Evans Golf Company: Created to Give Back to the Game of Golf
Alex Elias
Courtesy of Nathan Limbach (@nathanlimbach)
Founded by a group of four friends who grew up playing golf together through high school, Evans Golf Company was created to give back to the game of golf.
“We make golf bags and accessories that remind us of those we used when we first began to play the game. They remind us of the simple joys from a time when it was simply about having fun learning to play,” said Matt Hemsley, CEO and Co-Founder of Evans Golf Company. “In creating these products, we hope that younger golfers will find the same joy in golf that still inspires us, and we hope that our contemporaries remember the joy that first touched them.”
Beyond the nostalgia, Evans Golf Company gives back to the game through each and every item sold.
“We have never been motivated by profits,” said Hemsley. “Our goal has always been much more personal.”
Inspired by Charles “Chick” Evans Jr., who established the Evans Scholars Foundation in 1930 to provide full-tuition college scholarships to caddies with limited financial means, Evans Golf Company makes an annual donation to the Evans Scholars Foundation of the Western Golf Association, First Tee, and the USGA Foundation.
“Growing up in Minnesota, we were very familiar with the Evans Scholars Foundation, though we didn’t fully understand its history until we were older,” said Hemsley. “It wasn’t until two of us joined The Minikahda Club—the oldest country club west of the Mississippi River and the site of Chick Evans’ 1916 U.S. Open victory, where he became the first golfer to win both the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in the same year—that his story truly felt close to home.”
Recently, Evans Golf Company formalized a partnership with the Evans Scholars Foundation, becoming the exclusive licensed golf bag partner for an organization that supports those who carry golf bags.
“We now proudly have an official link to the organization and to the man who started it all: Charles ‘Chick’ Evans Jr.,” said Hemsley. “It’s one of the coolest things that has happened to us.”
Since Evans Golf Company isn’t a full-time job for any of the four founders, Hemsley credited their shared passion for golf and its history as the motivation behind the brand. However, he emphasized that the company’s success is driven by the same passion shared by members of clubs across the country—a fact of which they are most proud.
“It is incredible to see our bags in any shop, let alone such storied clubs,” said Hemsley. “However, it’s not so much that the clubs are buying into our mission as it is the members. We have no salespeople, nor do we use any distributors, so when I see our products in a golf shop, I know it’s because a member saw someone using one of our bags, felt that sense of nostalgia, and ultimately asked their club to carry our products. That’s what we’re so proud of—it’s exactly what we hoped to accomplish all along. It’s a testament to the values those members hold and the traditions they aspire to maintain.”
