From Garage Dive to Golf E-commerce Champion: Rock Bottom Golf’s BigCommerce Journey

Background

Tom Rath began his journey as a teenage diver, plucking golf balls from water hazards and polishing them for sale. That early side hustle on eBay blossomed into Rock Bottom Golf, a company focused on outlet-style pricing and pre-owned gear. They experimented with Yahoo Stores for years but found themselves bumping against technical and scaling limits that slowed growth.

Challenges

By 2015, Rock Bottom Golf needed a platform that could flex with its ambitions. Yahoo Stores lacked advanced promotion tools, simplified catalog management, and integration options. The team also wanted to offer online personalization and an automated trade-in process. They compared Shopify, Demandware, Magento, and BigCommerce: Shopify’s integrations were too narrow, Demandware too costly, Magento too resource-intensive. BigCommerce emerged as the balanced choice.

Solutions

Migrating to BigCommerce opened a world of possibilities. The Stencil theme system allowed the marketing and design teams to revamp the storefront without relying on external developers. Using BigCommerce’s open API, Rock Bottom Golf built custom apps: a personalized golf ball module, a club customization tool, and a "Cash for Clubs" trade-in feature. Third-party integrations like ShipperHQ, Avalara, and Braintree streamlined shipping, tax compliance, and fraud detection. It was a huge step forward; now team members could focus on strategic growth instead of wrestling with platform limitations.

Results

Within 18 months of replatforming, Rock Bottom Golf saw significant gains. Average order value jumped by 22% as customers added ball personalization and trade-in credit to their carts. New user acquisition rose 27% thanks to improved site performance and targeted promotions. Overall site visits climbed 16%, driven by a modernized design, streamlined checkout, and SEO improvements.

The team continues to innovate: loyalty rewards built by Practical Data keep customers engaged, and marketing efforts around trade-ins guarantee top prices and fast credits. It’s not just a discount outlet anymore—it’s a dynamic, personalized shopping experience that keeps golfers coming back.

Looking Ahead

Rock Bottom Golf plans to deepen integrations, roll out more personalization features, and sync marketing channels to optimize conversion. With BigCommerce’s open SaaS approach, they see no ceiling to creative growth—whether that’s adding subscription boxes, launching international storefronts, or partnering with golf media for co-branded promotions. The journey from garage dives to industry leader continues.