ParadaxGolf.com

berkeleybob · July 26, 2022

On 7/22/2022 at 10:47 AM, mynerds said:

Hey man, first off all the support in the world for trying to create something new. New product development is fraught with challenges and is not for the faint of heart. I wish you all the best in your endeavors here!

Based on the photos you sent, it seems like you're doing well in the early stages of the prototyping process. My product development experience is in a different market, but to my untrained eye it looks like you've been working on retrofitting existing collapsible push cart parts to a Mizuno BR-D4C cart bag. I think this is a great way to start playing with your ideas and seeing what works/what doesn't work. You have a few things going for you in that approach. For one, it helps you understand how the product can actually work, as opposed to what can be rendered quickly and cheaply by graphic artists. For another, it can help you play with specific parts and materials you'll need to source later. Those three-spoked rear wheels are common in the white-labeled drop-shipped carts on amazon (which may have been where they were pulled from), so sourcing similar parts should be easier than custom injection-molded wheels, for example.

If you've worked in product development before, I'll be preaching to the choir in saying that tooling for your product will likely be your biggest challenge. If you're not fully outsourcing the product development, you're looking at a wide range of materials and likely will need multiple manufacturing partners (your fabric, plastic, and metal components may not be produced under one roof) plus assembly and likely sub-assembly partners to get this out the door at scale. Much of this is going to come out of the APAC region, and you'll need to plan your work hours and travel accordingly. Coming up with a novel idea is hard, prototyping is harder, but your mettle is tested most in tooling IMO. If you haven't already, I would highly, highly, highly recommend looking into that process more particularly before pursuing kickstarter funding. Many kickstarters have failed because they underestimated the challenges in manufacturing at scale. Check out the posts for the Gravity Caddy project and see the (ongoing) challenges the project has had in the tooling phase for nearly two years for a mechanically simpler product.

(Not a lawyer, this is not legal advice) As for the patents pending worldwide, I would encourage you to wait until you are done prototyping before pursing the patent route. At first glance, there are a few existing patents which may be substantially similar to your product in functionality. Making sure your product is substantially different can help avoid legal problems down the road and expedite your application process. FWIW, I wasn't able to find any golf related applications or patents out of Fresno. If you haven't applied yet, then that makes sense. If you think you have, you may want to make sure whoever is filing on your behalf remembered to include you on the application.

Again, best of luck! It's a long and challenging road but ultimately a fulfilling one.

Thanks for your great advice and positive feedback! I appreciate it a lot.

I submitted a provisional patent in the US about 17 most ago and a non provisional patent application 1 year after that.

I will look up the patent app number soon but most are not listed or easy to find until they are granted.

We are a lot farther along than the few images I sent you, with tech packs out to sourcing companies in Vietnam and the Philippines as we speak, primarily for the 'soft goods' bag stitching, etc, but also for some new shorts and shirt designs we are working on as well.

I built the first prototype myself to prove my sketches, and then hired experts in the lightweight wheelchair market and then the golf bag/cart engineers for the finishing touches.

Second prototype is 2 or 3 weeks away from my sweaty hands. Will keep you posted and I'll send a video of the system in action once I receive it.

July 22, 2022

My apologies, I am just an inventor/product developer with a cool concept and prototype. I didn't know how the site works. Product won't be available for probably a year so I just wanted to put some feelers out to get some feedback.

I will definitely send out samples to your forum members when I build the first 100.

Thanks.

July 22, 2022

10 minutes ago, jlukes said:

See, that is where you need to be careful. Your true market is the subset of people that don’t want to have a separate bag and push cart. That market is substantially lower than 12 million people.

Might be a bigger opportunity in Europe. They tend to both walk more and have smaller cars over there

The market size represents everyone that would potentially be interested or have a need for our product. Not everyone will convert right away, especially if you just spent $400 on Clicgear's newest 4 wheel cart and $300 on a Titleist bag, for instance. I get it, people like their setups, they like the configuration of their clubs, etc, but little by little it will no longer make sense to buy them in separate pieces, as long as there are no off-setting sacrifices. I have several friends that have to make a decision as to which car they drive based on whether they are hauling their carts and bags to the course.

For those that walk with a collapsable cart, the total weight with clubs is around 45 lbs with balls, etc. (20 lb cart, 8 lb bag, 12 lbs for 14 clubs and 5 lbs of misc crap

Our complete setup fully loaded w/ clubs, etc, weighs 36 lbs, +/- (Cart/bag is 18 lbs now, without any effort spent yet on making it light weight.)

July 22, 2022

On 7/21/2022 at 7:48 AM, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Well, I think it's a great idea. Another question will the 14 way top be full length dividers?

If you mean separate 'tubes' for each club, all the way to the bottom? Probably not. There will most likely be fabric dividers for each row however. Trying to keep it as light as possible.

Let me ask you a question? What is with the concern (not from you specifically) about having enough storage in a golf bag? In our bag you will be able to store a dozen balls, rain gear, gloves, tees, beverages, even 2 wheels in pockets if not in use, so why are people so concerned about storage? Do they live out of their bags? Extra pockets are easy to design in. The thing that no one has been able to do in 100 years of patents and designs, is create a bag that looks completely indistinguishable from a standard cart bag when wheels are not deployed and completely normal when all 3 wheels are out. And without sacrificing strength, stability or quality. The only thing you're giving up is the extra space required to store and haul the 2 separate pieces.

July 22, 2022

I appreciate it. There are over 12 million people that walk when they golf, in the US only, and most of them own a separate 20 lb collapsable push cart and bag. That is our market.

You will see when the product comes out that there will be no compromise to the quality, functionality and storage in our bag.

Quicker to set up, less room in the vehicle by 40% and the same price or less than a Clicgear and a decent golf bag.

Most people don't like change, I get it, but who would go back to a horse and buggy once you've driven in a car? Just sayin'

russtopherb · July 21, 2022

To the “mediocre” bag and card comment:

Sounds like I should just stop working on it right now and continue to drive my huge SUV when my wife and I play so we have room in the car for two carts and two bags. Good idea. Or, I could just keep working on it since I have already seen the Prototype in action and I know this is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before and not a compromise. If you do need to walk it into a building all you have to do is snap the wheels on and you can pull it behind you so the weight at that point is irrelevant because it’s on wheels.

and by the way, for those that commented that they don’t really like the look of it, our Prototype used a Mizuno bag with some colored stripes added and our logo. Our bag is under construction but in the meantime, take it up with Mizuno.

by the way, this seems like a really FUN group to hang out with.

July 21, 2022

14 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I think I just might know what you are talking about. I might or might not have lost an entire garage bay. Missing from the picture of my collection are three push carts and a Motocaddy. Yup all mine!

LOL!!

That's even worse than my garage and mine is full of my prototypes, carts I've dismantled, etc. Funny stuff!

July 21, 2022

13 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Agreed. Since I travel with clubs on airlines I'm sure this would put the bag over the weight limit when fully loaded. I'm not far off the limit as it is and I don't load it up either. There is a large market for this but more over in Europe where walking is more common and the majority of cars are a little smaller. But in the states not having to drag along a separate push cart if you are a walker could work out well. I guess we will see one the product is released and people can actually test it out.

1 minute ago, ParadaxGolf.com said:

15 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Thanks for sharing the pictures. I was concerned with two things. First being that the rear wheels were going to have a narrow stance making it easy to tip. Second the handle looked like a single pole in figure 3. These photo's dismissed my concerns and an insulated pocket is a bonus! Very creative concept, good luck with the manufacturing and marketing.

The wheel width was a design concern but they are over 24" between the rear wheels, which is very standard, and the handle is actually again, a very standard design with room for 2 golf balls, pencil, cell phone, drink holder, 3 tees, etc. Completely enclosed with a spring-loaded lid. Normal stuff.

July 21, 2022

13 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Agreed. Since I travel with clubs on airlines I'm sure this would put the bag over the weight limit when fully loaded. I'm not far off the limit as it is and I don't load it up either. There is a large market for this but more over in Europe where walking is more common and the majority of cars are a little smaller. But in the states not having to drag along a separate push cart if you are a walker could work out well. I guess we will see one the product is released and people can actually test it out.

Weight hasn't been a problem since a standard bag and clubs weighs about 24 lbs. Our bag/cart weighs 18 lbs plus 12 for clubs, so not much heavier. Most airlines charge extra for oversized luggage anyway, just for carrying golf clubs in a carry bag, and usually the weight limit is 50 lbs. If you don't plan on walking while on vacation you would bring along a standard bag I'm sure.

Interesting side note:

10 female NCGA golf teams recently came to my hometown of Fresno to play in a 2 day, 3 round tourney. I personally counted 14 girls that carried their bags on their back because their team couldn't afford to lug push carts for all the players on the plane. 100 pound ladies carrying for 36 holes in one day. Needless to say, none of them were in the hunt.

BIG STU · July 21, 2022

12 hours ago, EasyPutter said:

I think once again we need to keep perspective on what equipment needs to be, as it is impossible for one bag to be everything to everyone. For a trip to the range a Sunday bag might be just the thing. For carrying on the back something more and for those who want to go out without limitations it is definitely a push cart with perhaps its own locomotion. Tom's bags case and point, if the concern is wheels in a pocket of the bag being too much then maybe having more than one bag to tailor to the situation is a better solution. Not that SWMBO will think any solution we come up with is valid

Just curious how often you take your clubs and all other crap out of pockets from one bag and transfer them to another bag for a trip to the range?

I have never done that. If you are a high school boy and you always walk you will have a carry bag with 2 straps and a kickstand. If you're older and you always walk you will lug around a 20 lb collapsable cart and a cart bag, etc etc.

Not for everyone but if you ever walk or sometimes walk 9 and ride 9, this system is for you.

If you decide to ride one day, leave the cart tucked away and no one will know you have anything but a standard cart bag. Open it up in 20 seconds if you decide to walk.

July 21, 2022

14 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

The two rear wheels come off with a push button release and one goes in each side pocket. The front wheel folds up and under the golf bag into a recess. That's my take based on the thread replies.

You are correct. The tricky part wasn't where to put the rear wheels but how to collapse and deploy a fully functioning push cart inside of a standard sized cart bag.

there have been patents issued on 'wheels inside of golf bag' since 1928 but no one has figured out how to do it in a functional way, quickly deployed, lighter than a bag and cart combined, and for a price that's cheaper than buying both of similar quality.

More images to follow but it's a little hush hush at the moment for obvious reasons.

Tom the Golf Nut · July 20, 2022

10 hours ago, EasyPutter said:

It's going to be interesting to see how they combine the framework and wheels into the bag AND have room for clubs gear etc in what looks like a standard size golf bag.

Hopefully it won't be one of those illusion things that has a girl appear from seemingly nowhere when the rain cover is removed. Wait, that might be a good thing yes dear I said a caddy...

yes of course. And the pocket in the front is insulated for ice and bee…uh , soda I meant to say, or anything else you want to keep cold. Lol

July 20, 2022

Tom the Golf Nut · July 20, 2022

10 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Now this is a very interesting product. Do the wheels go in the pocket while in position 1?

Looks like this would make a great item for the forum members to test and review.

Yes there will be a push button in the middle of the wheel hub for removal and a stiff pocket flips down on each side to put away the wheels. The front wheel is hiding underneath the bag and deploys when the handle is raised. We are on some final changes to the second prototype and looking into production within the next six months. It’s real and it really works great!

planning on having many of you test the bag out and comment when we have them available. :-)

July 20, 2022

Patent Pending worldwide, this game changing cart in a bag will literally change the way we walk the course.

No longer will you haul around a bulky push cart (up to 22 lbs) along with your bag. this cart/bag system weighs less than 20 lbs, bag and all!

And looks just like a standard bag and cart combo. No Compromise!!! Kickstarter campaign coming soon, check out: www.ParadaxGolf.com

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