The story behind Matchstick's Old Fashioned cocktail golf ball marker

A good Old Fashioned is hard to beat, the perfect blend of sweet with a bourbon bite. It was probably repopularized in modern culture thanks to Don Draper in Mad Men — I know I certainly had nights where I turned on AMC and poured myself two (or three, or four) of the cocktail. Now the Old Fashioned has become one of my most popular markers, but many don't know the story behind it and how close to me it actually is.

We have to go back to 2016. I had taken four years away from golf, but had gotten back into it after a group couples trip to Suncadia for a birthday trip. One trip around Rope Rider, and I was hooked. In the group of friends was my guy Kyle, who ended up as my first modern golf buddy.

Fast forward to 2023, and Kyle and I had kept in touch even though I had moved back to Portland in 2018. Kyle knew about Matchstick, and wondered if I would be able to make a custom for him and a few other folks I knew who went on an annual golf trip up north.

Kyle described his vision for a ball marker to me over email:

"We have a bad habit of always drinking too many Old Fashioneds and smoking too many cigars on that first night before we start golf the next morning."

I worked through a couple designs; early iterations were more plain, without the smoke billowing off the cigar. Kyle gave me more direction off the early proofs, and we settled on a design similar to what you can buy today. I laser engraved the names of the participants, and they were on their way.

And then, I had a request for Kyle. Over the phone, I told him, "Hey man, I drew this too good. I need to sell it to the public."

Kyle laughed, said he understood my plight, and agreed. In situations like this, I still own the rights to all artwork, but it's best practice to ask first.

"Can you change some things about the one you sell to the public, so my group has the original?" asked Kyle.

I said of course, and we were off to the races. The Old Fashioned you can buy on our site right now is slightly different than the one the crew in Seattle has. It's slightly larger, the cherry is in a different place, the orange peel is a different size, and the ice cubes are arranged differently. Just enough to make them distinct, but still with that great Old Fashioned look.

So now, when you buy an Old Fashioned from me, you know it's not just something that I decided to make out of thin air. Just as it is with so many of my markers, there's a longer, often personal story behind it.

Next time you snag one, think of Kyle and his buddies smoking stogies and excitedly talking about the coming round the next morning over sips of bourbon, crushed sugar, and bitters.