Meet the PGA TOUR's custom ball marker maestro

Golf is a game of personal intricacies, perhaps best exemplified for golfers of all skill levels through the act of putting. From deciding on a putter to the vast, varying personal effects used to mark one’s ball, the sport’s most customizable features come to life on the green.

Enter Jon Millman, the father of custom ball markers used by Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and more of the PGA TOUR’s biggest names.

Through a love for golf and an insatiable boredom during the isolative months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Millman stumbled into a passion that has connected him with golf’s biggest names.

This is how it happened.

Before the pandemic, Millman, a financial planner and golf nut, would spend up to five days a week at his nearby home course. Millman’s haunt happens to be a little public track at Bethpage State Park, specifically the Black course. Once the pandemic took over, tee times at Bethpage were cut in half, disrupting his typical weekly golf routine. Millman decided it would be proper to fill his empty course hours with a golf curiosity he had always held.

“You know I always see these guys banging wedges,” Millman told PGATOUR.COM. “I’m gonna start customizing my wedges for me and my son.”

Off he went equipment-shopping, with money typically going towards the State of New York’s Parks and Recreation department burning a hole in his pocket. Metal stamps, anvils, hammers and copious scrap metals and more were ordered to the Millman residence.

“It’s really hard to do wedges. I wanted to practice, so I started buying scrap metal and stamping that,” Millman described.

Channeling the roots of his home state, Millman didn’t have any trouble deciding what to emblazon on his first prototypes.

“As a New Yorker, most of the stuff when I started was ‘F you,’ ‘F off,’ and ‘F bogeys.’ I don’t know why; that’s just where I started,” Millman said. “Starting putting that on ball markers and handing them out around Bethpage just to my friends.”

They were a hit, and soon Millman was told he should start selling his new accessories to accommodate the large influx of requests. An online shop was started, and the ember turned into a fire. Orders from locals turned into orders from strangers across the state, across the country and even across the ocean.

Around two months into his online shop cutting its digital ribbons, Millman received his first order from the UK from former professional golfer and current Sky Sports analyst Rob Lee. Millman received Lee’s order of one ball marker, along with a large sum in international shipping, and decided to send him a few more upon recognizing the name.

Lee loved the trinket and decided he wanted to buy some custom markers for his co-worker, 2002 PGA Championship winner Rich Beem. As the story goes, Beem received a bevy of inappropriately stamped markers and was so tickled he ordered his own mass quantity of which he passed out to DP World Tour players, NBC commentary Paul McGinley and other constituents.

Fast forward to the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, with Beem enjoying drinks alongside close friend Tommy Fleetwood, who was desolate after an opening-round 75. As Millman retells it, Beem had a generous offer to flip Fleetwood’s fortunes: “Tell you what, why don’t I give you my lucky ball marker?”

Fleetwood deployed Beem’s custom marker to the tune of a second-round 63, missing the cut by a stroke but gaining a good-luck charm.

“I’m not giving you back your marker,” Fleetwood told Beem, much to his dismay. The story was relayed to Millman, who immediately got to work on custom markers for Fleetwood.

“Rich (Beem) tells me if I make markers for big-name TOUR pros, he will put them in the hands of whoever I make them for,” Millman recalled, excitement prevalent through his New York accent.

“I’m like, holy crap, I have a week to make ball markers for all of my heroes.”

Fleetwood’s markers were adorned with the crest of Everton Football Club, his favorite team. McIlroy’s markers were stamped with the name of his daughter Poppy, along with her birthday.

Millman’s markers have continued to make their way around the TOUR, becoming commonplace on greens from The Rivera Country Club to Quail Hollow Club and everywhere in between.

Over the years, Millman has kept a keen eye on PGA TOUR LIVE featured groups, by his discovery the best channel to find which players are putting his markers in play. This season, he has discovered his work in the pockets of Lee Hodges, Wyndham Clark, Tom Kim and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

Millman’s future goals are simple: “I want to become the Scotty Cameron of ball markers for the TOUR.” Audacious, maybe, but it is that bold spirit that put Millman in the position he is in today.

His story is a testament to creativity, passion and the personalized touches that continue to make golf special.

You can find Millman’s work on Instagram @GolfLifeMetals or at GolfLifeMetals.com.