Young business owners strike gold with disc golf business

Last year, Kiekkokingi Oy had a turnover of almost €700,000. The company has just opened Finland’s first disc golf simulator in its indoor training hall.

In spring 2021, Finland was going through a second pandemic year. The outdoor game of disc golf was experiencing peak popularity. Eemil Matti, from Kaarina, had just completed his national service and was wondering what to do before starting university.

“I’d played disc golf occasionally, and the sport had exploded in popularity. A lot of my friends played it too, and we realized that we couldn’t get the discs for the game anywhere,” Matti says.

Buying discs on the likes of Facebook was expensive, slow and risky. Matti had previously come across an online disc shop. He believed he could build a similar shop, but of higher quality.

After throwing some ideas around, Matti and his army friend Jere Kaasinen decided to establish an online shop for used discs. They did not have any business experience, so they had to work everything out by themselves.

“In the beginning, we founded a limited company, commissioned a logo and looked into how to set up an online shop. We got offers that said there was no point even thinking about an online shop for a turnover under €50,000.

“In the end, we decided to build an online shop ourselves using the Shopify platform. We invested around €500 in discs, priced them, photographed them and listed them in our online shop,” Matti says.

The first version of the Kiekkokingi Oy online shop opened on 16 May 2021. Since then, Kiekkokingi has opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Piispanristi in Kaarina, set up an indoor training centre alongside it, and increased its turnover to €662,000.

“Our turnover last year was quite good, and we’ve done even better this year,” Matti, the CEO of Kiekkokingi, says.

The online shop is still the Kiekkokingi’s number-one business. Sales of new discs already represent over 60% of sales, but the company has already sold over 100,000 used ones worldwide. In addition, Kiekkokingi sells a wide range of disc golf kit, such as shoes, bags and other accessories.

The simulator allows players to practise throwing discs.

Simulator analyses throws

In the second week of November, Kiekkokingi opened a disc golf simulator at its indoor training centre, which, as far as is known, is Finland’s first. Matti says that he and his partner had long dreamed of this simulator.

“When we opened the training centre a couple of years ago, we decided then that if a simulator came on the market, we’d build one,” Matti says.

“In golf, simulators are really popular and good business. There’s one on almost every corner, at least in the big cities. Now technology enabled them for disc golf, and we decided to make one.”

The simulator used by Kiekkokingi functions with the aid of a smart chip designed by the American company TechDisc.

“At the base of the disc there’s a smart chip which measures the disc’s starting speed, rotation speed and various nose angles. The program runs on a computer, and we have a projector which shows it on a big canvas,” Matti says.

The company very recently opened the simulator to customers, and there have been a few users to date.

“It’s not yet the middle of the disc golf off season, when people train indoors,” Matti says.

“The training hall is generally always full from December to March.”

Pioneers from Finland

So far, users have been happy with the simulator.

“Even though the technology is not at the same level as in a golf simulator, our simulator does provide noticeable benefit and additional information instead of, say, just throwing discs into a net with a sensor.

“Many people say that the simulator is addictive and that they could spend several hours in it.”

Matti says that the simulator allows players to practise throwing discs, whereas before in the training hall they mostly threw discs at the net and practised putting, short throws.

“Throwing used to be very challenging in indoor training halls, because top players could throw discs 200 metres, and there were no halls like that anywhere.”

Matti says that disc golf originated in the United States, where there are the most players. Finland comes a good second.

“We have pioneers of the sport, such as Jussi Meresmaa, and a lot of amateur players.”

The tax figures published on Thursday 7 November showed that Meresmaa, who sold his company, Spin18, had an income exceeding €15 million.

Matti says that the number of disc golf enthusiasts has also grown in Sweden and Denmark, as well as in Estonia, the home of the world’s current best female player Kristin Tattar. In Central Europe, by contrast, the sport is slightly less well-known.

Kiekkokingi’s goal for the future is to increase foreign sales. Disc golf’s popularity in Finland has declined somewhat since previous years, whereas elsewhere it has grown.

“For example, we’ve increased our market share in Sweden a lot in a short time. Maybe at some point we’ll want to sink our teeth into a larger market, North America,” Matti says.

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