Six Questions For... Jason Adam-Hein of The Bogey Golf Club
Continuing our series of interviews with leaders, executives, entrepreneurs and influencers from across the golf industry. Today, Jason Adam-Hein of UK apparel company, The Bogey Golf Club.
About Jason Adam-Hein
Jason Adam-Hein is the co-founder, along with Ben Kleimunt, of UK-based apparel company The Bogey Golf Club. BGC aims to make golf more inclusive and accessible through casual, versatile apparel that works both on and off the course, and invites everyone to the game. They believe golf should reflect the diversity of those who love it, and the company’s mission is to ensure everyone feels welcome, confident, and ready to play their way. Jason and Ben work closely with their community and customers to help formulate both the direction of future product lines, and the direction of the company as a whole. They also bring together diverse groups of golfers and golf enthusiasts for live events, and are planning several in the London area in summer 2025, including a simulator evening mixing golf with drinks and music for people to connect and meet future friends, and also a golf day for members, where they will reveal the company’s new summer clothing line.
Six Questions For... Jason Adam-Hein of The Bogey Golf Club
Shane Breslin: First question. What has been the biggest unexpected breakthrough in your business so far?
Jason Adam-Hein: How quickly our mission and messaging started to resonate with people. Honestly, we were surprised to see it gain so much traction so early and resonate so powerfully.
For example, the very first week after the we launched, we had a customer and we sent them an email just to say thanks, and asked if they had any questions or suggestions. She sent us a long reply with so much information and so many questions, and we said to ourselves, ‘That's engagement right there!”
I thanked her for her feedback, and she said, “I didn't do it just for you guys. It's the first time I've ever actually been asked a question like this from a female perspective, where my opinion matters.”
We took that feedback and ran with it. We engaged with a lot more people, and that really shaped our brand message. That's partly why you can see us moving more towards the women's market – they're very passionate about making change, and that fits right into what we're trying to do.
“I asked myself, if I wasn't in this position and didn't have important meetings and big clients and I wasn't managing a team that I wanted to take out for networking, would I actually feel like I belonged on the course? The answer is probably no. That was a big light-switch moment for me.”
SB: What market in golf do you think is most underserved right now?
JA-H: I'll break this down into two parts. First is the really broad market of people who just want to play golf casually and don't want to identify as “a golfer” just to hit a few balls. There's a huge market there where we can bridge the gap, creating a line of clothing for people who might play nine or 18 holes and want to go about their business and don't want to stay around all day at the club. That market is definitely underserved, and we're starting to see brands switching on to that.
The other underserved market is women's golf, and it doesn’t matter whether they're seasoned golfers or whether they've never played before and are looking to get into the game at a casual level. We're also seeing rumors and speculation about certain brands pulling out of the women's golf fashion side of things. My mindset on that is, “Don't worry, we're going to cover that on all bases!”
SB: How did your cultural background or where you grew up shape your view of golf and the golf industry?
JA-H: I was born in County Offaly, in Ireland, about 15 minutes from where Shane Lowry is from, but that was before his success so I never really had much exposure to the sport growing up.
It was only when I moved to the UK and became successful in my financial services career that I actually felt comfortable enough to say, “You know what, I'm successful in my career, successful financially, successful in business, so I actually belong here!”
But I asked myself, if I wasn't in this position and didn't have important meetings and big clients and I wasn't managing a team that I wanted to take out for networking, would I actually feel like I belonged on the course? The answer is probably no. That was a massive light-switch moment.
“Golf is an industry where the necessity for change is so large, which is probably what drew me to it. I'm probably more passionate about making that change than I am about going out and playing golf.”
I've always wanted to make a big change or inspire some sort of positive change, either through my attitude or just by proving a point! That drive to make positive change on a national or international scale at some point in my life is just in me.
Golf is an industry where the necessity for change is so large, which is probably what drew me to it. I'm probably more passionate about making that change than I am about going out and playing golf.
I’ve had many first-hand interactions with people who said things like, “I've played golf for 15 years and people still don't listen to me. People still don't give me respect on the course just because of who I am or what I do or how I look.”
For me, any injustice like that, I gravitate straight towards it because it gives me energy to put those things right.
SB: How do you think social media and digital content are reshaping the golf industry?
JA-H: Content creators are educating people about the sport and bridging gaps. They're teaching what should and shouldn't be done, whether that’s hitting a ball or something on the etiquette side.
That's having a massive impact, because they inspire more people to get involved — but then when they do they face barriers to entry, but social media is changing that all the time.
“Social media is reshaping how the game is viewed and played. There's probably 20% of the golf population who maybe don't want it to change.”
We spoke with the lads from the F0reBr0thers. They are so inspirational to many people — they just did what they enjoyed, they're doing exactly what they were doing five years ago, but now they have a massive platform that is inspiring more people to get involved.
We're also involved with a couple of content creators as our ambassadors. We work with Laura Veitch, Scottish Golfer Girl on Instagram. What everyone loves about her is she's just herself on the platform while playing golf. We're also working with golf.zara in Northern Ireland. She took up golf not too long ago and is just documenting her journey, making golf more accessible on the female side. There's also Katie Clarke (littlebirdygolf) from Louth in Ireland, who has taken up golf again after 15 years away, gone down the content route and created a great platform.
Watching people like this online, people are realizing you don't need to be a certain type of person to enjoy yourself on a golf course. Their natural personality comes out, and people see that and think, “Oh, she's not trying to be someone she's not! I can do that too!”
All in all, social media is reshaping how the game is viewed and played. There's probably 20% of the golf population who maybe don't want it to change and who are dead set against it. They want it to stay the same because it's their haven. But for the remainder of the population, it's a really positive thing.
SB: What's the hardest part of your job right now?
JA-H: A lot of time on our side is spent conferring with our community members to help formulate what our future products, and more generally BGC, will look like in the future. We get so much value from taking the time to speak and understand as many of our stakeholders as possible.
Then it’s about putting that into practice through our apparel, our messaging, or the events that we’re looking to put on.
The difficult thing happening behind the scenes at The Bogey Golf Club is distilling all the information and feedback that’s coming through.
Maintaining a clear mind and making sure we're making the right decisions — that’s a challenge, especially considering how much and how fast things are changing.
“It's a shame golf not as diverse as it can be, but we're going to be doing our best to change that and make sure the demographics in the game become as broad as possible in the future.”
We're engaging with many different people – from seasoned golfers to people who've never played before, people from all demographics – and we want to make sure we're taking all the insights they’re giving us and making informed decisions, and it's hard to organize all that, because there are so many different answers to the questions we're asking of community members or customers.
With the nature of what we’re trying to achieve — creating apparel that suits both on and off the course — this has been a huge challenge to get right. But we’re on the right track with the quality of the samples so far. We’ve put a lot of time into stress-testing the products to the highest degree, and also continuing to engage with community members to get their honest thoughts on the progress we’ve made so far.
It’s an exciting challenge to take that and make something great.
SB: How do you see the demographics of golf changing in the next decade?
JA-H: I see golf becoming a sport for everyone, but right now, the demographics of the game are limited. It doesn't make any sense. It's the one sport where you don't necessarily need to have a certain physical ability or talent to participate in it, enjoy it, and even excel at it.
So it's a shame it's not as diverse as it can be, but we're going to be doing our best to change that and make sure the demographics in the game become as broad as possible in the future.
I believe we'll also see more people utilizing golf as a means of socializing and networking rather than just going for pointless nights out. I think we're going to see more people get involved from a younger age. A lot more women are getting into golf and that’s only going to continue, and more people of different cultures will also take up the game.
I know we might ruffle a few feathers with the traditional set, but that doesn't bother me at all.