Laurie Canter on hopping fences to play golf, investing and Dryvebox
English golfer Laurie Canter on the sport’s accessibility problem, his passion for business and investing in mobile golf simulator business Dryvebox.
Laurie Canter took the first steps towards a career in professional golf by hopping the fence to the public course across the road from his childhood home in Bath.
Twenty-odd years later he is in the running to win the European circuit and earn membership of the PGA Tour, but he hasn’t forgotten how he got here.
“We used to walk the dog across it [the course] and I used to sneak on when it was all shut. It was very accessible to go and knock a ball around it and play,” he tells City AM.
“I guess you only realise when you get older how lucky I was that I had that kind of access to the sport. That just isn’t the case for a lot of people in inner cities or for who golf means a fancy club with big gates and a strict dress code.”
Canter is passionate about improving access to golf – one of the reasons he has invested into the UK arm of Dryvebox, a mobile golf simulator business that has made waves in the US and Canada.
He was introduced to the product by friend Pedro Lemos, a PGA teaching pro who, together with business partners Stephen White and Rob Dargue, has brought it to Europe.
“One of the things I’ve always felt about about golf is – and this is changing, but – from an access point of view, you need to be at a golf club, which usually means joining, and especially for kids or people trying to get into the sport, they’ll then need golf clubs and lessons. It’s quite a complicated environment to experience it,” the 35-year-old says.
“I think that’s one part of the puzzle that the boxes can help with and can look to improve. I just thought it was a brilliant concept.”
Canter on business, TGL and life after golf
Canter takes an active interest in business and says he reads the financial press every day. He is also a backer of Xplore, an app that champions independent traders – “I’m passionate about not having a high street full of all the same shops” – but his investments are also designed to generate a return and he believes Dryvebox “definitely will”.
Golf simulators have been given a huge shot in the arm by the success of TGL, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s arena-based golf competition.
“I’m on the side of people who think it’s been a great addition,” says Canter. “You can see all the interaction. You can see how they go about shots, their planning procedure, all things we don’t really get from watching golf on the telly.”
TGL matches last around two hours and that pace makes simulator golf more appealing for the time-poor, he adds.
“The way the world’s going, people want a faster experience. A lot of people don’t necessarily have five, six, seven hours to go and play a full round of golf. But I think people can commit to playing 18 holes in an hour, which is possible with a simulator.”
Canter is currently in the form of his life, with two wins on the DP World Tour in the last 18 months earning him debuts at the Masters and, this month, the US Open.
Third in the order of merit only to McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton, he will get a PGA Tour card for the first time if he finishes in the top 10, while a Ryder Cup debut remains a possibility.
He credits that improvement in part to his time on the LIV Golf circuit and seeing up close how top pros operate – the lucrative Saudi-backed tour didn’t hurt his investing potential either, although he says it wasn’t the catalyst – but, he points out, he was already trending upwards.
And despite coming into his prime he is already thinking of his future, perhaps even in the City.
“I’d like to make myself as employable as possible,” he says. “We’re only here once and I think it would be something I’d love to have, a career after golf.
“I could put my mind to something else, build relationships – all that kind of stuff – which does genuinely interest me. We’ll see, hopefully I can nail the golf for a few more years.”