One of the more interesting interactions during the 2021 Ryder Cup had nothing to do with the matches themselves. Rather, it involved an encounter between Dustin Johnson from the American squad and Paul Casey of the Europeans – and a piece of equipment DJ was wearing around his waist.
It was a navy blue pouch, and Casey wondered what purpose it served. Johnson suggested that the Englishman check it out. And when Casey did, inserting his right hand into the muff, a look belying both surprise and satisfaction crept across his face. Why? Because the inside of the pouch contained a heating element that instantly warmed the golfer’s hands and made that late September morn on the shores of Lake Michigan feel a little less nippy.
Johnson was sporting the Heated Pouch by G-Tech, a Canadian high-tech apparel company founded seven years ago in Calgary. The pouch was designed to keep professional athletes warm and has been used for years by Major League Baseball players as well as those in professional football leagues in the United States and Canada. Golfers also have become enamored with the product, which uses a lithium battery to heat a component within the muff, and so have hunters and fishermen who can find that the best weather conditions for pursuing their quarries often are the most adverse.
According to co-founder, president and chief executive officer Jesse Galvon, his company’s first big break in golf came when it supplied Heated Pouches to the U.S. team for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. “But the weather was unseasonably warm during those matches,” he said, “so, no one really needed them.”
Temperatures in Wisconsin this past fall were decidedly chillier at times, which is why Johnson used the product on Friday and Saturday morning of the matches. Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka and other Ryder Cup players did as well.
Casey’s reaction to the heat generated by the Heated Pouch spoke volumes about how well the product worked.