Eastside Golf makes apparel for the links unlike any you’ve probably seen before. Gone are the uniform polos and legacy designs. In their place come crewnecks, coach’s jackets and Jordan brand collaborations, many of them with the brand’s logo — a cartoon illustration of a black man swinging a golf club, wearing jeans and a sweater as a gold chain swings in the air behind him.
Founded in 2019 by Morehouse College golf teammates Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper, the brand has been building a following for five years without the co-sign of any major golf institution. That changed earlier this year when Eastside Golf closed a seed investment round led by EP Golf Ventures, an investment partnership between the Frisco-based PGA of America and Elysian Park.
“We really just saw a ton of gaps in the sport,” said Cooper. “And ultimately, we wanted to create a brand that represented authenticity and something that people could connect with.”
Those golf gaps — an exclusionary playing culture and historically segregated institutions — might finally be beginning to close. Per the National Golf Foundation, the number of golfers of color in the U.S. increased by 1.8 million between 2018 and 2023, rising from 18% to 23% of the game’s total players.
“We’d always wished that folks felt a little bit more welcome,” said Cooper. “We wished that our mothers played more golf. They’d never swung a golf club.”
Eastside Golf has been building a reputation through word of mouth and celebrity fans of the brand, who are regularly seen wearing Eastside Golf’s clothing.
“We’re connecting with DJ Khaled at the same time as Barack Obama,” said Cooper.
Both Cooper and PGA of America representatives emphasized the brand’s ability to combine golf expertise with culture.
“As Morehouse Collegiate golfers, Earl being a PGA of America Golf Professional, and Olajuwon’s playing career, they have a unique combination of creativity, deep roots in golf and an ability to organically tap into this cultural conversation,” Kris Hart, Senior Director of Growth and Development at PGA of America, said in a statement via e-mail.
Cooper said the brand hopes to let golfers display the golf-playing part of themselves both on and off the course through clothing that can be worn for golfing or for everyday life.
“It’s almost like a police officer, proud to be a police officer, but not necessarily wanting to be in a uniform,” said Cooper. “And so that’s how we positioned ourselves. We didn’t want to put it on a golf uniform, but we are still proud to be a golfer.”
The brand is currently available on its website, and on its smartphone app for exclusive content and first access to their footwear releases.
For Frisco-based PGA of America, motivations for the investment are clear: expanding the golf-playing audience and supporting the game’s future.
“The game will only continue to grow if we create access and avenues for anyone who wants to participate in whatever way they want to participate — whether that’s playing a links course, going to a driving range or wearing lifestyle influenced golf gear on and off the course,” said Hart.
According to Jay Adya, managing partner at Elysian Park, EP Golf Ventures was formed in 2022 to “support innovation in the golf industry.” Since then, the partnership has invested in other golf start-ups, many of them tech-focused, like Sportsbox AI and Dryvebox.
“The PGA of America and Elysian Park Ventures created EP Golf Ventures to invest in organizations that are poised to develop and grow the game for generations to come,” said Hart.
