Welcome to Issue #18
"A perfectly straight shot with a big club is a fluke.”
Jack Nicklaus
What’s on my mind this week
Rory’s $600k putt, JT is doing a ‘Tommy’, Michelle Wie the latest high-profile name to confirm WTGL, spider putters have taken over in 2026, Rahm and DPWT going toe to toe, LIV launches Fantasy Golf, Malbon sign AK, only 41 days to the Masters.
In the news
Why it matters: Bryson DeChambeau and LA Golf parted ways after DeChambeau demanded a controlling 51% stake from his existing 2% ownership. CEO Reed Dickens refused, citing unsustainable costs.
Our Take: DeChambeau won both U.S. Opens with LA Golf shafts, but the partnership collapsed over economics. Dickens explained: "Bryson needs someone serving him 24 hours a day, building his own clubs, and that's not scalable for us." Building equipment for 130 mph swing speeds requires R&D that serves one athlete but cannot translate to mass-market products. LA Golf reportedly laid off a number of its workforce in February 2026, pivoting to direct-to-consumer sales. The split reveals a fundamental tension: tour players demand bespoke innovation, but brands need products that scale to retail. DeChambeau chose equity over partnership. LA Golf chose scale over serving one player's round-the-clock needs.
Why it matters: PIF approved another $266.6 million for LIV this month, bringing total investment to $5.3 billion, with cumulative losses exceeding $460 million against limited revenue.
Our Take: The central question is not endurance, it is intent. If LIV is a strategic asset for the Public Investment Fund, profitability timelines matter less than global positioning and influence. If it is a financial investment, $1 billion franchise valuations must eventually align with revenue fundamentals. With reported 2024 losses of $461.8 million on $64.9 million in revenue and profitability projected 5–10 years out, the valuation case rests almost entirely on future team sales and media rights appreciation. LIV is betting that scarcity and capital concentration create asset value before earnings materialise. The market will ultimately decide whether that thesis holds.
Why it matters: Ten investor groups committed $100 million to launch India's franchise-based golf league, alongside a proposed $250 million infrastructure investment.
Our Take: This is venture-style capital entering golf in an emerging market. Each franchise is effectively underwriting long-term growth in broadcast rights, sponsorship, and team equity appreciation. The additional $250 million earmarked for compact 8–10 acre course development suggests a dual strategy: professional visibility and grassroots access. Expansion ambitions into Africa and the Middle East signal export intent, not just domestic play. The model mirrors global franchise economics, but success depends on monetisation scale, not participation assumptions. Investors are wagering that structured ownership and infrastructure build-out can manufacture value in markets where professional golf remains underdeveloped.
Pic from Bunkered
Worth your time
Watch: Great look at the 'people's champion' John Daly. A 45-minute documentary exploring John Daly's "grip it and rip it" style, his 1991 PGA Championship win, his 1995 British Open victory, and his battle with vices.
Listen: An oldie, but a goodie Classic Irish golf joke (with subtitles to help)
Follow: @ZireGolf on Instagram. With 2.3M followers they are obviously doing lots of great things. Humorous, casual and relatable viral content from the professional and amateur worlds of golf.
Feature story
How Northwestern Golf is weaponising influence
When Northwestern Golf's leadership decided to relaunch a century-old equipment brand, they did not hire a conventional golf marketing executive. They hired a media founder.
Travis Miller built PGA Memes to over one million followers across social platforms. He runs five9 Media, a full-service digital agency working with clients including Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, LIV Golf, and Trump Golf. He hosts five national golf events annually, each drawing more than 150 participants.
But Miller's background extends beyond content creation. Before entering golf, he co-founded one of the nation's largest smart home dealerships and later became an executive at Brinks Home Security, earning recognition as a top 20 executive under 40 at age 27. He understands both digital attention and operational scale.
Northwestern made him Vice President of Marketing and granted him equity. In return, Miller embedded his entire media infrastructure into the company's relaunch strategy and tied his personal brand directly to its growth.
This arrangement reflects a broader shift in how brands are being built. As traditional marketing loses efficiency and creator influence becomes more valuable, some companies are experimenting with a new structure: the creator-executive. Instead of paying for reach, they exchange ownership for integrated media capability and audience access.
The question is whether this model scales, or whether it only works in the narrow window before audiences begin to see the commercial machinery.
The Unicorn pitch: Why Northwestern needed a media founder
Northwestern's CEO Mike Morgan spent more than 30 years at Titleist. He understands manufacturing, Tour relationships, and retail partnerships. What Northwestern lacked was direct access to golf's youngest and most digitally native participants without deploying a multi-million-dollar marketing budget.
Miller's value proposition extended beyond his social media reach. His track record scaling companies and leading teams, combined with his digital infrastructure and industry network, represented an unusual combination of capabilities.
"I've tried to become somewhat of a unicorn in the golf space," Miller explains. "I'm a seasoned executive that can sit on any board and help with strategy and partnerships. But I've also got a million-plus followers who can amplify a message. And we can bring a full digital strategy to life."
This is fundamentally different from traditional influencer marketing. Instead of paying for sponsored posts, Northwestern structured the relationship as sweat equity. Miller brought five9 Media in-house at full capacity, functioning as both executive and operator. In return, he received equity alongside his salary.
Most early-stage equipment brands would need to buy three things separately: marketing leadership, content production, and audience reach. Northwestern collapsed all three into one equity grant.
The financial efficiency is obvious. No agency fees. No influencer retainers. Limited paid media.
But the structural advantage runs deeper. Traditional creator relationships are transactional. Equity changes the incentive structure. Miller's upside is tied to long-term enterprise value, not short-term engagement metrics.
For a lean company that raised capital through a friends and family round, this alignment is important.
It also addresses a credibility issue in golf. When established creator groups promote equipment, audiences recognise the commercial arrangement. The usage rarely lasts.
Miller's situation is different. He uses Northwestern wedges and hybrids in his own bag. As the Pro Series launches, he plans to fill most of it with Northwestern product.
In theory, the alignment is clean. In practice, it introduces tension.
The conversion problem: followers are not customers
The creator-executive model faces a mathematical reality.
Miller has built an audience of over one million followers across his platforms. But he is candid about its limits. "You've got to break it down to see how many of these golfers are even a potential customer of ours."
Many PGA Memes followers are low handicaps. Northwestern's core customer is the 60 to 70 percent of golfers who are just getting started. That creates a natural audience-product mismatch.
Influence scales attention. Equipment businesses require trust, performance validation, and purchase intent. A million impressions do not equal a single club fitting.
Miller plans to bridge the gap through events, simulator partnerships, country music festival activations, and creator collaborations. The strategy is to make the product visible in authentic contexts rather than push aggressive promotion.
"We're not going to be overly promoting the brand and shoving it down your throat," he says.
That discipline is essential. Creator audiences tolerate commercial integration when it feels genuine. When every post becomes a sales pitch, engagement declines quickly.
The creator-executive model works best when the commercial relationship fades into the background. The moment it becomes the dominant narrative, the leverage erodes.
Relationships as competitive moat
Beyond audience reach, Miller brings something more valuable: relationships.
His events attract diverse participants built over years. That network proved decisive in securing Northwestern's most significant partnership to date: John Daly.
Daly is now an equity holder, with a signature line scheduled for late 2026.
His value is not ranking or technical validation. It is cultural alignment. As Miller describes it, Daly embodies the daily fee golfer and the weekend player.
Northwestern cannot compete for Tour validation against OEMs spending tens of millions annually. But recreational golfers prioritise relatability over ranking.
This is the second advantage of the creator-executive structure. Traditional companies approach potential partners cold. A creator with embedded relationships negotiates from warmth and trust.
That accelerates deals and reduces acquisition friction.
The risk is dependency. If key partnerships are relationship-driven, the company's competitive advantage becomes tied to one individual's network. That creates strategic fragility as the business scales.
Creator-enabled distribution
Northwestern's go-to-market strategy reflects this relationship leverage.
Simulator operators now stock Northwestern clubs for trial. PGA Memes events double as product showcases. Creator contacts receive seeded product in genuine contexts rather than structured campaigns. Retail conversations are strengthened by Miller's platform, Daly's involvement, and early direct-to-consumer traction.
The company is currently more than 85 percent direct-to-consumer, with plans to invert that mix as retail partnerships materialise.
The broader insight is this: Northwestern is attempting to compress what would normally require substantial capital into relationship leverage.
Most startups dominate one channel before expanding. Northwestern is pursuing DTC, retail, simulator placements, military exchanges, and online retailers concurrently. The bet is that integrated media and embedded relationships reduce the capital typically required for that expansion.
Execution risk remains high. But the capital efficiency is real.
Permanent discount as strategy
Northwestern's pricing is not promotional. It is structural.
Complete iron sets sit below $340. A Pro Series driver paired with a premium shaft totals $299. The company intends to remain below major competitors permanently.
Manufacturing in the same Asian factories as larger OEMs allows Northwestern to eliminate layers of middleman cost. Lower margins are accepted as part of the positioning.
The trade-off is volume dependency. A discount brand must move significantly more units to generate comparable profit.
There is also a perception challenge. In equipment, price signals quality. Consumers often assume lower price implies inferior performance.
Northwestern's response combines technical credibility, cultural alignment, and trial access. Simulator placements and event activations aim to convert scepticism into hands-on validation.
The long-term question is whether Northwestern becomes an entry-level stepping stone or a brand that retains customers as they improve.
Misaligned time horizons
When asked about the company's future, Miller offers a revealing answer. "I think people in the company all might have different ideas."
Morgan is a late-career executive. A strategic sale within three to five years could represent a logical outcome. Miller, at 42, speaks about building for the long term.
This surfaces a structural challenge of the creator-executive model: time horizon alignment.
Equity solves authenticity in the short term. It complicates exit strategy in the long term.
An acquisition presents a unique paradox. Miller's greatest asset is perceived independence. Inside a large OEM structure, that perception would shift immediately. The very thing that creates enterprise value could be diluted by the event that realises it.
Lessons for creator-executive partnerships
Northwestern offers several principles for companies considering similar structures.
Equity alignment requires shared exit strategy. Alignment must extend beyond ownership percentage. Founders and creator entrepreneurs need clarity on time horizon before equity is granted.
Relationships matter more than reach. Follower count is a surface metric. Warm networks that accelerate partnerships and reduce acquisition costs are often more valuable.
Authenticity is finite. The model requires restraint. The creator must remain creator-first even when ownership incentives encourage promotion.
Integration must be operational, not symbolic. The advantage comes from embedding media capability into the company. Equity without integration captures little benefit.
Creator value must become institutional. If marketing, partnerships, and distribution depend entirely on one individual, scale becomes constrained. The transition from personality-led growth to system-led growth is the hardest step.
The replicability question
The creator-executive is an emerging category. As traditional marketing becomes less efficient, more brands will attempt similar structures.
The model works when audience alignment is strong, product usage is genuine, and time horizons are shared.
Northwestern satisfies some of these conditions. Miller's infrastructure reduces cost. His relationships accelerate partnerships. But audience alignment is imperfect and exit incentives may diverge.
"We're way further ahead than we ever anticipated," Miller says.
Progress, however, is not proof of durability.
The creator-executive model is powerful when it builds institutional capability rather than personality dependency. Most creator entrepreneurs struggle to make that transition.
The test is underway.
One thing from history
The caddie who created a market
Pic from USGA
In September 1913, Francis Ouimet resided across the street from The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father worked as a gardener, and the family lived in modest circumstances. Ouimet taught himself the game using discarded equipment and knowledge gained while caddying at the club from the age of eleven.
When the U.S. Open arrived in Brookline, the narrative belonged to British legends Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. They were the dominant figures of the era. Ouimet, a twenty-year-old amateur working at a sporting goods shop, only entered the competition after receiving personal encouragement from the USGA president.
After 72 holes, a three-way playoff ensued. In heavy rain and accompanied by a ten-year-old caddie, Ouimet delivered a round of 72. He defeated Vardon and Ray by five and six strokes respectively. This result reached front pages globally and fundamentally altered the American sports market.
Within a decade, the number of American golfers tripled. This victory shifted golf from an elite British import to a mass-market pursuit. Though the USGA briefly stripped Ouimet of his amateur status in 1916 due to his association with a sporting goods business, the cultural momentum was unstoppable. He eventually built a successful career as a stockbroker.
The business takeaway is significant. Ouimet’s win acted as a catalyst for massive infrastructure growth and equipment sales. It proved that market expansion often requires a relatable figurehead to break down socioeconomic barriers. Modern American golf exists because a local caddie decided to challenge the established.
Next week
We’re excited to launch our ‘Founder’s Diary’ where we’ll get monthly updates from Jared Doerfler, founder of Hanna Golf, on what it takes to build a business from scratch in the golf industry.
Have a good week. Until next Friday,
David