Gumtree Golf & Nature Club is one of my personal favorites, and I can show you why. My driver wears a Gumtree Made in Manhattan cover, and after a few seasons it has faded into a beautiful, almost purple color. No loose threads. I am not precious about my golf stuff and everything I own gets a little banged up, but this one just looks better for it. My Fall knit hybrid cover is from Gumtree too, and the To Fight a Mockingbird tee is in the rotation.
What I like most is how quick this brand is on its feet. The Mockingbird tee is the best example: Gumtree made it in a day, as a response to a much larger brand stepping a little too close. A big company plans a year out; a one-founder studio in Brooklyn can answer by the weekend, and do it with a joke about a bird that survives by imitation.
That is the whole idea of the brand. Gumtree makes things slowly and in small runs, a lot of them from textiles that already had a life: 1940s quilts, 1970s camp tents, fly-fishing waders, the jute sacks its own coffee beans arrive in. Each headcover is cut from a different part of the source, so no two match, and when the fabric runs out, that design is gone. The repeatable pieces stay close to home too, with wool covers knit in Oregon and canvas sewn in Manhattan’s garment district, and 2% of every sale goes to carbon removal. You end up with the cover people ask about on the first tee, and one that wears in instead of wearing out.
Karsten Jurkschat grew up surfing in Melbourne and started out as a photographer in the surf industry. He went on to become one of advertising’s best-known creative directors, leading work for the New York Knicks, the NBA and Apple Music, and was named one of the industry’s Creative Directors of the Year in 2020. He moved to New York in 2017, missed the ocean, and burned out.
Golf is what brought him back outside. During the pandemic he started walking the city’s courses at dawn, before anyone else was up. The rest of his life was already set up for what came next: his father was a landscape gardener, and his German grandmother had taught him to sew. He started Gumtree in his spare time, bought a $300 sewing machine, and made every product himself for the first six months. The brand launched in Brooklyn in 2022. It is still self-funded, and Karsten still designs every collection and shoots its photography.
Since then the covers have sold out in minutes (a run cut from a 1970s Vermont tent went in 11), Josh Allen has worn the State Flower tee, Nick Jonas the New York dad hat, and Rickie Fowler the PUMA collaboration. For the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, Gumtree cut ten covers from a 1940s red, white and blue quilt and priced them by the result: 10% off for every stroke Team USA won by.
My Visit to Greenpoint · photos by TGII stopped by the studio at 55 Nassau Avenue during open hours on my week of New York golf, between rounds at Union Vale and Bethpage. It is a showroom and a working studio in one room: the rail is a tree branch, the caps sit on a low table between two leather sofas, and there are surfboards against the wall. Open select Saturdays, weekdays by appointment.
Founder’s voiceQuotes below are verbatim from Gumtree’s own site and two published interviews with Karsten, from April and September 2025.
On why he started it, from the brand’s About page: “When I moved from Melbourne to New York City in 2017, I quickly became addicted to the city. But what I loved about the city, the pace, the chaos, was also what I sought to escape.” And on what golf gave him: “Even in a city like New York, a golf course at sunrise offers complete immersion in nature.”
He describes the early mornings plainly: “I found that getting up at 6 a.m. or 5 a.m. and going to one of the courses in the city and just walking around before everybody’s up and playing a round of golf gave me that same disconnect and kind of mental health break that I was kind of looking for.” Coming from surfing, the gap in the market surprised him: “When I got into golf, I was so surprised there weren’t that many brands that were connecting those dots.”
On sewing the first pieces himself: “When I started the brand, I thought, ‘You know what, if I really want this to be truly sustainable and the pipeline to be really short, I’m gonna try to make them.’” It still runs short. “I source everything myself, the fabric, and do all the design work myself in the studio — then I take it to the small workshop we use in Manhattan and the guys put it together from there.”
The materialsGumtree sources a textile, plans the cuts so each cover shows a different part of it, and has it sewn in New York with a soft lining and an elastic or magnetic closure. Driver covers fit any driver up to 460cc. Vintage pieces are sold as is: spot clean with cold water and let them air dry.
What It’s Made From · Gumtree’s own photosQuilt scraps, tent canvas and old waders before and after: the textiles are the design.
Three piecesThe covers and the tee I actually own. The knit cover and the tee are in stock; the Made in Manhattan cover sold out a while ago, so its card links to Gumtree’s page for the next run.
Five coversThese covers are the heart of the brand. Each is cut from a different part of a found textile, so the one you get will not match the photo exactly, and when the textile runs out, the design is retired.
Three more coversGumtree’s repeatable covers, still made in small runs: wool knit in Oregon and canvas sewn in Manhattan.
The Nature Club · Gumtree’s own photosThe surf side of the brand: the Nature Club shirts and hats are shot on the beach, not the course.
Four teesGumtree prints field-guide graphics on heavy American cotton, from state flowers to a 1940 fly diagram.
Eight piecesThe clothes side, most of it cut and sewn in Manhattan: lace, stripe and linen shirts, a canvas vest, barrel jeans from Portugal and ripstop shorts.
Just Out for a Walk · Gumtree’s own photosGumtree’s Field Trips are three-day golf trips for about 40 people, built around hikes, bird walks and stargazing as much as rounds (Sonoran Desert, Zion, the Catskills). These photos are from its Just Out for a Walk event in England.
Three picksA Texas bluebonnet hat for us, the New York hat that started showing up on famous heads, and the towel.
The Collabs · Gumtree’s own photosGumtree makes its collaboration photos the way it makes everything else: outside, with the birds.
Three picksGumtree has partnered with PUMA, Malbon, Mackenzie, Almond Surfboards, Nocs and Huckberry, all brands that fit its outdoors theme. These three are in stock now.
Seven piecesGone, but they show what Gumtree does best. One-of-one runs like these sell out fast; get on their mailing list for the next one.
Karsten Jurkschat, an Australian-born photographer and former advertising creative director who grew up surfing in Melbourne and moved to New York in 2017. He started Gumtree in his spare time during the pandemic and launched it in Brooklyn in 2022.
Brooklyn, New York. The studio and showroom is at 55 Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint, open on select Saturdays and by appointment during the week.
The one-of-a-kind covers are cut from vintage textiles: heirloom quilts from the 1940s to 1980s, waxed canvas camp tents, fly-fishing waders and coffee sacks. The in-line covers are American wool knit in Oregon or 16 oz canvas sewn in Manhattan's garment district.
On October 15, 2026, wool covers were $85, canvas and vintage-textile covers $120 to $185, with some on sale.
Not exactly, for the one-of-a-kind covers. Each is cut from a different part of the source textile, so the pattern, fade and stitching change from cover to cover, and they can show wear from their previous life.
Yes. Gumtree contributes 2% of every purchase to permanent carbon removal through Stripe Climate.
Three-day golf and nature trips for about 40 people, mixing rounds at local courses with hikes, bird walks and stargazing. Past trips went to the Sonoran Desert, St. George and Zion, and the Catskills.
