Golf Tees driving to success with new apparel business

little communication between them, except on birthdays. However, in 2016 they both returned to Fort Payne, with their families, for work.

Brett owns a home inspection business, and Ethan teaches science at Fort Payne Middle School.

They reconnected after a chance meeting at the golf course at Terrapin Hills. “We ran into each other, and it was like nothing had changed,” Brett says.

They played golf as often as they could. Ethan sent Brett a text one day in 2021 with a Joe Dirt meme, and said he wanted a T-shirt with the phrase,“Golf’s a garden. Dig it.” Brett used a play on words and suggested changing dig it to divot, a term for a gouge in the turf on a golf course.

“I said, ‘If we could make a T-shirt, that would be cool,’” Brett says, almost as an afterthought.

That set his mind racing, though. “I said, ‘We really can make a shirt that says that. We can start a T-shirt business,’” he recalls. Now, that T-shirt is one of their best sellers.

At the time, Brett’s only experience in merchandising dated back to working at Hibbett Sports when he was in college. Ethan was on board with the concept, and they researched ideas to come up with a business plan for marketing the merchandise, obtaining quality products and growing and scaling the business. They incorporated in 2021 as BEG Apparel and officially launched in November the same year, doing business as Golf Tees.

Ethan’s wife, Jessi, is a graphic designer and she created a fun and unique logo. They use a local warehouse to store all their products and equipment. Orders placed through their website, officialgolftees.com, are shipped from that warehouse. Brett’s wife, Laura, is a professional photographer and does the photos for the website and social media.

Many Golf Tees products go to wholesale vendors who sell to other stores, and the company sponsors golf teams at some local schools. They use local screen printers and embroiderers when possible, adding custom designs to T-shirts, polo shirts and sweatshirts, hats, towels, tees and other golf-related merchandise.

Connections

Golf Tees provides the best of both worlds for Brett and Ethan. They have a thriving business, and they’re doing something they love.

They’ve played golf at some of the most prestigious courses in the country while promoting their products. Among those courses was Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford, North Carolina. “The Tobacco Road golf courses are a hidden gem,” Ethan says.

On their way to North Carolina, they stopped in Aiken, South Carolina, at the Aiken Golf Club.

As soon as school ended last May, Brett and Ethan flew to Scottsdale, Arizona. They played at Troon North Golf Club’s flagship location, founded in 1990 by Fort Payne native Dana Garmany, a member of the DeKalb County Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the University of Alabama Hospitality Hall of Fame and the first recipient of the PGA of America Executive of the Year in 2020.

They also have played at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, which serves as home of the PGA Players Championship. It’s one of the top three golf courses in the country.

“Every time we play at one of these courses, we wear our shirts and promote our brand,” Ethan says.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for networking within the golf industry. One of the easiest things to do is wear our gear while we’re playing. People will often comment with things like, ‘I really like that hat you’re wearing. Where did you get it?’” Brett says. “It gives us an opportunity to share our story and sometimes generates orders.”

Ethan was chosen to play on the Alabama Golf League Amateur Tour last season, where the amateur golfers play for points. A group of about 20 golfers represent the state in a tournament against the state of Mississippi’s amateur golf team. Golf Tees provided the shirts for Ethan’s team for the event.

Now, Brett and Ethan hope to expand to the country’s most elite tournament of all — The Masters at Augusta National in Georgia. They applied to attend last fall but were not accepted, which isn’t unusual because it typically takes years to be accepted. Now, they’re awaiting the decision on their application for a commercial vendor’s license. If approved, they would be allowed to set up a Golf Tees tent, although they can’t sell merchandise. “It’s our hope to set up a tent and just hang out,” Brett says.

Any event they attend is an opportunity to showcase the unique and modern brand that combines Brett and Ethan’s love for movies, music and laughter with the game of golf. “Our ultimate goal is to bring people’s interest to golf and provide the highest-quality products at an affordable price that helps express who you are on the golf course, at the office or anywhere,” Brett says. “Our vision is to remove the stigma surrounding the game that it is a rich man’s sport. We strive to use golf as a catalyst to unify golfers from all walks of life with our line of apparel as the vehicle in which to do that.”