THE 10TH HOLE INTERVIEWS THE ORIGINAL COMMISH — DARRELL DEVANEY

Welcome to the 10th hole, Spark’s new blog to keep you updated on everything Spark. Each round we’ll interview cool people with 9 holes of questions. Just like our leagues, the 10th Hole will keep it fun and social with the occasional penalty stroke. Let’s Spark it up with round 1!

Round 1’s interviewee needs no introduction for most of the Orlando-based Spark community. For the new Spark leagues and communities, this is the man who started it all. The Original Commish, Double D, Darrell DeVaney.

Hole 1 — Who is The Original Commish?

The Original Commish is me, Darrell DeVaney. The guy that lit the first Spark. I’m a 42-year-old husband and father of three who started the original Spark Golf League in 2003 called the TCOB (Taking Care of Business) League. I’m also Founder & Chief Wealth Architect of F4 Wealth Advisors in Winter Park, FL.

Hole 2 — Tell us about the first TCOB league in 2003. Did y’all have metal clubs yet?

I’m sure there were a few hackers out there who did not! The first year we had about 40 guys who all had some sort of connection through each other’s social circles. In the past, we all played softball or flag football together and wanted that same group organization and fun on the golf course. We also thought it was a great opportunity to help expand our businesses and careers in the local community.

Hole 3 — What was the playing format?

Honestly, it’s not much different from the format we use for Spark today. We had 2-person teams playing a handicapped game to earn points each round that culminated into winners at the end of an 8-round season. The big difference was — at that time, I tracked every round, every score on a coffee-stained spreadsheet. Wish I had kept that for some TCOB memorabilia!

Hole 4 — So what happened through the mid-2000s?

It started getting bigger every summer. 40 players turned to 60 turned to 72 which maxed out the 9-hole shotgun at the local track we played at in Orlando. At this point, we had enough demand to take the other nine and eventually grew it to 240 players. The cool part was it all happened via word-of-mouth. Guys would tell other guys about their great times and those buddies would want in.

Hole 5 — And you were running this while operating your real business full-time?

Ha, yeah. It got so big that I felt responsible to keep it going. When I would see guys in the off-season, they’d tell me how they couldn’t wait for April, and they have 4 more friends signing up this year. That was when we rebranded to Social Golf Leagues (SGL) and became more “technologically advanced” with a website for registration and scoring. We had 240 guys in two 120-player leagues so we needed to start treating it like a real business.

Hole 6 — Why was SGL so successful?

We never took ourselves too seriously. We wanted the overall experience to be great but never thought of the league as a “golf” league. It was a social league first. A league night twice a month where the guys could come hang with friends or business partners and maybe meet a few new ones. Players did compete and win, but it was social first and golf second which I believe appeals to both the recreational and avid golfer.

Hole 7 — What’s your handicap?

Like real USGA handicap? I don’t have one, but I know I get 7 Spark Strokes in each league round which I desperately need. I shoot in the mid to high 40s which is about average out here.

Hole 8 — How’d SGL become what we know today as Spark Golf?

Through SGL play I met some of the founders of a golf-tech company called Epic Golf. They were testing the waters with some different non-golf centric events and shorter round tee time options. We hit it off due to our similar outlook on golf and desire to keep it more fun and social. This led to Epic and SGL teaming up in 2017 under the brand name Spark Golf which provided new league technology in the form of a “fantasy football” like app experience to the SGL players. We also took the Spark concept outside Orlando to 5 other cities.

Hole 9 — What’s next for Spark Golf?

Coming off a successful 2017 where we operated 23 leagues in 6 cities for about 800 golfers, it’s time to expand and make the league experience even better. We hired our first full-time employee in November and have secured inventory for more than 100 leagues across 60 cities. The Spark mobile app is being enhanced to offer features like sub functionality, scoring/handicap tracking and more. Should be a great year for our Spark golfers across the country!

Keep your eyes peeled for Round 2 of The 10th Hole where we’ll Spark it up with 2018 WP9 Summer League Champ, Steve Davey, to discuss his Davey Slam and being #whitebeltfree for 406 days & counting…

Join your golf league and Spark it up!