By Marty Henwood (January 2010)
Not all that long ago, James Lepp was the heir-apparent in Canadian golf.
The first Canadian to win the NCAA national individual championship, which he pulled off back in 2005. Four B.C. amateur titles. Two Canadian Tour wins – one as an amateur – by his 24th birthday.
Now, essentially out of the game – at least in a competitive sense - by his mid-20’s.
Golf world, see you later.
Promise unfulfilled? Not even close.
Business world, meet James Lepp, President and Founder of Kikkor Golf, a hip new Vancouver-based footwear and clothing label.
Part surfing. Part boarding. All golf.
Once tagged as Canada’s Next One, the laid-back Lepp has put the clubs in the proverbial closet to focus his energy – and, trust me, there is plenty of it – on his new business, which will officially see liftoff later this spring.
For those of us over 30, here’s a quick, albeit vital, lesson in Kikkor 101. In any board sport, a jump is called a “kicker” and the younger generation tends to call their shoes “kicks.” Hence, the unique name, Kikkor - with an even more unique slogan.
"Are you still wearing your Dad’s shoes?”
“I came up with it simply by looking at what we younger players have been forced to wear for way too long,” Lepp says of his motto. “Now with Kikkor, you don’t have to. It’s all about being yourself out there, and especially not your Dad!
“Somebody telling you that you dress like your Dad is insulting,” he laughs. “Nobody wants that look, but when you’re forced to dress like that, what else can you do? Finally, you are no longer forced.”
Less than five years ago, Lepp was seemingly on top of the golf world – at least in amateur circles – with that historic NCAA national championship.
Two years prior, at 19, he became the first amateur in seven years to win a Canadian Tour event when he put on a dominating performance, winning the Greater Vancouver Classic in his own backyard. For good measure, he won another Canadian Tour event in Vancouver, this time as a pro in 2007.
The kid, as the saying goes, had some serious game.
No wonder so many were shocked when Lepp essentially walked away from the game by the time he was 26. But it wasn’t quite that simple.
Lepp felt he wasn't making up any ground in his ascent towards the PGA Tour. Compounding his troubles at the tee was his battle with the yips – an involuntary flinch at impact that caused Lepp to routinely lose control of his shots and putts.
Lepp knew a goodbye to competitive golf was coming. No one else could.
“Sadly, with how I was feeling about my game a couple years ago, I almost needed something to force me to get out of the game,” he says. “I wasn’t 100% into it, often hating it at times. I realize that I’m quite young to be putting a potentially successful golf career on the backburner, but at the same time, I’ve been golfing for a long, long time – since I was four years old. Golf was really all I ever did.
“When you’ve been doing something that long, and then stop seeing the improvement and continued success, I guess it’s time. Kikkor was nicely waiting for me when I hit that point.”
For now, Lepp is focused on his business and not worried about missed cuts, missed putts, missed flights. Not all that long ago, he was a star-in-waiting, and perhaps still is. He had an IMG agent and a game most of us can only dream of.
Most forget, he also has a business degree, earned when he wasn’t putting up those dazzling numbers at the University of Washington and up and down the west coast.
And he refuses to pull any punches. James Lepp has always been that way, even back in those days not that long ago when he was steamrolling everyone in his path on the golf course. Ask a question, you know you’re going to get a rather candid, often colourful, answer.
“I suppose the “health” of my game was showing many flu-like symptoms…one of those flues that never goes away,” admits Lepp. “You know, I don’t know how much I really get out of making it to the next level, beating so and so on the golf course, heck, even winning tournaments.
“For me, golf gave me satisfaction when I learned something new, something that made me better and gave me enormous amounts of confidence. It was those times when I would go out there and win tournaments. As the years went on, those confidence instilling learning experiences became few and far between, resulting in a confident-less game and limited success.”
With Kikkor, Lepp has gained a new passion for business, the same passion he once held – and, to a certain degree, still does – for the game itself. Lepp admits he is learning about running his own business on the fly, but there is little doubt the kid could potentially be sitting on a gold mine. They just don’t make golf shoes like this.
As Lepp points out, Kikkor will be “awesomely different.”
“Well, I don’t know how airborne we are just yet, as it always feels like we’re just taking off,” he says of his new venture. “Things continue to evolve, and it’s a constant learning experience. It reminds me of the days of how golf used to feel in the good ol’ days.”
What about Lepp’s own professional playing days? Are they indeed over?
Rest assured, there is certainly no reason to do a post-mortem on Lepp’s brief career, at least not yet. He’s not ready to say he is giving up the game for good.
“Golf will always be there for me in some fashion or another, no pun intended,” he says. “I haven’t ruled anything out as far as my professional career is concerned. We’ll see what happens.”
Like everything else with James Lepp, he’ll take it as it comes. As always, he’s the same laid-back kid – only in funkier shoes.
For more infomation on James Lepp's new gig, visit www.kikkor.com
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