30 Days, 7,200 Miles, 38 Hours

From our founder:

30 days ago I found out that if we didn’t get four M TOUR bags to Hong Kong by March 3, the Fireballs team was going to have to get a different company to provide them with bags.

It’s currently 8pm HK time. I’m on the bed in a hotel room. 23rd floor. View of the city. Nicolle is across from me, organizing her heater, paints, thinner, and brushes. Campbell is preparing social media (per usual). It’s been a ride. A ride that might not have happened.

I was sitting on my couch checking email when I got the news; “we won’t have time to get the bags ready and shipped by March 3. It’s Chinese New Year. Everything is shut down.”

I don’t think it’s a “good” trait. My pushing. Honestly, I’d like to let go of my determination to push on. It just seems so peaceful to go with the flow. And at times in my life, I have ‘gone with the flow’. But there's this side of me that just can’t accept the idea of coming up short. And in those moments, when coming up short is on the table, I just can’t look at myself in the mirror and feel good if I don’t do my absolute best.

So I pushed. I messaged the factory owner. I told him we needed this. I told him that MNML GOLF has been working on this project for over six months and if we couldn’t get these bags finished in time, it could tarnish the relationship we’ve built with the Fireballs team. I told them that if we couldn’t get these bags done, the Fireballs would know they couldn’t count on us to pull through. They’d rely on another company to save them in their time of need. And Clarence (factory owner) heard me. He too has a “push” problem.

He rallied the troops and made a promise that the factory would do everything they could to get the job done.

I felt ok. I felt like it was likely they’d get it done. And then I had a thought; what if they can’t do the logos for the team?

I messaged the factory, unconfidently attaching mockups and logos for the bags.

“Oh no Sam, we won’t be able to do any printing on the bags. We can only deliver blank, white bags by March 2.” Shit. Holy shit.

What would I want our team to do if they had an issue like that? I’d want them to think of three solutions before telling me about the issue. I racked my brain.

I texted Andrew, Director/Fireballs Team Operations. “Hey so uh, the factory won’t have time to print the logos on the bags in time for the Hong Kong tournament. So, we could either print some decals that you could put on the bags, print some patches that would stick on or, we could fly to Hong Kong to paint the bags. Call me.”

Ring, ring. He called. “So what’s up?”

Me: Yeah so, it could be cool to give the team patches or decals and they could put them anywhere they wanted on the bags.. Or, I mean, we could fly there, meet the bags, and paint them before the tournament starts.

Andrew: Do you want to go to Hong Kong?

Me: …

This is the part in Shoe Dog (see Phil Knight, founder of NIKE, memoir) where he flies to Japan to save his relationship with Tiger shoes. He demands a meeting with Onitsuka. They accept. He secures a contract.

Me: Yes, I want to fly to Hong Kong and paint the bags for the team.

Andrew: Ok then. I’ll get you the info.

No stress. Just the first time flying to Hong Kong. And the first time traveling out of the country to hand-paint golf bags. And… what else? We’ll see.

25 days later, we made it on the plane. We landed. We passed through customs. We took the train to the hotel.

That’s where the fun started.

Email the factory, the owner, every few hours to get updates on the bags.

Start searching Hong Kong for a very specific paint (can’t fly with flammable paint).

24 hours in, strike 8 on finding paint. Inning almost over. We went to every specialty paint store in HK and literally not a single one had a drop of the paint we needed.

The good news? The bags were on route.

Day two of searching for paint and we enlisted the help of a concierge at the hotel. They were great. But they didn’t find it either.

Finally, I found an auto shop that had something.. It could work.

I messaged the concierge to call the shop and ask some specific questions.

We called a cab.

While all this was going, Campbell had safely secured the 4 TOUR bags and was on his way back to the hotel.

As Nicolle and I were 2 minutes from the paint shop, we got a message from the concierge, “they have something that can work. But you must go there now. The owner is leaving in 30 minutes”.

If we hadn’t left early, we would have missed our chance.

We got there and it was on. He had everything. Paint, thinner, cloths, scotchbrite… everything we needed.

He mixed the pantones and packed a bag. We gave him $100USD and slipped into a cab.

Elation.

But would the paint work?

One hour later Nicolle was tracing the bags.

Two hours more and it was time to see if this was going to work.

Holy Shit. It works. It’s working. And more than that, it dries so fast that we can paint live at the course.

Like, after we get the main logos done, we’ll be on the course painting golf bags for the team. Putting the finishing touches and unique little hits on different areas. Something we never could have done if the whole problem of bags not being ready on time hadn’t come up.

It really is true, every problem is an opportunity for greatness.

Ok so painting golf bags for pro golfers isn’t greatness. It’s cool. It’s unique. It’s fun. And hey, maybe even remarkable.

And for a small crew who has dedicated their everything for this mission of making this work, it is truly special. It is a memory I’ll have forever. And it’s a testament to the determination and will of this little team. I couldn’t be more proud."

Golf bag delivery guy,

- Sam Goulden

30 Days, 7,200 Miles, 38 Hours

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