Sundays at the pro shop at Santa Teresa Golf Cluban hour south of San Francisco, you can buy a ball sleeve, grab a tote bag and pose for a selfie with the Glove Father.
That’s what Tyler Nguyen called a customer recently, which made him laugh.
At 26, Nguyen is nobody’s father. He is not even a powerful industry figure. He is the founder of a golf glove startup, Forelinksgolf, which he runs from his bedroom at his parents’ house. Sales are increasing. But Nguyen still works three jobs, including a weekend shift at the public facility where he first learned the game, his green fees subsidized by Youth on Course — the same youth golf program his company now supports.
“Besides a quality product, I’ve realized that my greatest asset is my story,” says Nguyen. “And a big part of that story is giving back.”
The story begins when Nguyen was 13 years old, the older of two sons born to Vietnamese immigrants. His father worked in construction and swung a golf club like many busy parents do, in the stolen hours between work and family time. Nguyen tagged along. Before long, his parents were dropping him off at Santa Teresa at dawn and picking him up at dusk. By industry standards, the course was not expensive. But $40 a day still adds up.
“There were days when I could only hit balls on the range instead of playing,” Nguyen says. “It was a lot of money for us at the time.”
The financial struggles ended a few months later when Nguyen heard other kids talking about Youth on Course, the nonprofit organization that lets young people play rounds at thousands of courses in the U.S., Canada and Australia for $5 or less. The calculation changed.
“(Youth on the course) gave me a chance to continue performing without financial obstacles,” Nguyen says. “Without him, I don’t know if I would have stayed in the game.”
He stuck with it long enough to play on his high school team alongside Justin Suh, who went on to PGA Tour. Nguyen could also play his own ball, but he was under no illusions. He has to find another way into the game.
At San Jose State, he studied economics while enjoying an entrepreneurial streak, orchestrating sales of cat beds, alarm clocks, hoodies — anything he thought he could sell. Only a few things did.
After college, he got a job in marketing and started a side hustle: an online golf apparel store called Forelinksgolf. Like a hard day on the course, business taught hard lessons. Chief among them: cutting quality was a great way to get stuck with a pile of ugly shirts.
Through contacts he had made in Santa Teresa, Nguyen also landed a part-time gig working the pro-shop counter. It came with perks (free golf) and something else: a front-row view of the freight movement. After the golf balls, nothing moved faster than the gloves, which, like the balls, the golfers exploded, just in a different way.
Around that time, Nguyen was reading Phil Knighthis memoir, “Shoe Dog,” absorbing his message of brand building and risk taking. He tried to make gloves overseas. The first run, made in China, was not suitable. This made him think of something else he had noticed at the pro shop. Most of the high quality golf gloves are made in Indonesia.
Nguyen cold-called manufacturers there. Some answered. One invited him to visit. Nguyen booked his first international flight, heading to Jakarta with a notebook, samples and a camera to document the trip — partly for posterity, mostly to show customers he wasn’t putting his name on a generic import. He wanted people to see the craft.
In July 2024, Forelinksgolf was transformed into another enterprise, focused only on gloves. Sales came in. Then came a lively review from a golf website. Orders increased. Inventory disappeared.
The product itself was a point of pride: full-grain cabrette leather cut slightly thicker—about 0.50mm—than the industry standard of 0.40 to 0.45mm.
Forelinks gloves are designed to combine feel and durability.
Kindly
“On paper, that probably doesn’t sound like a big difference,” says Nguyen.
On the one hand, though, he says it translates into durable yet nice enough grips to feel “like a second skin.” Nguyen won’t promise a specific lifespan, but he expects his gloves to outlast mainstream brands. They retail for $27.99.
Nguyen thinks a lot about his business. He also thinks a lot about the drive he first got as a kid for the game. About a year ago, he contacted Youth on Course, creating a partnership through which he would donate $2 from every sale to the organization. As Youth on Course has grown, so has the volume of such questions. Most don’t leave.
“But Tyler’s was different,” says Michael Lowe, Youth on Course’s head of impact. “We serve so many young people and we hope it has a positive impact on all of them. But his journey is truly remarkable. What’s better than a student starting his own brand? And giving back so early in the life of the company. That’s not an easy thing to do.”
For Nguyen, it feels like a debt paid. And there’s more in his coffers than ever to fund it. In 2024, Forelinksgolf made $10,000 in revenue. This year, Nguyen says, the company is on track for $150,000.
“We’re not trying to overtake the giants in this space,” says Nguyen. “We’re just trying to create our own lane, building on our history of community and faith.”
By “we,” he means himself. Although his parents sometimes dabble in boxing and transportation, Nguyen is Forelinksgolf’s sole employee.
Right now, he’s also holding his other gigs, keeping a firm footing in reality even as he pursues his dream. The company’s gloves are sold online and in three brick-and-mortar stores, including Santa Teresa. But Forelinksgolf’s logo – a symbol of infinity – reflects the view of its founder, who sees golf as a game of endless possibilities.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are or how big or strong you are,” he says. “You can make it a game for your life.”
You can even turn it into a business, one strong enough to outgrow a bedroom, replace side gigs, and inspire a nickname that’s not entirely intended as a joke.
;)
