Who are you?
Brandon Kawai. Owner and Creative Director of @merrillgolf. Co-owner of @golfandwineclub
I make clothes, play golf, and drink natural wine. And that’s about it.
What’s golf to you?
Golf is the most fun thing you can do outside. To me it’s a great way to unwind and not worry about what’s going on outside of what shot you’re hitting next. I played baseball my entire life but stopped after high school. I had an extra unit to take in college and my school had a golf class so that’s where i picked up golf. Been hooked ever since. There’s something I love about trying to master a really hard sport.
Target handicap?
Single digits.
Favorite golf course?
Trump National LA is great but I also love walking a twilight round during the week at Newport.
Favorite item in your bag?
My old Vokey 60 degree wedge. Best club in my bag. Also love my MNML collab bag.
Shoutouts?
Shoutout to anyone that supports our brand or has shown up to any of our events! And shoutout to the @parisgolfgallery team for putting together a great showroom and community space during Paris Fashion week. It was great to catch up with you guys there along with the rest of the gof community who showed up. It still blows my mind there’s enough people into golf that there’s an entirely golf centered showroom during fashion week. The energy and people in the industry is truly special. Like Pierre says “Golf is the new skateboarding”, I can feel it. I was the kid growing up skating and watching brands like The Hundreds, Diamond, and Supreme build community on Fairfax. I don’t think anyone knew what was going on but it felt important and it was all centered around clothes. The energy in the golf community feels similar to that era of streetwear.
Photos: @brandonkawai @filmdotorg – @itsthedatchi – @damndre – @padronsmoker
