STATE OF STICK / GOLF PRODUCT BRIEF
THE OPPORTUNITY / STATE OF STICK GOLF
Golf already has the players, places, and passion.
Now connect the experience.
State of Stick Golf connects the golfer, course, clubhouse, league, and season through one familiar action: tap.
Important: Course names, maps, and round details shown in this product are demonstration data. Cedar Ridge is not a confirmed partner or approved live pilot.
A proposed physical course marker becomes a doorway to the digital experience.
WHY NOW / VERIFIED INDUSTRY FACTS
This is not a small hobby market.
The market is large, active, and still changing. These numbers show why a better connection between play, courses, and communities matters.
Sources: National Golf Foundation, 2024 industry overview; USGA, Golf’s New Narrative; NGF, 2023 Economic Impact Report.
THE PROBLEM IN PLAIN ENGLISH
Golf has places, people,
and activity. They are disconnected.
TODAY
The golfer carries the burden
Scorekeeping, league details, clubhouse requests, course information, and memories are spread across different tools—or handled manually.
THE OPENING
Make the course easier to use
A tap at the right physical point can show the next useful action: record a score, ask a question, contact the clubhouse, join a challenge, or see the season.
PROPOSED OPERATOR SERVICE LAYER
Give golfers more reasons
to use the course.
The network can become a simple service doorway for a course, club, resort, or golf event. These are proposed offerings to validate with operators—not live integrations or promised capabilities today.
01 / ON-COURSE COMMERCE
Food and drinks, wherever the golfer is
Let a golfer tap at a hole, cart point, or service marker to view approved menus, place a food or beverage request, and receive clear pickup or delivery instructions.
Possible revenue: order margin, service fee, or operator subscription02 / PLAYER SERVICE
Make the round easier
Request water, towels, rentals, pace assistance, cart help, lost-and-found support, or a clubhouse question without hunting for a phone number.
Possible value: fewer interruptions and faster staff response03 / COURSE GUIDANCE
Put the right information at the right hole
Offer approved hole context, local rules, amenities, accessibility information, pace reminders, and Golf Agent answers grounded in course content.
Operator-controlled content · no invented course facts04 / LEAGUES & EVENTS
Turn play into a connected program
Run scoring, announcements, challenges, tournament check-ins, tee-time moments, and event memories from one portable golfer experience.
Possible revenue: event programs and recurring league subscriptions05 / SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Create measurable partner moments
Give sponsors useful, permission-based touchpoints around a tournament, clubhouse, hole, charitable event, or seasonal challenge.
Possible revenue: activations, placements, and partner programs06 / OPERATOR INSIGHT
See what golfers actually need
Summarize taps, requests, recurring questions, event activity, and unmet service moments so operators can improve the experience and decide what to offer next.
Possible revenue: platform subscription and reporting servicesSEE THE IDEA IN MOTION
One tap can connect the whole experience.
A golfer arrives, connects with the course, and gets the next useful action—from scoring and course information to clubhouse requests, leagues, events, and memories.
This is the kind of simple, physical-to-digital experience the founding golf partner would help us test and shape with real golfers and operators.
Concept video: The course, people, and details shown here are illustrative. They do not represent a live or approved course partnership.
ONE GOLFER / ONE ROUND
Make the physical course
feel connected.
The technology stays in the background. The golfer sees a clear, useful response at the moment it matters.
01 / ARRIVE
The golfer arrivesThe course welcomes a player, guest, family, or league participant.02 / TAP
They tap a markerA flagstick, tee marker, cart, clubhouse point, or passport opens the next moment.03 / USE
They get helpRecord a score, ask a question, see hole context, request service, or join an event.04 / PLAY
The round continuesLeague standings, challenges, announcements, and shared memories stay connected.05 / RETURN
The season carries onThe golfer passport gives the player a reason to come back and play elsewhere.PROPOSED PILOT / WHAT WE CAN PROVE FIRST
Start with three useful
workflows—not a giant rollout.
These are proposed pilot workflows. No course partnership, customer adoption, or live results are being claimed today.
01 / COURSE
Make the course easier to use
Course guidance, questions, and clubhouse requests are often disconnected from the player’s moment.
Tap the right course point to get approved guidance, Ask the Golf Agent for grounded answers from approved course context, or request help from the clubhouse.
Golfers get clarity; staff get fewer interruptions and better context.
Tap use, completed requests, response time, repeat visits, and golfer feedback.
02 / SEASON
Keep a league connected
Scores, announcements, challenges, and standings are scattered across messages, spreadsheets, and separate tools.
Connect scoring, announcements, challenges, and a golfer passport to one portable season with operator-controlled AI guidance.
Players stay engaged; commissioners and operators get a clearer season.
Round completion, return play, standings engagement, disputes, and second-season interest.
03 / EVENT
Make tournaments more interactive
Events create energy for one day, but participation and memories often disappear afterward.
Use tap points for participation, sponsor or partner moments, updates, shared memories, and a lasting event passport.
Players, organizers, sponsors, charities, and courses get a more measurable event.
Participation, taps, sponsor interactions, repeat attendance, and post-event engagement.
THE FOUNDING-PARTNER OPPORTUNITY
Help lead the
golf vertical.
Your value is not writing software. Your value is knowing the game well enough to help us build the right thing, with the right people, in the right order.
WHAT YOU WOULD DO
Bring judgment and relationships
Help select the first proposed pilot course.Introduce the right course and golf contacts.Pressure-test what golfers and operators actually need.Test the experience with a defined group of golfers.Advise what should be built next.Help turn the pilot into a repeatable paid offering.
WHAT STATE OF STICK WOULD HANDLE
Build and support the system
Technology, product development, and implementation.Design, hosting, data boundaries, and technical support.Product documentation, measurement, and iteration.Business structure, agreements, and operational follow-through.You would not need to fund the company or carry the business alone.
The role in one sentence: you would help us decide what golf needs first and help open the right doors; State of Stick would build, operate, and support the product around that judgment.
WHY WE THOUGHT OF YOU
We need practical golf judgment,
not another software executive.
THE PERSPECTIVE
Make the idea work in the real world
You understand what makes people participate, what makes an operation workable, and what earns trust. Your experience around SpartanNash and the West Michigan business community gives you a practical perspective and relationship context that are more valuable here than technical vocabulary.
THE ROLE
Turn a concept into a business
We are asking you to challenge our assumptions, help us find the right first relationships, and decide whether this creates enough value for a course and its golfers to pay for it.
What we are not assuming: that you want another full-time job, that you should fund the project, or that you need to understand the software. The first conversation is simply whether the opportunity is worth testing together.
A MANAGEABLE FIRST COMMITMENT
Start with six months,
then decide together.
A defined pilot partnership creates a serious test without creating an indefinite obligation.
MONTH 01
Choose the directionSelect the proposed pilot course, workflow, and success measures.MONTH 02
Open the doorsIntroduce the right course, event, and golfer relationships.MONTHS 03–04
Test the experienceRun one proposed workflow with a defined group and document feedback.MONTH 05
Measure the proofReview use, repeat interest, operational value, and what needs changing.MONTH 06
Choose the next stepPursue paid continuation, revise the offer, or stop with a clear result.THE PRODUCT OWNER OPPORTUNITY
How could you make money
helping build this?
The product owner is not being asked to invest. The role is to help turn the product into a useful, paid golf business—and participate in the revenue or ownership created by that work.
PATH 01 / PAID BUILDER
Earn while you operate the pilot
A part-time product-owner agreement can include a modest monthly fee, clear milestones, and a revenue share on the courses, events, and programs he directly helps launch.
Monthly feeCompensation for regular product decisions, meetings, testing, and operator relationships.
MilestonesBonuses when the pilot reaches agreed proof points, such as its first paid continuation or course agreement.
Revenue shareA defined percentage of net golf revenue from accounts he originates or helps launch, for a fixed period.
PATH 02 / FOUNDING PARTNER
Trade some cash for more upside
If he wants a deeper role, a separate written agreement could combine a smaller fee with a larger success-based share or a modest vesting equity grant in the golf venture.
More upsideParticipation grows if the golf vertical becomes a meaningful business.
VestingOwnership should vest over time and depend on defined contribution, not be granted all at once.
No obligationInvestment remains optional and should be documented separately from the work agreement.
Possible revenue sources: course platform subscriptions, pilot and implementation fees, event and tournament programs, sponsor or partner activations, reporting and analytics, and golf-specific services.
THE INVITATION
Help create the value.
Share in the value.
You already understand golfers, golf courses, and what makes people come back. We are asking whether you would like to help shape this vertical from the beginning.
You would help create the value—and share in the value created. The first step is a conversation about the founding partnership, not an investment decision and not a commitment to an unapproved course.
Discuss the founding partnership →Important status note: Course names, maps, scores, and round details used in the product are demonstration data unless explicitly marked otherwise. Cedar Ridge is not a confirmed partner or approved live pilot. The six-month plan, pricing, compensation, revenue share, equity, investment, tax, and employment concepts are discussion starting points—not forecasts, guarantees, or final legal terms—and should be reviewed by qualified legal and tax professionals.