Daily News:
Sometimes inspiration for starting a business venture just shows up where you might least expect it.
For Randy Herron, what he developed into a lawn game known as “Ring It! Golf” started with a visit to Greenville, N.C., eight years ago.
As so often happens in college towns, the Herrons found themselves in a neighborhood of rental properties where Friday night meant a fair amount of partying.
The next morning, Randy Herron recalled, he was out “assessing the damage” in the neighborhood when a car went buy tossing big plastic rings of some sort out onto the lawns. Turned out they were promoting the Espresso Cafe. Because Herron seemed to be the only one out and about in the early morning light, he collected 12 of the rings, just for fun.
The rings wound up sitting in his garage for another four years. Just before they left Maryland to relocate to Niceville, the Herrons held a “second retirement” and 60th birthday party for Randy. He broke out the rings, combined numbers printed on computer paper with bamboo sticks and Ring It! Golf was born.
Ring It! Golf’s first 1,000 sets include 250 “pro” sets. The game is played over 18 holes instead of nine and the rings are heavier so they can travel farther. The flags can be placed as far as 100 yards apart while keeping a par-3 format.
Photo by Ring It! Golf, Inc..