The Whips Story

It all started with an annual backyard game in the neighborhood; Cornhole & Crafts. A friend and neighbor made cornhole boards and sold them at local craft fairs. The men would gather in the backyard and play a blind draw, double elimination game of cornhole (maybe with some adult beverages, too) while the wives would be inside making crafts out of wood and decorating with vinyl cutouts from a Cricut.

The first year was so much fun and I walked away with a little homemade wooden trophy. Some of the guys were competitive but we all had fun. The second year we knew what to expect and I practiced some with a set of the boards I bought from the same neighbor – but still using the local sporting goods store’s thick duck cloth bags made with huge beads and, in some cases, real corn. I had no idea there were “Pro” or “Competitive” bags or even that there was a slow side and a fast side. I put up a good showing and came in 2nd the following year while being paired up with another neighbor that was starting to take it seriously too.

Unknowingly by the next weekend we had both ordered our first real set of bags. I saw a social media ad for a high school football team trying to fundraise with a cornhole tournament. We signed up and took the wives and kids thinking we had a chance with our new “Pro” bags. It was like we took the red pill in the Matrix – our eyes had been opened up to the truth and we completely got our butts spanked 21-0 in back-to-back games. Turns out our first pairing was against our local professional that was in North Carolina the prior week getting his ACL Pro card.

We also had our first introduction to Scoreholio (download the app if you haven’t – it literally is a game changer). Regardless of the spanking, we were hooked and had already signed up for another local charity tournament (Bumblebee Foundation). This was bigger than the first with 3 levels of competition and well over 100 participants. We saw a lot of the same people from the week prior and began talking and learning more about bags, break-in process, technique, etc. I was more than hooked after this and the wife now calls it an addiction.

Within six months I was playing 3+ nights a week and becoming part of the cornhole family. I am fortunate to live close to 4 local clubs (Cornhole Idaho, Treasure Valley Cornhole, Cornhole Unlimited, and Down ‘N’ Back Cornhole) that are filled with great people who love the game, with skills ranging from highly competitive to the social players that just love the community. I found myself buying more and more bags, playing with other people’s bags and started looking into the business to occupy some of my downtime and supplement my new habit.

For those of you that know me, I can’t sit still and need to be doing something. We tossed around some ideas that would hopefully catch on and be unique in a growing universe of bag manufacturers. We had a design contest for the logo and had multiple sets of test bags with different beads, sizes, and materials. It took almost six months before decisions were made but we finally have our bags. We expect there will be changes and additions as time goes by and new materials emerge.

So, if you play in clubs and tournaments that don’t require a “Stamp”, these just may be the perfect bags for you. Pro quality without the high prices and royalties assessed by some of the sanctioning bodies.