Local inventor may have hit the jackpot

THE prototype of ‘Pocket Bunker’ looks like a golf ball with drilled holes and brush bristles sticking out like a weird hairdo – something a bored kid did in dad’s garage, for which he will probably be in trouble or, a school project gone wrong.

But appearances can be deceiving – especially for golf goofs like myself who thought a birdie was the feathered guy that leaves something on your windscreen.

Like many awesome inventions, the Pocket Bunker is an accidental discovery by local mechanical engineer, Conrad van Niekerk, that could possibly put him on the Famous South African Inventors map, along with the fathers of the Kreepy Krauly and Pratley’s Putty.

But what exactly is the Pocket Bunker?

Conrad had to first get over the hurdle of explaining it to me, starting with the term bunker.

I thought it was an underground hiding place for golfers, when their wives came looking for them with clubs and spades. Not even close.

The Pocket Bunker is a golf training aid, which loosely resembles a colourful octopus about the size of a McDonald’s toy.

It allows golfers to practice their bunker shots anywhere, any place and any time, without needing an actual sand bunker. Apparently the results are instant, turning golfers from zeros to bunker heroes in minutes.

Being an entrepreneur at heart, his first venture was installing putting greens with a maintenance contract.

He soon decided to change to artificial grass greens since it required little maintenance.

He imported and installed the first artificial grass green at his home, complete with a bunker (which I in the meantime established, was a sand pit) and enjoyed practicing at home.

While practicing his bunker shots, the sand kept landing on the green and had to be brushed off.

He started thinking about inventive ways for himself and other golfers to keep the sand from the green.

The first design was a ball with brush bristles.

He drilled the holes and sent it to a brush company in Pinetown to shoot in brush bristles.

He actually sold some of these out of the Pro Shop many years ago.

While practicing in his new sand-free bunker, Conrad discovered that the product was a good simulation of golf bunker shots, but that it lacked resistance of playing an actual bunker shot.

This was later overcome by changing the design such that the head of the sand wedge would engage with the playing surface when hitting the product at the correct spot.

Years of part-time development resulted in a much different, improved product – one that required full-time attention and dedication to get it ready for mass production.

That is when he resigned from Bell Equipment where he was a design engineer and went all in, with his wife Retha supporting him all the way.

Conrad obtained international intellectual property rights on Pocket Bunker. The final design is now in production in Cape Town, utilising the best materials money can buy.

Conrad now plans to export his magic product to players in America, Europe, the East and Australia.

Professional golfer John Dickson tested it out, was convinced from the word go that it works and decided to endorse the product.

Conrad produced his own marketing video with Retha as leading lady.

She debunks the myth that golfers’ wives think ‘tee’ is what you have with ‘scones.’

The Golf Digest and Tee & Sandwedges recently published articles on the Pocket Bunker.

For more information, have a look at www.pocketbunker.com or contact conrad@pocketbunker.com.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

For news straight to your phone invite us:

WhatsApp – 072 069 4169

Instagram – zululand_observer