‘Slice-Fix’ Videos Helped Performance Golf Build $90 Million Platform

Performance Golf’s recipe for success seems to be a relatively simple one: giving average golfers access to some of the game’s best instructors so they can solve common swing flaws.

It’s also been a successful one, as Performance Golf has at least doubled its business every year since 2018 while growing into a platform that had $90 million in revenue last year. The company serves up video training from world-renowned golf instructors like Nick Faldo, Hank Haney, David Leadbetter and Martin Chuck, including popular digital clips like the “One Shot Slice Fix” or “Simple Strike Sequence” many golfers have likely come across in their social media feeds.

The model is pretty straightforward, but it took a 20-something former Division I golfer with a marketing background to make it a reality – even though founder Brixton Albert didn’t see himself as the target audience for the company he started with $120,000 of his own savings in 2016.

“I was unsure at the time,” said Albert, a lifelong golfer who after graduating from Radford University found his niche as a successful marketer for a variety of retail brands. “I’m not spending a lot of money on golf in my 20s. But I realized people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, if they’re into golf, they’re trying everything to try to get better. I wasn’t the customer when I first started this. But the first day we launched, a couple people bought and I was like, ‘Whoa, this is a good market,’ and it kept expanding from there.”

Albert began by partnering with an instructor named Eric Cogorno, who at the time had a very small online following. Albert used his marketing acumen to help produce, shoot and distribute new videos – like a slice fix course that sold almost $10 million in the next two years — and turned Cogorno into somewhat of an online golf celebrity; today he has over 300,000 followers on YouTube. Having proven his business model with a lesser-known name, Albert approached bigger names – top 100 instructors – and scaled the business accordingly.

“The model is that we know every golfer has a vision,” Albert said. “They have one thing that’s been hurting them the most. Our thought was, ‘How can we make a solution-based product to solve that pain point to give them that quick win?’ We’re going to do it with one of the world’s best. That’s going to get you that initial, let’s say, two to five-shot handicap improvement. Then we want to get you in our golf ecosystem so you can continue to be a part of that golf journey to help you get better.”

Haney’s One-Shot Slice Fix has been Performance Golf’s most successful content, the digital course being purchased well over 10 million times.

The company also has a golf school division, selling hundreds of golf school spots to see the game’s top teachers every month, and earlier this year began selling golf clubs and training aids as well.

The latter includes products like the ONE Wedge, SFI Driver and AnyLie Hybrid.

Albert recalls sitting on the couch with friends watching the 2022 Masters Tournament when an idea popped into his head about how to help golfers fix their grip and create more forward shaft lean. He spent the next year flying to golf equipment factories around the world trying to figure out how to engineer his vision. A year later Performance Golf launched a club called the “Straight Stick” that did $4 million in sales in its first month alone.

As the range of offerings grows, the company is now in the early stages of getting its products into traditional golf retail stories.

“We’ve brought one of Titleist’s former heads of product innovations to be our head of products,” Albert said. “We’re looking for products that help solve strategic gaps for golfers. How can we make a wedge that’s a little more forgiving? How can we make a 3-wood that’s a little easier to hit for the 70-year-old guy who’s probably not good enough to hit a 14-degree 3-wood off the deck. We’ve had a really nice run in creating products to help the average guy improve a little bit more.

“Age 45 and up has been (our) market, generally,” Albert added. “Some of our products do trend younger. But I’ve never seen so many 90-year-olds come out of the woodwork either. It’s one of those games you can work at for a long time. And one of those games you can play your whole life.”

Albert also notes that golf is one of those games where participants can practice more but end up getting worse if they’re doing the “wrong thing.”

And more golfers than not take a DIY approach to game improvement, whether it’s watching some YouTube or Instagram tips, taking a few lessons, or listening to the advice of a friend trying to piece together a swing themselves. It’s why Performance Golf is now embracing AI in a new app launched earlier this year that is designed to help golfers “work on the right things.”

Within the app, a user can upload a video of their swing that’s analyzed within seconds, detailing the top four swing issues as well as the order in which they should be addressed.

“The goal with AI is to help guide golfers through a journey,” Albert said. “Our goal is to try to help golfers identify swing issues, work on the right order, but also enter their stats so we can use that data and leverage it to make strategic recommendations. To really give them a thought-out path to improve versus them trying to piece together a million things in trying to improve.”

The company has come a long way in a relatively short period of time and continues to build out its roadmap to better performance. While Albert didn’t see himself as the target consumer in the company’s formative stages, he recognizes almost all golfers are in a constant quest for improvment. And, in turn, more fun.

“Really the goal has been how can we democratize golf?” Albert said. “How can we bring the world’s best teachers to the average golfer to help them solve their pain points, and lead them through a strategic journey to help them get better and enjoy the game more.”