GolfRoots co-founders Ben Stromberg (left) and Jake Hoffman (right) have been looking to reshape how people — especially beginners — access golf equipment.
GolfRoots
What started as a college side hustle in a Dallas garage has evolved into a mission to facilitate access to one of America’s most popular participation sports. Four years after its founding, GolfRoots is reshaping how people access golf equipment by connecting unused clubs gathering dust in garages with newcomers eager to try the game.
The company’s roots trace back to 2021, when founder Benjamin Stromberg, now 26, was a senior at Texas A&M and as an army cadet helped found the school’s club team to play and compete recreationally. With friends who were set to commission as officers in need of clubs, Stromberg, who had worked at a club in New Mexico and accumulated old demo stock and items that were never retrieved from the lost-and-found, began selling equipment to his fellow cadets and on Facebook Marketplace.
Today, the company coordinates trade-in programs with private clubs across the country, continuing to grow through a business model that benefits both sides of the market: golfers who have excess equipment they’ll never use again, and newcomers who need affordable entry points into what can be an expensive sport. Comedian Larry David, the avid golfer who helped create “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” is among the private club golfers who have traded in clubs with GolfRoots.
“Helping people offload unwanted clubs while also helping people get into the game, those two things meshed together really well,” Stromberg said, adding that he was inspired to facilitate greater equipment access by personal experience, having gotten his earliest clubs as hand-me-downs from his grandfather.
The GolfRoots founders at a private club trade-in event.
GolfRoots
What began as individual club sales evolved when Stromberg recognized new golfers wanted complete sets but had no idea what to buy. The pandemic golf boom intensified that need.
“I was curating full sets for people from what I had in my parents’ garage,” he recalls. His co-founder, Jake Hoffman, suggested creating a website, leading to their current model of selling both curated full sets and individual clubs.
GolfRoots now operates from a 61,000-square-foot Dallas headquarters with 22 full-time employees, partnering with 375 to 400 private clubs nationwide for trade-in events. Their most popular items are complete sets and specific high-demand drivers like the TaylorMade SIM2 Max and PING G400 models.
GolfRoots today has a 61,000 square-foot club storage facility.
GolfRoots
The company serves three distinct customer segments: complete beginners, golfers upgrading for the first time, and experienced players seeking specific clubs.
Stromberg notes they often see customers progress through all three categories, creating lasting relationships rather than one-time transactions.
GolfRoots has introduced innovative products like the “Just the Roots” starter set for $90, which includes four essential clubs and five balls. And the company’s trade-in program is one of the secrets to its success, with customers receiving 100% credit toward a full set when they’re ready to upgrade. As Stromberg says, it’s a way to “de-risk golf” for those who want to give it a try and hopefully successfully set the hook for newcomers to experience that feeling of shot euphoria.
“We don’t want the cost of equipment to be the reason why people don’t play this game,” Stromberg says of the company’s philosophy. “Golf clubs are tools. Golf itself is our destination. You can’t get to that destination without those tools and the vehicle to get you there. It’s where you end up, and that’s playing golf and having those experiences.”
GolfRoots-branded headcovers
GolfRoots
Stromberg is hoping to eventually partner with pro shops and equipment manufacturers. While he hasn’t made significant inroads on that front yet, it hasn’t deterred the company’s growth trajectory.
“We’re creating a whole new customer. It’s not fighting for a customer that’s already buying from Callaway or Titleist,” Stromberg says. “This customer has never owned golf clubs before; they’re completely new and fresh.”
As golf continues to enjoy a wave of increased participation and play – one that involves near record levels of beginners – GolfRoots is effectively expanding the sport’s ecosystem by helping both ends of the spectrum: making it more accessible to newcomers while creating value for existing players. And the company’s roots continue to spread.
