By Cassell Ferere originally published on Forbes.com

Golf is a sport you can play at any age. Golf is a sport you can play no matter your ethnicity. But golf has never been a game for youth-filled, street-style kids. Eastside Golf is here to change all of that. With their first-ever collaboration, Eastside Golf has partnered with the Jordan Brand, creating Air Jordan Retro IV sneakers with spiked soles for peak golf performance. Beginning Friday, July 23, 2021, there will be a raffle for access to purchasing on the August 7 drop.

Eastside Golf is a lifestyle apparel brand that bridges youth and street culture with the traditions of golf. The traditional golfing aesthetic is combined with the eclecticism that exudes from the founders Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper. These two Morehouse College alumni have established their presence in the golfing community as a top PGA teacher in Cooper, and Ajanaku as a PGA minority champion.

Ajanaku started playing golf at the tender age of six in his hometown on the Eastside of Atlanta. He would ultimately garner a scholarship to Morehouse College. Cooper would start out caddying at the local country club in his hometown of Delaware. Both of the golf enthusiasts would meet and bond in college over a genuine love for the sport of golf. But, it’s unlikely they would have thought they could make it a career and advance beyond the yard of their Alma mater.

\Ajanaku originally founded the brand while living in Detroit. Ajanaku says, “I was raised in golf - middle school, and high school. I ended up getting a scholarship to Morehouse College, and that’s how I found Earl. In college, we won the National Championship in 2010. [We’re] used to winning together.” The duo would be establishing the network they needed for each other in those moments.

Ajanaku can recall his pro career starting, “after college [Earl] went his route to PGA professional [teaching]. But, I turned pro in golf after college. I did that for two years. I won a couple of mini-tour events, so I do have some professional wins under my belt. But, it got to the point that I couldn’t afford golf anymore. It’s an expensive sport, and as far as playing professional golf, you need about $100,000 to $150,000 to sustain [your career].”

Ajanaku grew frustrated with the mundane duties of office work. He says, “I took my professional route - my major was accounting. I was in commercial finance for about nine years. I was about to become a VP at a finance firm out in San Diego. It got to a point [where] I got home [one day] and was just like, ‘this ain’t it.’ I wanted to play golf. I knew I wouldn’t find sponsors, it was going to be tough.”

In keeping his spirits up, Ajanaku dove into his passion and leaned onto himself. “I just made a logo. The logo that you see, jeans, sweatshirt, and [gold] chain, it was supposed to just be me. Putting it on my polo and my bag. I showed it to Earl and he said, ‘put that on a t-shirt,’ ” Ajanaku remembers him saying…

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