The Club
Featuring the Graff Podcast, articles and company updates hosted by Graff's own Sean Fairholm.
Aaron Shapiro first had the idea for building a smart golf ball when he was 13 years old. Now he is the CEO of Graff Golf, and the dream is becoming a reality. In this episode, Aaron talks about the circumstances around starting Graff, the challenges behind creating a smart…
Every golfer wants to hit the ball farther, but their driver spin is often too high to effectively gain distance. This is particularly common for golfers who slice the ball. For a right-handed player, that means the ball starts left and peels hard to the right because they are cutting…
The smart golf ball from Graff will offer several key metrics like ball speed, launch angle and spin rate, but they aren’t useful unless you understand these analytics. In this crash course, host Sean Fairholm explains a few important terms and how a player can apply them to his or…
With every golf shot you hit, spin rate is a critical factor. Too much backspin will typically cause a ball to climb too far in the air, falling short of its intended target while also being more susceptible to going off-line. It’s also more likely to stop quicker. Perils of…
What is a smart golf ball and why should a golfer care? In this installment of Behind the Ball, Graff Golf’s VP of Manufacturing, Parker Feldmann, breaks it all down with host Sean Fairholm. Parker explains what led him on a path that included stints with the U.S. Air Force,…
Here at Graff, we are developing the world’s first smart golf ball and an accompanying analytics platform that will allow golfers to assess their games as they never have before. Most golfers have at one point asked themselves why there isn’t a chip put inside of a golf ball so…
Few variables affect a golf shot more than launch angle does. Launch angle is the initial ascent of the ball immediately after impact. It’s measured in degrees relative to the ground. A 15-degree launch angle, for example, means that the ball is lifting upwards at a 15-degree angle. The lower…
It’s been three long years since the last Ryder Cup, and we are in for a doozy this time around. In this episode, host Sean Fairholm is joined by Dalton and Dante of the Enjoy the Walk Pod to break down how the U.S. stacks up against Europe, what pairings…
Who would you guess led the PGA Tour in average ball speed this past season? Both casual fans and experts would likely point to Bryson DeChambeau, a player who clocked in with an average clubhead speed of over 132 mph last season. That shattered the previous record of 128.18 held…
Where does the company name Graff Golf come from? For company CPO Patrick Kelly, it’s personal. Along with fellow co-founders Aaron Shapiro and Mike Eberle, Kelly drew inspiration from their Johns Hopkins football coach Jim Margraff, who passed away while they were in school. In this episode of our Behind…
When it comes to improvement in golf, everyone can agree that the ultimate benchmark is score and handicap. There is nowhere to hide in golf. A number is tied to your performance and, even if that number isn’t indicative of how well you feel you hit the ball overall, it’s…
Behind the Ball is a look into how and why Graff Golf is developing a smart golf ball that offers detailed shot analytics, improvement plans and Bluetooth locating. After starting episode one of the series with Rowen Frazer, the VP of Marketing and Design, this conversation centers around Mike Eberle,…
Being a great putter is an elusive goal. What looks simple can often be a frustrating endeavor. Putting is, in theory, the easiest part of golf. The ball is on the ground the entire time, and ensuring clean contact is rarely a problem. The average golfer may never be able to…
Everyone wants to hit it farther, it’s just in our DNA as golfers. But the formula behind gaining distance and confidence with the big stick — walking up to the first tee knowing you can crush it while still being accurate — is one of the more frustrating elements of the game….
Improving your game with swing changes, equipment and range practice are often thought of as the only avenues for lowering your score on the golf course, but there is another path that may be the most influential of them all: Changing your strategy so you can golf smart. Most golfers…
Of all the shots you can hit in golf, a slice is the most common — and arguably the most frustrating. A slice is defined as a shot that, for a righthanded player, starts to the left before peeling off in a banana shape to the right. It is a shot…
Behind the Ball is a look into how and why Graff Golf is developing a smart golf ball that offers detailed shot analytics, improvement plans, and Bluetooth locating. It’s a deeper look into the company, examining why analytics in golf can be so important and the role that different employees…
He’s consistently one of the best players in the world, and he’s won four major championships, so why has Rory McIlroy experienced a seven-year major drought with plenty of disappointments along the way? Graff Podcast host Sean Fairholm and guest Jeremy Schilling go through several theories while breaking down what…
When people say that golf is a game of control, they really mean that golf is a game of spin rate. There are other data points that get much of the attention — carry yardage, ball speed and launch angle are three of the most highlighted, and we went over them…
Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, host of the 2021 PGA Championship, has some of the most bizarre history in the game of golf. It was built in a rush so it could host the 1991 Ryder Cup, and then that tournament became one of the more influential and memorable in the…
Jordan Spieth is maybe the most magnetic character among active golfers in today’s professional game, but the past few years have tested his patience. In this special edition of the podcast, host Sean Fairholm takes a look at how Spieth reached his prime while barely out of college, what led…
Team Graff is expanding! Moving into the Spring, we’ve made some key hires to round out our team. Our very first full-time addition to the team is Parker Feldmann. As VP of Manufacturing at Graff, Parker is going to lead all manufacturing efforts and take full control of supply chain logistics…
GRAFF GOLF ANNOUNCES CLOSING ITS SEED ROUND OF $700,000 Baltimore, Md. (March 23, 2021) – Graff Golf, developers of a smart golf ball that provides golfers detailed analytics of their swing and custom practice programs for improving their game, has announced that it closed its Seed Round of funding at…
Cordie Walker is the host of the Golf Science Lab podcast, and he has a lot of wisdom to share from conversations he has had with players, coaches and others throughout the game. In this conversation with Graff Golf’s Sean Fairholm, Walker explains some of the lessons he has learned…
For the average golfer, looking at a set of data after making a golf swing can be intimidating. Some elements of golf ball analytics are straightforward, but understanding how each piece works together is key to knowing what adjustments you may have to make in your game. You might not…
There’s no doubt that Bryson DeChambeau is one of the most compelling figures in golf, but how long he will be able to maintain his pace of pushing the boundaries of what we know to be possible in golf remains a question mark. In this episode, host Sean Fairholm and…
As a Golf Digest Top 40 Best Young Teacher in America, Megan Padua is among the rising stars in golf instruction. After graduating from Penn State University in their PGA Golf Management program in 2008, Padua has taught at courses such as Belfair Plantation in Bluffton, S.C., Maidstone Club in…
As much as a golf nerd like myself hates to admit it, there have been some dark moments for the game in the 21stcentury. There have been times where the energy around the sport felt stagnant, like the humid and still summer air before an impending storm. I think back…
Hey everyone! Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the end of the year! The team and I wanted to take this time to express how thankful we are for the incredible support and recap this untraditional yet productive year. Here are the major updates for each component of our…
By the time Dustin Johnson reached Augusta National’s second nine, the place we all say the tournament is meant to start, everything had already been decided. The 36-year-old who grew up a short drive away in Columbia, South Carolina, held a commanding lead over promising but mostly unproven players Cameron…
Less than 2 percent of PGA professionals can call themselves Master Professionals. To earn it, you have to possess the expertise and experience that Dennis Clark has. The current leader of the Dennis Clark Golf Academy on Marco Island in Naples, Fla., Clark was formerly the Director of Instruction at…
Being the head men’s golf coach at the University of Florida is a full-time job for J.C. Deacon, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play just as well as some the players he coaches. Deacon recently completed a wire-to-wire victory at the Florida Open, his second win at the tournament…
In this episode of The Club, our host Sean Fairholm talks with Graff Golf’s Alex Fortey about how ball analytics can help to simplify your golf game. Fortey delves into the specifics of carry yardages, spin rates and more to explain what you need to know.
The way Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot defies conventional thinking, so much so that we need to redefine what that thinking says in the first place. To back up for a second, here is a recap of the DeChambeau story: A great junior player from California,…
In this episode of the Graff Golf Podcast, our host Sean Fairholm chats to Pat Goss, a PGA Tour short game coach. Goss explains why so many players — even the best in the world — struggle with consistency around the greens, and how the solution is often found in changing their…
The game can bring a golf professional to a lot of locations throughout a career, but Jim Smith Jr. has been incredibly successful despite barely leaving his hometown zip code. Born and raised in southeastern Pennsylvania, Smith Jr. graduated from Temple University and has been running golf courses around Philadelphia…
As Collin Morikawa, just 23 years old, took command of the PGA Championship late on Sunday evening, I couldn’t help but think of two moments. The first was just a little over five years ago when we watched the coronation of Jordan Spieth as the then-21-year-old dominated the Masters for…
In this episode of the Graff Golf Podcast, our host Sean Fairholm chats to Conrad Ray, the head men’s golf coach at Stanford University. Ray talks about what he learned as a player at Stanford, keeping his current players motivated, the role of technology in the game and more.
Last Sunday’s match featuring Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning drew an average of 5.8 million viewers, becoming the most-watched golf telecast in cable television history. The rain-soaked affair peaked at 6.3 million viewers, clearly drawing considerable attention from the sports-starved masses. These substantial numbers even eclipsed…
Speechless. But we’ll write something anyway. As I’m sure all of you can agree, 2020 has gotten off to a wild start.We started our Indiegogo campaign with a $20k goal in mind – hoping to achieve the bare minimum of funding that would allow us to launch our product. Our…
Hey everyone, We know how uncertain this time is for everyone and wish that each one of you and your families are staying safe (and sane!). While COVID has undoubtedly paused some of our efforts, we would love to take this opportunity to tell you more about how we started…
Backers, As promised, today we’re providing an updated timeline and schedule given the nationwide fight against COVID-19. Before we get into it, we want to just extend our deepest condolences to all of you. This pandemic is affecting all of us in one way or another. Due to precautions and…
Hey everyone, The family here at Graff wishes you are staying safe during these scary and uncertain times. We will be posting an update in the next week or so to explain how COVID-19 is affecting our business and timeline. Today, we want to give you a more in-depth understanding…
Hey everyone, As previously mentioned, we will have an updated timeline and schedule for all of you by the end of this week. We thank all of you for supporting us during these uncertain times and hope each one of you is staying safe. That said, we want to give…
It seems like it has been a long off-season since Rory stormed past Brookes to win the Fedex Cup and wrap up the 2019 tour. We had a thrilling time watching everyone’s favorite, Tiger, power the Americans to a come-from-behind President’s cup win. We have a lot of really great…
Golf is challenging because many factors can affect your game. Your swing’s success depends not only on your technique, but also the clubs you use situationally. There are fourteen clubs from which a golfer can choose including drivers, irons, wedges, or putters. Each comes with its own challenges that a…
This is the final chapter of our story, and by far the most important. Several members of Graff Golf’s founding team are student-athletes at Johns Hopkins University. Early morning on January 2nd, 2019, we received the shocking and sad news that our school’s beloved head coach, Jim Margraff, had passed…
Now that we at Graff Golf have introduced you to our founders, our idea, our technology and our future, we thought it was time to talk about our passion: the game of golf. 2019 on the PGA tour had some great moments, let’s reminisce while it is still fresh. The…
Part III, The Technology, gave background on what we have been developing here at Graff. Today, we’re giving you the details on what our app experience will be like. As discussed last week, we at Graff Golf set out to develop a product that we felt was absent from the…
Part II, The Founders, gave background on how our team came together. Today we’re giving you all the details of what we have been developing for the past year in regards to our smart golf ball. At Graff, we’ve all similar experiences in the sport of golf—and similar frustrations with…
Part I closed the loop on how our CEO Aaron Shapiro was inspired to dive into the startup world with his idea for a smart golf ball. Now we give you all the details of how Graff Golf went from merely an idea to an actual companyAaron met Graff’s co-founders…
Let’s face it—golf’s a difficult game. It’s difficult to be good, and at times, difficult to be able to even play at all. But Aaron is a passionate guy. So he continued to play, take lessons, watch videos, and basically do everything in his power to advance his skill level….
Hi everyone, The past few months have been a wild ride to say the least. We cannot thank you enough for being the earliest supporters of our company as we continue with development. With that being said, these busy months have yielded significant progress for us. This report includes our…
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