Ego-free golf for all. A simple but effective concept of cutting down golf’s barriers by growing a like-minded community. It also happens to be the founding principle of the SCGA’s fastest growing member club: Tiny Putters Golf (TPG).
“We started as a beer league,” says Tiny Putters Golf co-founder Scott Fluhler. “It’s crazy to think, only two years ago, it was 20 or so of our friends meeting up a few times a year for tournaments. And now we’ve got over 110 members, events every month, and fellow golf brands wanting to partner up. It’s clear we’ve really tapped into something.”
What Fluhler and co-founder Austin Keneshea created with Tiny Putters Golf is more than just a fresh-faced, millennial-leaning, LA-based SCGA club — it’s a community.
“If you look at the SCGA clubfinder, there are a ton of options,” says Keneshea. “Scott and I noticed, though, that no clubs catered specifically to younger golfers. So we stepped in and created the community that we wanted to join. We’re the ‘country club for everyone else.’”
Tiny Putters Golf offers its members something different; whether it’s their cheeky presence on Instagram, their dedicated Slack channel aka Clubhouse where Tiny Putters can interact, talk smack and set up tee times with each other, or their unique tournament formats giving any handicap a real chance at victory.
“We’ve got it all: Masters, Ryder Cup, team-based, partner-based … we even have a Halloween spook-tational where you get an extra stroke bonus if you come in costume,” Fluhler says. “We’re like mad scientists with this stuff, always cookin’ up something new.”
Members of TPG never know where they are playing next — and that’s the beauty of it. You might call them the traveling nomads of the Los Angeles (and beyond) golf scene. Rustic Canyon, Simi Hills, Rancho Park and Los Robles may be in the TPG tournament rotation, but impromptu trips to Ojai, Ventura, San Diego and even Palm Springs happen regularly as members grow friendships that quickly spill into their everyday lives.
The group attracts all types of people from all walks of life. On any given outing, you could be paired with a recent college grad living in Hermosa Beach, a 42-year-old father of two from Thousand Oaks, a 30-year-old surfer from Venice or a former college golfer from Pasadena grinning ear to ear as she collects all three closest-to-the-pin prizes from right under your nose.
They’re a club that’s taken the SCGA’s campaign “Never Play Alone” and run with it, Forrest Gump style, and they’re not turning back.
“Our members tell us that, before joining, they’d sign up for a random tee time or tournament but it was a crap shoot on whether they’d like the people they were matched with. TPG solves that problem,” Keneshea says. “We’re not just like-minded golfers, we’re like-minded people who want to play, work, travel, eat and party together. And if that sounds like you, then come out and join us. We can’t wait to meet you!”
Looking to the future, Tiny Putters will lean further into the idea of being a country club for everyone else, offering more opportunities for members to socialize and grow relationships with one another on the golf course and beyond.
Fluhler says, “Tiny Putters is more than just a golf group, it’s a lifestyle. People see themselves in our members and so when they come out to play for the first time, they immediately feel at home. They’re hooked.”
Want to learn more about Tiny Putters Golf or find similar golf communities near you? Visit clubfinder.scga.org – and remember, never play alone!