Eric Touchet on Custom Fitting, Giving Up Control, and Growing a Small Business
Entrepreneurship · From Student of the Game
Eric Touchet on Custom Fitting, Giving Up Control, and Growing a Small Business
Eric Touchet is the owner of Touchet Performance Golf in Fort Wayne, and he is also Brad Noll's club fitter. The two first met years ago at a 5 a.m. basketball league at the YMCA, back when, as they both admit, they were in better shape. On this episode of Student of the Game, Eric walks through how a franchise startup grew into a fitting studio with customers from across the country.
Today the shop does club fitting for everything from putter to driver, plus ball fittings. It has five TrackMan bays, a full gym and physical therapy room with a golf-focused physical therapist, lessons, a PuttView putting green, locker rooms, and even a cold plunge and sauna. As Eric puts it, the goal is to be a one-stop shop for body, swing, and equipment.
Brad is quick to tell listeners that this is not only a golf episode. "If you're a small business owner, I guarantee you're going to get something out of this," he says.
A Hard Start and a Lot of Sleepless Nights
Eric graduated from college in 2009, at the height of the economic downturn, and struggled to find work that matched his education. His parents had moved to Fort Wayne while he was in school, so the Wisconsin native moved here planning to stay a short while. Instead he started reading about how to own a business, looked at about 15 options, and landed on a golf franchise called Golf Etc.
He laughs about it now. Had he kept researching, he says, he would never have signed on, because the company turned out to offer almost no support. They got out of that arrangement early, but the franchise got the doors open. Then came years of hard work. Eric worked 70 to 80 hours a week, and at one point he figured he was earning about $2 an hour. "It is not for the faint of heart," he says. He credits his wife for her support through all of it.
Brad wants every business owner to hear what that means. If you have been in business more than two years, you have probably wanted to quit. If you have had sleepless nights or lost hope at times, you are normal. As Brad says, Eric became an overnight success after 15 years.
“If I did all the fittings, all the builds, which I used to because I didn't have any money to pay anybody, I would not be where I am today.”
Eric Touchet
The Fundamentals of a Good Fit
Every golfer has a different body, skill level, swing, and budget, so Eric says the fundamental of fitting is adapting to the person in front of you. Early on he made mistakes, and he learned to own them. Some customers he fit wrong 12 or 13 years ago are still with him because he told them, "That was wrong. My bad. Let's fix it." A mentor also taught him to treat every customer like a best friend or family member, whether they spend $100 or $5,000.
Off-the-shelf clubs come in one generic length, lie, and shaft. Custom fitting tunes all of that to a player's swing. Eric explains that the goal is mastering your bad swing, because everyone has one. If a player can miss consistently to one side, they can aim away from it and "cut off half the golf course." He is honest about expectations, though. Nearly everyone he fits would also benefit from lessons, and the fitting and the lesson work together.
The story that convinced him fitting mattered came about 10 years ago. He fit a former IU golfer who stood 6 foot 2 or 6 foot 3 and should have been playing clubs an inch longer. After the fitting, the player brought his ball flight down and gained about 15 yards off the tee. A few months later he won the Fort Wayne city tournament, with Eric caddying. If an elite golfer did not know his equipment was wrong, Eric thought, how many weekend golfers have no idea?
Two Businesses at Once
Brad points out that every small business owner is really running two businesses: the craft they are good at and the business of growing. Eric learned that the hard way. He used to block off two or three hours a day for club builds and still come home at midnight, which does not work with three kids.
"You have to give up control," Eric says. Today he does about 5 percent of the builds, and he gives the rest to a builder on his staff whom he calls the best employee he has ever had. He also credits the bookkeeper he and Brad share, and he says that after hitting a ceiling for two or three years, hiring people he trusts was the only way through.
Brad connects it to one of his favorite press conferences, when Jordan Spieth never said "I" after a round, only "we," meaning him and his caddie. That team mindset, Brad says, is exactly what Student of the Game is about.
Repetition, Precision, and 60-Second Fittings
Falling in love with practice, for Eric, means constantly studying new shafts and heads and testing what manufacturers claim in the simulator. It also means building with precision, because a great fitting is worthless if the clubs are not built exactly to spec. He checks his work two or three times.
He also stopped worrying about repeating himself after hearing Gary Vee say, in effect, that if something is right, it does not matter if you repeat it. Brad adds a line from his mentor Donald Miller: "Communication is an exercise in memorization."
That consistency eventually showed up on social media, too. For years the shop posted in random spurts and topped out around 2,000 followers. Then a local high school student on staff asked to run the accounts and pitched "60-second fittings." Combined followers grew to about 45,000, and customers now travel from states like California, Virginia, Florida, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Eric is also building an online fitting program called Eldrick, named for Tiger Woods' first name, with a high school friend. It is still in beta, and he says it will never replace an in-person fitting.
A few lessons any business owner can borrow from Eric's story:
- Follow up. The shop tries to call clients six to 12 months after a fitting to make sure the clubs are working.
- Admit mistakes quickly and fix them. Trust built that way can last a decade or more.
- Hand off work to people you trust so you can focus on what only you can do.
- Be consistent in how you explain your value, even if it feels repetitive to you.
- Let your team bring ideas. Some of the best ones may come from your youngest hire.
What Does Winning at the Game of Life Look Like for a Small Business Owner?
Eric's first answer is simple: you cannot do it by yourself. Pay your team what they are worth and tell them when they are doing a great job. His wife once asked him if he was telling that builder how good he was doing, and Eric admits the answer was probably not enough. Now he is giving that builder a piece of the business, not to keep him, he says, but to show him he is part of the family.
His second answer is that you have to love what you do and keep growing with your industry. Brad shares a favorite from Duke coach Kara Lawson: it is not that things get easier, we just handle hard better. Eric also talks about supporting a Purdue Fort Wayne basketball player who went to his old high school in Appleton, Wisconsin.
When Brad asks him to send some virtual flowers, Eric names his wife first, saying there is zero chance he would have made it without her belief in him. He also thanks a longtime customer who believed in the business and helped transform the shop, plus Brad and the friends who brought him a bookkeeper and a better mindset for running a company. Brad returns the favor, recalling that Eric's wife once signed real estate papers in the delivery room when the couple's twins were born. As Brad says, one of the most important things a small business owner can have is a supportive spouse.
▶ Listen to the full episode
Custom Fit for Success: What Golf Teaches Us About Business & Life, on Student of the Game.
Work with the Noll Team
Ready to make your move?
Since 2003, Noll Team Real Estate has been helping people in the Fort Wayne area find the freedom to live the lifestyle they want. Tell us where you are headed and we will build the plan around your life.