Why I tested golf clubs even though they didn’t fit my existing system
When I bought the golf clubs, I already suspected they might not fit.
At the time, I was still working out what Steve Flips was actually going to be.
I was testing categories, formats, and levels of involvement, trying to understand not just what could sell, but what I wanted to spend my time on.
Golf clubs were one of those tests.
Where I was at the time
This was early in the Steve Flips journey.
I was actively questioning which kinds of inventory belonged in my system and which didn’t.
Weekend Golfers was part of my thinking, but it wasn’t yet clear what form that would take.
Vinted hadn’t entered the picture in any meaningful way.
I wasn’t looking for scale or growth. I was looking for clarity.
Why golf clubs looked logical on paper
I’m a golfer, so the category felt familiar.
I understood the products, the brands, and the buyer mindset.
Golf clubs also felt like serious inventory, the kind of items that carry obvious resale value and visible demand.
There was also the idea of separation. I was considering whether a dedicated golf eBay shop made sense, rather than mixing golf inventory in with everything else.
Golf clubs seemed like a clean way to test that idea.
At the time, none of this felt reckless. It felt considered.
What I was actually testing
Although it looked like a simple flip, that wasn’t really the question.
I wasn’t just asking whether I could make money selling golf clubs. I was testing whether this category fit my time and attention model.
I wanted to understand how much effort was required per unit, how that effort compared to the margins available, and whether the operational friction felt acceptable over time.
This wasn’t about maximising profit.
It was about whether this kind of inventory belonged in my system at all.
How Weekend Golfers influenced the decision
Weekend Golfers was part of the background thinking.
At the time, I was exploring whether physical resale could sit alongside digital work under the same umbrella.
Golf clubs felt like a natural extension, something tangible that aligned with the audience and subject matter I was already immersed in.
That context mattered, even though it wasn’t fully formed yet.
What I didn’t know yet
When I made the purchase, there were several things I hadn’t experienced firsthand.
- I hadn’t yet felt the packing and shipping burden.
- I hadn’t timed how long it actually took to prepare a club for sale.
- I hadn’t seen how that effort compared to listing and shipping simpler items.
I also hadn’t defined a clear exit point.
This was still exploratory, and the decision was intentionally left open.
That uncertainty is the reason this post exists.
It captures why the test happened, not what it led to. The outcome only makes sense once the case is finished.
