My old man used to tell me, “If you hang around long enough, kid, you’ll see things you never thought possible.”
Those words were ringing in my head last month as I visited the Northeast Golf Show. I love local golf shows because you see a lot of new ideas. Some of them are quite good. Others, well, just hope the inventor doesn’t have money in his 401K.
This golf bag from Salt Lake City based Afternoon golfhowever, it bored me. Seriously, I don’t know what to do with it.
As you can clearly see, it is a golf bag. However, in seconds, you can turn it into a completely different golf bag.
Afternoon Golf Bags, like Barbie dolls, have different coatings called leather. If you’ve ever wanted a golf bag to match your mood, outfit or one of your many personalities, now’s your chance.
While I’m still not entirely sure of the whole concept, there is an inescapable conclusion.
It is quite original. And very creative. The story of how co-founders Greg Taylor and Brady Stanger came up with the idea is an interesting one, with its roots dating back to the summer between seventh and eighth grade.
Afternoon Golf: Barbie Golf Bag?
What do you do? Afternoon Golf Bag interesting is that, like Barbie, you can dress them in different clothes.
The bag itself starts with the part that actually holds the sticks, called the core. From there, the core has swappable skins, allowing you to change the look of the club (or outfit, if you must) depending on your mood, the occasion, or if you’re just bored and want to look cool.
In my mind, it’s Golf Bag Barbie. When I was left with just Stanger and Taylor, I had to ask: Why on earth would anyone want a golf bag that can change clothes?
“I was thinking about golf bags late one night,” Taylor tells MyGolfSpy. “Brady and I would be on the course and we’d see these faded black golf bags that were old and outdated, and it occurred to me: What if you could change the look of your golf bag?”
I have to admit, it never occurred to me. But then again, I’m not the most imaginative guy out there. However, Taylor, IS pretty imaginative and once he got the bee in the cover, he wouldn’t let go.
“That night I drove to Walmart to find something to prototype this bag with,” he says. “That’s how our prototype Mountain Dew was created.”
Taylor was envisioning a customizable bag with interchangeable wraps or outer skins. The Mountain Dew prototype was something he put together that night. The first skin was literally a 12-pack of Mountain Dew.
“The next day I went to Brady and said, ‘What do you think?'” he says.
“I think you’re on to something,” Brady replied.
Eighth grade and a twist of fate
“Throughout our friendship, even in high school, we would always talk about our million-dollar ideas,” Stanger says.
Stanger and Taylor’s friendship dates back more than 20 years, to the summer before eighth grade. They attended different high schools and had never met until their district opened a new school. Half of Stanger’s class and half of Taylor’s class were reassigned to the new building, and the pair quickly became friends.
“We played sports together all through high school and both studied business in college,” Taylor says. “We wanted to become real estate investors and ended up buying two houses together.”
Taylor, who made his bones in the fashion and retail industries, and Stanger, whose background is in finance and software, shared a house at the time of the Mountain Dew prototype. After marinating the idea for about six months, they worked with a few different design agencies that didn’t see the swappable skin idea the same way.
“They wanted us to use chains for the different coils,” says Taylor. “I hate chains. That’s where the Home Depot bucket prototype comes in.”
I told you these guys were creative. And they were frustrated with their design agencies.
“I went to Home Depot one Saturday morning,” Taylor says. “I had to find the next prototype.”
He bought some dowels and a Home Depot bucket and got to work.
“Brady came home while I was sawing that bucket in half. He just looks at me and says, ‘What are you doing?’
“So I tell him. ‘I’m making a golf bag.’ And he says, ‘Oh, OK.'”
Another friend showed up with her sewing machine and they made their first wrap. By Monday, they had the model in their design agency’s office as a proof of concept.
Seriously, afternoon golf bags have different linings?
Well, yes.
This leads us to revisit the original premise and ask the obvious question: Why the hell would anyone want different linings for their golf bag?
“Not everyone gets it,” Stanger admits. “But many do. They say, ‘That’s so obvious. Why do we do it? NO do that?’
“You can see the possibilities going through their minds. ‘I can change that for my outfit’ or maybe it’s more utilitarian. They can change it when it wears out or they can have a lighter skin for when they’re walking. You can see the gears turning on the possibilities.”
Most of the Golf Afternoon business is over company website so the regional golf show circuit was their first real face-to-face interaction with potential customers. Their stand in Foxboro, Mass., was busy without a break, with most of the customers being women.
Coming from the fashion industry, Taylor understands female shoppers better than most.
“We see a big white space with women’s bags,” he says. “Everything I read shows that more women are playing golf. We’re making sure that a lot of our line is engraved with more feminine prints. It’s very intentional.”
The other half of the equation is retail and personalization. An empty core with interchangeable skins is an inventory manager’s dream. Afternoon golf sees great potential in custom skins with logos and names. They can turn an order quickly and with low minimums because they’re just doing the wrapping.
“It’s a piece of cake,” says Taylor. “The end customer gets a cool, branded bag that they could swap out for another leather if they wanted.”
“A large retailer can carry maybe 100 cores and then have every skin design under the sun,” Stanger adds. “Covers are compact and don’t take up much space. When you’re in retail, you know space is everything.”
Do we really? need this?
As we have said in this space many times before, when it comes to golf the whole concept of need it doesn’t really mean anything. Golf is a hobby and recreation. We don’t need any of it. We play because we want to and we like it. Everything that is part of this whole process is there to help us enjoy it more.
And if putting a new outfit in your golf bag makes you happy, then it makes you happy.
However, Taylor and Stanger see some practical benefits to them Afternoon Golf Bag.
“Fabric, zippers, touch points—they will eventually wear out,” Taylor explains. “So instead of replacing the whole bag, just replace the outer casing. Some people get it. Some people don’t. It all depends on what kind of tool they’re looking for.”
We can tell you that the features on the outer casing are very well thought out. It has a deep water bottle pocket and a rangefinder compartment with a magnetic closure. The largest garment pocket features an internal mesh compartment with two external zippered pockets, the larger of which also has an internal mesh compartment.
Then there is the ball pocket. There is no way to sugar coat it. It is very big. So much so that I had to ask the boys if they lose a lot of balls when they play.
“The reason it’s so big is because of the lines and the way it builds visually,” says Taylor, the fashion guy. “It actually complements the other lines.
“Maybe it’s a bit bigger than it should be but, yes, we lose a lot of balls when we play.”
I dig honesty.
I get all that, but what about the price?
While we know there are golfers who will complain about the price of a bagel, Afternoon Golf Bag it will cost $375 (including leather). Additional skins go for $175 each.
“We want this bag to be worthy of the price we’re asking,” says Taylor. “There’s going to be some price hesitancy, we know, especially with a brand you don’t know.
“We’ve seen some friction at the show, but we also see people saying, ‘Oh, I can get two bags for $550?’
“The most enthusiastic response has been from beginners,” adds Stanger. “People see this bag and it makes it more attractive to get into golf.”
The guys are also working on a new synthetic leather skin and hope to have it in five colors early this summer. This will allow you to switch back and forth between a canvas cover and a synthetic leather in seconds, because why the hell not?
At $375, I know there are other bags just as good, if not better, than these Afternoon Golf Bag. None of them, however, have interchangeable skins.
If you want to change your clothes, you will have to pay a premium.
Afternoon Golf Bag: Final Thoughts on Barbie Golf Bags
Some companies play it safe. Others think outside the box. Then there are companies that didn’t even know there was a box. They are usually started by guys who make prototypes Mountain Dew Boxes and Home Depot Buckets.
You have to admire the guys for their creativity and making Afternoon Golf a reality.
I have no idea if this idea of interchangeable linings for your golf bag will actually catch on, but I can say that it is a nice golf bag with well thought out features. The process of switching skins is simple and intuitive (it’s all snaps and magnetic closures) and the skin options keep growing.
I can more easily envision the benefits of customization and inventory. A pro shop, for example, might stock multiple club logo skins along with a bunch of cores, giving them more options with less inventory. As a consumer, I never considered having different golf bags for my different moods, seasons or events for one simple reason: I never knew such a thing was possible. I have different outfits for different moods, seasons or events, but different outfits for my bag?
Why the hell not?
All we can say is you Afternoon golf had one of the busiest booths that day in Foxboro. I know they sold quite a few bags. As we said, Golf Bag Barbie has nothing to do with it need. It is about they want and there’s nothing wrong with wanting different looks for your golf bag.
In the big picture, however, it is also about FUN. Golf is a game, remember, and games are supposed to be fun.
Where have I heard this before?
Discounts for MyGolfSpy readers
Afternoon Golf offers a 20 percent discount to MyGolfSpy readers. Just use coupon code MYGOLFSPY at checkout.
