How Josh Kerr Fulfilled His Dream Of Playing Professional Mini Golf

A longstanding niche in surfing has been tapped.

The fisherman crossover: covered. The city slicker: ticked. But, the surfer who enjoys a quick nine holes before or after a session: almost all but left alone.

Enter TravisMathew – a lifestyle brand with a glowing presence in the golf world – who recently added Josh Kerr to their athlete roster.

Here’s how the story goes:

In 2016, a boutique belt brand called Cuater tried to dip their toes in the low rent district of the surf industry. After finding little success, they branched out to golf while keeping their roots on the coast. As co-founder Ben Donnelly, a gentleman who made his way onto our Stab30 under 30 feature, once told Stab, “In surfing, no one wanted to give us the time of day, but when we went to a golf expo, all the sudden we were the cool kids.” Cuater has since been acquired by TravisMathew, who was then bought out by golf industry goliath, Callaway.

After Cuater put together a small surf team featuring a few underground guys and most notably San Clemente pier shooter, Ian Crane, TravisMathew took the reins and signed ex-CTer and miniature golf extraordinaire Josh Kerr – their highest profile surfer to date. 

In an industry where the song remains the same, it’s become common for surfers to branch outside of their endemic sponsors and take on something that checks a box beyond the brine. Kerrzy is a prime example of this, from being a part owner of Balter Beer to this recent welcome to the team video courtesy of TravisMathew. “I’m thrilled to be around a brand with a lot of forward momentum and (internal) excitement,” says Mr. Kerr. 

As part of the Josh Kerr welcome wagon, TM is putting up one of his Album Surfboards, a set of golf clubs, TravisMathew club covers and a $1K TravisMathew online giftcard. If you’d to enter the “Surf and Turf” giveaway, tap this link and enter your email address.