As a freshman, John Farrell ‘26 set himself a lofty goal: launch a product on Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer. After three years of hard work and some hard knocks, Farrell has succeeded with his invention, the J. Tyler Golf Divot Tool. The 6-in-1 tool is akin to a Swiss Army Knife for golfers, combining a divot fixer, fidget spinner, club rest, groove cleaner, alignment tool and ball markers in one innovative tool. From product development to marketing, Farrell says Prep played a big role in his success – so much so that he’s donating $1 of all September sales to The Prep Fund.

How did you come up with the idea for a divot tool?

"My freshman year, I was always thinking about selling products on Amazon. After school in the back of Hanley, I’d browse Alibaba (the sourcing app) for inexpensive goods. I came across TI-84 calculators for pennies on the dollar, and spent my summer salary on them. Before I knew it, the sketchy vendor was asking for more and more money until I realized it was a scam. The disappointment swallowed me. My mom finally said I had two choices: give up or use the experience as motivation to start fresh. I enrolled in a course on how to properly sell on Amazon, did product research, and came across golf divot tools. After checking the market for volume and profitability, I began designing a tool with friends and family. I sent the final sketches to someone on Fiverr who spent six months creating computer imaging – only to deliver them in the wrong format. Finally, I brought the images directly to the manufacturer. After the first and second samples failed, the third was perfect and we used it for a mold. From that mold, we produced 1,000 tools, which are now available on Amazon."

How hard was it to get a product on Amazon?

"The Amazon website is so intuitive, you’d assume the seller portal would be as well. Unfortunately, it was very confusing to navigate the different sections, given the number of them. Thankfully, I had experience creating a listing from the calculators, which made the process a little easier. The course also went into great detail showing the step-by-step process for listing the product. The last hurdle was prepping the products for shipping, which got really complicated because of the tariff confusion."

How did Prep play a role in your product?

"William Ming ‘26 was my main photographer and videographer. You’ll see his shots all over my website and on Amazon. We also used Prep facilities including the photo/art room, and of course, the golf course!"

Congratulations to John, an inventor and entrepreneur!

Purchase the J Tyler Golf Divot Tool today on Amazon.