vuitton.
Speaker 2: Like just for anybody curious about that association, it's not
Speaker 2: the company is not owned by Louis Vuitton. It's El
Speaker 2: Cadderton is its own, you know, private equity firm with
Speaker 2: thirty years of like a phenomenal track record of doing
Speaker 2: what they're doing with us, which is to you know,
Speaker 2: let the team that you know that got us here
Speaker 2: continue to continue to go. Now, they were tough around
Speaker 2: making sure that we had some go forward plans, because
Speaker 2: that's what they're buying, right, They're not buying what is,
Speaker 2: They're buying what will be.
Speaker 1: And so you know, they they came in and they
Speaker 1: they you know, did.
Speaker 2: A seven month long proctology exam to learn every single
Speaker 2: you know, in and out of the entire business to
Speaker 2: see where and this is where we were pressing them
Speaker 2: and the other potential seaers is how are you going
Speaker 2: to help us? And you know, before we hit the
Speaker 2: cord here, you and I were talking like.
Speaker 1: Initially we just thought the time was right to cash
Speaker 1: a check.
Speaker 2: And so we went out and we're talking to you know,
Speaker 2: actually a lot of customers who were you know, high
Speaker 2: net worth individuals and see if could put a group
Speaker 2: of them together to partner with us and.
Speaker 1: And buy some equity.
Speaker 2: And then you know, kind of a year into that
Speaker 2: process is when things really started to just go crazy
Speaker 2: and our lead times got totally out of control, or
Speaker 2: you know, the factory was like just the explosion of chaos,
Speaker 2: you know, twenty four hours a day. And it was
Speaker 2: then we realized like we needed more than money, like
Speaker 2: we needed help, you know, we needed you know, some
Speaker 2: experienced personnel, and we needed additions to our team that
Speaker 2: could take us to the next level. And that's where
Speaker 2: you know, these guys are badasses personnel.
Speaker 3: Are you talking operationally or.
Speaker 2: Think sales operations? Uh, you know, finance everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and yes, they're buying the people in the culture
Speaker 3: that's up in creswell understood. But bottom line, they're buying
Speaker 3: the results that they're seeing. I mean, how much of
Speaker 3: this centered around JJ thinking that but to win nothing?
Speaker 1: It had nothing nothing.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, we closed on we closed on
Speaker 2: July fifteenth. The original letter of intent, I think the
Speaker 2: original uh you know letter of intent that we signed
Speaker 2: was in early January, so you know, the deal was
Speaker 2: in its very very final stages. And yes, the final
Speaker 2: stages take six weeks by themselves. So no, it was
Speaker 2: it was already done at that point pretty much barring
Speaker 2: you know, extraordinary circumstances. But it certainly helped everybody feel
Speaker 2: real good about it, you know, and and honestly, for
Speaker 2: me personally, like you know, yeah, I'm still you know,
Speaker 2: I'm still currently CEO. I'll be stepping down a CEO
Speaker 2: in a few weeks to assume a more product focused role,
Speaker 2: a founder role and working on acquisitions of you know,
Speaker 2: some other technologies to integrate into into LAB. But even
Speaker 2: as CEO, you know, being to the last few months since
Speaker 2: we closed the there isn't an emotional difference in the
Speaker 2: company being ours and not being ours, And there was
Speaker 2: when JJ made that putt. You know, I was having
Speaker 2: all kinds of anxieties about the deal. It's a scary
Speaker 2: ass thing, you know, like in it's my life. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's everything that we worked on and to you know,
Speaker 2: put it in somebody else's hands from a you know,
Speaker 2: a board chair level. You know, it was a scary thing,
Speaker 2: and there was something that felt a little unfinished or
Speaker 2: something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. And
Speaker 2: then when he made that putt, like it just it
Speaker 2: was just the perfect closing, you know paragraph in the
Speaker 2: chapter of Phase one of LAB, you know, labs arrival
Speaker 2: into the world of golf. With that putt was was
Speaker 2: totally complete and it just made it feel so good,
Speaker 2: you know, to go into phase two.
Speaker 3: But actually Phase one was Bill Pressey and directed force
Speaker 3: and you were phase two.
Speaker 2: I think I think of that as the I think
Speaker 2: of that as the prologue.
Speaker 3: Okay. And while this was all going on in the negotiations,
Speaker 3: everything were you? Was it all on you? Or did
Speaker 3: you have a team that you brought in from the
Speaker 3: outside that you you used internally to help you guide
Speaker 3: you through that You've never been through anything like.
Speaker 2: This, right, So yes, we had investment banking team called
Speaker 2: Baird that was there for both just general advice and
Speaker 2: then a lot of the technical work, you know, I
Speaker 2: mean a lot of it that I'm you know, way
Speaker 2: above my pay grade that I don't know anything about,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean the quality of earnings exercise was
Speaker 2: like I just never imagined that the level of sophistication
Speaker 2: involved in making these deals. Obviously they're, you know, a
Speaker 2: multi billion dollar fund that does this stuff for a living,
Speaker 2: and this is what they do, but I had no idea.
Speaker 1: How how deep they go.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, so the the Baird team was was
Speaker 2: very helpful, Like there their associates who were out in
Speaker 2: Eugene every other week and helping us through all that stuff.
Speaker 2: But they can't do it themselves, like they're there to help,
Speaker 2: you know, to help guide us.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 2: Of the sort of half a dozen you know, executives
Speaker 2: at LAB that were a part of this, I probably
Speaker 2: had it the best, you know, our CFO, Amanda, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm sure that she had multiple one hundred hour weeks.
Speaker 2: And Robert, who's going to be he's currently co CEO
Speaker 2: with me right now. He'll be our CEO here in November. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, it just it can't be overstated. I mean,
Speaker 2: and when we started the process, you know, any number
Speaker 2: of people that I reached out to that had been
Speaker 2: through similar things would just.
Speaker 1: Be like, dude, like it's it's crazy.
Speaker 2: It's so emotional, it's so intense, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: and I could not have been less prepared for the
Speaker 2: emotional burden that is this thing. I mean, just the
Speaker 2: volatility of it and the magnitude, right, I mean, it's
Speaker 2: this huge life altering event for so many people. And
Speaker 2: every day there's a you know, a new little fire
Speaker 2: that needs to get put out or a decision that
Speaker 2: needs to get made, and and then you factor that
Speaker 2: in with you know, meanwhile we're trying to run the company,
Speaker 2: you know, like while we're doing this, you know, all
Speaker 2: of this diligence and all of this stuff, and the
Speaker 2: company that we were trying to run happened to be
Speaker 2: in the middle of you knows, as you know, absurd
Speaker 2: a level of growth as you'll ever.
Speaker 1: See in the golf business.
Speaker 2: And and so not only does do we have to
Speaker 2: make a decision on X, you know, or why you know,
Speaker 2: we're running inventory or marketing spend or whatever the stuff is,
Speaker 2: but then you have to like make your decision and
Speaker 2: then look at it through the lens of how it's
Speaker 2: going to affect the deal and the transaction and the everything.
Speaker 2: And so couldn't make any key hires, really couldn't make
Speaker 2: any you know, big ticket purchase on inventory, couldn't you know,
Speaker 2: do there was just a lot of stuff that we
Speaker 2: were tied up on. So it was just a it
Speaker 2: was a wildly stressful thing. And like, you know, just
Speaker 2: just like with lab in general, I've always wanted tattooed
Speaker 2: on my forehead. Is like, you know, if it was easy,
Speaker 2: everybody would do it, and uh, you know, there's your
Speaker 2: own that's for sure. Yeah, And it wasn't easy, but
Speaker 2: very very very worth it and everybody's happy. Nobody lost
Speaker 2: in this deal at all.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it's great, that's really great.
Speaker 3: Before you, I'm so happy for you. And when you
Speaker 3: say they go they went deep with direction, I mean
Speaker 3: when they when they're when you're talking about the pe
Speaker 3: going in and looking at your company going deep, what
Speaker 3: are they and what surprises were there for you that
Speaker 3: you weren't anticipating that kind of depth, that kind of.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, you'd want to interview the CFO or
Speaker 2: co o O and to get kind of the grittier
Speaker 2: details on it.
Speaker 1: But like.
Speaker 2: You know, being an entrepreneur, Earl, being an entrepreneur is
Speaker 2: in many ways just living by it will figure it out,
Speaker 2: like you don't actually you know, I.
Speaker 1: Don't, I don't. I don't plan. Man, look at that
Speaker 1: if I pull on.
Speaker 2: And I go with it, and you know, the at
Speaker 2: the level of investment that they're making and the risks
Speaker 2: that they're taking.
Speaker 1: There is no there's no.
Speaker 2: Potential outcome that wasn't deeply scrutinized. And so not only
Speaker 2: do you need to make plans, but you need to
Speaker 2: make a backup plan, a backup plan for your backup
Speaker 2: plan and three more backup plans behind that, and on
Speaker 2: every single facet of the business, from personnel to manufacturing,
Speaker 2: to sourcing to sales channels. I mean, I mean just
Speaker 2: answering the question of what is the total addressable market?
Speaker 2: What is the actual potential you know of your customer base.
Speaker 2: That was a six weeks long exercise that involves thirty
Speaker 2: different very high paid you know, professionals to scour the
Speaker 2: earth to understand and determine the actual answer to that question.
Speaker 1: Yes, you can google what's the.
Speaker 2: Size of the total putter market, but like that doesn't
Speaker 2: satisfy what it is specifically that they're looking for, So
Speaker 2: things like that, things you know, and is.
Speaker 3: There a short answer to that question that takes months
Speaker 3: and months and months to to create.
Speaker 2: No, And in fact, on that particular one, I actually
Speaker 2: wasn't terribly satisfied with the answer. But I think it's
Speaker 2: because it's not like how many people buy putters every year.
Speaker 2: Because one of the things that we know with lab
Speaker 2: is is that we shifted that, you know, because the
Speaker 2: technology was so new it changed can or behavior from
Speaker 2: you know, a normal replacement cycle of being say five
Speaker 2: years or whatever it is with a putter or three years.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what it is on paper. Now somebody
Speaker 2: that bought a putter last year that's you know, a
Speaker 2: toe hang putter, face balance putter or whatever, now has
Speaker 2: a reason to actually look at another putter despite you know,
Speaker 2: whereas they wouldn't have four years ago or five years
Speaker 2: ago because they'd just be making a lateral move. So,
Speaker 2: you know, there's just stuper nerdy stuff that goes into
Speaker 2: you know, determining this stuff and u and then there
Speaker 2: there was a huge burden on the operations team and
Speaker 2: the supply chain team because of the timing of this transaction.
Speaker 2: Lighted landed right in the middle of all this tariff craziness,
Speaker 2: and you know, we were we were on pace to
Speaker 2: close in March, and then when you know, whatever Liberation
Speaker 2: Day or whatever the hell they called it, you know
Speaker 2: hit like we put pencils down for six weeks because
Speaker 2: nobody knew how that was all going to shake out.
Speaker 2: And and for the second time, the fact that a
Speaker 2: huge amount of our operation is in the United States
Speaker 2: came in real handy. And you know the first time
Speaker 2: was when COVID hit. You know, we were, I mean,
Speaker 2: we were in such a good position. I used the
Speaker 2: analogy I think on one of your shows in the past,
Speaker 2: Like we were like the bubble Gump trip boat when
Speaker 2: that you know, storm hit, and you know, we were
Speaker 2: the only one that managed to make it through with
Speaker 2: shafts on hand, and every other company in the world
Speaker 2: couldn't get their hands on any shafts. And we had
Speaker 2: an ops guy at the time who saw the writing
Speaker 2: on the wall and like literally was buying shafts out
Speaker 2: of people's garages, I mean, and scoured the earth to
Speaker 2: you know, to make sure that we wouldn't run out.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it was.
Speaker 2: It was similar to that in that we were really
Speaker 2: lucky in that the impact of all the terist stuff
Speaker 2: was significantly less than you know, other consumer brands that
Speaker 2: were manufacturing a lot of stuff overseas.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, So I read everything I can get my
Speaker 3: hands on about you and the company, and I watch
Speaker 3: every video I can. If I see your name or
Speaker 3: I see lab pop up, I'm and almost every conversation
Speaker 3: I have on this show ends up being do you
Speaker 3: use a lab putter? Why not? You know, I mean
Speaker 3: it's like I'm sitting here, I've got a number of
Speaker 3: them next to me. But that's besides the point in
Speaker 3: way and you're saying that JJ wasn't the tipping point
Speaker 3: for you. Guys, I did read a number and you
Speaker 3: can clarify this for me from your growth and what
Speaker 3: your sales were in twenty twenty four versus what your
Speaker 3: anticipated was going to be for this year twenty twenty
Speaker 3: five was three x.
Speaker 4: Uh what did we do in And also when you
Speaker 4: and I started talking, you were saying, yeah, we do
Speaker 4: about two hundred putters a month, and that's like, now
Speaker 4: down to the minute, you do that many in a
Speaker 4: minute or.
Speaker 1: So, certainly in the first part of the day. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I've read one hundred and thirty thousand
Speaker 3: putters in twenty twenty four and you were supposed to
Speaker 3: triple that in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be closer to three hundred and fifty thousand
Speaker 2: units this year.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 3: Was how do you wrap your brains around that? I mean,
Speaker 3: you're you know, you're we've talked about your past and
Speaker 3: our past.
Speaker 1: Either.
Speaker 3: It's like you came from managing bars and bands and
Speaker 3: probably employing or managing a handful of people at any
Speaker 3: given time too. I guess my biggest question is how
Speaker 3: do you convince your family to buy in with you
Speaker 3: on this envoy. Are they proud of you now? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Post transaction, I learned a lot about people's lack of
Speaker 2: faith in this whole endeavor.
Speaker 1: You know, it turned out my.
Speaker 2: Dad's investment, he was looking forward to using it to
Speaker 2: take the losses.
Speaker 1: And it's really funny.
Speaker 2: There's when we raised half a million bucks I think
Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen. It was a friend's family and then
Speaker 2: just some customers and stuff like that. And my brother,
Speaker 2: you know, he has his own company called Meriwether. They
Speaker 2: sort of real estate private equity, and they invest in
Speaker 2: a lot about stuff, but resorts and stuff like that. Anyway,
Speaker 2: he's got, you know, a deal with his partners that
Speaker 2: any deal of any kind that lands on any of
Speaker 2: their desks has to be offered to the other three partners.
Speaker 2: And so in twenty nineteen he's like, you know, I guys,
Speaker 2: you know, my brother and I and my dad are
Speaker 2: you know in this Putter company.
Speaker 1: We're raising some money. Do you guys want to you
Speaker 1: guys want to jump in?
Speaker 2: And I was like, like, do we really have to
Speaker 2: bring them in?
Speaker 1: And he's like, no, no, it's good, it's good. It's good.
Speaker 2: And then he asked them and they're like, do we
Speaker 2: have to like do we have to get in on this?
Speaker 2: And you know, a couple of them put in like
Speaker 2: five grand, you know, or ten grand there's something like that,
Speaker 2: and they're like.
Speaker 3: I would have been there from that one.
Speaker 1: And then and then what was so funny too, was.
Speaker 2: The guy that actually connected us without Cadterton was a
Speaker 2: fraternity brother my brothers, and so we were meeting with
Speaker 2: them out in New York at some point and I
Speaker 2: was telling exactly the story of just when we were
Speaker 2: going around to different friends and family and you know,
Speaker 2: asking for a few bucks on this crazy potter company
Speaker 2: that was going to be run by Sam, the Stoner
Speaker 2: bar owner, and and uh, you know and Mike, who
Speaker 2: was this guy that that connected us with el Catterton,
Speaker 2: you know, jumped in the conversations like, yeah, your brother
Speaker 2: called me to see if I wanted to put in
Speaker 2: some cash and I was like, and you didn't.
Speaker 1: He was like did you know you? And I was
Speaker 1: I was like, it's like screwing your Mike, but uh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was wild.
Speaker 2: I mean, and you know, to answer your question like
Speaker 2: how do how do you wrap your brain around it.
Speaker 2: You don't like, I don't wrap my brain around it.
Speaker 2: It's it's all completely surreal. It doesn't it's the magnitude
Speaker 2: of everything that we've accomplished isn't for me anyway. It's
Speaker 2: too big of a concept to actually understand in my bones.
Speaker 2: And when I get my brain twisted around trying to to,
Speaker 2: you know, get around it all, that's when I actually
Speaker 2: get pretty uncomfortable. You know, I'm a lot more comfortable
Speaker 2: just kind of focusing on that which is right in
Speaker 2: front of me, and there's certainly a lot right in
Speaker 2: front of me to to work on. But there are
Speaker 2: brief moments, you know, there's and I would and it's
Speaker 2: so interesting. They're not necessarily the moments you'd think, but
Speaker 2: there are just sweet brief moments where I am able
Speaker 2: to take a quick one point eight seconds.
Speaker 1: And take god damn, you know. But for the most part, now,
Speaker 1: for the most part, it's like.
Speaker 2: Ah, still on the Instagram, dms and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: and freaking out about some guy that's waiting for his putter,
Speaker 2: and nothing really changes.
Speaker 3: Are you gonna be okay? Not being ceo?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that you that you gave practically gave
Speaker 3: birth to you would adopted as an infant for sure.
Speaker 2: So like being the chief executive officer of a business
Speaker 2: like this isn't about golf. It isn't about product, it
Speaker 2: isn't about I mean, it's sure it includes those things,
Speaker 2: but it also includes HR and budget reviews and you know,
Speaker 2: and all kinds of very very technical business stuff that
Speaker 2: I don't. I just simply don't have the education for
Speaker 2: I did a really good job of putting the rights.
Speaker 2: No I don't. And now the piece that's exciting about
Speaker 2: all of this, like Ikatterson has me sitting on the
Speaker 2: board the founder role that they've defined for me, Like
Speaker 2: you know, I kind of get to have my cake
Speaker 2: and eat it too. I kind of get you know,
Speaker 2: I'm the one that's still driving the vision for what
Speaker 2: lab Golf is, how we you know, exist in the world,
Speaker 2: what benefits we provide to golfers, what the brand tone is.
Speaker 1: I still get to do all that stuff.
Speaker 2: What I don't have to do is, you know, have
Speaker 2: any input on what consulting company should get the million
Speaker 2: and a half dollar contract to take us through an
Speaker 2: ERP implementation. You know, like you know, I don't have
Speaker 2: to handle any of that, so and r J and
Speaker 2: I are very close and very aligned on what it
Speaker 2: is that we're trying to accomplish. And then there's you know,
Speaker 2: running the company day to day is a massive lift,
Speaker 2: and we're trying to you know, grow LAB beyond what
Speaker 2: it is now.
Speaker 1: And so I get to go off and do that,
Speaker 1: you know, I get to go off and what does
Speaker 1: that mean? You know, we're looking at.
Speaker 2: Other companies, smaller companies out there that you know, we're
Speaker 2: little little baby labs that need, you know, help, And yeah,
Speaker 2: there's so many great technologies out there.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what I learned in the industry. And
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that helped me see
Speaker 1: the reality of what.
Speaker 2: The industry is and what it could potentially be is
Speaker 2: the fact that I'm not an inventor. I didn't invent
Speaker 2: the potter, I didn't invent the technology. I have no
Speaker 2: you know, attachment to it, and so I'm still a
Speaker 2: consumer and I and now that I've been through what
Speaker 2: I've been through with LAB, what I see is tons
Speaker 2: of brilliant folks out there with incredible ideas that simply
Speaker 2: haven't caught the lucky breaks that LAB caught, you know,
Speaker 2: and and haven't been able to put themselves in the
Speaker 2: position to catch those breaks or to you know, find
Speaker 2: the right partnerships and find the right personnel and all
Speaker 2: that stuff. So I get to I get to go
Speaker 2: do that. I get to go continue to be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2: And being an entrepreneur is a very very very different mindset,
Speaker 2: different skill set, different day to day life than being
Speaker 2: a CEO, particularly a CEO of two hundred million dollar company.
Speaker 2: I mean it's it's a lot of nuts and bolts. Yes,
Speaker 2: ultimately the buck stops, you know, with the CEO and
Speaker 2: any number of organizational structures. But we're still LAB and
Speaker 2: we still do things a little differently. I have the
Speaker 2: utmost confidence in r J. Crazy experience, his wives, he's
Speaker 2: he's technically skilled beyond belief.
Speaker 3: And so r J is Robert, who you're referring to,
Speaker 3: is your co CEO now and he's taking over as CEO.
Speaker 2: Correct, Okay, yep, yeah, And he's a great dude, and
Speaker 2: and with LAB right now for over two years, he's
Speaker 2: he's he was brought on as a consultant to help
Speaker 2: us kind of figure out what we needed to do
Speaker 2: to go to market, to have a transaction and then
Speaker 2: you know, we just had such a blast working together. Ultimately,
Speaker 2: he was hired as president I think a little over
Speaker 2: a year ago, and yeah, man, I.
Speaker 1: Mean he's he came on at exactly the right time.
Speaker 2: Early on, it was important that I didn't have to
Speaker 2: answer to anyone, that I didn't have to debate anything
Speaker 2: with anyone. And then as the stakes grow, like a
Speaker 2: lot of these decisions you need to work through, and
Speaker 2: he and I have a very very good yun and
Speaker 2: yang thing going on, you know, coming at each other
Speaker 2: with not even opposing views and were mostly aligned on
Speaker 2: any number of things. But there's a lot of nuanced
Speaker 2: decisions that you know take place every day that.
Speaker 1: Need some brighter folks than me, you.
Speaker 2: Know, ultimately at least presenting us with the data and
Speaker 2: the information needed to, you know, to make make the
Speaker 2: right decisions.
Speaker 3: And did he come from the golf.
Speaker 2: Industry or he did and he was in like my
Speaker 2: first conversation with him was I mean, I was basically
Speaker 2: trying to talk him out of coming to work for
Speaker 2: us because I had this deep aversion to industry folks,
Speaker 2: and not only see an industry guy like I mean
Speaker 2: lived in Carlsbad for thirty years. He worked for Taylor
Speaker 2: three different times. He worked for Callaway, he worked Forever Compromise,
Speaker 2: he worked for Adams.
Speaker 1: I mean he had his own marketing agency. I mean
Speaker 1: he's been in it.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't until we were established enough with our
Speaker 2: own ethos and our own way of operating that I
Speaker 2: was comfortable bringing somebody like that into the fold without
Speaker 2: concern over them sort of diluting it into a you know,
Speaker 2: one of the major OEMs. And then he came, and
Speaker 2: what was special about r J was like I was
Speaker 2: always worried about bringing industry people in because it's like, okay, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: you guys can't have a Colors. This is not what's done.
Speaker 2: The inventory costs are too high, and da da da.
Speaker 1: And what happened when.
Speaker 2: He came to visit the factory for the first time
Speaker 2: was the exact opposite, which is like, thank you. I've
Speaker 2: just been wondering for years why people don't do this stuff,
Speaker 2: you know, within these you know, massive companies that you
Speaker 2: guys are doing right now. And so he has the
Speaker 2: experience and the knowledge to know what it is that
Speaker 2: we're competing against. And the open mindedness and you know,
Speaker 2: passion around doing things differently that that makes this partnership perfect.
Speaker 3: And now are you a major OEM?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure doesn't feel that way. Yeah, I mean we
Speaker 2: were talking about that. Yeah, I mean we were talking
Speaker 2: about that in the marketing meeting, where like we were
Speaker 2: never particularly deliberate about a lot of the messaging around
Speaker 2: being an underdog.
Speaker 1: The world sort of did that for us.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and we've noticed now that particularly with the
Speaker 2: fact that that that the transaction was announced the way
Speaker 2: that it was, like, yeah, the kind of industry tone
Speaker 2: shifted on LAB real quick, you know, and expected and
Speaker 2: I get it. I mean like it was such a cool,
Speaker 2: you know, rags to riches story, and everybody who ever
Speaker 2: owned a Lab hutter, or shared a Lab story or
Speaker 2: did anything with Lab felt some ownership of LAB. And
Speaker 2: I think when people heard that it was sold to
Speaker 2: private equity, rightfully, so we're very upset because you know,
Speaker 2: you don't hear about the good things that happened with
Speaker 2: private equity, and we certainly all have heard any number
Speaker 2: of stories of private equity coming in and destroying wonderful businesses,
Speaker 2: and so people were upset and we.
Speaker 1: Totally get it, and we actually kind of got excited.
Speaker 4: Like.
Speaker 2: We seem to do better when we've got something to prove,
Speaker 2: and now we have a new mission to prove that
Speaker 2: we made the right decision. And the right decision doesn't
Speaker 2: just mean the right decision for us, it means the
Speaker 2: right decision for the consumer, Like this is ultimately going
Speaker 2: to produce better product fully at better prices, and you know,
Speaker 2: and just an all around better experience that goes beyond
Speaker 2: what anybody's experienced before simply by buying a putter. So
Speaker 2: we like, you know, the challenge of needing to sort
Speaker 2: of re earn everybody's trust, and so far, I think
Speaker 2: we're doing a pretty good job. I think people were.
Speaker 2: I mean it's funny, like you read the comments online.
Speaker 2: I mean, geez, I mean there's the lab Rats page.
Speaker 2: I think you're on the Facebook page. You know that's
Speaker 2: the fan group, And I mean I got really overwhelmed,
Speaker 2: Like a week after the announcement was made.
Speaker 1: You know, we screw up.
Speaker 2: And when we screw up, because we're so engaged with everybody,
Speaker 2: it always seems like a much bigger deal. Like when
Speaker 2: somebody gets a crooked grip, they put it on the
Speaker 2: lab rats page with fifty thousand fans, and you know,
Speaker 2: they lose their minds. But it used to be, you know,
Speaker 2: six months ago, we'd put a crooked grip out and
Speaker 2: somebody to take a picture of it and say what
Speaker 2: gives And everybody'd be like, man, take it easy. They're
Speaker 2: a small company from Oregon.
Speaker 1: Leave alone. It's just one grip. Don't worry about it,
Speaker 1: you know, and people would like have our backs. A
Speaker 1: week after the.
Speaker 2: Announcement comes up, somebody put a picture up of a
Speaker 2: crooked grip up there is.
Speaker 1: Like, see already cutting corners. You know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've had to you know, just sort of stay
Speaker 2: patient and take that, take that as it comes, and
Speaker 2: take it for what it is. And we're just going
Speaker 2: to continue to do what we always do, which is
Speaker 2: like not to be defensive and just to have compassion
Speaker 2: for our customers. And like, I totally get it. I
Speaker 2: totally get piples concerns about lab and what its future holds.
Speaker 1: And I have the luxury of knowing it's going to
Speaker 1: be okay.
Speaker 2: We just need to stay patient and wait for the folks,
Speaker 2: you know, with the consumers and our customers and our
Speaker 2: fans and stuff to realize like this was such a
Speaker 2: wind for everybody.
Speaker 3: I there's a new putter I need to talk about,
Speaker 3: but I'm not there yet because you mentioned a few
Speaker 3: minutes ago there's lots of great companies out there who
Speaker 3: were doing amazing things that aren't getting noticed. But there,
Speaker 3: you know, we had a lucky break. What was Lab's
Speaker 3: lucky break?
Speaker 1: We had a million? We had a million, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's the book. I think that one of
Speaker 1: the reasons that we.
Speaker 2: Had more lucky breaks than the average company is again
Speaker 2: because I wasn't the founder or the inventor, you know, Like.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's part of it. I don't know, man.
Speaker 3: I I've talked to so many small manufacturers on this show,
Speaker 3: you know, because that's the ones I want to support,
Speaker 3: to these guys like you when we first met in
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen, and it seems to be the lucky break,
Speaker 3: if I can put air quotes on that. The lucky
Speaker 3: break is getting it seen on tour and then having
Speaker 3: somebody on tour have success with it.
Speaker 1: Yes and no. I mean, like I think I've shared.
Speaker 3: Adam Scott and you know from way back.
Speaker 2: But I mean I think I remember, I think I
Speaker 2: told this story to you on one of the shows.
Speaker 2: Like so we just started to get a little bit
Speaker 2: of momentum in twenty nineteen when Adams started to use it.
Speaker 1: He was leading the Masters through.
Speaker 2: Two days in twenty nineteen and then the camera like
Speaker 2: zooms in on him missing an eighteen inch putt on
Speaker 2: you know, on sixteen on Saturday, and the phone stopped bringing.
Speaker 2: And it was at that time that we realized, like,
Speaker 2: we can't rely on the tour. And I think that
Speaker 2: I think that that's that wasn't a break, that was
Speaker 2: a that was a smart, strategic just shift that we made.
Speaker 2: Literally that Monday, we got on a marketing calls with Zach.
Speaker 1: He had Zach on your show from Rooted Solutions. You
Speaker 1: should anyway.
Speaker 2: Zach was, you know, our marketing partner, and we realized
Speaker 2: at that moment that we can't rely on the tour
Speaker 2: and that we needed to make you know, we needed
Speaker 2: to make this about the people actually buying the putters
Speaker 2: and not these you know, these these Greek gods that
Speaker 2: can do whatever they want with any club in their hand,
Speaker 2: you know, like we needed to make it about you
Speaker 2: and me, and so we shifted our you know, our
Speaker 2: marketing focus and our messaging to be about the consumer.
Speaker 2: And I think that that's where a lot of these
Speaker 2: companies missed the mark. I think a lot of these
Speaker 2: companies have great technology that they're certain is going to,
Speaker 2: you know, improve the tour players game, and they just
Speaker 2: sit out there and wait.
Speaker 1: And wait and wait and wait and wait and wait
Speaker 1: and wait, and it just it's so rare that it happens.
Speaker 1: It's so rare that you can get a relevant touring professional,
Speaker 1: you know, to really give a look to legitimately new technology.
Speaker 1: And one of you know, one of our competitors, I mean,
Speaker 1: one of the one of the other companies in a you.
Speaker 2: Know, ZT Space or whatever the hell they're calling it.
Speaker 2: You know, we're well beyond us when we started, and they.
Speaker 3: Send it being zero tech, zero torque, right.
Speaker 2: And they which it isn't actually zero torque, but I
Speaker 2: guess the industry decided that's what it's called.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: They send a dude out there every week, you know,
Speaker 2: every single week, just sitting on the side of the
Speaker 2: putt and green with a bag full of putters, just
Speaker 2: hoping that you know, a top ten player comes along
Speaker 2: and decides to grab it, and they did no marketing,
Speaker 2: and they didn't improve the product, and they didn't you know,
Speaker 2: engage with their consumers at all.
Speaker 1: And there they are, you know, and.
Speaker 3: So I think I think they Yeah, the huge element
Speaker 3: of it was, as we talked about the start, was
Speaker 3: the social media element that you're correct, you're all, you're
Speaker 3: you're approachable, you're sincere, you don't put on any airs
Speaker 3: about being the best out there. You just are what
Speaker 3: you are, and it's connected on so many levels. Congratulations,
Speaker 3: thank you, I'm very I'm very proud of you for this. Uh,
Speaker 3: It's amazing how well it has worked for you, and
Speaker 3: how consistent you've been, even through this transition that you've
Speaker 3: made and all the stress on it, You're still there
Speaker 3: regularly on so many different shows, so many different videos,
Speaker 3: so many different podcasts, and you know, and.
Speaker 2: I love doing it and I don't get why other
Speaker 2: people don't, you know, like I to me. And I
Speaker 2: think this probably came from both the music and the
Speaker 2: political background. Honestly, is where I spent most of my
Speaker 2: time online, you know, learning to communicate with folks and
Speaker 2: and how to you know, use social media to accomplish
Speaker 2: a goal. Versus to vent and uh and uh, yeah, man,
Speaker 2: I mean it was the only vehicle or avenue that
Speaker 2: I even knew to utilize.
Speaker 1: I never gave any thought to anything else. And so
Speaker 1: and I think that that's and I think that's.
Speaker 2: Part of one of the things that worked out really
Speaker 2: well for us, where like I genuinely enjoy it, Like
Speaker 2: I wake up every morning, I enjoy looking through Facebook
Speaker 2: and Instagram and looking at other people's products and listening,
Speaker 2: you know, reading comment.
Speaker 1: Threads and all of this stuff. I legitimately enjoy it.
Speaker 2: I find it fun and it's not an act of discipline.
Speaker 2: I don't need to work at doing it. And then yeah,
Speaker 2: it happened to work.
Speaker 1: Out that.
Speaker 2: You know, Yes, being transparent and open and you know,
Speaker 2: vulnerable with your with your customers is good.
Speaker 1: That's what we want. That's what especially now, you know,
Speaker 1: like there's too much.
Speaker 2: Like the way that marketing that the marketing machines in
Speaker 2: all kinds of industries have worked in the past is
Speaker 2: shifting so dramatically right before our eyes.
Speaker 1: And the fact is, like one of the things.
Speaker 2: That the biggest shifts is that the consumers more educated
Speaker 2: than they've ever been because you don't need to take
Speaker 2: the manufacturer's word for it anymore. And it used to
Speaker 2: be that the only place you get information about the
Speaker 2: new driver was you needing to trust the fact that
Speaker 2: the ad that says you get ten more yards is real. Well,
Speaker 2: now you can see the ad that says you get
Speaker 2: ten more yards, and you go onto YouTube and find
Speaker 2: fifteen different people that have actually tested it on a robot,
Speaker 2: tested it in their hands and find out if it
Speaker 2: is actually, you know, ten more yards.
Speaker 1: So there's no point in doing that anymore.
Speaker 2: And so it's entirely just about you know, doing you,
Speaker 2: you know, and letting letting the consumer into the process,
Speaker 2: you know, enjoying having them be a part of it,
Speaker 2: which is, you know, a staple of how we operate
Speaker 2: is just making sure that the feedback that we get
Speaker 2: from our customers that we're reading every day is actually
Speaker 2: you know, put into the process and put into the
Speaker 2: decisions that we make. And I think that a lot
Speaker 2: of the other companies out there, small or large, I
Speaker 2: think they'd get a little insulated, you know, in their
Speaker 2: own little worlds of you know, like if you're a
Speaker 2: little company, you need to be you need to be
Speaker 2: obsessed with your product, and positive that it's the best
Speaker 2: thing in the world and that nobody will ever, you know,
Speaker 2: come up with anything better. And then if you're the
Speaker 2: bigger companies, you need to stay in your lane and
Speaker 2: keep doing what you're doing. And it doesn't seem to
Speaker 2: be a lot of interest or opportunity even if there was.
Speaker 1: Interest in in in engaging with and engaging with customers.
Speaker 2: And I think that's where that's why we've been able
Speaker 2: to get where we are.
Speaker 3: Well. I think that as far as the online social
Speaker 3: media element to it, you and Bryce and are right
Speaker 3: up there as far as taking advantage of Yeah, and
Speaker 3: people are like Bryce, in no way, I'm like, dude,
Speaker 3: hate the ideology, not the people. Okay, let's just we
Speaker 3: don't have to go there. Just because he had that
Speaker 3: guy on one of his shows, and I think Break
Speaker 3: fifty is brilliant, but it's a whole different conversation. So Yeah,
Speaker 3: I just think that you've found the magic. You rub
Speaker 3: the bottle and the genie came out at the exact
Speaker 3: right time in the right way, and it's mind blowing.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you and you asked like some of those
Speaker 2: lucky breaks like yes, so we had this social media
Speaker 2: edge but like, I don't know that lab becomes lab
Speaker 2: if COVID didn't happen, Like if we didn't have a
Speaker 2: moment where the entire planet got online twenty four hours
Speaker 2: a day, you know, like where you know there there
Speaker 2: was a handful of moments like that that would certainly
Speaker 2: be the most significant that enabled our stick of being
Speaker 2: online and connecting with customers.
Speaker 3: And the science proved it, and you know where a
Speaker 3: lot of people like, we've we got this brand new thing.
Speaker 3: We've got a great new tea. It's like, yeah, but
Speaker 3: then there's no science behind it, right, you had the science.
Speaker 3: What Bill did with the science improved it, and the
Speaker 3: revealer was like, Okay, it's a graphic example of what
Speaker 3: it is that you're doing. Made a huge difference. Now,
Speaker 3: when we first met and I got my first LAB putter,
Speaker 3: what I was so excited about And again I told
Speaker 3: this too many times. I started playing golf in my
Speaker 3: mid thirties, Okay, and from the first time I started
Speaker 3: playing golf, to me, a putter with a center shaft
Speaker 3: made more sense than a heel shafted putter. And so
Speaker 3: I've been putting and then it was like, oh, look,
Speaker 3: Lab golf and they got the science and center shafted.
Speaker 3: I'm in heaven here. And so now that I'm totally
Speaker 3: hooked on the center shafted stuff and been doing it
Speaker 3: for years, you guys come out with a heel shafted
Speaker 3: putter to satisfy the desire of the old school putting world,
Speaker 3: I'm sure. And it has everything that any old school
Speaker 3: or regular golfer is gonna want. It's got the looks
Speaker 3: of a normal tipe putter, the D shape, and it's
Speaker 3: got a heel shafted but your science is still there.
Speaker 3: And so now I'm trying the heel shaft and I've
Speaker 3: played a couple of rounds with it, and it's a
Speaker 3: real adjustment for me.
Speaker 1: Really, Oh for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I I think that you know, you
Speaker 2: and I probably and I certainly wasn't this way pre Lab,
Speaker 2: but you know, eight years into using LAB putters exclusively,
Speaker 2: like I hit the ball.
Speaker 1: At the bottom of the shaft. That's how you want,
Speaker 1: just how I.
Speaker 2: Exactly and this shaft, you know, is you know, at
Speaker 2: an angle, and as long as I just playing this
Speaker 2: shaft and have the bottom of the shaft cut through
Speaker 2: right right through the middle of the ball, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: make some putts. So yeah, it has been an adjustment.
Speaker 2: If I'm honest, I'm not totally sold. I Liam Liam
Speaker 2: made me one h earlier, about a month and a
Speaker 2: half ago that I really like and and I'm you know,
Speaker 2: given at the old college try. And I'm starting to
Speaker 2: remember and this is where you and I would depart,
Speaker 2: because it sounds like you've used center shafted putters since always.
Speaker 3: I remember you're talking about. I have fifty putters in
Speaker 3: my basement and every every round I would play with
Speaker 3: the different putter.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I used to use.
Speaker 2: Super heel shafted putters, you know odysty number nine shapes
Speaker 2: and in NAPA shape or eightiot or two shape, stuff
Speaker 2: like that, super toe down heel shafted putters. And so
Speaker 2: I'm starting to like remember what I liked about lining
Speaker 2: them up and.
Speaker 1: All of that. But we don't make putters for me,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: We make putters for for for for everyday golfers. And
Speaker 2: like the fact is, and I totally get why, because
Speaker 2: I did have the experience that was different than you,
Speaker 2: where center shafted putters made no sense to me early on,
Speaker 2: Like I always, I couldn't stand them. They set up
Speaker 2: shut and super messed up to me.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 2: I'm just so happy to see people who were, you know,
Speaker 2: clear as day that they would never be able to
Speaker 2: use a center shafted putter having that lab experience, you know,
Speaker 2: having that holy crap, I just let it go and
Speaker 2: it just squares itself up and where I need to be.
Speaker 1: And so you know, that's what's so happy making about it.
Speaker 2: I the one regret I have about it, and nobody
Speaker 2: to blame but myself.
Speaker 1: I had my team even trying to talk me out
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 2: But the stock release that we did, we did with
Speaker 2: the press gript two degrees beforeward shaft lean and then
Speaker 2: a two degree press gript on it.
Speaker 1: I didn't really appreciate that without the shaft going in
Speaker 1: the middle and without a.
Speaker 2: Knowledge that you need to sort of that you you
Speaker 2: need to lean the shaft forward to get it to
Speaker 2: set up. A lot of these first time lab people
Speaker 2: are lab potentials, are going and grabbing you know, the
Speaker 2: os hs with two degrees of lean a two degree
Speaker 2: press grip on it, and it's setting up really shut
Speaker 2: to a lot of people. And it's just because most
Speaker 2: people set up putter down in their brains trying to
Speaker 2: make the shaft vertical. If you make the shaft vertical
Speaker 2: with two degrees of shaft lean, the face is going
Speaker 2: to shut. And so the zero degree lean, which one
Speaker 2: did you get zero lean or with a press grip
Speaker 2: on it?
Speaker 3: Well? I had a two degree lean on it. And
Speaker 3: my nephew, Calvin Green, who works for you, We're not related,
Speaker 3: but he said, you know, because of where it sits
Speaker 3: on the face and the butty, you might not want
Speaker 3: to do, okay, So I won't do the lean, and
Speaker 3: and then it kind of limited my grips too, because
Speaker 3: I love the press two grip that I had on
Speaker 3: my d F three and my my OS one, but
Speaker 3: I couldn't get that, and so I was but it
Speaker 3: had that the grip that it had had a ridge
Speaker 3: down the center that really hit a finger wrong. And
Speaker 3: that's what I've never liked about the the DF two
Speaker 3: point one was the grip had this ridge down the
Speaker 3: back edge that hit my finger wrong, one of my
Speaker 3: fingers wrong. And so he said, well, just so Calvin's like,
Speaker 3: just go get a grip that you want.
Speaker 1: That's the nice part about zero.
Speaker 3: And that was beautiful and I sent it to him,
Speaker 3: and it was three days later it was back to me.
Speaker 3: I ended up getting a wind grip thick, but it
Speaker 3: didn't have that ridge back in the back of it.
Speaker 1: Yes, the same yeah, that it.
Speaker 3: Came to a point and just hit my finger wrong.
Speaker 3: Gave me a yeah. I don't know, I was just whining.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I mean it's it's a great putter. It's
Speaker 2: going to keep getting better, and it's.
Speaker 3: Going to satisfy a lot of people who've probably been reluctant.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 3: I think that's a huge thing. So are there more
Speaker 3: Potter designs to be had?
Speaker 1: I mean, no, that's it. That's it.
Speaker 3: You're done, Okay, No one's ever going to buy the company.
Speaker 1: We've always got stuff in the works.
Speaker 2: And of course, you know, that's one of the most
Speaker 2: wonderful things about you know, the our new owners here
Speaker 2: is like I mean, our R and D team is
Speaker 2: twice as big as it was three months ago. Our
Speaker 2: technology and the machinery available to us in order to
Speaker 2: you know, develop.
Speaker 1: Product is.
Speaker 2: Is twice as twice as much as it was, you know,
Speaker 2: a few months ago. And so now we.
Speaker 3: Have he's got enough land it, you have enough landed
Speaker 3: it Criswell to expand operation and build out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's great. It's really, really, really great.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I'm so excited about the product side of things.
Speaker 2: And you know, I've actually kind of the last eighteen months,
Speaker 2: I haven't been nearly as involved as I would have
Speaker 2: liked to have been, just because my world was.
Speaker 1: About getting that deal done.
Speaker 2: And now that it's done, I get to get back
Speaker 2: into the R and D room with the guys, with
Speaker 2: the engineers who actually know what they're doing.
Speaker 1: And uh, it's just awesome.
Speaker 2: I mean, and and and the timing too was amazing too,
Speaker 2: because we finished the R and D space. You know,
Speaker 2: when you were there, it was still a pool, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: there was a pool and a jacuzzie and that atrium.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, barbership in the barbershop.
Speaker 1: And that was on the other side of the building.
Speaker 2: But yes, the problem shop is now the break room
Speaker 2: and the pool and the spy area is now, you know,
Speaker 2: totally state of the art R and D space and
Speaker 2: to really being able to we're going to be pushing
Speaker 2: some stuff forward that the next the next twenty four
Speaker 2: months of product coming out of Lab will be profound.
Speaker 3: And we'll have our eye on it again, Sam, to
Speaker 3: you and your brother and your dad. I'm so happy
Speaker 3: for you, guys, and I'm so happy for the company
Speaker 3: and everybody that works there because I've witnessed it firsthand
Speaker 3: that it is about the people and the culture. You've
Speaker 3: done an amazing job over there, and I'm just so
Speaker 3: incredibly proud to be a witness to it from this close.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Fred, and we could not have
Speaker 2: done it without you and the other Fred Greens of
Speaker 2: the world that have enough of an interest in this
Speaker 2: stupid ass game to take time out of their day
Speaker 2: to record stuff and tell our story. And I appreciate
Speaker 2: you how