Sartaj Singh
In the second episode of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ season 16, Tyler Simmons and Jen Simmons pitched a breezy backyard version of golf with BucketGolf. They provided pop-up buckets, flags, larger plastic balls, and golf clubs with oversized heads for customers to build their own bite-sized golf course for any picnic, vacation, or at-home fun.
BucketGolf: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
The journey of BucketGolf unofficially began in 2016 when Tyler Simmons was inspired to make a homemade golf set to add another activity to enjoy with his family and friends during the summer vacations. Simmons himself was fairly obsessed with golf but often couldn’t get many family members or friends to join him on the course. On one summer weekend, a large gathering of his friends and family met at a house that had its own homemade golf course with buckets, flags, and obstacles. Everyone had a blast playing through it during their stay, and Simmons asked his father where he could buy one. The older man was amused and informed him that they had made the game up, and true enough, after scrounging the internet for anything similar, Tyler Simmons came up emptyhanded.
Simmons then sought advice and the blessing of the homemade game’s creator and made his own version with items bought from six different stores. They initially called it lawn golf, and would use whatever space available to them to construct their own courses with buckets, playing with golf balls and clubs. When most of the people they played with asked him to make sets for them as well, Simmons had the idea to create the sets in a commercial capacity. Simmons had been making tools to help train athletes with Elevate Sports, a company he established in 2019. In January 2021, BucketGolf was created, and the passion project turned into a professional endeavor. In October 2022, Jen Simmons joined the company as its administration and accounting manager.
The first two years of BucketGolf were an uphill struggle for the team. Shipping costs presented a major challenge, as the size of the buckets and equipment would mean larger packages, which meant greater costs. At the time, the buckets used for the game were made from a flexible plastic that was rigid and thus took up a lot of volume. Simmons had a eureka moment when he saw a friend’s collapsible laundry bucket and decided to try out similar material for his golf buckets. The results were game-changing, as the now-compressible buckets took up very little space, and the overall price of their product was nearly cut in half, driving growth to a new level.
Living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, Tyler Simmons has had a keen interest in sports from an early age. He still holds his day job as the assistant men’s lacrosse coach at Stanford University. At BucketGolf, he and his team often focus on marketing to golfers and families through events. In January 2024, they opened an exhibit at the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America PE Teacher Conference in Cleveland after attending a Seattle Golf show. Simmons was featured as a guest on the ModGolf Podcast two months later, talking about his personal journey and challenges with BucketGolf. The company introduced fusion balls in May, which sport two colors split evenly across the ball. They also went to the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City and had a good time playing BucketGolf with attendees and the event’s flamingo mascot.
BucketGolf: Where Are They Now?
BucketGolf has come a long way since its foundational years, having gone from 23 customers in its first year to around 100,000 customers by the fall of 2024. Their best-selling items are their bundles, which contain everything required to play the game, including buckets, flags, clubs, balls, tee boxes, carry bags, scorecards, and clubs. The biggest of these is the BucketGolf Pro Bundle 9 Hole, which, as the name implies, has nine pop-up buckets, flagsticks, and tee boxes. Available for $199.99, the product also comes with six balls and two clubs, one of which can be swapped for a left-handed club. Priced at $254.99, the BucketGolf Glow Pro Bundle contains the same items, but the buckets, tee boxes, and balls have LEDs in them to facilitate play after dark.
The standard BucketGolf Bundle comes with six pop-up buckets, flagsticks, and tee boxes in addition to the aforementioned club options, carry bag, score cards, and six balls at $179.99. For those who already own and would like to use golf sticks, the BucketGolf Pro contains all the previously mentioned items minus the golf clubs, bringing the price down to $134.99. Its glow variant is priced at $164.99. Containing the largest set, the BucketGolf Tour is available for $259.99 and comes with 18 pop-up buckets, 18 flagsticks, 18 tee boxes, 12 balls, two carry bags, and six scorecards.
A single BucketGolf club costs $34.99, and a normal six-ball set or a fusion ball set is priced at $14.99, with their glowing variants coming in at $29.99. To upgrade any of one’s golf bundles with LEDs, the company offers BucketGolf GLOW LED Add-On at $99.99, containing a kit of batteries and lights to facilitate the upgrade. An official scorecard pack of 25 can be purchased for $9.99. A branded turf pad can be bought for $14.99, and a pack of three BucketGolf can sleeves for $9.99 USD. For extra add-ons and spare parts, a solitary bucket is available for $9.99, a carry bag for $14.99, a flag for $4.99, and a set of tee boxes for $3.99. Three different branded t-shirts are available for $19.99 each, and a BucketGolf Rope Hat for $24.99.
BucketGolf partnered with the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation and created a donation campaign for it. As a part of the campaign, they donated $100 for every stroke under par during a September 2024 event and introduced golden variants of the BucketGolf club and fusion balls. The limited edition club and ball set costs the same as their standard counterparts, but some of the proceeds from each sale go to the foundation. Besides its own website, the company also sells online through Amazon. Additionally, the products are sold in various physical stores, including Walmart. As BucketGolf expands its capacity in response to increased demand, the company continues to streamline its operations and further innovate within the growing backyard game niche.
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