No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 1033: Everyone Only - The Gimme Golf Club Origin Story

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

Five years ago, Kyle Walton had a kernel of an idea: What if I started a golf club that wasn't attached to a golf course? That idea eventually became Gimme Golf, one of the best and most inclusive golf societies in the country. It also changed public golf in St. Louis in a profound way. Join us in our support of the Evans Scholars Foundation:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://nolayingup.com/esf⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support our sponsors: ⁠Rhoback If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Nest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nolayingup.com/join⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Newsletter here: https://newsletter.nolayingup.com/ Subscribe to the No Laying Up Podcast channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@NoLayingUpPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club today. That's better than most. Better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Laying Up podcast. Solly here. We are back this week with another one of KVV's narrative podcasts. Really appreciate the response you guys have had to these. They're a fun change of pace. I love it when we can kind of slow down, listen to Kev,

dig into a subject that maybe doesn't get a lot of pace. I love it when we kind of slow down, listen to Kev dig into a subject that maybe doesn't get a lot of attention. And this is another episode in our series shining a light on public golf in America. I'm not going to spoil it here in the intro, but I will say you might come away from it feeling like I did, which was I mean, I wish I had something like this in my life. So without further ado, here's KVV. What's the best clubhouse that you've ever been inside? I'm a spoiled sports writer turned golf podcaster, and I've been lucky enough to get some really

cool invitations over the course of my lifetime. There's something a little surreal, even a little intimidating, about drinking in Azalea inside the clubhouse at Augusta National right next to a portrait of Bobby Jones, but I've now done it a half dozen times. One spring, Nick Faldo was sitting in a table just a few feet away. Jack Nicklaus and his family were at a table across the room. I felt like pulling one of the staff members aside and asking, are you sure I'm allowed to be here? Because I won't blame you if you have to kick me out.

But that's the thing about a great clubhouse. It should make you feel welcome, whether you're a master's winner or a hacker like me. I've had a Guinness upstairs in the clubhouse at North Barrick that tasted like liquid bliss, and I've had a ham sandwich inside the winged foot clubhouse that I still daydream about. I love clubhouses that have an old wooden bar with notches and scratches and a polish, and old lockers that aren't fancy but have been carefully tended to, the keys or combinations passed down from one generation to the next. I love clubhouses with old pictures on the walls, or ones with the names of past champions that are hand-painted year after year onto plaques to mark the passage of time.

A great clubhouse can be a grand castle with dramatic views from high above the course, like St. George's Hill or Riviera Country Club. And it can be understated yet elegant, like Shinnecock Hills. I like taking mental snapshots of all of them every time I'm lucky enough to get invited in for a post-ground beer. But none of those, not even Augusta National, would earn the distinction

of being my favorite clubhouse in golf. That honor belongs to a nondescript brick building in St. Charles, Missouri, 425 Clark Street, right across the street from an abandoned gas station and a scuba gear supply store. There is a laundromat and a used car dealership close by too. It does not have a golf course attached to it. In fact, there isn't a golf course within 10 miles of the building. But it is, I'm convinced, the best golf clubhouse in America. It's the headquarters of Gimmie Golf.

Okay, I think I can guess what you're thinking. What the heck is Gimmie Golf? That's a question I didn't know how to answer until recently when I traveled to St. Louis. It just so happened to be the same week of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. And admittedly, there is a time when it would have bummed me out to miss my opportunity It just so happened to be the same week of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. And admittedly, there is a time when it would have bummed me out to miss my opportunity to document Scottie Schaeffler's latest rung on the climb to golf immortality. Quail Hollow does not exactly represent what I love about golf, or what we've been trying

to do with these narrative podcasts. I don't think the members at Quail are bad people. Shout out to you, Johnson Wagner. We remain massive fans. I don't know why I'm doing this to myself, hitting another shot after I chunked one and skulled one. I just don't know that the club has much of a soul. It's somehow too perfect and too boring at the same time.

After talking it over with TC and DJ, we thought it would be something of a spiritual pallet cleanse for me to lean the other way. Instead of going to Quail Hollow, where we'd already have five people on site, how about I hook up with our maestro sound editor, Charlie Van Kirk, and pay a visit to a golf club in the Midwest Where camaraderie and community are so essential to the mission statement

They've built something singular and special even though they don't have a golf course to call their own Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! You blew it! Oh! Hey, that's what he did. In this episode of NLU Special Projects,

the latest in our series about public golf, we try to unpack a couple of philosophical questions that are common in Scotland, Ireland, and Great Britain, but ones that rarely get asked in America. How do you organize a golf club that is more of an idea than a physical place? And how do you make sure that everyone always feels welcome? It's just everyone only, it's all in the tagline.

In our attempt to answer those questions, we'll drink a little beer. Oh, tremendous, tremendous vibes. We'll play a little golf, both inside and outside. Yeah! And we'll also talk about loneliness, about the challenge of making friends as an adult, and how to stay connected to what you actually love about the game.

But first, let's take a quick second and hear from one of our sponsors, the very people who help make these kind of adventures possible. I want to give a massive shout out to our friends at Roeback who are huge supporters of our content, including the episode you're listening to right now. You already know they've got our favorite polos, hoodies, shorts, pants, you name it, best fit, best feel. Simple as that, they've got great new items for summer,

including the USA collection. Awesome red, white and blue polos. It just hits a little bit different on Roeback. They got a little American flag on the yoke of the neck as well. They got great print design stripes as well. The looper shorts, the Delta looper shorts are my go-to. I've actually got some on right now.

Immediately reach for these when I'm even coming close to a golf course, or if I just want to go out on town. They're super comfortable, perfect for any situation. They're wrinkle free. They got a great stretch waistband. And I just, they're very, very, very good quality. Just like everything they make. Honestly, you can go to their website, roback.com.

You can use code NLU for 20% off your first order through the end of this week. And anything you choose on there, it's gonna be great quality. It's gonna last you years. It's a great, great product. And we are proud to work with them. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com.

20% off polos, shorts, and more with code NLU. Back to work with them. R-H-O-B-A-C-K dot com. 20% off Polo's shorts and more with code N-L-U. Back to KBV. How the heck do you invent your own golf club out of thin air? The best way to tell that story should probably start with Charlie and I grabbing a beer at Looper's Pub with Gimmie founder, Kyle Wall. How's it going man?

How are you? Good to meet you. Charlie. Hey Charlie, Kyle. Nice to meet you, welcome to Gimmie. Love it. Pardon me while I stick a mic in your face. founder Kyle Wall. I'd never met Kyle before this spring, but I certainly knew of him. We have that 40 something dad vibe in common where we get more joy out of our teenage daughters golf journeys than we do our own. There is a good chance you've seen some of his work,

even if you didn't know it at the time. In 2020, Kyle started his own graphic design company and started making golf videos. They were good enough that eventually the USGA took notice and asked him if he'd be interested in making a video where he and a friend hopped in a car and took the US Open Trophy on a tour of the United States. I'll be taking the US Open Trophy

on its greatest adventure yet and getting it in the hands of passionate golfers all over this country. It was in the middle of COVID, so there wasn't a lot of video content being produced, but Kyle and Matt Cardis took the trophy from one side of the country to the other, going from Winged Foot to Pinehurst to Oakmont

to Erin Hills to Cherry Hills to Pebble Beach, before eventually wrapping up and dropping it off at Torrey Pines. The trip took about 25 days, and the video series that came out of it was authentic and heartfelt, a reminder that while places can feel sacred, it's ultimately the people in those places

that make golf special. At a time when the world was scary and full of uncertainty and loss, you could still bring joy to random strangers by walking up to them on a beach and asking them if they wanted to hold the US Open Trophy. It caught the attention of the people on the Masters's content team.

And suddenly Kyle, a kid from North County, St. Louis, who grew up without any real connections or pedigree to speak of, was the guy tapped to be in the room filming the likes of Scottie Scheffler, John Rahm, and Roy McElroy, the first time they walked into the champions locker room wearing a green jacket.

In a world full of influencers and creators pointing the camera at themselves, Kyle's work stood out because he took an old-school approach of letting moments tell the story and letting them breathe. It was intense work but it was fun and Kyle was essentially self-taught when it came to making stuff. He'd worked odd jobs in golf and marketing throughout his life, and even at one point working in a chemistry lab for two years out of college. All that experience gave him enough self-belief to know that making stuff wasn't that hard, as long as you were curious and you were willing to work at it.

His digital film studio grew to the point where it could be a viable living that could provide for his family. But all the while, there was another idea that kept percolating around in his brain. He wanted to start a golf club. Or maybe, more accurately, a golf society. It's something that's common in Great Britain and Ireland, but rarer here in the United States. It wouldn't have to be connected to a specific course, but the people needed to be invested in each other. If you couldn't afford to join a country club, or you just didn't feel comfortable joining one with all its rules and expectations, shouldn't there still be a way for you to be a part of a community of golfers who felt connected to each other by something other than the randomness of a tee sheet?

who felt connected to each other by something other than the randomness of a tea sheet? Making tea times at public courses is often a challenge, particularly if you want to get a bunch of tea times back to back. How could you ever pull together a group of 40 strangers by telling them to hop on golf now at midnight and pray they've all got fast fingers? How could you ever hold a skins game where people hung around the 18th green with beers to playfully heckle their buddies as they tried to birdie the last so they could snatch the pot. But there were also courses in St. Louis, a city that Kyle cared deeply about, that weren't getting a ton of play.

Pretty good courses even, because this was before the COVID boom really saved golf. Maybe Kyle thought there was a solution that could be beneficial for everyone. I would have some beers with some buddies and be like, man, like, I think there's something here. You know, I've worked in the golf industry. I worked a lot of golf courses. I see a lot of pros that are working at these clubs that were doing a lot of, they were doing everything, you know, their food and beverage inventory, like running tournaments, and I'm just like,

they don't have time to, you know, brand or build community or do these things that I think are super important in the game or that matter to me a lot. And I was like, I think I'm pretty good at that stuff. So I was just trying to figure out a way for all parties to kind of succeed, you know? How can I make this make sense for a business?

How can I help golf courses? How can I make this make sense for a business? How can I help golf courses? How can I provide an affordable option for a large swath of people that want to enjoy the game? And it was just a bunch of conversations with friends, a bunch of people telling me I'm crazy, trying to work through ideas. I pitched this idea to a bunch of courses. All the pros asked if they could invest in the business, I pitched this idea to a bunch of courses. All the pros asked if they could invest in the business

and all the owners told me to take a hike. It's kinda how it worked around here. And so obviously my pitch was just wrong. So I kinda went away, back to work, back to normal life, you know, and it would just kinda pop up. And I just really felt like I'd have a lot of regret if I didn't like give it a go. You know, I was like, I don't know if it's gonna be

a business or if it's gonna be a business or if it's just gonna be a community or if it's just gonna be a fun thing for me to do, but I gotta try to make it happen. Kyle decided to stick his neck out, which as the giraffe of NLU, I have to respect. He went to some local courses with a $10,000 check, all his own money.

He said, look, I'll give you this upfront, and in return, you make a certain number of tee times available to our members, and they'll pay me a monthly subscription. There might be a little discount, but members are gonna buy beer and food from you, and they're gonna be loyal to your courses, and we're gonna keep coming back

and bringing more people with us. It can be a mutually beneficial relationship. They were like, well, that many rounds for that money, I don't know, like, if your members play a lot, you could really hurt our business. And they're like, how many members do you have? And I'm like, oh, I don't have any members. And they're like, oh, yank.

You know, they immediately took the check and kind of said, you know, good luck, kid. Now he just needed some members. And that is where Kenny Riley comes in. If Kyle is the Robert Plant of this origin story, then Kenny is Jimmy Page. He's an affable bloke with a roguish grin. He's got sizable muscles and a litany of tattoos.

He reminds you of the guy in high school who could fix your car if it broke down, and he wouldn't even charge you. He just radiates good energy. He'd been around the golf space in some capacity for years, a bit of an entrepreneur and a bit of a gear head, never quite finding his place until Kyle came along. Kyle and I, we didn't know each other,

but we had mutual friends in different groups and had a buddy of ours kind of say, hey, you guys need to get in a room with each other and you just need to talk about all your ideas and what you've got going on. And sure enough, reached out to Kyle and said, hey, maybe we should go get a drink and spend an hour and talk about this idea that you have

and I'll try to punch as many holes in it as possible and see where it goes. Well, the drink turned into a dinner and the dinner lasted about three and a half hours. Kyle kind of laid it all out, you know, very passionate about his plan for public golf in St. Louis and you know, after the first 20 minutes, you know, I was ready to sink my teeth in and I said, what are your obstacles? Like, how can I help? What can I help remove out of your way?

And he's like, well, I got to crowd source these 50 initial memberships and I don't know how I'm gonna do it. And I was like, well, what if I could help and I'll just buy all 50? And he said, well, first of all, no, I can't let you do that, but it sounds like you're interested

and you're willing to help. And I said, yeah, and I didn't mean anything by buying the 50 other than giving the capital that would make this thing go. They decided to be co-owners of the idea, started recruiting members. They'd pay a monthly fee that they'd have access to three public courses in St. Louis,

plus they'd be part of regular outings and tournaments. One of the most important things Kyle and Kenny came to an agreement on right away, people needed to feel welcome. Didn't matter if you were a hedge fund manager, a firefighter, a construction worker, a teenager, a plus three handicap, or a single mom. You should feel comfortable teeing it up with Gimmie

and making friends. Anyone who wanted to be clickish or exclusionary or discriminatory was getting the boot. That is how they landed on Gimmie's motto and mission statement, everyone only. Kenny, what does golf mean to you? So that's a great question. Golf to me, pre-Kyle Walton, I will say this.

PK. Yeah, PK, PK. Super frustrating. Hardest game in the world. I loved it. It was kind of that, I hate golf, I hate golf, I can't wait to play tomorrow kind of thing. I was kind of always trying to play the best golf I could and you know, what a way, what

a let down, you know, because as soon as you card a double or a triple you're like, this game's not for me, I can't do it, what am I doing? Now AK, after Kyle, he slowed it down to a situation where it's more about who you're playing with and less about the score. It was kind of the original like spiel that he had. Gimmie is a non-intimidating way to be involved with golf, but it is so much more about the people you're playing with. Score is out the window. Be where your feet are kind of thing, you know.

And seeing his crew that kind of helped pave the way with how Gimmie plays golf and how we handle the game, I am full in on the Kyle Walton style of golf. The first year of Gimmie Golf's existence, 2020, they had three courses in their network. In one of the courses, it worked out great for Gimmie. They fronted the money and the members played a ton there. The other two, well, they made bank. Another day, another dollar and I'm so elated.

We made it work on one of the courses, I think we got our money's worth, and the other two absolutely fleeced me. Absolutely fleeced me. They got so much money. And those three courses said yes, then they all came back post 2020 and they were like, hey, we don't need you. Like we're busy, we're packed, like, you know, we're raising prices.

But they all were like, look, you wrote us a check when we needed it. So we'll give you another chance this year. And then if you can like work on the model and figure out a way to make this make more sense, like we'd love to keep working with you. And so that gave us a whole year to kind of just get with some people that are smarter than me, run some formulas, run some ideas, run some data

and just kind of say like, how can we do this in a way that you know, gives them more money but doesn't like really cripple us and you know, it's based off of play as opposed to just flat numbers and we were able to kind of work it out. Gradually, word got around and Gimmie started adding new members. In year two, they were able to add three more courses to their network. Kyle worked on the media and marketing side of things and Kenny dug in and tackled the day-to-day. But when the winter rolled around the club club kinda went into hibernation. People drifted apart for a few months.

That first winter, we started to see membership drop off. You know, we probably had 115, 20 members, and then we dropped off to like 30 or 20, and guys were like, ah, I'll be back. You know, like, there's nothing to happen, nothing to do. He's like, hey man, I always wanted to have an indoor space. I always wanted to like have a clubhouse. I, you know, I like doing club fittings and club sales.

And I'm like, oh, okay. And he did a lot of the heavy lifting. And honestly, he took the risk on the building. He's like, let's do this. I'll talk to my dad. I think we can make something work. He's not gonna help us, but he's gonna sign papers. And if you're ready to do this, I'm ready to do this.

And I was like, okay. Just the perfect thing, man. It was like, through the winter like really is where it was like mental health being able to just you know go up to the clubhouse and rip some golf balls and hang out with the guys it's amazing. 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1!

8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1!

8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1!

8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! 8.1! There were still racks of musty dresses filling up one of the rooms. Some of the members looked at the space and thought it was a disaster. But Kenny, in particular, saw its potential. With the building here at 425 Clark, when we were considering purchasing the building, Kyle's like, I don't have the ability to do this.

Like, are you okay doing this? And I was like, I just got to clear it with the boss. And my wife's look when I said, I think we wanna buy this building. And she's like, why? And I said, well, you know, this dream and Kyle, you gotta hear from Kyle, he could paint the picture. And she's like, yeah, I don't know.

And I was like, all right, well, you love me, right? Like, just trust me on this because I do think that it could be something huge. But she kind of gritted her teeth and was like, I do trust you. And I was at Sherwin-Williams and was not happy. And the fact that she kind of looked at me and was like, whatever you're doing now, you cannot do forever. So if this is it, if this is what you think is it, you should do it.

And it would not have happened without her and the fact that she gets to walk in, she's actually here right now. And you know, just, just, I love her so much. The fact that she believed in the idea and stood behind us and still stands behind it. Yeah, she's a huge part of why this is here. Whatever money Kyle and Kenny made from memberships, they immediately reinvested in the business. They didn't want to take on any outside investors because they didn't want to answer to someone

who saw it merely as a profit opportunity. That meant growth and progress was going to be slow. Eventually, they had enough money to put in a couple trackband bays in the clubhouse so they could host simulator nights in the winter. They started decorating the clubhouse with some of Kyle's photography and 100 different golf artifacts they'd found or inherited.

Kyle's wife, Mandy, brought an entire room to life by taking old pages out of golf magazines and turning them into wallpaper. As we started construction and as things happen, people would kind of come in and ask, like, what is this place gonna be? But even funnier is when you see guys walking with golf bags and they're like,

it's so funny and the guy's like, I drive by this place every day, I finally had to stop. What is this place? And I said, welcome home. The Gimmie Simulator League turned out to be a literal stroke of genius. Kenny and Kyle built a putting green that stretched nearly a third the length of the building.

Whenever someone would hit an approach to the green that left them an eagle putt, they'd have to try to make a 30-foot putt in real life. If the putt was going to claim his skin, a big crowd would gather around to watch and the roars and groans would erupt according to them. All right, we got an eagle putt on it too. All right.

Look, Bryce is on a heater. Gross. He's simply living up to his potential. It's gonna be in front of tens of people, Bryce. Hey, think about it, man. Think about it. I am. Hey, he's a claw guy? Yes.

Oh, it's got a chance, folks. It's got a chance! Strap! Strap! You blew it! Hey, that's birdie, dude. He got a birdie on him. He got a birdie on him. He got a birdie.

He gets a birdie. All the while, Kyle and Kenny kept playing outdoor golf too, gradually adding members via word of mouth. One week, someone from Belle Reve or Glen Echo, two of St. Louis' most prominent country clubs, would reach out and ask if they could join. The following week, it would be a construction worker. Everybody's so different, like all walks of life. Firefighters, you know, Belarive members,

and like, we love golf for the same reasons, you know, and it's just such a supportive, like collaborative, you know, somebody's wife's sick or something and everybody comes together for that. I think it's cool that golf brings people together, you know, that we're different ages and different socioeconomic backgrounds. We have guys here that can, are pretty much barely skimming their memberships, to all the way guys that are worth millions. And so it's pretty unique to see that kind of a completely different phase. There's a handful of us that belong to private clubs and belong to this place.

There's people that work their asses off so that they can pay to belong to this place. Like it's, and we all play and love each other and travel together. It's a really special place. When Kyle took a buddy's trip to Scotland for the first time, two years into Gimmie's existence, a light bulb went off in his brain. When I went over, it was, that was when I was like, oh dude, like we're not doing anything different at all. Like we're doing it the way that it was supposed to be done

is in my opinion. Like there's just this weird energy over there where golf means everything. And also there's like a lack of reverence where it's just like it's so ingrained in your day to day that it's super, super important and it's also not that big of a deal. And I don't think you can really experience that

until you're over there, you know? And you know, we had some caddies that we played with and you know they're just at the pub and they're wearing a sweater and some khakis and they're just like yeah you know grab their clubs with no head covers and they're gonna go play St. Andrews and it's like it's just different you know it's just different over there and it to me it's just really sort of like solidified like like, oh, okay, we don't necessarily need a property. Like the people matter a lot. Like who we're hanging out with, how we're building this community matter

more than like where we're playing. When I first reached out to Kyle in the fall of 2024, he used a phrase that I'd heard a dozen times before, but it didn't really click until Charlie and I came to St. Louis. Your vibe attracts your tribe. There's no shortage of golf collectives out there. Some people like to use golf as an escape,

whether it's from their work or their marriage. Some people like to get hammered and laugh until they can't breathe. I don't begrudge those people, and in my 20s, I can maybe see the appeal. Now that I'm in my 40s, that's just not my vibe. At Gimmie, people didn't show up to bitch about their families. Instead, they bonded over the challenges of raising kids, of striving to be good husbands.

They might drink three beers during a round, but not 30. When Kyle brought his teenage daughter Kinsley to compete in the Simulator Nights Skins game, the members loved it. She's a great player, by the way, and regularly takes their money. And Kyle, well, he doesn't have to worry about her overhearing crude or obnoxious stuff because well, that isn't Gimmie's vibe. In the golf space, like there's a little bit

of that bro culture and I'm not, whatever it is what it is, it's fine. But like, but like for us, like, I want this building to represent represent what I think golf is. You guys just walk through, there's a seven year old guy in there getting lessons, and my daughter's in here. And so whatever that other energy is, it's not really here.

We've had it all, oh you got a barbershop, you got a locker room, you got a bar, all you need is a stripper pole. And we're like, dude, that's just not it. And then we do have a lot of guys here that, yeah, they love their family, they wanna be around their family, and you always have younger,

you know, I'm getting older, 43 years old, we have a younger membership. We got a lot of young guys that are just finding girls or engaged or whatever, and it's like, yeah, you know the old ball and chain, I gotta go to dinner, and I'm like, dude, you picked her, what do you mean? Go have dinner with your wife, you know?

And they're like, it's literally like a light bulb goes off. They're like, oh, oh, hold on. I don't have to do the whole thing. Like I can actually like, okay. And then you see like it changes, you know? It changes. And I think that's great. Like I'm gonna be married 20 years in May

and my wife is massively, massively involved with what we do. I mean, she's built almost everything in this building. And, you know, I obviously wouldn't be, you know, anywhere close to where I am today without her. So, like, that energy just doesn't, isn't gonna fly around here. And it's fun.

Like, some guys just see their way out, they're not there yet, you know, they wanna have fun and that's fine, like, whatever. I'm not, like, judging anybody. But, like, here, like, this is a family place. We want everybody here fun and that's fine. Like, whatever. I'm not like judging anybody, but like here, like this is a family place. We want everybody here. Tagline's everyone only.

Like we want you here, but like, you know, be a good person. And just to be clear, women are welcome at Gimmie. This isn't Never Neverland from Peter Pan, a place that's meant to be a boys club. Gimmie has about 15 female members, including Dr. Allie Wilson, one of the regulars at the Simulator Night League. She played golf in high school,

and I can attest from seeing it in person, can still mash the ball. A lot of the members have actually ended up hiring her to help with their golf fitness because she's a doctor of physical therapy and a board certified orthopedic specialist. I think naturally golf is just a sport that's a barrier for a lot of people because you've got to have the clubs,

you've got to have the equipment, it's expensive. So if you've never been exposed to it, it seems almost like a foreign language to learn how to use this equipment. So I think just generally that's a barrier. But I think it can be intimidating for a lot of women. Almost like when you go to a gym and you walk in and there's all these big dudes

lifting really, really heavy and you feel like they're all looking at you because you're the only girl there. It can be very intimidating and it makes you want to leave because you have so much anxiety. So I think that's sometimes what golf can feel like because it's getting better, but there's not a lot of women that are out there playing. So when you're the only one out there,

it feels like everybody's kind of watching you and checking you out to see, you know, does she actually have game or not? She had some apprehension about walking into Gimmie for the first time. She had no idea what to expect. So the first night I came in for Winter League, I remember being really nervous.

I was like, I'm probably gonna be the only girl here. Like, what are we gonna talk about? Like, are they even gonna talk to me? And I walked in and Kenny too, was the first one that greeted me. And then there were a couple of other guys that I think saw me on the Slack channel. Cause we have a channel that we all messaged through

and immediately came over and were like, oh, you're Allie, right? And introduced themselves. And they just treated me like any, like one one of them like a member of the club. One thing that the pandemic laid bare for me is just how important friendship is when it comes to mental health. And I think that's particularly true for men. It's one of the reasons why golf exploded in 2020. People needed to find a way to hang out with each other that wasn't on the screen.

And golf was the connective tissue that made it possible. with each other that wasn't on the screen. And golf was the connective tissue that made it possible. That's probably the best way for me to introduce to you another essential character in the Gimmie story, Kenny Hendrickson, better known as Kenny Two. What's your name? My name's Kenny. Kenny Two. Kenny Two.

Kenny Two. Are you used to coming in second? Or is this a new thing to be? I've never known another Kenny, you know. My first camp, about a month after I joined, I mean, I probably got six nicknames that trip, you know. Started out Kenny Two, then it was K2, then it was Oregano. Wait, wait, wait.

Right? Where does the Oregano come from? Well, we went like, I guess it went like sort of this fake weed, you know, like has that nickname of K2. Kenny too, wasn't much of a golfer before the pandemic. An architect by trade, he had various hobbies that kept him busy, including a zealous appreciation for the television show and comic, The Green Arrow. But when the world shut down and a couple of his friends moved out of St. Louis, he descended into a pretty noticeable funk. My wife was like, you need some new friends. And so, so we, I signed up on our anniversary in 22 and just fell in love with it immediately. Like the community part.

What led to your wife making that declaration? Well, so, you know, during, so during the pandemic, like golf was the only thing that we could do, right? Like safely, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I hated golf before that, because I'm used to being good at things. And so it was a really frustrating game. I'd play a couple of times a year or whatever, I didn't really have any clubs. And then during the pandemic,

just started playing all the time. And I can remember telling my wife, I don't really wanna go do this, he felt like he'd found a second home. He met people who immediately embraced him, who wanted to have beers together and ask him questions about his family, his passions, his quirks. Thursday night Winter League became the highlight of his whole week.

And instead of selfishly holding onto it, wanting to keep it exclusive, he wanted to share it. And then I joined a Winter League team, and Thursday night became like the highlight of my week, every week and it was just like, okay. I imagine there's people like me that need this and haven't joined it because of the distance or you know some other barrier and if there was a clubhouse closer, I really think that we could you could expand our reach.

And so that was really the genesis of it. It was just like, man, I want this feeling, this mental health reprieve. Yeah. Like I want that for as many people as possible. His brain started churning. He approached Kyle Walton with an idea. Hey, what if I built you a second clubhouse?

He'll tell you, like he's like, this place changed my life and I just wanted it to be, I wanted to help like grow that. And so he approached me, he was like, we were thinking about opening up a sim spot. Would you be interested in maybe franchising or growing it in some way? And we were not, we were not ready for that.

But if he was gonna take on the risk and try to build something, we were like, look, you can have access to the brand and we can come up with some ideas and allow us to kind of grow. And he was like, I'm in. And so that's when we kind of started introducing the South House and they took on that build.

Fortunately, he's an architect, so the build went great. And the place is beautiful. It's in like a big industrial sort of building. It's a bigger space. It's all like shotguns. Like lacks some of the quirk of this place, but it's shiny. It's the fancy place.

And he's done a great job, man. And it was fun to see someone come along and believe in what we were doing that much and so much so that he kind of wanted to jump in. And now he's kind of where I was, like he wants to, you know, potentially get out of the rat race at some point. And he's like giving all of his extra time to this thing and, and doing the same thing we did, just trying to make it work, you know.

A lot of people might have stopped there. Two clubhouses, a steadily growing membership, a blossoming network of St. Louis courses, welcoming gimme merchandise, and regularly scheduled buddy trips to places like Sweeten's Cove and Sand Valley. But to Kyle and Kenny, it just made sense that one end of the original clubhouse ought to be a bar. And that's how Looper's Pub was born.

It took some time to get the permitting taken care of to figure out the ownership structure and the day-to-day operations. But eventually, that musty old bridal shop was turned into a world-class bar, one equipped with televisions and top-shelf bourbon. We partnered, the restaurants that I run partnered with a local brewery.

They make some of the best New England style IPAs like in the nation, they're unbelievable. So we try to feature those as much as possible. If you wanted to just hang out for an afternoon and watch Scottie Shuffler shoot 65 in the third round of the PGA Championship, which is what Charlie and I did, you could feel right at home with like-minded people.

It made me wonder, could this same model work in other cities? I think from a business model perspective, the golf demographic matters. So like, we've been approached by probably 15 or 20 different cities of people that are like, yo, like we want this. And I'm like, yeah, me too, you know?

But also like you guys are in here, like it's really quirky in here. It's really different and like, this can look like an Applebee's real fast. You know what I mean? Like it can lose its soul. So like that's super, that's been super like important to I think us to make sure that that doesn't happen. Gimmie currently has more than 500 members and there are two different tiers of

membership. There are other plans in the works like buying the old gas station next door so that there is room to expand and maybe even buying a golf course that's coming up for sale in the future. room to expand and maybe even buying a golf course that's coming up for sale in the future. Pouring some resources into redesigning the greens. Sometimes it sounds like a wildly ambitious plan but then Kyle and Kenny ask each other, why not? People are always looking for community man. I think that's why sports are such a big deal. That's why you got a team. That's my team. Oh you like my team? Oh well then we're like we're in the same little boat and that's how guys do it like Like and so yeah, I mean 100% I think we're fulfilling that need and and I think there's a lot of guys that would suggest that they didn't know something like this really existed or that

they needed it. And like I said because I'm fortunate to have a really really good crew of humans around me and have my family tournament and have these friends that are really really close. It's like I kind of just thought a lot of people did this. And then they're like, no dude, like, that's not a normal thing. And I'm like, oh, well then it should be. So we should, like, how do we do that? Of course, you can't tell a story of Gimmie

without, you know, venturing out onto the golf course. When we come back, we'll take you to the weekly Gimmie Golf Skins game and talk about what it feels like to celebrate good golf and bad golf among friends. This podcast is brought to you by The Nest, which is NoLineUp's community of avid golfers. When you join The Nest, you support all of our NLU content from strap to KVV's deep dives like you're listening to right now, the special projects, all of it. You also unlock access to our Nest exclusive content, including the monthly Nest

podcast, extra videos and every thread on our Refuge message board. We have so many great things up on the website. We have the full interview from Strapped West Texas, Neil's conversation with Brian Chavez of Friday Night Lights fame. It's fantastic. I could not get enough of that guy in the Strapped episode. And you can listen to that interview in its entirety if you're a NEST member. In addition to all the content, you also get 15% off every order in the NLU Pro Shop and exclusive NEST member discounts from our sponsors. You can check them out in your NEST profile at nolangup.com slash profile. Some examples of discounts codes that are just for Nest members. $25 off an order of Holderness and Born on their site, hbgolf.com. 20% off the stack, stack radar or combined.

In a bundle, 25% off a set of grips from Golf Pride and a free 2025 Roost logo towel with any purchase of $75 or more in the NLU Pro Shop. So many great offerings. I'm only covering a few of them here, but head to noleighingup.com slash join to get involved and join the nest again. That's noleighingup.com slash join, get involved and join the nest. Back to the pod. Mark, can I get a three word review about public golf and St. Louis from you?

Buddy, I've been thinking about this. So not being a native, my three words to describe St. Louis public golf was better than expected. Just coming out here, I didn't know what to expect. And I mean, we're out here balling and I think this is just one of like the better condition public golf courses that I've played anywhere. Shaggy Zoysia fairways. Everything's wet all the time. Lots of mud balls and lots of trees and you get everything here in Missouri. We don't have the best architecture but we have really good

people. It's always getting better. Public golf is really coming around in St. Louis. It's, it had kind of a, I don't know, I don't want to call it a rough time, but some courses were in rough shape that are rebounding now. Surprised with options because I feel like in St. Louis we do have a lot of options of good public golf and like you go around to other areas and they don't really have it quite as much as what St. Louis would I would say. I only get three words. I'd say a lot of options. That's my first one. I mean, everybody asks me what my home course is and I go, I don't have a home course. That's my

favorite thing. That's one of my best things about gimmie is I don't have to have a home course. I mean, I played 12 courses in three months. Boy. Man, I don't know. I want to say a two word, like everyone only, like because genuinely man there's a lot of great options around St. Louis. Gimmie's awesome just because there's like 12 clubs in the network. And then there's, you know, really high quality mid-tier golf, you know, that you can get on for 60 bucks. That's just like, you can't find that around the country everywhere, like the quality of

it. Love it every time. What's more than three words. Four, we're up to four. Oh shit, every time is four. Love every time? Love every time, there you go. You're putting me on the spot. Accessible, it's not like Beth Page.

Not like Beth Page. That's the strong one. That's really good. I don't think anyone who golfs regularly in St. Louis would describe Baldwin Golf Club as a must play. Even some of the gimme crew was a little apprehensive about it being the entry point for Charlie and I into their universe.

It's a nine hole course that weaves its way through a couple of housing developments and the conditioning can range from solid to unmemorable. But whenever it pops up on the gimme rotation for the weekly potluck skins game, nobody complains. So you guys put in the pot in potluck, where's the name come from? Potluck was like obviously the skins pot.

I think one of our first designs was like a casserole. It was. With the words potluck written inside and it was, I think it was the whole idea of like everybody come, have have a good time like you would at a potluck and then the joke was don't bring a casserole. If you're familiar at all with the world of NLU you probably know by now that my golf game is a bit like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz trying to fake his way through a performance of Swan Lake. I can occasionally break 80, but not with much consistency or elegance. Chipping yips come and go,

and I rarely transfer my weight to my left side. I'm always a little nervous to take my game on the road and represent our brand. But what I've found over the years is that good people, even really good players, know how to make you feel welcome, regardless of what your game looks like. That's the best way I can sum up an evening with the Gimmie crew.

About 40 guys joined us at Baldwin and every time I turned around someone was offering me a beer from one of their coolers. I couldn't help but feel right at home even even next to guys who played college golf, despite Charlie offering some occasionally blunt commentary on my game. Here's Kevin Theonoff, under pressure. Kevin chunks his hybrid off the first tee into the wind. Got about 100 yards out there. Should have hit driver because of the bigger face situation, but there you know, still chunking. Usually the D's are up there. Somebody was puking with us.

Drive away hit buddy. That's right. Driver off the deck Kevin. I like that. I do love that. You want to see the DOD? Why not? Why not? Yeah! Okay. Oh Why not? Okay. Oh yeah, give yourself some. Okay. KVB driver off the deck on the first fairway from about 250, 260 uphill.

Oh, not quite. We hit it. We hit it, but right into the woods. Heads up, just in case. Hey birdies are nothing. We hit it but right into the woods. That's right. Heads up, just in case. I'm watching. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. That's pretty good. Hit something. Hit! Oh, I thought that was kind of a tidy punch from KVV, but a little too much mustard. Yes, indeed. This is a respectable try. We're feeling, you know, like we acquitted ourselves well there.

We executed mostly what we're trying to do, but. Yeah, that was the idea. Maybe you should revisit the Club Pro Guy episodes and work on your strokes and punching out. The hidden like wisdom of like Club Pro Guy is that like actually a lot of amateurs really could help themselves if they were better at punching out.

Can I get a three word review of Kevin van Valkenverk's golf game? No, no, no, I can't. I'll knock on the record. I'll knock on the record. It's just too good. I played some decent golf bracketed by my ever present bad golf. And in truth, I remember very little of it. But when we came to the ninth hole, 160 yard par three over water,

I couldn't help but notice that a large crowd had gathered around the green. I knew if I'd shanked one into the pond, a very real possibility, I'd never hear the end of it. It would make for good content at least. But somehow, by the grace of the golf gods, I hit a beautiful eight iron to the left side of the green. When it landed, I got my first ever golfing ovation.

No one had made a birdie yet, so the skins were still in play. When I crouched down to read the putt, I stared down my 25 footer feeling like I'd already won, knowing that the big crowd watching from the hill with beers in their hand was actually rooting me on. When I poured in my putt right in the throat, a bunch of friends I'd only just met erupted like I'd just won the Ryder Cup. Shot of the day? This guy rolled in a 40 footer.

A 9 for Birdie. Nice Birdie. Fantastic. Probably the only time I'll ever get like a gallery for. I didn't end up winning the potluck. Another member made a late birdie to match just as the sun was going down. We laughed and told stories and exchanged fist bumps. It felt like the best possible outcome. I didn't need the money, but a generous collection of new golf friends?

Who could ever put a price on something as valuable as that? I'm Kevin Van Valkoper, editorial director at No Laying Up. This episode was written and reported by me and Charlie Van Kirk, a man of many talents. Charlie also provided sound editing and original music for this podcast. Additional music by Hannah Reid, Carrie Van Kirk, Christopher Marion and Asher Kurtz. Additional editing by DJ Pajowski and Todd Schuster. A special shout out to the Gimmie Golf members who sheepishly took us to Buffalo Wild Wings after our skins game at Baldwin, confessing that it was the only restaurant open at 10 p.m.

We're going to Buffalo Wild Wings, Charlie. And we're going gonna make this happen. That's not one of my first pick, but God, I'm hungry. Apologies to T.C. Our buddy Steve Mon, something of a foodie, was particularly mortified. I don't want this to end up in the pot. I don't want Tron, I don't want Tron finding out.

This is how cities end up getting called the Princess City. We're reporting you to T.C. directly. He made us promise to return to St. Louis for some real food in the future. You tell TC I will take him on a culinary and golf architecture journey in the city. He'll love it. And we're already looking forward to it. We'll see you again soon. Music