Hackenberg’s invention for struggling golfers, the Orange Whip, is also a hit with top pros
Jim Hackenberg dreamed of golfing on the PGA Tour, but ended up helping other golfers achieve their goals instead. After working as a PGA Tour caddy and teaching pro for seven years, he came up with the idea for a device that would help golfers of all abilities achieve a more athletic swing. He introduced the Orange Whip golf trainer in 2008, and has since sold more than 80,000 units – just under 30,000 last year – and is poised for more growth as he expands to more big box stores.
The Orange Whip, along with the other products made by Jimmy Hack Golf, are handmade in Easley using American-made materials. Running a company and inventing golf training products may not have been what Hackenberg had in mind as a young golfer, “but I’m very happy with the way it developed,” he said. “As a wannabe tour player, my mind was always thinking, how can I get better? Now I can make other golfers better.”
How did you become a PGA caddy and teaching professional?
I was a walk-on at Arizona State the same year Phil Mickelson was a freshman, so we were on the golf team together. I graduated from Oregon State. I ended up becoming a PGA Class “A” teaching professional, and I taught in the summer in Martha’s Vineyard and in the winter in La Quinta, Calif. It was an interesting seven years. I also caddied in 2003 and 2004 for Patrick Moore and then again for a player named Glen Hnatiuk. I caddied 30 events but always kept my teaching job.
while standing on the Orange Peel
How did you come up with the idea for the Orange Whip?
As an instructor, the most frustrating thing I dealt with is golfers who hold on very tightly to the club and aggressively slam into the golf ball instead of swinging athletically. I try to teach people to just relax, but it’s difficult for people to accept that. What I noticed is that when good players are swinging, it looks like a ball on the end of a chain. I thought of a mace. There was a lot of trial and error with fishing rods that broke and other devices I experimented with, but finally the Orange Whip developed. It’s so flexible, if you try to force swing it, it won’t work. It’s balanced in a way that creates a nice rhythm.
It was developed for beginning golfers, but it works for expert golfers as well?
It was for the purpose of helping bad or beginning golfers, but fortunately the really good players love it. A hundred and fifty players are using it on the PGA Tour and another 150 on the other tours. Guys like U.S. Open winner Graham McDowell; Justin Rose, who won this year; Vijay Singh, Trevor Immelman and Retief Goosen. They all use it. The better players use it as a way to loosen up and stretch the body, find their rhythm. Poorer players use it to learn to make a golf swing.
Why did you settle in Easley to found your company and manufacture your product?
I started using the Orange Whip during golf lessons to help people understand what I’m trying to convey, and they would say, “Can I buy that from you?” A lightbulb went off: I should start a business. I could pick anywhere to do it, but I chose South Carolina for a couple reasons. I have a brother and his family in Powdersville, and a sister and her family in Spartanburg, so I figured I would go where I’d have support. My niece Mandy has worked with me since day one on accounting, customer service, marketing, promotions. Also, there are a lot of golfers in this area.
What was the biggest challenge in getting the company off the ground?
Just getting the message out. This is a device that a lot of people really like, and they understand it. There are lots of debates about why a person should do this and that in golf, so I expected some negative response, but I didn’t get it. So early on, it was just the challenge of getting 10 or 15 minutes with people. As a PGA member, I worked hard to get it into golf clubs so people were aware of it. Pretty soon, they were asking for the Orange Whip in big-box stores, so now we’re in a lot of those.
What are your plans for the future?
We’ve got three sizes of the Orange Whip: small, medium and large. We also have the Orange Peel, a balance platform you stand on, that’s been out for two years, and we just brought out the Orange Whip Putting Wand a few months ago. We have nine employees plus me, so we might need to add staffing in production, accounting, customer service—and we’re trying to figure out if we need more sales reps. We’ll just keep following our motto, “Making golfers better.”
Learn more: orangewhiptrainer.com
