We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jeff Peart . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jeff below.

Jeff , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Growing up I played basketball. That was my first passion and I played through high school, college and a couple years of semi pro ball. Then a leg injury in my early 30’s ended all of that.

I still enjoy being around the game of basketball and have been coaching high school hoops at various levels for years. Currently coaching the junior varsity team at Beaverton High School in Beaverton, OR.

Growing up, I thought golf was cost prohibitive. I had no idea how much a round of golf cost, I had no idea what clubs cost, and I assumed that it was something that I didn’t have money for and then a friend of mine, Chris Smith, sent me his clubs and I thought “why in the world would you just send me your clubs?” he said, “well, I just bought new clubs and you’re the only other 6’4” lefty that I know”. So he packaged up his old ones and shipped them to me. I was living in a tiny studio, so I had them sent to my parents house and without opening the FedEx box, I put them up in the attic and they sat there for years.

Five years ago, I drove past a driving range and hit bucket of balls (with the clubs they provided) and thought “this is pretty fun, maybe I can give it a try”.

I pulled the clubs out of the attic and started going to the range a couple times a week. It quickly became a competitive outlet.

I realized golf is something I could do for the rest of my life and to quote Tin Cup, “perfection is unattainable”.

As a competitor, having a goal to work towards is all I need. So thank you to Chris for sending his clubs along. Without him doing that, I’m probably not playing golf, and there is no Chasing Aces.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Chasing Aces Golf is a clothing, headwear and accessories brand based out of Portland, OR. In 2016, our beloved golden retriever Franklin, passed in an accident. With time and therapy, I started to accept what had happened. Unrelated, I would see other companies use animals in their branding and the idea came to me. If I was going to wear a logo, I wanted to wear Franklin. In November of 2021, the brand was launched. We’ve been Chasing Aces ever since. It’s been a great way to keep his spirit with me and turn a tough situation into more positive memories.

The name came from screwing around with friends on the course. You walk up to a par three and start talking a big game, “Get your phone out, because this is going in!”, etc. Then you shank it into the woods or duff it ten feet and everybody has a laugh. The beautiful part is, the shot is forgotten by the next hole and you get to do it again. Everyone, regardless of skill level, steps to the tee and thinks it’s going in. They may not say it, but they certainly think it. From the pros, to hacks like me, we all think it.

Everyone is Chasing Aces. No, I don’t have a hole in one. I’ve been close twice, but close doesn’t count for much.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I’d say our Just Putt It commercial and merch was a bit of a risk. Growing up a few miles from the world campus, Nike is obviously an influence and creative inspiration behind our latest line. We haven’t heard anything from them yet, which is probably a good thing.

When I started golfing, I quickly learned about the gimmie.

“…a gimme in golf refers to a putt so short that it is essentially unmissable. Rather than making your partner roll the ball into the hole, you can give them the shot and count it as holed. The term gimme derives from ”give me” – Will you give me that one?”

People spend a lot of money and invest a lot of time to only play part of the course. Why go through all of that just to pick up the golf ball? How does it change your handicap? Are you really an 8 handicap? Maybe you’re a 12. Or a 20 like me.
A quick tap in from the lip? Ok, Sure. But anything outside of that, I don’t understand the gimmie. Just Putt It.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

It can be frustrating to not see much growth or action when jumping onto to social media. We don’t have a huge following yet, but have had steady growth and increased interaction across our platforms. We have found that being genuine about who we are and the people we support has been a huge plus. I think people can tell right away if something is too staged or set up. Sure, we want to feature our products, but can we tie in a personal story or maybe take the pic in front of a friend’s coffee shop, like Deadstock Coffee, so they get a little love too. Tying in the community has paid off well for us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chasingacesgolf.com/
• Instagram: chasingacesgolf
• Other: TikTok: chasingacesgolf1

Image Credits
Dan Newman