All Collin County junior entrepreneur Tyson Lamb had was an idea, a dream and a passion, along with some dedicated family help, but after only a decade following his Allen High School graduation and a few years of being in business for himself, he has a fast-growing company and a unique niche in the golf business.
Lamb Crafted
Lamb and his mother Tana are the only two full-time employees of Lamb Crafted, a company born three years ago in Tana’s garage located between Allen and Lucas, producing custom putters and other golf accessories along with unique belt buckles and other metal items.
The growth has been so rapid that the company, which begun in the garage and eventually consumed three rooms in Tana’s house, was recently forced to move to a nearby warehouse. The move has done little to slow down the rush of orders to their website and other social media channels.
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“I’ve been working a lot of 100 hour weeks, but for the first time in my life I have a direction and a purpose,” Tyson said. “I’m 28, but I want to be the very best I can be. It’s exciting to see what I can do with these products.”
Tyson recently returned from the 2017 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, where he was featured on a Golf Channel TV Interview and was Named Best of Show by longtime industry source My Golf Spy.
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He traveled to Tokyo in late March to participate in the Asia Golf Show to broaden his international appeal.
“The first time I put my (last) name on a product last January, it made me very nervous because I wanted it to be perfect, but I want people to have their dream product and I have my hand on everything we make here,” he said.
The basic Lamb Crafted custom putter goes for $1,000 with models ranging upwards for $3,000 to $5,000, but business and customer loyalty has been brisk with more than 100 sold since they became available nationally through the website lambcrafted.com
“We have had other family help out sometimes, but 90 percent of the time it’s me and Tyson. I work the front counter and handle calls and orders and e-mail and Tyson is working in the back with a machine and doing the custom work,” Tana said.
“We take a lot of pride in what we do we do, all custom work, but we talk to each person and see what they want and give them their dream putter. We put 10-20 hours into each one.”
Lamb Crafted origins
Tyson grew up playing football and baseball in various Collin County leagues, but switched to golf for his final two years of high school. He played on the Allen Eagles golf team and played two years of college golf at Scottsdale Community College, where they won the national junior college golf team championship.
“When you play golf in high school and college you think you can play for a living, but when you see how good those guys are, you decide you can doing something else to be involved in the golf business. That’s what I wanted to do with the putters and golf accessories,” Tyson said.
“I don’t always treat this as a business, but as doing something cool and something people will like and enjoy.”
Tyson started out in college, carving his initials on his putters or wedges to give it a PGA Tour look. After two years at Scottsdale, he finished at Texas Wesleyan with a business degree and after graduation did various custom metal pieces for his original company Black Diamond Belts starting in 2011, producing belt buckles along with producing various car and motorcycle parts.
“It’s all custom, so if you want something unique, he can do it for you,” said Allen HS classmate A.J. Fischer, whose dad Stan is also in the golf business. “Tyson was always putting things on Instagram and they always looked good. I’d say he’s doing pretty well.”
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It wasn’t until 2013 Tyson crafted his first putter for himself, but the positive feedback from his friends and total strangers convinced him this was the successful direction to follow.
“When I started out, I noticed if I put a metal piece on Pinterest I would get 2-3 hits for what I was doing with a custom bit of metal or a buckle, but when I did a putter I would get dozens of hits so and I decided putters would the way to go.”
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The request for copies of custom putters like the one he had done for himself, not to mention putter headcovers, divot repair tool and ball markers along with other golf items with thousands sold meant the business quickly shifted into high gear.
“He decided this is something he wanted to do full time so I closed my mortgage company and decided this is something we would do,” Tana said. “I knew it would take off like this, but I never dreamed his claim to fame would be a custom putter.
“I’m not surprised that he has been successful, but I’m surprised it’s happened so quickly. Everybody knows somebody in the golf business and it seems like we do one thing and now everybody wants something.”
Among the colleges who have purchased custom Lamb Crafted divot tools and other golf items are Dallas’ SMU, the University of Southern California, Long Beach State and the new Trinity Forest Golf Club south of downtown Dallas, the new home of the PGA Tour’ Byron Nelson Classic in 2018.
“I’d like to think we are the Gucci of the putting world although we don’t tell that to everybody, we just want them to have their dream putter. Every day is a new day in our shop and that is something I really love,” Tana added.
As for helping their own individual golf games, both Lambs said that has been limited. Tana said the extent of her golf knowledge is driving a golf cart when watching her son and others on the golf course. Tyson said he was a bit burned out from his years of local high school and college golf, but is taking his first lesson in almost five years this spring.
“(California putting manufacture) Scottie Cameron already has done $150 million dollars of sales since he started, so there is no way I can compare to that now,” Tyson said. “I just want to continue to expand and craft things people will love and that I can impact. Something I enjoy and they will love.”
A drive, a dream and a goal from Collin County to the wide world of golf custom success.
