Golf star Ernie Els on an app that's attracting a younger generation to the green
New mobile startup 18Birdies is grabbing the attention of golfers, with features ranging from score tracking to club recommendations.
18Birdies CEO Eddy Lui told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria,” “18Birdies is here to make golf more fun … and offer golfers more choices and the flexibility to experience golf.”
According to Lui, the app has seen huge growth, particularly among younger golfers.
“We’re the fastest growing mobile technology in golf right now. We have right now about 800,000 users and over 60% are under 45 [years old] so this is a great way of attracting younger generation golfers into the space.”
PGA Tour player Ernie Els was an early supporter of the app, becoming one of the startup’s first investors.
“The technology was really what grabbed me, I mean, I’m kind of an old school golfer but with 18Birdies as an app with all the innovative stuff that they’ve come up with, I felt I needed to be on the forefront of a lot of great things to come.”
But Els is not the only big-name investor to jump on board with the new app.
“So, most recent investors are two great guys coming in, Peter Gotcher, venture capitalist who is on the board of GoPro and he is the chairman of Dolby Labs, and also NBA great Jason Kidd who, you know, we met on a golf course, who’s saying that he discovered the app, just fell in love with it,” Lui said.
Els says the app has been useful in the tournament space as well.
“Just loving the way the technology is helping us not only track the players, but also giving them their data back and see where these golfers can work on their respective weaknesses.”