The Story of Pin Hunters Golf Co.
The last few months have been incredible for Pin Hunters, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how I got here.
The Beginning
A childhood friend and I founded Pin Hunters Golf Co. in the summer of 2022, after our freshman year of college. Coming out of COVID quarantine, we were playing golf multiple times a week and had an entrepreneurial itch we wanted to scratch. Initially, we envisioned Pin Hunters as an Amazon-native golf towel brand, selling a variety of designs primarily through Amazon’s FBA program. We sourced manufacturers overseas, sampled products based on quality and communication, and eventually chose the one we still work with today, more than two and a half years later. This relationship with our towel manufacturer has been the backbone of our company. Our first batch of towels featured Minnesota, California, Las Vegas, and USA designs, which we put on Amazon and essentially let sit. School took priority, and Pin Hunters became a back-burner project.
Finding Our Niche
The next summer, my business partner Tyler and I started approaching local golf courses, realizing that our connection with a quality towel manufacturer and our growing graphic design skills could be leveraged for custom golf towels. Our first major breakthrough was a 200-towel order for the Chaska Town Course’s 2023 Club Championship. It was a huge hit, people loved the unique design and the fact that we were a local, young brand. From there, we took some of our original Amazon towels to Scheels in Eden Prairie. The golf accessory buyer liked our product, our story, and us. He agreed to take a small trial order, and the towels sold well right away, leading to multiple reorders. With continued success, we expanded into six more Scheels locations across the U.S., creating state-specific designs for Arizona, Texas, and Colorado. Meanwhile, we gained traction in the custom towel market, working with prominent courses like The Meadows at Mystic Lake and Deer Run. As word spread, local businesses like SMACKIN’ Seeds, Red Wing Shoes and Big i Insurance started ordering towels for promotional events and client gifts.
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Balancing School, Work, and Growth
Tyler and I worked on the business while juggling school and internships. The support from family, friends, and our community kept us going. As we expanded into more Scheels locations and grew our custom towel reach beyond Minnesota, the business started feeling less like a side project and more like a real opportunity. At the start of 2024, I left for a four-month study abroad experience in Milan, Italy. Despite the time difference, I built out our e-commerce website from scratch using Shopify, maintained client relationships, and managed operations remotely with help from Tyler and my family. I worked on Pin Hunters from McDonald's in Switzerland, hostels in Morocco, and all across Europe. This experience opened my eyes to the possibility of running a fully remote business, working from anywhere with Wi-Fi, a computer, and a chair. That summer, I had an internship in Nashville, while Tyler had an internship in Minnesota. With other commitments pulling us in different directions, Tyler decided to step away from the company, and I took over as the sole owner. My family became even more integral, helping run operations while I was away for school or work.
Expanding Beyond Towels
Summer 2024 was a turning point. I launched our proprietary MagTowels and MagAdapters, while also developing Pin Hunters hats. Given the success of our location-based golf towels, I saw a similar market for performance golf and lifestyle hats. I applied the same process we used for towels, sourcing manufacturers, narrowing options, and selecting the best one based on quality, communication, and reliability. After multiple rounds of sampling, I finalized our first batch of MIN hats in six monochromatic colorways. Scheels loved them, and they quickly expanded into multiple locations across the Midwest. The hats were flying off shelves faster than I could restock. Right before Christmas, I got an email from Scheels in Eden Prairie saying they wanted to buy every single hat we had in inventory, a surreal moment that confirmed I had found success with hats as well. I continued expanding state by state, landing orders in Iowa, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Arizona. At the same time, I connected with Catapult Group, a nationwide golf sales agency. I noticed they didn’t have a towel line and pitched Pin Hunters as a fit. Catapult represents major brands in golf like Richardson Hats, J. Lindeberg, Chubbies, and Bombas Socks. After discussions, we became their exclusive towel brand.
Major Breakthroughs
Through late 2024 and early 2025, Catapult secured incredible partnerships for us, including the Junior PGA and Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge, home to the Tiger Woods-designed course. Our relationship with Catapult continues to grow, and big things are coming. As of early 2025, we are now in 27 Scheels stores nationwide, selling hats, towels, brushes, and MagAdapters. In January, we exhibited at the PGA Show, the pinnacle of golf industry trade shows, with over 1,000 brands. It was my first time attending, and the experience was incredible. I brought my brother Nicholas and my friend Phil to help run the booth, and we had amazing conversations with golf buyers from across the country. The show solidified Pin Hunters as one of the premier brands for custom golf towels in the industry. We’re now working on fulfilling orders from the show and building relationships with the connections we made.
Looking Ahead
As I approach graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May, my plan is to go all-in on Pin Hunters. None of this would be possible without my family’s help and the support of friends, customers, and even people I’ve never met who believe in what we’re building. Down the road, I plan to visit our manufacturers in Southeast Asia and attend golf trade shows in China to stay on the cutting edge of product innovation. We have exciting partnerships on the way, including a deal with LIV Golf to supply towels for all their teams at U.S. pro-ams in 2025. Thanks to Catapult, we’re also providing towels for the Junior PGA Championship and working with several major courses and events across the U.S. We’re continuing to expand our hat line, exploring custom hat options for golf courses, and refining our products. I recently improved our scrub brush, launching a V2 that is significantly more durable. After extensive testing over the past 18 months, I truly believe it’s the best golf scrub brush on the market. I'm also working on small-batch customization so courses and sponsors can brand these brushes with their logos. The main goal moving forward is to expand our presence in e-commerce and direct-to-consumer sales while continuing to establish Pin Hunters as the premier brand for custom golf towels.
The future is bright, and I can’t wait to see where we go next.
