Golf businesses come in many forms, but few are dug out of the ground HOW Stacked Golf.
Stacked’s premise is simple: they find interesting golf equipment and you buy it at an online auction. Included in it are all kinds of hidden clubs – vintage, limited, modern, nostalgic – that are being dumped far below their value.
Does man understand that value? Jon Armstrong, a rare club hunter who, along with his thrifty wife Ashley, has turned this specialty into a thriving golf club resale community that generates $175,000 per week through live auctions, making Stacked a destination for club collectors. And his YouTube channelwhich has surpassed 325,000 subscribers, takes the audience through the exciting but unpredictable process of discovering the club.
For many MGS readers, Armstrong is living your dream.
Achieving that dream? It was not easy to find.
The secret is in the dirt (literally)
Armstrong grew up in Connecticut and moved to Florida during high school. He and Ashley now live in Ocala, just over an hour’s drive north of Orlando.
Always obsessed with clubs from a young age, Armstrong found himself digging through online forums and reading “what’s in the bag” articles while in class.
“I would literally spend hours writing down my dream what’s in the bag,” Armstrong said. MyGolfSpy. “I’ve always loved the Scotty Cameron Teryllium that Tiger used (to win the 1997 Masters), but my favorite nostalgic club that I had was the PING Anser 2x. It doesn’t sound rare, but it’s the one with the extra long shaft and it’s kind of hard to find.”
Armstrong never had a golf lesson. His “babysitter” growing up would drop him off at the course and play until sunset. In that journey of continuous improvement, clubs were always part of the obsession.
Fast forward to six years ago, when, just before he got married, Armstrong had driven by a course and wanted to become a member. As another golfer, Ashley agreed—if they could figure out how to pay for the membership without cutting into their budget.
Armstrong liked to watch fishing channels on YouTube, so he thought a golf channel might be a good side incentive to pay for the membership.
Their Stacked channel—the name is a reference to fishing when your catches pile up on top of each other—began with Armstrong reviewing the golf balls Ashley found in the woods. They claimed to have bought them and did head-to-head reviews between brands.
“The video was going to go as long as I didn’t lose that golf ball,” Armstrong said. “Sometimes, we may or may not have finished the video with a different golf ball.”
Ashley’s love of thrifting and Armstrong’s love of rare clubs eventually made a natural extension into club thrift videos that left an impression. One of their first efforts garnered more than 100,000 views.
“YouTube at the time was more of the old influencer style, ‘Look how much money I have and how expensive my clubs are,'” Armstrong said. “And I said, ‘Look how far I can take this $2.99 goodwill club.'”
The growth of the channel came organically. There’s very little strategy that goes into each video, Armstrong says. Any savings opportunities are unknown. And, no, there are no paid actors at garage sales.
Audiences (who comment by the hundreds on each video) appreciate that kind of authenticity as Stacked has carved out a niche for itself.
Cue Sublime because we’re going to the pawn shop
If you like to talk about interesting golf clubs AND you like to see a good natured negotiation, this is a channel for you.
Most of the videos feature Armstrong and Ashley going to pawn shops, garage sales, thrift stores, and anywhere else they can find clubs. Rick Shiels has even been involved in one of their trips.
In a recent video, Armstrong goes to a pawn shop and finds Bryson DeChambeau’s SIK Pro C-Series Armlock model with an LA Golf shaft. The putter retails for $900, but Armstrong buys it for just $499.
All in all, Armstrong isn’t looking to rip people off by screaming at them about a club the seller doesn’t realize is worth it. His garage sale negotiations are friendly; he often pays more than the seller is asking.
“We don’t really want the shock and awe of bumping someone from $1,000 to $200 or whatever it might be,” Armstrong said. “It’s fairer this way. It’s also a funny dynamic with YouTube where you’ll get more comments if you pay above the asking price. People hate it for some reason.”
That’s not to say Armstrong isn’t asking a lot. One of the main strategies is to go to garage sales in nice neighborhoods where someone just wants to get rid of the clubs. Maybe they’re older and don’t play golf anymore. Or they’ve just accumulated a lot of gear over the years.
“The difference between a $5 club and a $400 club doesn’t mean much to some people,” Armstrong said. “But then sometimes you go to a garage sale where you don’t feel safe in the neighborhood and someone will have 100 clubs that were better than what you found in the gated community. So it’s a lot of luck.”
One of Armstrong’s favorite finds this year was a Mizuno-Scotty Cameron “The Reason” player. This was based on a short-lived collaboration between the two brands in the early 1990s. He found it in a pile of clubs for which he paid $9. The value of the tire is well north of $300. In another video, a $5 Scotty Cameron Studio Style car turns into a $500 sale.
Recently, Armstrong was upset to discover a set of NIKE SQ MachSpeed irons still wrapped in plastic.
“It’s kind of strange, but there’s a great thrill in finding a group like that,” he said.
When it comes to pawn shops vs. garage sales, the main difference is dealing with a professional negotiator who knows the value of the club. and expects you to bargain. The fluids begin to flow, Armstrong says. With a garage sale, there is less of a hard line being drawn.
But regardless of how the clubs are won, there are plenty of people in the world interested in seeing how it all plays out.
“When we hit 300,000 subscribers, our channel had about 299,998 more subscribers than I thought we would have,” Armstrong said. “Ashley and her mom are the only ones I thought I’d see.”
I go once, I go twice and… it’s sold!
Once a club is found, it is returned to their warehouse and sold internally Stacked Golf community in the Districta platform that allows creators and small businesses to have their own seller-owned and operated direct shopping marketplaces.
The District has become a dedicated space for Armstong’s live auctions and for other golf resellers to post about their equipment sales, all of which are managed by Stacked. There are more than 600 resellers in District’s Stacked community, collectively generating more than $175,000 per week. Almost all sales come from live shows.
A key aspect is that Armstrong wants other players to get good deals, just like he did when he discovered a rare find in the first place. The community supports other resellers and those looking to take advantage of great deals. It’s also a family-friendly environment with strict rules on what types of resellers are allowed on the platform.
“We wanted to recreate the excitement we feel when we find a club,” Armstrong said. “Instead of buying it from a heartless Ebay store, you’re buying from other players.”
Part of the live auctions that Armstrong hosts are clubs that can be auctioned off for as little as $1 if there are no bids within the first 10 seconds (or even less time depending on the club). It’s rare to go without offers, but it has happened.
“It’s very disconcerting to put a $500 club out there and hope someone bids,” he said. “Half the people are there to see if there’s a massacre.”
Built by Snapchat engineers, District’s platform has allowed a creator like Armstrong to focus on user behavior without having to worry about the hydraulics of live auction.
“It’s easier to scale your business when you don’t have to manage the technology and marketing side of it,” Armstrong said. “If we were to build our platform with that functionality, it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Auctions take place at any time of the day, although nights tend to be more popular.
Armstrong says Stacked’s goal is to become THE place for golf club collectors.
Even if players interested in rare finds don’t watch the YouTube channel, it’s possible they can stumble upon Stacked organically and become part of the community by participating in live auctions.
The side hustle that Armstrong started has grown into a brand with several employees helping with shipping and other operations. It is a legitimate golf business.
All this after digging in the woods for balls.
“Every day we pinch ourselves.”
If you are interested in Stacked, visit their circle community here.
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