RSF local scores with new golf bag company

This year Rancho Santa Fe native Ronan Galvin launched Sunday Golf, a line of super light golf bags when all you need is just a few clubs to get in some swings at the driving range or hit nine holes on a par-3 course.

Galvin, 32, said it was kind of a wild idea to launch an e-commerce company in the golf space right as the pandemic hit.

“At first it was a bit scary but the lockdown actually created a huge resurgence in golf and we have been riding the wave,” Galvin said.

Golf emerged as a safe way to get outside and recreate and many opted to pick up their clubs again. According to the National Golf Foundation, there has been about a 12% increase in rounds played over 2019. Locally, clubs like Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club reported increases in memberships as well as rounds of play.

“We can’t keep the product in stock,” Galvin said of Sunday Golf’s signature product, a bag that holds just six to seven clubs.

Ronan Galvin

(Courtesy)

Galvin grew up in Rancho Santa Fe with his three brothers—he attended R. Roger Rowe School and graduated from Torrey Pines High School in 2006. After graduating from Gonzaga University in 2010, he went to China with a plan to teach English for about six months but ended up staying for four years working in sourcing and manufacturing of golf products where he learned a lot about the market.

He returned to the United States and continued working in the field, basically as a broker for other golf brands. “It was always in my mind that I wanted to start a brand of my own,” Galvin said.

Galvin wasn’t always a golfer—he grew up playing mostly baseball and football and he said he actually used to dread having to play golf with clients because he wasn’t any good. He started playing golf again two years ago, easing back into the game at the par-3 Loma Club in Liberty Station. He found that he actually enjoyed the sport.

Being a “non-golfer” helped him a lot as he developed Sunday Golf as many golf brands did not speak to him. He said the major golf brands tended to be more aspirational, traditional and serious—that left out the casual golfer who played for fun, did not aspire to join the tour and liked the social aspect of the game.

The Loma Bag from Sunday Golf.

(Courtesy)

His flagship product is made for that type of golfer. Called the Loma Bag (named for the course that reignited his interest in the game), the bag is built to hold up to eight clubs where a traditional bag holds up to 14 clubs. As Galvin said, an amateur golfer typically doesn’t need all 14 to play and the lighter bag is easier to tote for those who prefer walking the course than riding on the cart, are only playing an easy nine holes or going to the driving range.

The bag comes in colors of black, heather gray and cobalt blue—a velour-lined valuables pocket on the outside can safely hold a cell phone and a “frosty pocket” keeps a sports drink or a beer nice and cold. “It’s been very, very well received,” Galvin said, as the gray and black bags have all sold out.

Sunday Golf also sells bamboo golf tees and towels and Galvin said they are designing a new bag for up to nine clubs.

“We blew away our own expectations for the year,” Galvin said. “It’s really charged us up for 2021.”

Check out the product at sundaygolf.com