The Gloves are ON

Chipp Golf Co. is a young start-up making quality products with a benevolent side.

by Tony Dear

My spiffy and incredibly comfortable new leather golf glove has several green shamrocks printed on the thumb, thumbpad, and Velcro fastener. It has a name too – ‘Feelin Lucky’ – and is one of eight similarly-curious styles offered by Dallas, TX company Chipp Golf Company. Of course there’s an Irish connection – the Luck of the Irish is certainly the theme here. But the intention behind the concept, design and moniker goes so much deeper than a simple plea to the Irish Golf Gods – “Go in the hole…please!”

As is the case with all of Chipp Golf Co.’s gloves, 10% of the profit from every sale goes to a very worthy cause. In the case of ‘Feelin Lucky’, it’s the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). On the company’s web site, you’ll find a couple of eloquently-worded lines for each design explaining the choice of charity. For ‘Feeling Lucky’ those words are: “Whether you have struggled with depression yourself or lost a loved one to suicide, know that you are not alone. Everyone has something to feel lucky and fortunate for.”
The other seven styles and their respective charity are:

• ‘Texas Hole’Em’ with a Clubs/Hearts/Diamonds/Spades motif, sales of which benefit the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG)
• ‘Hot Hand’ with fire icons and which benefits the National Fallen Firefighters Association (NFFA)
• ‘Stars & Stripes’ with a blue thumb and white stars which benefits the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP)
• ‘G.O.A.T.’ with sunglass-wearing goats, benefitting the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
• ‘Keep It ’ with theicon which brings to mind strength, stability and self-reliance and benefits Habit for Humanity
• ‘Money Bags’ with bags of $ icons that supports Feeding America, and
• ‘Tiger’ with a tiger’s makings that, you can probably guess, helps the Tiger Woods Foundation.

“The designs were largely inspired by the missions of the charities we selected,” says Randall Pulfer, CEO and Co-founder of the company. “We focused the charities/non-profits we chose to cover a wide range of industries and topics so that our customers could have a good chance of identifying with one or more. Our goal since day one has been to connect golfers to the game they love and the causes they stand for.”

Pulfer, a data analyst at Draft Kings until he’s able to devote himself entirely to Chipp, grew up in Chicago and started he company with his college buddy Tyler Lane, a New York native and the company’s CFO. Both mad-keen golfers, Pulfer and Lane, (a product manager in financial technology for now) spent hours brainstorming entrepreneurial ideas that would make the game they loved a little more fun while simultaneously benefitting society. They agreed on donating 10% of their proceeds because it was a significant portion of their margins, and by not selling gloves at a higher price point (say $28-$30) they felt they could make their products more accessible.

They design the gloves which are then manufactured in Indonesia. “We have had to teach ourselves Adobe and a variety of design techniques but have come a long way in our process,” says Pulfer whose favorite design is the ‘Stars and Stripes’ with ‘Tiger’ and ‘Money Bags’ close behind.

Other products have crossed the pair’s minds but, for now, they feel comfortable sticking with gloves. “We’re really going to master business operations and marketing before expanding into other areas,” says Pulfer. “We also want to design some gloves that cater to our female fans a little better with some lighter and more neutral colors.”

All this says nothing about the quality of the gloves. Made with premium cabretta leather, they are the equal of any leather glove we’ve tried and fit perfectly.

Price – $22 (free shipping)
Sizes – Men’s S, M, L, XL, XXL
Women’s XS, S, M, L
chippgolfco.com

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Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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