The Dapper Times - Golfing Adventures Of Dapper Dan & More

So who has not thought about building an app for their business, but have put the process off, as you didn’t quite know where to get started and how it would benefit your business, and when you asked a so called expert, they came back with costing that made you fall off your chair.

For me and my company balls, which produce golf apparel, I realized that my customers and affiliates need tools to help them make a decision, so I decided on a “design app”, that would help them choose the colours they want, but in our templates and make that a 30 second process, something they can do on the train or in a coffee shop with friends.

In my previous life as a tailor, I found that less than 5% of customers would walk in and say, “I want this pattern or that style”, they would always say, “I’m in need of a blue or white shirt”. So when it came to working out a work-flow for an app for my company, I went with choosing colours first and then placing them into design templates.

Traditionally we have been dictated to, as to what will be next seasons fashion colours and most of the time, we think, “hey, I’m not really a pink and green kind of guy, but on the other hand, I kind of quite like the designs and patterns”. This after all, has been the way forward with golf shoes with the likes of FootJoy, who offer this through their website, but not on an app yet.
The next decision will be, “how much do I spend” to get this done and how can I measure the results. For me, I knew that I didn’t need a spaceship (was quoted $15k) to start with, just a bicycle to test the market and see if there really is a need for my ideas. By coming up with a power-point workflow, I was able to get my version 1 done in 8 weeks for less than $1,500.

As stated, this isn’t a spaceship, but it gets my product out there into a new market space where the next generation want what I call “instant gratification” on their phone, they are not the old school golfers, so I also needed to target their needs and wants

In my experience, the next generation of golfers are looking to do the following, there are more, but again, we didn’t want to offer too much choice.

• Monetize their following on social media
• Find a solution for their friends & clubs
• Share their ideas with their friends

We are all looking to find the new world golfers out there and interact with them, so I hope to see more apps like mine on iTunes and Google store very soon.

What’s your opinion?

You can download the iOS version here http://clobber.balls.world  with the Android version coming shortly. We would love to get your feedback - dapper dan

A very delighted balls fan was striding out yesterday at the USPGA @ Quail Hollow with his 3 sons, brightening up the course with a little colour and panache. You can get your own set @ http://brexit.balls.world 

Dry-fit, Cool-Tech, Hyper-Dry, Active-Wear, we all know about them, brought them and wondered why they feel exactly the same as the last shirt you bought that had a different description. Well, that’s probably because it was the same fabric as before, a polyester & nylon combination produced from poly-chemicals that BTW, also produces plastic. Off course, the way that they are produced now as opposed to 5 or 10 years ago is very different, but when it comes down to it, it’s still a plastic shirt that’s had more effort put into the development of it than a water treatment plant in an African 3^rd world country.

So why do some shirts cost more than others, well the number 1 factor would be the brand and the efforts they make sponsor sports star to convince you that it is better than the last shirt she or he wore last year, and we all accept that, but what is the real technical reason why some shirts don’t stink after 10 minutes of a work out, or 5 holes of golf. Well that all comes down to how much antibacterial and UV protection has been combined with the shirt at the end of the day, in most cases, it can contribute to as much as a  20 to 30% increase in the cost of the fabric. Why? Because silver nitrate, the No1 antibacterial product used to stop you stinking, doesn’t come cheap, unfortunately.

So I hear you say, “but what difference does it make”, well, Lu Lu Lemon have built a multi million dollar business based around one very clever tag line, “non-stink Yoga”, which btw is probably the most honest statement out there for all the active wear fabrics we choose to wear these days. I myself have been on many a golf day and been handed a golf shirt sporting a major brand label, even though you can clearly tell from just the type of fabric it clearly isn’t and after 5 holes you know for sure as you and your playing partners choose to stand a safe distance downwind of each other, when those arms go up in the air. If you’ve been thrown a $5 shirt to wear, chances are it’s a “Niky” or “Punna”, not the real thing, yet there are those purchasing departments out there who still think they have a great deal, when all they are doing are contributing to the ever-rising rubbish heaps of discarded rags.

The thing is, if we all do what we are supposed to do when doing our chosen sports, it’s sweat. So for me, there are two things that really matter, the non-stink factor and the wick-ability of the fabric, that being how fast your shirts dry out after said activity, as there’s nothing worse than a shirt sticking to your body for another half an hour after you have finished your exercise. A certain label has come up with a clever solution to stopping fabrics sticking to female participants of sweaty sports, by adding an extra layer to the front, which works in terms of looking good and not producing that big smile on the front of the shirt, but can be a bit warm at times, I’m reliably informed.

In my humble opinion, the real difference between fabrics that cling to the body and those that fall and seem to dry quicker would be the weight of the fabric. It’s a fine line between choosing something that doesn’t make you look like you’ve just walked out of a sauna and one that makes you look cling wrapped by airport baggage services. During my tailoring days, it was interesting to find that the most popular plain white and blue shirts I produced, were made with probably the so called heaviest Twill fabric and that’s because the weight of shirt allowed the shirt to fall properly across the body, not clinging and therefore keeping its shape and still looking crisp and sharp at the end of the day, even in places where temperatures reach 35 to 40”C daily.

Think of it as leaning forward on a steep slope on a snowboard to go slower. It makes no sense at all to our brain, but trust me, it’s the only way of not embarrassing yourself in front of friends, which is pretty much the same as standing there with sweaty armpits for example.

So I hear you asking, “what’s your point”, well that would be that we shouldn’t get sucked in by all the marketing blur and make sure that the shirts and the labels are one of the same origins. As they say, when it looks too good to be true in terms of a great deal, it probably isn’t. Stop following the herd, think out the box and look at some of the more creative options out there, as after all, it’s just a fake plastic tree.

dapper dan morby – founder of www.balls.world

Just as a puppy should be for life, a corporate golf shirt should be for 20 rounds, not just for the day, or in most cases, the bottom of your client’s golf bag, never to see the light of day. So little thought goes into the one thing that’s usually left to the end of all the planning for an event and based on what’s left in the kitty to spend on what’s loosely described as a golf shirt, when for most participants, it’s the one thing they remember from the day and would like to wear again if only they didn’t look like the king of the mountains leader in the Tour de France.

Millions are spent on corporate identities every year, keeping the wheels of the branding world ticking over, and God forbid if someone sends out an email with the wrong font or use wrong the Pantone colour for a logo, but hey, if you’re responsible for the corporate golf day entertaining possibly our 100 best clients and influencers, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process, you are allowed to throw away that very expensive little brand identity book we had printed up for everyone to follow, just as long as we come in under budget, you will be fine… or so it seems.

I recently stayed at friends in Dubai and the previous day he had attended a golf day put together by a very well-known brand of paint. He showed me the shirt he had been given to wear for the day and I have to say, it was a very nice shirt until the organisers had plonked a very badly embroidered company logo on the chest, which had already started to ball up and cheapen the shirt to the point it was passed over to the maid to use. Now my point is, we have all been there, done that, thrown the shirt straight in the gardening clothes pile, ready for when you’re told to mow the lawn and prune the roses.

The thing is, the world we live in today, there should be no excuse for last minute shirts with poor design and thought, as the tools are there for all to use. To start with, most companies understand that they need at least 3 to 4 versions of their corporate logo/brand in a number of colours, to be able to accommodate today’s media world, so no, you don’t need to put that green and purple logo on a red shirt. Actually you don’t need the logo full stop if you have a strong corporate colour and identity, you could, for example, produce something with your colours, leave off the logo and just have that printed inside the shirt with the event and date, as long as your client knows who gave him the shirt, he will tell someone else where he got it the next time he plays, he doesn’t have to be a walking billboard for you.

And in terms of producing shirts & apparel that match your corporate colours, the technology has been around for a while that can reproduce exactly what it says in the handbook, in as little or larger numbers required. The process of sublimation has come a long way since it was introduced 10 years ago and coupled with the advancements in fabrics to use, means we can all have exactly what we want, when we want and in the numbers we want, we don’t need to purchase 200 shirts that are nearly the colour we want and add a logo that kind of looks like what we asked for.

Surely the goal should be to get your clients to wear your corporate golf shirt for the rest of the season, champion your company and spread the word. His mouth will be your billboard, not a King of the mountain cycling shirt and remember, next time you have to organise a golf day, think puppies and what you are doing, you don’t want to walk into a charity shop next month and find your golf shirts hanging on the rack.

That ends today's lesson – scribe dapper dan morby, founder of www.balls.world golf apparel. We hate waste as much as the next guy, so we don’t do it.

After the "Golf-Sixes" at the weekend, there has been much talk about the speed of play and how the stopwatch had players getting on with their shots. There has also been plenty of talk of late on how today's best players have reduced most courses to pitch & putt, resulting in competitions pimping up the greens to make the courses more difficult. This then results in players taking far too long over 3 footers and so the ever-increasing 5-hour rounds are endured.

With all these ingredients thrown into the pot, it got me thinking about how I would walk 18 holes back in blighty in 3 hours with a half set and a lightweight bag. I didn't need 14 clubs and to be honest, these days I only carry 12 and end up not using a couple of clubs in my bag by the end of the round (I play off 10 btw... sometimes). I see guys I play with now shooting 90+ carrying 4 wedges and they can't even hit one of them properly, It's bloody ridiculous. 

My buddy who's a caddy on the Asian Tour mentioned the other day, that his bag weighed 25kg at the start of his round the other week in KL. You would be asked to re-pack that at the airport these days, as the baggage handlers would sue the airport for unfair working practices. Think about it, twenty-five kilos, how's a caddie going to nip round in under 4 hours if he's carrying dead body parts around with him.

So here's my solution for speed golf and at the same time, more interesting and creative golf tournaments.

1. Before each round, players can only select 10 clubs
2. Tour players only allowed 6 balls, if they lose them all, they get DQ'd
3. Caddies use lighter & smaller bags
4. Any lagged putts that finish within 3 feet of the hole must be finished off without marking

Pretty much that's how most people use to play golf anyway 20 years ago before they watched players throwing grass around, lying on greens and checking yardage devices every 5 seconds. It's time to strip back and get back to basics, instead of making courses harder and harder for high hdcp golfers.

Chip in with your thoughts please - dapper dan morby - www.balls.world