What started as a creative side project became something much bigger.

This week on 9 Holes, 9 Questions, Sam sits down with Dan Hase, founder of Northern Ball Markers, to discover how experimenting with customised golf ball markers eventually became his full-time career.

Dan explains how being made redundant — in the same week he discovered his wife was pregnant with their second child — gave him the push to find out whether his side hustle could become a sustainable business.

More than five years later, Northern Ball Markers has developed into an established independent golf brand, with loyal collectors and customers around the world.

But building a business while raising a young family hasn’t always been straightforward.

Dan talks about the pressure of self-employment, balancing work with being a dad, the isolation that can come from working alone and how he’s learned to recognise when he needs to get out, speak to people and make time for himself.

We also explore Dan’s relationship with golf — from collecting lost balls as a child and selling them back to the golf club, to playing frozen winter rounds with friends, becoming a golf collector himself and eventually building a business within the sport.

Dan also explains why he no longer worries about chasing his handicap and why golf, for him, is ultimately about good people, conversation and enjoying the time you have available to play.

A conversation about golf, entrepreneurship, family, mental wellbeing and finding the right balance between them all.

⛳ Connect with Northern Ball Markers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northernballmarkers?igsh=MWd4NzV0bmM0dTZuNg==

Website: https://www.northernballmarkers.co.uk/

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I’m sharing my own journey to better golf and a better headspace, plus more episodes of 9 Holes, 9 Questions with golfers, creators and coaches.

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— Sam

9 Holes, 9 Questions – Golf Saved My Life