Your 15th Club Can Be a Leaf Blower Thanks to a Michigan Company
Inspiration struck on the 12th green at Monroe Country Club four years ago.
Monroe is a city of about 20,000 people located on Lake Erie’s shoreline in Michigan, halfway between Toledo and Detroit. Monroe CC is an older course with a lot of trees.
“Every type of tree-dropping imaginable can be found there,” said Randy Kuckuck, a member. “We had to clear a path to the cup on every green so we could putt.”
It was so bad, someone in the group ruminated, “Too bad one of us doesn’t have a leafblower in his bag.”
That thought stuck with Kuckuck, who had an idea that he shared with engineer Kevin Newcomer a week later at lunch. “I was thinking light saber with a blower in it,” Kuckuck said with a laugh. “Kevin came up with a better idea and made it more efficient.”
Thus was born the ZoomBroom, a golf-club-sized leafblower that fits in a golf bag so golfers can use technology to win the battle against leaves, acorns and assorted whatnots (pardon the technical jargon) that interfere with putts.
The ZoomBroom is expected to be available by late April in select stores and online at ZoomBrooms.com and other online retailers. The suggested retail price will be $179.
Allow me to lead the applause. I have needed an on-course leaf-mover during spring and fall golf in the Pittsburgh area for years. In fact, I took my own full-sized leafblower to my favorite, low-maintenance public course a few times last fall so I could enjoy putting without having to move sticks and leaves one-by-one or putt through the debris Plinko-style. I once considered creating an umbrella with a hollow shaft and a pump handle that would turn it all into a hand-operated bellows. Only my utter lack of engineering skills and consummate laziness kept me from pursuing that.
The ZoomBroom, a skinny, high-powered, battery-operated leafblower, is a way better solution. And it has already turned into time-consuming business.
A ZoomBroom easily fits in a golf bag and is expected to be legal for tournament play.
Courtesy ZoomBroom
“I thought I was retired,” Kuckuck joked.
The ZoomBroom has kept him busy since Newcomer put together the initial prototype, one that required a few adjustments over time.
“Kevin built six or seven more prototypes,” Kuckuck said in a joint interview session with Newcomer.
“It was 18 prototypes, Randy,” Newcomer corrected his buddy with a grin.
They formed a company, then looked for a manufacturer. No luck. Meanwhile, COVID-19 hit. So did the supply-chain crisis. Last March, the ZoomBroom was shown at the International Housewares Show in Chicago and won "Best New Cleaning Product." It’s not just for golf. With a home version that features a shaft handle for easier use, the product is ideal for clearing the front porch, back patio, blowing dust-bunnies from under the bed and other things.
“Just about every time we talk with someone, they come up with a new way to use it,” Kuckuck said. “Pickleball courts, RVs, boats.”
A young man who represented a Chinese factory was at the Chicago show and was so impressed, he offered a deal to manufacture the blower, just what the new company needed.
“This is actually a high-tech product,” Newcomer said. “It’s really a small jet engine in a blower with high-power batteries in a stick. Almost every vacuum on the market comes from China. They are the only ones who can make these very small, high-tech parts efficiently.”
The ZoomBroom’s operation is simple. Press a button on the shaft and it starts blowing. It has as much power as a small Black & Decker leaf blower. “It’s more than enough to clean a path to the cup,” Kuckuck said. “The whole green, if you want. You can even move leaves around in the fairway to find your ball.”
The ZoomBroom combines the inherent appeal of another whiz-bang gadget with a useful, all-purpose blower for frustrated golfers from tree-friendly courses.
“I was playing Monroe Country Club on Memorial Day last year and most of their trees are maple trees, which drop a lot in late spring,” Kuckuck said. “I pulled out a prototype and cleared a path on the green. Some guys in the pro shop saw me. If we’d had ‘em available, I could have sold a bunch that day.”
The list of potential product names Kuckuck and Newcomer came up with was relatively short. The Typhoon was one idea. The Blow Pro was another. But once ZoomBroom came up, it stuck. The golf version will be called The Golf Breeze and come with a headcover. The home version will be called The Tornado.
Will the Golf Breeze be legal in tournament play? The answer is expected to be yes. Under USGA rules, it is legal to remove impediments on the green by any means, including waving hats and towels to move them. The USGA will issue its final ruling after it gets a production model, which won’t be returned, the inventors were informed.
“I don’t know why they want to keep it,” Kuckuck said.
“Because they want to use it,” Newcomer joked.
Developing ZoomBroom and bringing it to market has required a substantial investment. Some Monroe-area friends stepped up to back the new company and the Chinese manufacturer offered some creative financing for tooling and production. The financial risk sounds significant for a golf accessory but this product could break much bigger than that. Think globally in the home-cleaning areas of big-box stores.
The fall golfers among us who have had scores unfairly affected by putts kicked offline by leaves and other debris know this product is desperately needed, if not essential.
“There will be probably a little plaque by Monroe’s 12th green someday,” Kuckuck joked.
If there is, Kuckuck will be able to quickly clear the leaves off it every time he plays through.