Matt Kilgariff, PGA Director of Player Development at The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.), interviewed Brad Mason, owner of WhyGolf, to discuss ways club professionals can help their members improve their games.
This month I had the pleasure of interviewing Brad Mason, owner of WhyGolf, a training aid company that I have become familiar with. WhyGolf has amazing products that are truly game changers. I have seen firsthand how these tools help my students get better, faster.
What got you into the training aid game?
I am not a golf professional. However, I’ve been an “average” student of the game for three decades. I have studied many aspects of the game with the goal of continuous personal improvement. Like most golfers, I’ve tenaciously held on to hope that I can get better … despite evidence to the contrary much of the time.
I’ve had a long career as a serial entrepreneur. I started six companies and was also the CEO of a large public company. Much of that time was spent in designing and manufacturing sports medicine and other orthopedic products.
My brother, Jeff, who is an extraordinary engineer, has been with me for most of this journey. Together we have more than 100 patents in orthopedics and now a growing list in golf training aids and equipment.
I gave retirement a try in the past, but it just didn’t work for me. I have got to keep my mind busy and working. So, I decided to start developing golf equipment for fun to help me improve my game. I realized that the devices Jeff and I were designing actually did help improve my game … going from a 13 to an 8 index in just a few months. I thought these devices might help others too and proved to be a new business opportunity.
What is it about your background that helps you in this arena?
As mentioned, my experience in designing sports medicine products like knee braces and continuous cold therapy devices really translates well to the golf industry. With both products, we are working with myriad sizes, shapes, athletic abilities, and motivations of individual people. For training aids to work well, they must be designed with these factors in mind, plus the fundamentals of the golf swing and a dedication to simplicity.
One of my concerns about modern technology in golf is that people often get overwhelmed with information and products that do not really help them. In fact, in most cases it makes things more confusing and difficult. My experience is that complicated products are much easier to design than simple products.
Steve Jobs was the poster child for his relentless commitment to keeping things simple for the user. With that in mind, our goal with each product is to make the game easier and less confusing, while addressing the common faults that people have.
How did you come up with your company name?
This game can be infuriating. It is just as infuriating for a pro who scores a 63 one day and a 72 the next as it is for the average golfer who shoots their best round one day and losses eight balls the next.
In terms of our messaging to the market, our goal has been to commiserate and share that we as golfers all have frustrations in common regardless of our ability or handicap.
With that in mind, we named our company WhyGolf. It is really short for “Why the Hell Do We Golf”!
We do know why we golf. It is for the challenge and the comradery. If it were easy, we wouldn’t do it. We endure all the frustration and lows just to get a few highs here and there. One high is better than 10 lows. We’re addicted. Otherwise, WhyGolf?
Tell me about a few of your training aids?
To date, our top-selling product is our Pressure Plate. It helps golfers learn to shift their pressure properly and in the right sequence in the swing. Without this, the golfer losses power and has inconsistent contact.
Our Bunker Mate, which simulates a bunker shot at home or in a simulator, has also been exceedingly popular. The instructions on the back of the package are incredibly helpful for the average golfer.
Our latest product, which I believe is a real game-changer, is the ArmAlarm. Ben Hogan said, when you keep your arms together to operate as one unit, it will pull the rest of the swing together. When the arms lose the connection to each other and the body, all hell breaks loose. ArmAlarm addresses this specific problem and includes an accessory to alert the player when they flip their wrists or scoop the ball.
These are just a few examples of our products. We have many others that can be very helpful in many ways.
What is the next exciting product we can expect from WhyGolf?
I could talk about this all day long. My first love is new product design. Our current pipeline of new products will keep us busy for the next couple of years. We try to be novel and innovative in every product we design, and the new products will be no exception. You will see the next generations of our existing products as well as devices for putting, power and the Holy Grail—fixing the over-the-top transition swing killer.
I have been fortunate to really enjoy the work I’ve done over my long career. Just like golf, it has highs and lows that all come with entrepreneurship and public company leadership. My two favorite things are new product design and talking with fellow golfers and instructors. I can honestly say WhyGolf is the most fun I’ve ever had in business. I love this stuff.
For more information or to purchase training aids, visit https://whygolf.com/. To get 15% off use code: Thrivegolf.
Matt Kilgariff is a PGA professional who spent much of his career working for Butch Harmon and the Harmon Family. He is currently the Director of Player Development at The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Prior to joining The Bridges, Kilgariff was Director of Player Development at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Matt has also been part of TaylorMade’s National Advisory Staff since 2012.
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