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Justin Dahrling is into his twelfth year as one of America’s premier developer and manufacturer of custom golf club head covers.
This a local success story, as his rather spacious “shop” is located on S. Main St. in Mesilla Park. First, some background:
Having grown up in Albuquerque, Justin learned golf at an early age, and was part of three New Mexico 5A golf championship teams at La Cueva High School. He graduated from La Cueva in 2005 with 1st team All-Academic honors as a senior. That same year he enrolled in the PGA Golf Management program (PGAGM) at New Mexico State University. In his four years as a PGAGM student Justin won no less than 15 tournaments. To say the young man is competitive would be an understatement. I know first-hand from the dozens of golf rounds I’ve played with Justin. He’s focused, goal-oriented and disciplined.
Justin started working at Sonoma Ranch Golf Course in late 2008 while still in school and earned his PGA Class A golf pro ranking in 2010. As a testimony to his work ethic, savviness and professionalism, he took over as head pro at Sonoma Ranch in January 2011 at age 23.
One of Justin’s pet hobbies was collecting putter head covers. He was always intrigued by the intricate works of art on each cover. He started to wonder where the tour pros got those beautiful putter covers. Then, as the do-it-yourself spirit took hold, he bought an embroidering sewing machine and learned how to make them in his home. It didn’t take long before he learned how to digitize patterns and produce splendidly designed putter covers from his own machines, located in the guest bedroom in his house. While still working as head pro, director of golf and general manager at Sonoma Ranch, Justin realized there was a major opportunity waiting for starting up his own head cover business. Justin set up a website, launched an Instagram page and went into business as Golf Iconic. It wasn’t long before orders started coming in, making the home-made arrangement insufficient. He then used a small business loan to purchase several embroidery machines, hire some employees and move into a small-but-adequate space in a small strip center at the corner of Spruce Ave. and Solano Dr. Eventually that became way too small, forcing him to move into the warehouse on S. Main.
Dahrling says that following his move into the warehouse in late summer 2020, his business skyrocketed through through 2023. In 2024 orders improved by 20%, and this year, it will be slightly higher. He now has 28 employees (up from seven when he was located on Spruce Ave.) and 70 sturdy, sophisticated embroidering machines. He says over 50% of his business comes from “private label” customers. When a customer wishes to offer club covers with their merchandise, they can have Golf Iconic produce them and put the customer’s own label on them. Golf Iconic is obligated to maintain that privacy.
Some 25% of the Golf Iconic’s business comes from a combination of college and school golf programs, orders from private and public golf courses and golf tournaments. Those are considered “wholesale” orders; and 25% comes from individual consumers who want top-of-the-line custom head covers.
For more info: www.golficonic.com
Charlie Blanchard is a guest columnist and a retired golf teacher and writer. He can be reached at docblanchard71@gmail.com.
