About three years ago, Anthony Garofalo decided to take a beach trip with his family at Isle of Palms, South Carolina. While soaking up the sun, a random golf ball fell out of his wife's beach bag and rolled swiftly down the sand as it if were on a newly cut lawn.
"I'm like, 'Man, that's a fast green for putting,'" he said. "'I wonder if you could turn the beach into a putting green.'"
That is when the idea for his startup, Beach Putt, was born.
Garofalo spent the last roughly three years forming design ideas and prototyping his product to bring it to the scale it is today. He officially launched Beach Putt in the summer of 2022.
The Charlotte startup offers a complete portable and waterproof mini golf set that can be utilized not only on the sand, but also in an office during downtime or even a backyard. One of Beach Putt's kits, priced at $139.99, is equipped with two adjustable putters, putting cups, putt rings, nylon flags, a sand scoop for digging holes for the cups, a waterproof, dry bag backpack and six golf balls.
"Really, the whole idea of it was kind of bringing the love of golf and the fun of golf to the love of the beach and really merging the two together," Garofalo said.
When Beach Putt first launched in 2022, it didn't take long before it sold out of its first round of orders. There were 250 golf sets in that order, and now the startup is on its second round, which consists of 500 kits. Garofalo said they're already selling fast, ahead of spring break.
The local founder created the course not only for pro golfers, but also for people who simply enjoy the game, like himself. He said one of his passions behind designing Beach Putt was his own personal dream to one day live in a beach house with his family.
Beach Putt sets are currently available to purchase only through its website, which offers worldwide shipping. Garofalo said in the next 12 to 24 months, he hopes to have his product available to purchase from the shelves of major retail chains such as Dick's Sporting Goods.
"The mission is to kind of bring it to the level of international recognition where people think that, 'Hey, if I'm thinking of the top-three beach games,' I want Beach Putt to be in that top three," he said.
Beach Putt has seen a significant amount of sales in coastal areas such as the Carolinas, Florida, California and New England. Internationally, he's had several customers purchase the kits in Australia, the Netherlands and South Africa.
Garofalo said he's also stumbled across his customers playing in action — which was a surreal moment for the founder. He said he remembers at the end of last summer when he took a trip to the beach and saw someone playing the Beach Putt game.
"We had no idea who they were. They just had ordered it online," he said. "So, seeing people enjoying what you've created and having fun, that's super rewarding."
