A year ago Garrett Kucher was teeing off on the European Golf Tour in Spain.
Due to the coronavirus, a lot hasn’t happened, so Kucher decided to make something happen, and launched his newest online venture “KUCHERGOLF.com” earlier this month.
“I kind of got lucky and ran into some very knowledgeable people,” said Kucher. “We formed a team and built the Kucher Golf website in the shop and launched it, and just kind of ran with it.
“It’s all really new for me, I usually just play golf,” Kucher continued. “It’s very exciting, I am having tons of fun with it.”
According to the Trail native, the venture began, as many do, over a burger and beer.
“It actually all started with a collaboration with Lion’s Head Pub in Castlegar. I was back from Spain at Christmas [2019] and I know Troy [Pyett] the owner quite well and I wanted to buy a couple hats because I really liked how the [Lions Head] hats looked.”
When Garrett returned to the tour in Spain he donned the ‘Lions Head’ cap in his first tournament and promptly made a hole-in-one, while finishing fifth in the process.
Related read: West Kootenay couple caught up in Spain’s COVID lockdown
With the unfortunate cancellation of the Evolve Tour in March, Kucher found himself caught up in the Spain lockdown due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. He and his girlfriend Tori Apostoliuk managed to flee the country, make it to his mom’s home in Castlegar and eventually to Kelowna where he works as a Golf Ambassador for Predator Ridge Golf Course.
“When I got home [after COVID], I was getting lots of compliments on the hats and stuff so with how unique this year has gone, I needed something to keep my mind busy.”
Kucher teamed up with pub owners Troy Pyett and Carly Hadfield, and added ‘KUCHERGOLF’ on the side of the caps with the mighty lion’s head emblem on the front.
“I wanted to go around and sell all these hats, and donate proceeds from the sale of these hats and help out underprivileged kids in local communities. Whether it be helping them out with a set of clubs or a junior membership or whatever it is, I just really wanted to give back.”
The hats flew off the proverbial shelf, says Kucher, and he piggy-backed that success into creating a website to sell them.
He partnered with a digital designer and marketing director to create a website to promote the hats. That rapidly snowballed into 25 products, which, in addition to the caps, include clothing, tumblers, phone cases, duffle bags and even fitted ‘kuchergolf masks’.
The KUCHERGOLF products are striking and stylish, with sharp, clean lines, and muted tones - a deceptively powerful design - much like Garrett’s golf game.
KUCHERGOLF received a very promising online response since launching, but Garrett still looks forward to a return to playing professional golf, and will leave the online business to his team to run.
“This is good for me too. It’s publicity and getting my name out there. It’s not me trying to be Nike, it’s just something on the side where any opportunity where I can grow my name and, really, find ways to give back to the community in any way. That’s where I am at right now.”
Not a bad place to be, given an otherwise tumultuous 2020.
Kucher hopes to share his expertise in the future with courses like Trail’s Birchbank Golf Course, Rossland’s Redstone Resort, and Castlegar Golf and Country Club and run golf clinics for youth.
“I want to be that guy where if I had any opportunity I’d pump it back into the community because I’ve had so much help from small town communities and people with big hearts.
“I know how hard the road is at any level. You never stop needing that help and support.”
Go to kuchergolf.com or visit kuchergolf’s social media pages for more information.
sports@trailtimes.ca
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