Jared Doerfler - August 2025 Entrepreneur of the Month
The NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center and North Iowa Area SBDC are proud to announce Jared Doerfler of Hanna Golf in Mason City, IA as the August 2025 Entrepreneur of the Month.
Jared Doerfler has built a career around persistence, creativity, and a love of golf. A former collegiate player at the University of Northern Iowa, Jared first encountered the putter design that would inspire his business, Hanna Golf, while playing for the UNI Panthers. His coach loaned him a prototype putter used on the professional tour, but after graduation Jared had to give it back. “I spent years searching for that putter online and could never find it,” Jared said. “After about 10 years I finally thought, why not try to sketch it myself and see if we could make it?”
With the help of his brother-in-law, an aerospace engineer, and a friend who owned a machine shop, Jared created his first prototype. Though the putter itself was flawed, the process sparked a deeper interest. “I enjoyed the process so much that it made me really curious about the putter space,” he said. That curiosity grew into Hanna Golf, a company that designs and mills custom putters in Iowa using CNC technology and 303 stainless steel.
The decision to leave his career and pursue innovation full-time came in 2023. Jared bought a CNC mill, quit his job, and committed to building the business, despite having no machining experience. “I had never seen a CNC mill before I bought one,” he said. “I’m a salesperson by trade. I had to teach myself CAD, CAM, and how to operate the machine from scratch.”
The first months brought excitement, but also strain. “There were a few times I thought about selling the machine and just going back to work,” Jared admitted. “A W-2 job is easier most days than doing this.” But the breakthrough came with perseverance and an early partnership with Bridgestone Golf. A collaboration on 12 limited-edition putters sold out in 10 minutes. “It wasn’t about the money,” Jared said. “It was about brand validation. For a new company entering a market with established players, it was huge.”
Jared also found support through the NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center & North Iowa Area SBDC with business mentorship from SBDC Director Brook Boehmler and connections to local business resources. Jared worked with NIACC’s internship program and recruited Tool & Die program student Tyler Wolf, hiring him as Hanna Golf’s first full-time employee upon graduation. “The business probably wouldn’t be alive today if I didn’t have Tyler’s help,” Jared said. “And having people like Brook [Boehmler] in my corner has been important. You need people who are rooting for you.”
Now, Jared measures progress through steady, attainable goals. Weekly and monthly targets focus on production and product development. “In competitive golf, we used to say you can’t control everything,” he said. “You just need to control the process and let the results speak for themselves.”
For other entrepreneurs considering a leap, Jared’s advice is straightforward. “You really need to burn the bridge at some point if you’re going to do it,” he said. “I’d rather give this a go and fail than never try at all.”