The Graff Golf Podcast

Here at Graff Golf, we are building a smart golf ball and analytics platform, so it only makes sense that we would do a podcast talking about the many iterations of golf ball that have been made throughout history. From rudimentary beginnings where hand-crafted balls could only go a short distance all the way to the modern day missiles that are made in factories today, golf balls have represented the most remarkable transformation out of any piece of equipment in the game. And as we are proving at Graff, that evolution is far from over. In this podcast, host Sean Fairholm explain how golf balls started and where they are currently. We’ll also go into what are they made out of, how are they made and what could be in store for the future of golf balls. There have been so many eras of golf balls over the years, each one an improvement to making the game more enjoyable — but as I will explain in this podcast, there are a couple of drawbacks with the modern ball that has many people hoping that there will be changes to some of the rules around how big a golf ball is, how much it does or doesn’t spin, and other variables like that. But no matter how you view it, golf balls are an iconic piece of equipment in all of sport and their history dwarfs some of the other histories of different equipment used in other sports. 

The front half of this episode is host Sean Fairholm's reaction to everything happening with the LIV Golf Invitational Series, the controversial league backed by the Saudi government. It’s definitely caused a buzz this week and throughout this year, and the entire structure of professional golf is at risk. What does the PGA Tour do in response? The back half of the episode will be all about LIV Golf's emotional leader, Phil Mickelson, and his ever-changing legacy. Will we ever see Lefty on the PGA Tour again?

In our ninth installment of the Behind the Ball series, which takes a deeper look into how Graff Golf is developing a first-of-its-kind smart golf ball, host Sean Fairholm talks to VP of Hardware Eric Goodchild about his first few months on the job. Eric comes to the company with a true wealth of experience having attended Arizona State in their electrical engineering program, working five years at Taser International and being a co-founder and CTO at Aira, a company that drives innovation in wireless charging. He’s done a little bit of everything in his young career and is now doing a tremendous job at Graff. In this conversation, we talk about his past experiences, what led him to Graff, what excites him about this opportunity and some of the milestones and challenges that he has encountered thus far.

Rick Sessinghaus has been teaching Collin Morikawa since the Californian's junior golf days, guiding him all the way to becoming a two-time major champion. Morikawa has been lauded for his mental approach to the game, and nobody has had more of an impact on that than Sessinghaus. In this chat, Sessinghaus describes meeting Morikawa for the first time, what the pair continue to work on, managing fear as a golfer and much more.

It's arguably the best week of the year for golf fanatics! With the 2022 Masters Tournament on deck at Augusta this week, we take a deep dive on everything you need to know heading into the year's first major. Our host Sean Fairholm will be on site at Augusta National taking in the action, and he is joined by Jeremy Schilling to break down what they expect to see come Sunday.

We are thrilled to welcome on a special guest to the program as Damon Goddard joins the show. Damon is a sports performance coach for Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris, Davis Riley and many other notable players. In this episode, we discuss how he got into the career of training elite golfers, the relationship between mobility, flexibility and muscle, why golf could be heading towards much shorter career spans, why back issues occur in the golf swing, what fitness looks like at the highest level and a ton more. You can find out more about Damon by visiting: https://www.goddardspn.com/about-damon.

How does a smart golf ball get made? In this episode with Parker Feldmann, the Graff Golf VP of Manufacturing, he describes the complex manufacturing process behind creating a golf ball that provides invaluable analytics directly to your device. Feldmann touches on how the pandemic has impacted the operation, the many hurdles involved, what his greatest accomplishment is to this point and much more.

Continuing our Behind the Ball series that provides an in-depth look at Graff Golf, strategic advisor Ari Friedman joins the show. In this conversation, Ari really goes into his background in business, what led him to start consulting Graff, his opinion of what makes a great startup, where Graff is at in the process of establishing itself and a lot more. This is a cool episode because Ari has a ton of experience and can give both an outsider’s and insider’s perspective on what the company is like, which is such a valuable thing to have. You can visit Graff.Golf for more info on our first-of-its-kind smart golf ball and analytics platform.

There's a common myth in golf that high-handicap golfers shouldn't pursue getting fit for clubs because "they aren't good enough" for it. This week's guest, Club Champion founder Nick Sherburne, calls that line of thinking "pure insanity". In this pod, Nick explains why that is the case, what the fitting process is like, whether to take lessons prior to being fit and a lot more. This is a great intro to why club fitting matters for everyone and to assess whether you want to make the investment. You can learn more about Club Champion at https://clubchampiongolf.com.

Mark Immelman, a PGA Tour broadcaster, host of the On the Mark podcast, a longtime swing instructor and of course the brother of Masters champion Trevor Immelman, joins the podcast to nerd out about the golf swing. In this episode, we cover Mark’s serendipitous career path, what amateurs should and shouldn’t try to copy from the professional game, breaking down how to evaluate your own golf swing, why amateurs should almost never aim at the flag on approach shots and a lot more. You can learn more about Mark at markimmelman.com.