Welcome to Tee & Torque
For those new to Tee & Torque and reading our first blog, welcome! I suppose we better go back to where it all began, before we tell you what we are all about and what we have ambitions to become, as we approach our inaugural event next month!
My name is Ollie and I am the co-founder, along with Spencer my childhood family friend (more on that later!), of Tee & Torque, a community and events business focused on uniting car and golf enthusiasts. We pride ourselves on delivering a premium event experience in a welcoming environment where people can network and form relationships over their shared passions for cars and golf.
Where It All Began
The idea, like all good ideas, started at the pub in winter 2024. The Watchmakers Arms to be precise, which is my local in Hove and the winner of many pub awards, including Pub of the Year in Sussex most notably – one to check out if you’re this way!
I’d had some success organising corporate golf events for my company, where over the course of 5 events we’d scaled it across the business and learnt a lot about all the little details to deliver the best golf day experience! Then in April 2024 I rather spontaneously (full story in a future blog!) purchased my first “proper” car, a 2003 Porsche 996 Carrera 4S, yes that one with the turbo body and reflector bar across the back, giving it the best rear of any 911 (no bias intended!). Then that winter evening in the pub, after a summer of pure driving enjoyment and more importantly several pints to get the creative juices flowing, it dawned on me…a lot of people that like golf also like cars! Certainly, you always find some great cars in golf club car parks, so why not unite the two and form a community of people with not one but two shared passions!
Creating the Brand
The next task was coming up with a name for the brand, but that came quite naturally as I wanted something which both reflected the passion areas it would be based around but also pointed to the sense of community I wanted to create. Spelt like the car and golf versions of the words, but when you say it out loud it could be interpreted as ‘Tea & Talk’, which ironically is a good summary of what most car meets are! My sister Joely was then tasked with creating the logo given her work as a Graphic Designer, and a few days and many iterations later, we had it!
Enter Spencer
At this point, Spencer got involved. Spencer and I have known each other our whole lives as our mums are great friends since back in their cabin crew days post college! I knew he played golf and loved cars like me, but he also brought a key skillset into the mix, website design (and general back-office technical skills), having founded his own website design agency, Podium Design.
Building Momentum
Naturally when you’re passionate about the two main elements of the business idea, it’s difficult not to get involved and enjoy spending time on it, so in just a few months Spencer and I have created our website, invested in some event branding and now we’re on countdown for our inaugural event at Mannings Heath next month, which will be the first of 4 we plan to run in 2025 as a proof of concept, both to refine the event format and experience, and also to start to grow the community and capture content we can use to market future events.
The Event Experience
Currently the plan is to focus our event structure around a one-day format, offering an all-in-one experience for car and golf enthusiasts. Events will begin with a morning car meet before a convoy drive to the golf course, where there will be a breakfast to enjoy before 18 holes of friendly competition, followed by a meal and prize giving ceremony to draw the event to a close.
What’s Next
Going forward, we’re keeping our minds open and have lots of ideas, from track days, weekends away to trips abroad. We’ll do whatever events the community wants as long as it’s combining our passions of cars and golf!
The mission is simple, launch in 2025, scale in 2026 and make profit in 2027. We’re excited for the journey we’re about to go on, the people we will meet along the way and for what Tee & Torque might become, as like you, we don’t really know yet either! Stay tuned…