After leaving a VP role, Iowa MBA grad Jared Doerfler bet on himself and launched a custom putter company that now ships worldwide — all from a growing production floor in the Hawkeye State.
Story: Chris Brewer
Photography: Tim Schoon
Published: Feb. 27, 2026
In January, Hanna Golf celebrated a “drop” of 24 custom putters online. They sold out in under two minutes.
The company, now based in Cedar Falls, Iowa, has delivered putters to golfers in 47 states and eight countries. But its founder, University of Iowa graduate Jared Doerfler, didn’t begin with stainless steel and computer numerical control mills.
He began with a newsletter.
After launching Hanna Golf in Iowa, UI Tippie College of Business alum Jared Doerfler has committed to building the company close to home. “We are manufacturing in Iowa, and we are creating jobs in Iowa,” he says. “We’re going to try to make a go of it.”
While pursuing a Master of Business Administration at the UI Tippie College of Business, Doerfler was encouraged to write online during an entrepreneur class. It’s the sort of thing that happens when you take business classes at the top-ranked public writing university in the country.
“I was not a good writer at all,” Doerfler says. “But the instructor said, ‘Hey, writing online will hold you accountable. You have to have discipline, and you have to take criticism from people you don’t know,’ so I started a newsletter call Perfect Putt.”
That newsletter helped Doerfler build an online audience, connecting with 11,000 subscribers and 25,000 followers on Twitter (as it was known then) each week. It also opened his eyes to something bigger.
“It was a ton of fun to write,” Doerfler says, “yet through that experience I said to myself, ‘I’d rather be in the business of golf than write about the business of golf,’ and so we started Hanna Golf.”
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A closer look at Hanna Golf’s handiwork
Doerfler left his job as vice president of sales and manufacturing for a company in Mason City, Iowa, in July 2023; within a year, he launched Hanna Golf. For the next 18 months, he committed to the putter company and learned how to run milling machines out of a 900-square-foot warehouse in Mason City.
Starting as a one-man shop, Hanna Golf eventually added one intern, Tyler Wolf, and received some publicity and a $15,000 bump from the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center after placing third at a 2025 JPEC Venture Competition.
Fast forward to 2026, and “Iowa’s Golf Company” has relocated to a 2,000-square-foot warehouse in Cedar Falls. Wolf, who Doerfler admits is “a way better machinist,” is now a full-time employee. University of Northern Iowa freshman golfer Molly Ratchford has joined the team as a marketing intern.
Doerfler says he’s never been more confident in the direction of Hanna Golf, and he is proud to build a business in Iowa. He’s from Mason City, completed his undergraduate studies at Northern Iowa, and earned an MBA at Iowa. He said his experience at Tippie took his path “to a different level,” and today he operates a business that is slowly, yet intentionally, producing a product that “feels right.”
“Going to high school and college here, and getting my master’s here, Iowa’s home for us,” Doerfler says. “And one thing that I truly love about Iowa, that I think is somewhat unique, is that Iowans are willing to support Iowans.
“We are manufacturing in Iowa, and we are creating jobs in Iowa. No one else is building a golf equipment business in Iowa. We’re going to try to make a go of it.”
From left, Tyler Wolf, Jared Doerfler, and Molly Ratchford represent the growing team behind Hanna Golf in Cedar Falls. Since launching in 2024, the Iowa-based company has expanded its production space, added staff, and sold out limited online releases in minutes.
