SEBASTIAN
ASCANIO

I got into golf the summer of 2021 and immediately noticed a problem: I kept showing up to the course alone. Finding the right people to play with was harder than it should be. That fall, I started my master's in Product Development and Entrepreneurship at Florida State and turned that frustration into Patron Golf.

By June 2022, the app was live. We had real momentum, but not the capital to sustain it. Instead of walking away, I made a decision that changed everything: I would learn the golf industry from the inside out.

I worked at two golf courses simultaneously in Maryland, a muni and a semi-private, early mornings and late nights in the pro shops and cart barns. Then I connected with TaylorMade, working my way from associate fitter to account management to running mobile pro shops. That path led to the PGA TOUR, where I worked across the biggest events in professional golf.

I also pay close attention to how premium brands show up in sport. When my girlfriend competed for Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics, I experienced world-class brand activations from Therabody, Oakley, and Omega firsthand. Between that and the sponsorship activations I saw across PGA TOUR events, I've developed a sharp eye for what makes a brand resonate with the right audience.

Now, with that perspective, I'm building Patron Golf into something bigger: a platform that helps private clubs strengthen member connections with less work from their staff. The mission is the same. The approach is sharper.