Three brands we came across this week, and none of them is trying to be the next big golf apparel label. One makes ball markers in a garage, one started with a glove, and one is two friends with a YouTube channel and a handful of caps. What they share is that each one starts with something the person behind it already loved, the ocean, Japanese art, or just playing golf with friends, and puts it on a small piece of golf kit.
Swell Marks is the most crafted of the three. Its About page says the maker is a U.S. Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Officer who has spent nearly two decades studying the ocean, and the markers read like it. Each one is named after a wave, a break or a story: Trestles, Pipeline, a Japanese woodblock wave, a shaka that is half skeleton, a Red Fin based on a 1965 surfboard fin. They are solid brass, copper or stainless steel, engraved in deep relief and finished by hand in a Coronado, California workshop. Most are $65, and many are small runs that sell out. The newest drops are a skull marker called Skulligan and a first batch of fifteen resin pitch tools, each a different color. The maker doesn’t give his name, so we won’t either.
Hinotori Golf is Japanese for firebird, and most of its range draws on Japanese art and legend. The signature gloves are $28 in AAA Cabretta leather, with backs printed in cherry blossom, bonsai, seigaiha waves and a blue dragon, in men’s and women’s fits. Around them are barrel headcovers, a matching towel, a glove case and a marker made with Luxury Ball Marks. It also makes performance caps with birds and animals on them, from a cardinal to the skeletal stag in this fall’s collection. Sixty products, nearly all in stock, and almost nothing over $80.
Studio Grain is the smallest and the most fun. Its YouTube bio says it is two best friends “learning the process of creating”, and the channel is them playing: a series called Golf Is Hard, scrambles, rounds at Olivas Links and in Big Bear, and a podcast. The store has fourteen products. The one that sums it up is a green cap that says “A Club For Those Who Tried Their Best.”
Golf from the side. None of the three starts with the course. Swell Marks starts with surf, Hinotori with Japanese art, Studio Grain with friends making videos. Golf is where it all ends up.
Small things, done carefully. A marker, a glove, a cap. These are the cheapest ways to make a golf bag look like yours, and all three brands put their effort there.
Made in small batches. Numbered resin tools, a marker made in fewer than 100, fingerboards where “all boards are different.” If you like something, don’t wait.
Swell Marks is for the golfer who surfs, or wishes they did. Start with Trestles or Good Bones.
Hinotori is for the golfer who wants the bag to say something. The Ryujin headcover and towel together are the place to start, and the $28 gloves are the easy add.
Studio Grain is for the golfer who plays for fun first. Get the Club Members cap.
From the Swell Marks garageMarkers on the workbench, on the truck and on the green.
Coronado, California · nine picks · $30–$75Ball markers in brass, copper and stainless steel, engraved and finished by hand, each named after a surf break or a story. Most are made in small runs, so check stock before you fall for one.
Hanover, Minnesota · eight picks · $28–$80Gloves, headcovers and accessories built around Japanese art and legend, plus a line of bird and animal caps. Most gloves are $28 in both men’s and women’s.
Two friends · six picks · $25–$40A small store run alongside a YouTube channel: caps, beanies, sunglasses and handmade fingerboards. Nothing here is over $40.
Most of what ends up in a golf bag is bought without much thought: a sleeve of balls, a glove off the rack, whatever marker came free with the hat. These three brands are a reminder that the small things don’t have to be throwaways.
A Swell Marks marker comes with a surf break and a story behind it, engraved by hand by someone who has spent nearly two decades studying the ocean. A Hinotori glove puts a cherry blossom or a sea dragon on the hand you grip the club with, for $28. And a Studio Grain cap is a small way to back two friends whose channel is mostly them playing golf together, and who put the kindest line in golf on the front of it.
None of them will change your handicap. They might change how your bag feels when you open it on the first tee, and they put your money behind people who are making things because they care about them. That is what we look for every week. If you find a brand like this, tell us about it.
