Found While Browsing - TactiCool BAMF Golf Bag

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Like a lot of folks who work from home, I tend to browse the web at times during the day when I should be doing something productive to earn my daily bread.  Stumbled across this a while ago and, if nothing else, it's different.  Seems like a group of military buddies have taken the army backpack idea and turned it into a golf bag, and they're calling it the TactiCool BAMF...

 

 

BAMF stands for what you think it stands for. From what I've been able to learn from their website, the bag can be customized 7 ways to Sunday, and if you're in to olive drab, this is the bag you've been waiting for.

 

I don't know if this bag really is a BAMF, but it sure looks like you can carry everything you'd ever possibly need playing golf in the jungle or the desert, or just the bare bones that you'd need playing 9 at the local muni. Have never seen it, so it's kind of hard to tell if it's the read deal (check out their website here), but it sure as hell has some attitude.

 

 

I emailed one of the owners, Jake Richmond, just to say hello, and he sent me the company story.  I want to share it with you, if for no other reason than it seems like a cool story and I like the attitude. And I'm a sucker for a golf bag that has an ammo belt and a slot for a shotgun or automatic rifle.  You know, just in case...

 

 

 

COMPANY BACKGROUND: TactiCool Clothing and Accessory Co. is three people. The boss, Chris Holland, is the majority owner, founding partner, operational brand manager, HMFIC, lead designer ... and my best friend in the world. This whole thing was his idea. The third partner is Ryan Lamar, who has tons of high-level experience in the retail world (part of which was alongside Chris) and also happens to be a certified golf pro.

 

 

Chris and I met in junior high, and we became close pretty quickly. In fact, our friendship grew exponentially every time we spent five hours playing Dobson Ranch Golf Gourse in Mesa, Ariz., for the $7 junior rate. After high school, we were roommates for a little while and then decided to join the Air Force together under the "buddy program" (or whatever it's officially called). Administrative technicalities forced us to ship out for basic training at different times, and we ended up gettting stationed in different places. It sucked at the time, but of course we never lost touch.

 

I'm still on active-duty. I loved the military almost immediately, and I've loved it ever since. I've been all over the world, working in two different Air Force job specialties. My first six years were in weather forecasting. After that, I switched to the job I wanted all along: public affairs. In that job and in other freelance endeavors, I've gotten a bunch of experience in PR, marketing, media, event coordination, etc. Professionally, it's been a blast.

 

To be honest, I've had about as much fun and as much success as an enlisted person can have for the last 16 years -- but I'll be ready to punch out after four more.

 

Chris' job in the Air Force also has some bearing on this whole thing. He was in aircrew flight equipment (then called "life support"). So, he was one of the people who maintained the essential gear that pilots take with them when they fly. That was the beginning of his gear fascination and where he got to hone his savant-like attention to detail (pretty much zero margin for error when it comes to parachutes, helmets, etc.). I can tell you that even in the short time since we started, that trait has benefited our products time and again. 

 

 

Chris got out of the military and started working in the real world. Almost every time we got together, we'd talk about how we wanted to someday be in business together. Meanwhile, he ran a business with his dad for more than a decade; later, he ended up rising pretty high at Bank of America and then at Walmart -- where he and Ryan met. He eventually got tired of the corporate grind and gave up his cushy-salary gig to be a stay-at-home dad. Meanwhile, he developed this idea for a business. 

 

The BAMF Golf Bag is our first product and our flagship product, but there are more in various stages of development. We believe this will be a lifestyle brand. 

 

Basically, we intend to find all the niches that are missing a tactical sensibility -- and then infiltrate them. We believe most men (and even some women) will respond to that quickly ... as long as they understand it.
-------------------------------

BAG BACKGROUND: The challenge we have is communicating (a) the quality/durability of the materials and ( the incredible fun you can have customizing the bag. Those two things are fairly apparent to anyone who's owned tactical gear, but not necessarily to the average golfer.

 

 

If you tell tactical gear nuts (like many military folks), "It's made out of 1000D Nylon" and show them that the MOLLE webbing can support the bag's weight on a bullet proof vest, they will instantly understand that it's a golf bag on quality level above all others. And if you simply show them the MOLLE webbing, they'll automatically start going through their mental inventory of patches and pouches, thinking about where they would place them, etc. 

 

 

Those two concepts will be initially foreign to an audience of golfers who don't have any tactical gear background. And, of course, without that understanding, the price point seems pretty high. 

 

But with that understanding? We think it's a bargain. It's a bag that's built to last a lifetime, and it's like having multiple bags at the same time. One of our pre-order customers told us he's looking forward to changing up the patches on his bag depending on how he feels before heading to the course. I laughed, but I totally get it. 

So, the value is strongly tied to the customization/personalization potential. But honestly, even without a single patch or pouch on it, I sincerely believe it's the manliest golf bag I've ever seen. I say that with no self-crediting; I didn't design the bag (Chris did that by himself). But so many bags -- my last one included -- are just flashy, gimmicky, bright-colored attention-grabbers. And, of course, most are comparatively shoddy in build quality. 

 

 

 

I realize this may sound silly, but I think you'll agree once you get the bag in your hands: You just feel a little different when you're carrying around the BAMF Golf Bag. Seriously. In a sport that's ruled by folks trying to make it more quiet, more corporate, more flashy-fashion, and less fun, the BAMF Golf Bag is a little badass light cutting through the darkness. 

 

That's probably a little too esoteric and grandiose, but I don't give a s***! If you don't know what I mean already, then you certainly will once you get your hands on the bag.

 

You touched on it when you mentioned the blue-collar culture of the military being under-served in golf. You're sooo right. I absolutely LOVE golfing, but that's because my enlisted and veteran buddies are always out there to simply have fun. We don't take ourselves too seriously, and while we always respect our fellow golfers on the course, we're not walking around pulling our PGA rule book out of our shirt pocket every time we have a shitty lie.

 

 

The BAMF Golf Bag is a symbol of that mentality. Fun. Badass. Irreverent. YOU. That's the idea behind our tagline: Be you. Be TactiCool.

 

I hope what you get from all those words is that we are not just here marketing a product, trying to make a quick buck. This whole thing has been a labor of love, and we recognize we are just borrowing from an awesome culture that we didn't create. But we have poured countless hours and thousands of dollars into this, and we are betting (hoping!) that it resonates with other folks like us. 

[Chris O.]

Alright now that is a sick bag and a cool company that I would like to support. Going to have to buy another bag I don't need....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[Sschaffer24]

What a cool story!

 

The attitude that these guys have is what needs infused into this industry. There's too much.. Clamminess in golf. People shouldn't walk into a pro shop and freak out mentally because the people around them are all looking at you like you don't belong. We need to have fun, enjoy our LEISURE time and not take ourselves too seriously. I could probably take a message from that.

 

How cool would it be to see something like this be given to enlisted soldiers who are retiring from the military? I'd love to see this become a little more commonplace and wish them the best in their efforts.

 

Two things I hope for in this scenario, I hope these are 100% made in the USA. I think it's a simple reason, but that is really going to tie the message together perfectly if they can boast that. Also I would LOVE to see a small but noticeable embroidered American flag somewhere prominently on the bag. 

 

I know this is a tactically geared bag, but to everyone it's going to scream veteran/active military and I would like for them to show that off!
 

Great find Barbajo!

[PlaidJacket]

I kind of like the idea of having my shotgun and .45 strapped to my bag. Now, who wants to be the first one not paying up on your Nassau ?

[jbil8802]

If I could keep my shotgun on my bag I'd have an endless supply of goose jerky and duck breasts.

[hckymeyer]

I think they nailed it, and it looks fantastic.

[J_Wurz]

That thing is bad ass!! Tough guy millennials should eat this up. Well the ones that secretly play golf!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy mobile app