Eastside Golf Is Redefining Golf Culture and Opening Doors for Black Communities

Eastside Golf, the brainchild of Morehouse graduates Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper, is reshaping what golf looks like—and who it belongs to.

Launched with a mission to make golf more inclusive, the lifestyle and apparel brand has quickly grown into a major player in the sports fashion industry. From a flagship retail store in Detroit to high-profile collaborations with Nike and Jordan Brand, Eastside Golf is proving that golf and culture can co-exist in fresh and relevant ways.

“Our brand is for the masses,” Cooper told NBC News. That vision is reflected not only in their apparel line but in their efforts to break down barriers that have historically kept Black players out of the sport.

Taking Golf Back to the Community

For the past two years, Eastside Golf has been taking its mission directly to the greens through Community Days—events designed to introduce Black youth and families to golf in a welcoming, culturally rooted environment.

At a recent Community Day in Atlanta, the company bought out the Charlie Yates Golf Course and turned it into part-tournament, part-cultural cookout.

Free tee times, music, food, and first-time lessons created an atmosphere where father-and-son duos not only learned the game but also reclaimed a place in a sport where Black men were once relegated to caddies.

“We’re here to show that golf is about accessibility, not only to the golf course itself, but to people,” Ajanaku explained. “And that’s the strength of what golf is.”

From Rejection to Recognition

The founders’ journey is as much about resilience as it is about innovation. Ajanaku, once a collegiate golfer, faced more than 300 rejections while pitching himself as a professional player and later when pitching Eastside Golf.

“I started this brand because I was tired of being told ‘No,’” he said. “So why not take the entrepreneur route and sponsor myself? That’s when I created Eastside Golf.”

That determination paid off. The company reported over $10 million in revenue last year, and the brand continues to grow.