Background
Doug Coors hails from the world-renowned Coors brewing family. With a degree in engineering physics from the Colorado School of Mines, Coors chose to enter the family ceramics business. As an innovative executive at CoorsTek, Coors expanded the company’s product portfolio, invested in research and development, and committed the company to environmental sustainability.
In 2014, he was presented with the opportunity to get involved with a new startup outside of the family business of beer and ceramics. He oversaw the creation of North America’s first artificial surf pool, NLand Surf Park in Austin, Texas.
In 2018, Coors sold the company to World Surf League and Kelly Slater. While in Texas, Coors was recruited by a friend to visit Edel Golf to offer suggestions on its manufacturing processes. Included with this visit was a putter fitting by the company’s founder David Edel. After going through this process, Coors immediately saw the potential of the company and acquired full ownership from David Edel in 2020.
Golf has always been a major part of Coors’ life. In the seventh grade, his grandfather sent him his first set of golf clubs, a set of right-handed clubs even though he was left-handed. Being new to the game, Coors turned to his best friend and former PGA Tour player Craig Kanada for guidance. Now boasting a 3.1 index, Coors loves the game and regularly plays at his home course in Golden, CO and around the world.
In December 2022, Doug Coors expanded Edel Golf by opening a new headquarters and assembly facility in Denver, CO.
The Coors story
I got my first set of golf clubs in the 7th Grade. They were a gift from my grandfather at Christmas. I didn't know much about golf, but I loved sports. At that time in my life, I tried every sport there was except surfing and fencing, I think. My father was a golfer and had his Saturday group that he played with. I was excited to get the clubs and nervous because I didn't know how to play or even swing a club.
My best friend growing up was Craig Kanada. Craig spent an entire career playing professional golf on tour. He was good then and good now. We played a lot of basketball and baseball together and with my new set of clubs I got to play golf with him occasionally. Craig and his brother Kirby taught me the essentials of the golf swing and Craig would show me how to hit flop shots and spinning bunker shots. Of course, I was no match to his abilities, but I got to learn from a great player, probably one of the best in the state of Oregon at the time although I had no clue.
Life happened, I moved to Colorado, went off to high school and college all the while playing golf occasionally and really taking to the game with my father Joe. We played a lot of golf together and I took any opportunity to spend time with him on golf trips. The best memories I have on the golf course are with him.
I landed at Edel Golf, a very ingenious little company founded by David Edel, one of the best minds in golf, and certainly in putting he is second to none in my opinion. Although I was a pretty good little putter and loved the clutch moments, I never putted better when I finally was able to roll the ball the way David wanted me to.
I have many golf moments that are seared in my memory. One of the most unforgettable moments was in Las Vegas at the Senior Classic. I got to play with Hale Irwin in the final round in the last group and my dad was my caddy. I played with Jim Albus, Tom Jenkins, and Hale. They were all very pleasant and I was a wreck. I was waiting to whiff the ball on every shot. I never sweat so much in my life. My feet weren't touching the ground and swinging a club felt like trying something for the first time. Just awkward all around.
On the first par-5, I had a chance to reach in two. Hale let me know where NOT to hit the ball and I could not have hit it more precisely to the exact spot he pointed to. I bladed my third shot over the green and hit some lady's chair, thank God. I then got up and down for an applause that to me said - "ok, now get out of here."
Hale bought me a free beer after the round which was of course a super cold Coors Light!
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You wake up in the morning -- what's the driving passion?
I love people and discovering new things, sharing passions and experiences.
Your family has been involved for many years in the brewery and ceramics businesses. What prompted your intersection with golf?
I love golf. I have many fond memories golfing with my family, friends, and complete strangers. In fact, I love sports. All of them, and how they connect people in so many ways.
What interested you specifically in becoming owner of Edel Golf?
Edel doesn’t follow conventions. They care about the golfer and do everything with the golfer at heart. Edel Golf is out to guide people and create innovative products that can get them better faster.
No big claims, no one size fits most, just honest approach to solve the problems that can be solved with the right equipment.
How does Edel Golf break through the clutter and economics of larger-sized companies in the same lane space?
We stick to innovating where the larger companies really cannot. Large companies have amazing resources, make fantastic products and at the same time are restricted purely by their expectations and targets also being quite large.
What specific aspects of putter fittings does Edel Golf provide that clearly separates itself from your competitors?
We provide custom solutions to fit every player based on their unique tendencies with all scoring clubs. Getting the ball rolling on the intended line at the correct speed is surprisingly rare in putter fittings.
It is amazing to me that the golf industry has a monopoly on having the golfer blame themselves for every bad shot while praising their trusty whatever when things work out! While a masterful myth, it is not true if your equipment isn’t right for you. We see the effects of this every day.
Who is your customer and what specific steps are you taking to widen your exposure in driving more people to your products?
Our customer is the golfer that wants to be better. They love the feeling of a personal best round. We simply say our equipment is made to get you closer to your best more often and more consistently.
Related: Orville A. T. (Tommy) Turnquest interview
What specific role does customer feedback play in your future product efforts and what steps do you take to encourage such interaction from customers?
We track customer feedback very closely, develop relationships with customers and our products are designed with that feedback. The Array putter line is a perfect example.
We took years of feedback and experiences from customers to design a modernized putter system that is both simple and deeply complex at the same time while delivering incredible quality on both ends of the spectrum.
We also added lefty options, possibly more lefty options than any other company with different hosels and alignment plates.
If you could change one thing in golf unilaterally -- what would it be and why?
Relief from divots in the fairway. I think that is self explanatory!
The biggest challenges facing Edel Golf -- short and long term is what -- and what specific strategies are you implementing to deal with both?
Short term it is getting our message out to more golfers. We are being selective with partners to broaden our reach and create synergies so the golfer, our partners and Edel all win.
Long term we need to manage our position in the industry well. For that we continue to innovate our products so we stay relevant and aligned with the golfer.
Complete the sentence -- Doug Coors is --
One in 8.046 billion.
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