Aplington native expanding golf brand

Clint Peters is a self-described “golf fanatic.”

 “I grew up on a golf cart playing golf since I was young,” Peters said. “I've played thousands of rounds between the ARC, Beaver Meadows, played league there, Calcutta tournaments there, best shot tournaments. That's what's honed me for what I'm doing now."

Now, the Aplington High School graduate, who was part of the Panthers' "Final Prowl" before the school merged with Parkersburg and was on state basketball and golf teams, among his other sporting exploits, is taking that passion for golf and using it to make an impact back in his old stomping grounds.

In 2019, Peters decided to turn his love of golf into more than just playing the game, acquiring the Sniper brand of golf products and moving away from what was originally just a putter company.

"I've never met anyone who has lost two putters during a round of golf," Peters said, "so changing from putters to golf balls made sense.”

The Sniper brand will be available at the ARC in Aplington and Legend Trail in Parkersburg this year.

"This gets me back to where my roots are with a connection to the present," Peters said.

Peters added that he knows the small-town courses often don't have an easy way of replenishing their stock of balls without driving out of town to grab them from a store in Cedar Falls or Waterloo and hopes that he can help those courses stock what he feels are "affordable, top-tier" golf balls.

The first Sniper brand golf ball was released in 2020. 

“We expanded with our Tour Series golf balls in May 2021. In 2022, we have three golf ball lines that cater to every level of golfer,” Peters says. “We build our golf balls and recommend them by a golfer’s swing speed to maximize performance and align them with the best compression for their game.”

Peters says the Sniper Tour Series golf balls are three-piece balls offering tour level performance. 

“Tour Blue is recommended for swing speeds of less than 105 mph, and Tour Red for swing speeds higher than 105 mph,” he says. “In testing, our golf balls are performing incredibly well against the major brands and actually better than those balls in many statistics. Plus, ours are much less expensive than the major brands.” 

A golf ball for lower swing speeds is being introduced in 2022. 

“Our SS model golf ball is our low-compression, super-soft golf ball,” Peters says. “Unlike most super-soft golf ball competitors, this ball has the same urethane cover as our Tour Series balls. We believe this ball will be popular with players looking for distance but don’t want to lose greenside control. The manufacturer we chose is one of the best innovators in the industry and helped produce the core for Titleist golf balls for more than 20 years.”

Years of playing golf led Peters to create different packaging for his Sniper brand golf balls. 

“I hated trying to put a box of balls into my bag, and having empty sleeves in my bag and in every golf cart basket,” he says. “We designed our patent-pending tubes to hold six balls each. For the dozen, we hold them together with two rubber wrist bands. Companies, courses or charities can swap out and use their own bands.” 

Peters says the tubes have exceeded his expectations in popularity. 

“These slip right into the seam of your golf bag pocket, and you never have to toss empty sleeves away again,” he says. “Our tubes are sturdy, and when empty, are perfect for storing tees and valuables.” 

When Peters purchased Sniper in 2019, the former owner was donating a percentage of sales to charity. This practice has continued with a focus on military and first responder charities.

“We are fortunate to have one of our ambassadors be Jay Delsing. Jay played on the PGA Tour for 25 years and is a lifetime member of the PGA Tour. After playing our golf balls, he asked to join us, which was an unexpected surprise,” Peters says. “It’s a great asset to have his advice and blessings on our golf ball performance.” 

Delsing has been personal friends with David Feherty for more than 30 years and connected Peters to Feherty’s Troops First Foundation.

“When we do not have a specified charity from an order, we donate to Troops First,” Peters says. “We also have done events for the national Salute Military Golf Association and similar groups, both local and national.”

The company’s website is www.snipergolfballs.com. Besides golf balls, the website includes a new Tour Glove line introduced this spring that has exceeded expectations and has two pros looking to wear, a couple of hat designs and some ball markers. 

Peters says additional items soon will be available including shot glasses, cigar holders and ball markers, all made from Sniper golf balls. The 2022 Sniper balls will be released in April with the other new products available soon after.

Right now, the majority of Sniper sales are online. But for 2022, Peters says his golf balls will be available in about 20 retail locations and golf shops in five states in addition to the Parkersburg and Aplington locations, with the list where balls can be purchased in person growing steadily. 

Sniper also has become an official partner of the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour, which is the largest multi-day junior tour in the world. And Peters is finalizing plans to become the ball sponsor of the 4,000-player APT Tour.

Starting this year, Sniper will offer logo golf balls for company handouts, golf events or individual personalization. Peters says any businesses or golf events looking for logo golf balls can reach out to him at thesniperbrand@gmail.com for information, plus special pricing for Lake Panorama Association members. 

Peters and his wife, Kristi, currently own two lots at Lake Panorama where they plan to build a home. Their daughter, Kaitlyn, and her husband, Chase, who were married April 2 and had their reception at Lake Panorama National, already have a home at the lake. Their son, Coby, is a student at Iowa State.

The Eclipse News-Review's Jake Ryder contributed to this story.