Stix Golf and Nicklaus to collaborate on affordable, high performance clubs

As golf equipment manufacturers go, Gabe Coyne isn’t what you’d call a gearhead.

And he has never been a range rat.

Growing up in Seattle, he only took up golf after being cut from his high school baseball team. The first sticks he had were a hodgepodge of secondhand ones that his mother bought at a church thrift store.

“And I played with those janky clubs for years,” Coyne said.

During college, where he studied design and web design, Coyne stopped playing golf altogether, a discipline he stuck to through his 20s, when he married, had four children and made his mark on a series of successful startups. He was in his 30s, and living in Chicago, before he got rid of his crutches again.

Chatting with friends and colleagues at the local muni, Coyne re-established his unusual – but fun – connection to the game. He wasn’t stuck on it, but he wanted to get better. He felt it was time to upgrade the equipment, if only he could find clubs that appealed to him.

“I didn’t want a cheap golf starter set, but I also wasn’t ready to spend tons of money on golf clubs. a la carte,” Coyne said. “The market seemed to cater to beginners or amateur golfers, with a big gap in between.”

Many of his teammates felt the same way.

An entrepreneur in Coyne saw an opportunity: golf clubs aimed at the Goldilocks middle. At the end of 2019, Stix Golf was born, producing stylish, high quality clubs, sold directly to consumers at a low price. Coyne and his co-founders had taken a sweet spot in a market that was much bigger than they imagined.

In the more than four years since its inception, Stix has established a respected position in the industry for its “minimalist” approach, marrying sleek, compact designs with superior engineering: easy on the eyes, easy to hit and easy on the wallet. In 2022, Stix won an international product design honor – the Red Dot Award – and the innovations have not stopped. The company’s offerings have grown into three different series, including a newly launched women’s line.

And now comes another notable reveal: the club’s collaboration with Nicklaus Brands called Nicklaus™ Stix sets. The two brands announced their partnership this week, emphasizing their mutual goals.

“Stix has quickly become a leader in the golf industry by creating amazing products that not only meet our high performance standards but also provide reasonable prices, helping to make golf more accessible to more people,” Andy O’Brien, president of Nicklaus Brands, said in a statement. “Stix’s loyal customer base consists of a young and energetic population, both men and women with various disabilities. It is important that Nicklaus’ legacy reaches this audience and meets the needs of this growing number of new golfers entering the game. “

For Stix, on the other hand, collaboration provides the credibility that the Nicklaus name has long enjoyed.

“For all our success, we’re still a new brand,” Coyne said. “You’re combining the power of the world-renowned Nicklaus™ brand, and people are realizing, Oh, I’ve heard of Stix. But I didn’t notice this legal.”

The first Nicklaus™ sets of Stix are now in the design and engineering phase and will debut at the 2025 PGA Show in January. They will be available to the public in April, just in time for the spring golf season.

And there’s more to come, as the two brands plan to collaborate on various golf products in the coming years.

Josh Sens

Golf.com Editor

Golf, food and travel writer, Josh Sens has been a contributor to GOLF Magazine since 2004 and now contributes to all aspects of GOLF. His work has been honored in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also the author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: The Cooking and Partying Handbook.