Erica Bennett is one half of the entrepreneurial duo that started Orca Golf, a company that specializes in several styles of custom golf bags in a variety of price ranges. Stand bags, cart bags, small carry bags, even sport tote/carry-on bags.
As she likes to say, the orcas all have individual tails, and with Orca bags, you have a one-of-a-kind individual look.
“If it’s a cart bag, we give you options of cart bags. If it’s a stand bag, we give you options of that, and then we make it yours,” Erica explained. “I personally subscribe to the theory that when you look good, you feel good. We feel with a golf bag we can do the same thing.”
Erica, and her partner Deb Bennett, started their company for the reason many new companies do. They couldn’t find what they were looking for anyplace else.
“There was one company that did it, but it was so expensive that we thought, if we want such a bag, there are other golfers who want it as well,” Erica Bennett explained.
In other words, they saw an untapped, underserved market for reasonably priced — considering it’s custom — golf bags.
But deciding to go into business and actually having a business are two different things. First, the duo spent two years researching everything there was to know about the manufacturing of golf bags.
Then Deb Bennett, who had already spent 30 years in the technology industry, utilized her expertise in business plans, projections and strategic planning to plot the way forward on paper.
Erica already had a background as a television anchor, speaker and author, a creative personality. She and her son do the design work for customers.
“One of the best things for us is when a customer gets a golf bag, and they go ‘Wow! I love my bag!’ That’s all we want to hear,” Erica added.
The business owners insist that their bags cannot be anything average-looking, in part because they are not priced like an off-the-rack bag from a big box store. They need to be very special, and the women do everything they can to punctuate the design properly.
“We design with every customer. We give them a concierge service,” Erica said. “You can reach us any time. You can text us. You can email us. You can call us. You can send us a message on Instagram, on Facebook.”
Their line starts with a small carry bag that could even be a junior golfer bag and goes up in size to a tour bag. Color and pattern can be added, depending on the bag size and price. It’s easy to see the kind of choices that can be made by looking at their website: orca-golf.com/pages/custom-bags
On the tour-sized bags, there are as many as 11 places where custom designs, logos, names and colors can be used.
The idea for Orca customization has been proven right as former Masters Champ Charl Schwartzel debuted an Orca bag at the 2020 November Masters. Annika Sorenstam ordered a custom-designed Champions Bag for the winner of the AJGA’s Annika Invitational USA Junior Girls Championship.
Prices for the custom creations include placing the customer’s name or logo or design on various places on the bag as well as all the personalized, one-to-one, back-and-forth consultation on design that goes with a bespoke product.
Once the design is approved, then the customer sends payment and work begins on the new creation.
Here are the places that the top-of-the-line golf bag, the Orca Apex (for Apex predator!), can be customized:
Pricing starts at about $120 and goes up to about $895, plus shipping costs. It’s the absolutely perfect gift for the golfer you think has everything. Most golfers absolutely do not have this!
