Golf enthusiast Jim Millar's product making mark on history

Golf enthusiast Jim Millar's product making mark on history

If you're anything like The Heat Index, you've lost your share of golf balls over the years.They've not only disappeared into lakes, ponds and rivers, but lately The Heat Index even has had problems finding them on fairways and fringe.Perhaps it's just another sign of age and poor eyesight, but you know it's really getting bad when you start hitting someone else's ball.If you've ever done that, you know how embarrassing it can be.Fortunately golf lessons scotland, The Heat Index found a new product on the market to help cure that little problem. It's a ball-marking device called Tin Cup, and it not only helps you identify your golf ball - a USGA rule, by the way - it personalizes it with pizzazz.Created by amateur golf enthusiast Jim Millar, who runs a construction company in the Washington, D.C., area, the Tin Cup is a stainless-steel shell with a dizzying array of cut-out stencil templates.You can pick anything from a martini glass to a shamrock (the Heat's favorite). Then, you just grab a permanent-ink pen and fill in the blank.Priced from $17.95 for one of the multiple standard sets to $69 for a customized mark of your choice, Tin Cup is available online (tin-cup.com) and in hundreds of pro shops across America, including several Arizona golf courses and resorts.Reached on his way to work recently, Millar said his little invention is close to turning a profit in the short time it's been on the market."People really seem to love it," Millar, 53, said. "We get tons of requests each and every day."Millar, who carries a 2 handicap, came up with the idea while playing a round of golf with an elderly Irish gent. The man had trouble seeing, and to mark his ball he scribbled a giant initial on it."It was this big, ol' ugly 'R,' and I said to myself, 'Man, I would love for him to have his mark the same every time,' " Millar recalled. "So I got to thinking, and after making some calls, and doing some research we came up with the Tin Cup."Sure, you can take a Sharpie and make a few dots on your ball. But if want to be original and have some fun, give Tin Cup a try.The Heat Index ordered three and immediately passed out two of them as presents to his friends. And, yes, the shamrock one resides in our bag.But your options are almost unlimited. Tin Cup offers steely versions of a lit cigar, a shark, dogs, cats, palm trees, cactuses, a wine glass and the American flag Newest Golf News about Hunter Mahan. You can even use two or three colors with each marking device."There are so many options, we can do almost anything," said Cabell Fooshe, vice president of Tin Cup Products in Fairfax, Va. "We're working on licensing with professional sports leagues as well as some other pretty big corporate giants."Fooshe worked for Millar's construction company as a recruiting coordinator, but Tin Cup got so big in such a short time, he now helps run that business full time."Who knows how big we'll get?" Fooshe said. "I know we're working hard and making a name for ourselves. But there's international interest now, too. Canada wants to distribute, and we're talking to people in Europe and Japan as well."Just remember, though, if you happen to stumble across a Nike ball with a big, green shamrock on it, don't play it. It belongs to us and, sooner or later, we'll find it.