Today we’d like to introduce you to Eddie Rogacki.
Eddie, please share your story with us.
As a former mini-golf touring professional, I know how important the equipment is when your livelihood depends on it. I wanted to develop a golf grip that added value to my game.
Working closely with engineers, professional golfers and professional world long drive athletes has helped to develop the grip into what it is today. They say, it takes a village to raise a child and that is true, but it most certainly takes a village to bring “a great idea” to market. Without the help of mentors and business partners, web designers and professional photographers like Ricardo of RMStudio Corp., who can create digital design and artistic photography, it would be very difficult for an individual to launch a product that is out there competing with some of the biggest companies in the world of golf.
I think it’s important to mention to people of all ages that come up with creative ideas, there will be people who will tell you “no”. There will be people who will tell you, “it’s a bad idea” and there will be people who will try to “help” you by telling you that it’s not worth it because big corporations dominate. I want to encourage you though. Most of the big corporations that you see started with just one simple idea. In the words of the great Will Smith, “The road to success is thru commitment”.
Think about everyone that you know that is successful, not just monetarily, successful in fitness, successful in love, successful in achieving any goal – it just takes commitment.
Has it been a smooth road?
So, I have this great idea for a completely interchangeable and counter balanced putter grip, unlike anything on the market. I know it will change the world of golf, completely disrupt the market and I just need a prototype. As a young inventor with creative strengths I begin like a mad scientist in the garage, cutting and molding and inserting and ripping things apart until finally I had one… just one working idea and a big mess around me. I think the biggest struggle was at the very beginning, finding capital to get started and then using it wisely. The second struggle was getting the rules that govern golf – the big guys at the USGA (United States Golf Association) to approve such an idea. As most people know, golf has a long history of carefully written rules dealing with everything from when you’re allowed to make noise, to what you’re allowed to wear and of course dealing with the equipment. I can tell you that after the powers-that-be at the USGA were able to receive my very expensive prototypes (and cut them all up themselves) they were a pleasure to work with. I think the golf industry is going to come into a time of growth and evolution and it’s really fun to be a part of it,
We’d love to hear more about your business.
SwitchGrips is now a fully functioning golf brand. When we started, it was one interchangeable Putter Grip only. As requests came in to have it in different shapes, we worked on prototypes and were able to bring it to market in octagon, circle, a “D” shape and even in a square. Approximately a year later, we began working on swing grips. Making them with counter balanced weighting system and having all of the weights be interchangeable from club to club (including the putter). My biggest strengths are design. I love it. I love detailing the graphics, and visualizing what the end product will look like. I love working with the players and making their game better. Statistically, the grip that was put to life because of a literal dream and created in a garage is now helping professional athletes hit longer, straighter golf shots consistently, I’d say that is one of the things I am most happy about. I am also very happy that the PGA awarded SwitchGrips in their “BEST NEW PRODUCT” category in 2015. There we were, right alongside Titleist and Calloway and they picked SwitchGrips… yeah, that was a good day!
What sets out our grip that is different from others on the market? There’s a couple of things:
1. The counter balance technology. This feature can be used or not used. The grip comes with a standard 0g weight. Making the grip usable for golfers who feel like adding weight into the grip isn’t for them but they still like our proprietary grip materials and design.
2. The weights for the counter balance technology come in 8g, 14g and 20g, this allows the player to customize the club as often as they’d like. If it rains and the greens are wet, running slower, before play they may put in a heavier weight that day.
3. Professional Club Fitters have told us that SwitchGrips has made it so much easier for them to fit their clients. In the “old days” a club fitter would regrip a club and if it wasn’t the right fit for the athlete. They’d have to cut off and throw away a new grip that would retail for anywhere between $5 and $10. Don’t worry, those days are over now!
4. The World Long Drive – ok, so I’ll admit that I didn’t even see this one coming. We’re on Instagram and start getting a bunch of DMs from guys on this thing called the World Long Drive. My wife says, “Wait, so you’re telling me all these people train for is walking up to the line and smashing the ball as hard as they possibly can”. Yep, it’s true. They get a handful of chances and a couple of minutes to hit the ball as far as they can keeping it in the “grid” so they still have to hit it somewhat straight. The DMs coming in said, “SwitchGrips the physics behind the way the weights are positioned are helping them to be more consistent and giving them extra yards”. When one yard can be the difference between first and second place, we’ll just say, it’s been a big hit (oh yes, the dumb pun intended). Ok, and you ask, what do I do…. It’s still technically a startup so I do everything! I do research and development, I work OEM deals, I handle social media, I fulfil orders and handle logistics to worldwide distributors AND I clean the floors in the office but my favorite is “testing” I like to take a little time now and then to perform quality control. I have to hit the links and test out our products – ok, my wife says I’m golfing but really it’s testing!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Miami is a great place to start a business, especially a golf brand. Florida has more than 1,250 golf courses, which is more than any other state. If someone was just starting out I’d recommend south Florida. I’d hope to be able to help them the same way that so many other south Floridians have helped me. I’d like to see our area improve a little by offering more Jr. Golf clinics at the municipal courses. I’d love to see juniors be able to enjoy monthly free rounds of golf to encourage youth to get out and play!
Retail Sales are available at Golfworks.com and SwitchGripsusa.com
The cost of our putter grips range from $12 to $25.
The cost of our swing grips range from $8 to $12.
Weights cost between $14 to $20 per pkg.
We have various distributors around the US helping us to get them into the green grass locations (like local pro shops). As a local south Florida business, it would awesome if your readers could tell your brother, cousin, uncle, grandma to ask their pro shop in Kalamazoo to look up these awesome golf grips coming out of South Florida!
Contact Info:
- Address: 10900 NW 21st Street, Suite 160, Miami, FL 33172
- Website: www.switchgripsusa.com
- Phone: 954-214-8618
- Email: eddie@switchgripsusa.com
Image Credit:
RMStudio Corp.
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