Meet Powergrip USA

Powergrip has been in the disc golf industry since 2009 when we started business in Finland. Since then, we’ve slowly grown to be Europe’s number one disc golf retailer and now have our sights set on the United States. 

We launched Powergrip USA this past June and the support since has been wonderful, and we’re grateful for those like you who have been a part of things. We will get into some of our plans, but we first wanted to tell a bit of our story… and, yes, while we do want to share it, we also wanted to document things for ourselves. 

Leading the Way

Powergrip USA is led by two individuals with an extensive disc golf background: Erno Väyrynen and Zach Parcell. 

Erno was one of the five original members to founded Powergrip in June 2009. He was hesitant at first and questioned the rationality of selling disc golf gear in the “middle of nowhere” — or, what others call, Northern Finland. A co-founding partner, Pasi Laukkanen, told him to drop the analytical mindset for once and give it a shot. And that’s precisely what they did. 

As business grew between 2009-2013, Erno quit his IT career and jumped into Powergrip and disc golf full time. It was during this time when he was also designing DiscGolfParks in Finland. He was soon approached with an opportunity to move to the United States and establish the US operations for Discmania. 

Long story, short, Erno took the opportunity and moved his life to California, where he spent the next five years helping get Discmania USA going. 

Meanwhile, Zach, on the other hand, got his start with disc golf in 2011 and soon started the website All Things Disc Golf in 2012. Over the next four years, All Things Disc Golf grew into the largest independent disc golf sites. While Zach built relationships with nearly every disc golf company at the time, many were also great supporters of the site. They’d provide discs for reviews, giveaways, and more. Plus, Zach provided a lot of insight into the touring professionals with regular interviews with all the top names. 

During this time, Erno reached out to Zach while he was at Discmania. In fact, Zach still has a copy of this email of when the relationship started. This led to a friendship beyond just the working relationship. They worked together on the initial Disc Golf Pro Tour and other events. 

All Things Disc Golf took a back seat when Zach’s son was born. Priorities were changing, and he wanted to focus on family. 

One Saturday afternoon, Zach got a message asking if he’d be up for a conversation with Erno in the coming days. Once they connected, Erno wanted Zach to join Discmania in a content marketing role. It didn’t take long for Zach to be convinced to join and over the next three years, Zach helped craft the voice and tone for Discmania’s website and was part of many of their marketing campaigns since 2018. 

When Discmania moved to Colorado, it was time for Erno to move back to Finland. Over the next two years, Erno worked for Discmania in Finland when an old friend had a question.

In late 2020, Pasi wanted to know if Erno was interested in coming back to Powergrip. This was now the second time when Erno had a decision to make. Over the next few months, Erno decided this would be a good move and in April 2021, he returned to what he started with their eyes set on expansion. 

Soon after Erno rejoined Powergrip, he was on the hunt for someone to help bring Powergrip to the United States. Erno’s search took him in many directions and soon led him back to Zach, asking if he’d be interested. A few months later, mainly due to the fact most of Finland likes to vacation in July, an agreement was reached, and the two were back together again. 

Combined, the two have leaned on their long-time relationships with disc golf companies around the world. When you factor in the additional relationships built by others in Finland, there is a great network to build on as we begin our US operations. 

We’re just a few months into this and have many things planned in the years to come. 

Supporting Cast

In the US, Zach and Erno are mainly joined by two individuals: Steven Greeneberg and Robert Hansen. Both Steven and Robert bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to help us maintain the top-level customer service that we strive to offer. 

If you’re ever needing help with an order, looking for something specific, or just want to talk disc golf, drop an email to support@powergripusa.com, and they’ll be on it in no time. 

What to Expect

Disc golfers in the United States have the luxury of so many options when it comes to disc golf shopping. In fact, many great options. We do feel we can build the best customer experience around. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve received so far, and we thank you for it. 

In the coming months, we’re working on many enhancements to our homegrown system to make it even better for disc golfers. 

We’ve introduced our $5.90 flat rate shipping as well. While every disc ships in a box at no additional cost, this flat rate shipping can be of great value for even just two discs in an order. Everything beyond that virtually ships free. 

If you order by 4 p.m. Eastern Time Monday-Friday, your order will go out the same day. Anything placed over the weekend will go out on Monday. 

Retail Store Plans

We do have plans for multiple retail locations throughout the country in the coming years. We wanted to get things started online to start and have a great warehouse in Bloomington, Illinois. 

For those in the central Illinois area, you can choose to shop online and pickup at our warehouse for free. 

Currently, we do not have a date set for our first retail space, but once we are ready, you can be sure we’ll spread the word. 

Just Getting Started

As we publish this, we are in month four of being online. We’ve barely made a dent in our roadmap. Continuous improvements are planned for the site where we strive to ensure things load quickly, discs are easy to find, and you can check out without any headaches. 

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get info on the latest release, upcoming promotions, and more. 

Your support means a lot. We’re genuinely grateful for it. We hope you stick around to see what is next.