Dan and I grew up together about an hour north of New York City. We played pretty much every sport other than golf. After college, when we became “adults”, golf somehow entered the picture.
The act of going to the golf course for a couple of hours was fun - we got to hang with friends, enjoy a handful of libations and see how far we could hit the ball for a few hours. In other words, golf was less about golfing and more about hanging out.
Around 2019, we started getting a bit more serious about the game. Honestly, I think we both just got tired of losing golf balls. You probably know the drill - fitted clubs, range sessions and laying up more than going for it.
Growing up, we had always been into sneakers. As teenagers, we used to take the train down to New York City to hunt for rare Nikes and throwback Adidas.
In 2019, as we got more serious about golf, it became pretty apparent that our golf attire was at odds with our overall sense of fashion. At that time, most golf attire was aimed at the traditional style (think FootJoy) or towards athletic performance (think Under Armour). Occasionally, we’d find a shoe or a shirt we’d like, but then for some reason, the manufacturer would never make it again. Kind of frustrating.
One summer night in 2019, at one of our friend’s daughter’s 1st birthday party, we got to talking. Why is it so hard to find golf shoes we like? We both had started following a cool instagram account called GOVRN, where they take popular sneakers and swap the soles out with golf treads. “Why can’t we do that?” We couldn’t really find a reason why we shouldn’t at least try (might have had something to do with the beers too).
So we left that conversation with a commitment. Let’s make some golf shoes we like - even if it’s just for us. We thought it'd be fun and maybe, just maybe there’d be other people who like what we like. At worst, we could say we did it.
It’s been about 4 years since that backyard conversation. In that time, we’ve actually designed, built and shipped our shoes. I’ll admit, it was harder than we imagined. Through that process, we learned so much about what it takes to design and build footwear.
With that in mind, we want to share more about our journey to making the FHADE PVO1.
Stay tuned…