The 61st Delaware Open Championship took place Aug. 25-26 at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington.

Braden Shattuck of Rolling Green GC in Springfield, Pa., successfully defended his 2025 Open title in the 54-hole competition with an 11-under performance.

Cape Region golfers played well, led by Bear Trap Dunes’ Michael Chanaud and his T-6 finish. Jake Hollerback of Sussex Central, the 2025 DIAA state champion, finished 12th with a three-over total.

Several other locals made the cut, including Chris Gray and Jay Whitby of Rehoboth Beach CC, Aaron Williams of Bayside Resort GC, Chris Krueger and Eric Willey of Kings Creek CC, and Andy Hewitt of Cripple Creek CC.

When you don’t want to buy brand-new golf clubs

The next month or so is a great time to buy golf clubs.

You know your normal distances with each club and also which design features could help meet your needs, such as a driver that helps minimize a slice.

On the other hand, paying full retail doesn’t carry much appeal when you know club equipment companies will soon come out with their 2027 models.

Resellers such as Golf Roots and Second Swing use the power of the internet and great logistics to match players with clubs that might not be the latest models but will work just fine. They perform a valuable service for budget-conscious golfers.

I met Ben Stromberg of Golf Roots, a Dallas, Texas reseller, at the 2026 PGA Show. We discussed his company’s business and how it works.

“A lot of people are hungry for deals, and at the same time, they want to be proud of the clubs they play golf with and play with the best set possible. They don’t want to break the bank to do so,” Stromberg said.

Stromberg and a good buddy began their operation in 2020 by scavenging lost and founds at golf clubs and on Facebook Marketplace. The resale business took off from there, with the inventory coming from expanded relationships with club pros and golf course pro shops.

“The used clubs provided the capital,” he said. “I consigned clubs, used that capital to reinvest and buy inventory and then used cash flow to fund growth. That’s how we’ve done it.

“We have a whole team of four people that work directly with the golf courses. Sometimes lost and found that we buy from them, but the main thing we do is stock liquidation, demos, fitting clubs, things of that nature,” Stromberg said.

“We work with about 350 courses throughout the United States. The members bring their old clubs and trade them in for pro shop credit. We pay the club for the pro shop credit and ship the inventory back to our headquarters in Dallas. We make incremental sales for these courses who are providing great service for the members. We help them clear out their garages and then use those clubs to make the game more accessible for our business on the back end. It feeds itself,” he said.

“For many years, the big box retailers have been pulling business from the pro shop,” Stromberg said. “This helps them reclaim some of that. Pros are the lifeblood of the industry, so being able to help and support them is really important.” 

Stromberg said Golf Roots’ customers usually fit within three types.

“First are those who are just starting out and don’t want to pay a lot," he said. "We put together a nice basic set from our inventory at a low price. The second group are those making their first upgrade from the starter sets. We can fix them up with full sets, curated from $200 to $2,000, and it’s an easy purchase.”

“The third group are the folks who know what they want and don’t need a fitting to confirm their choice,” he said.

I am in that last group. I used Golf Roots to upgrade my driver, four-wood and hybrids to newer models of the same brand I have been playing for years. They were new clubs but not the latest editions, making the purchase price far more attractive. 

Stromberg has more ideas to expand his business model.

“We’re always trying to do new things for each of those groups,” he said. “We’ve worked into our website the ability for people to customize their grip, their shafts, length, loft, lie, all that, so that’s one of the big focuses as we continue to grow. How can we service all of our customers while also making it very focused for whoever’s on the website at that time.”

The company offers a limited range of shaft options.

“Our club builder has accounts and can get the shafts we need. We try to stick with a few different models to keep it fairly simple. It’s not a huge part of our business to sell the shaft specifically. It’s more of an add-on,” Stromberg said.

Company-provided shipping labels also help simplify the buying process.

If you know what you want, or are just starting out in golf, internet-based resellers are there to help.