Henry Pearson

Team Win.o

Henry Pearson

Henry is the Founder and Managing Director of WIN.O.

PDGA Number: 156559 | Rating: 958

Highest rated round: 1021 (R3, 2023 Brook Park Brave | Te Kuiti)

The story of WIN.O:

"April 2021: Burdened with a marginally concerning love for the game and a growing collection of discs, I entered every tournament I could since the turn of the new year. I was travelling up and down the country, playing disc golf every weekend, carrying my ~20 or so discs in a book bag I'd previously used to transport library books at university. The bag wasn’t too shabby, it was made of a durable rip stop fabric and had a little side pocket where I kept fruit and chocolate. A part of me thought I’d struck gold with my $15 tote, another wiser part of me suspected I was just riding the high of playing disc golf all summer.

During the final round of particularly rainy tournament in May 2022 the reality of my $15 tote hit me like a linebacker. It leaked, flooded, ripped and stained all at once. Come the end of the event, I'd lost 2 discs and a bag. Needless to say, my tote wasn’t fit for purpose and soon after I sought to buy a large disc golf bag that would stand the test of time. I surveyed the local retailers, only to find the bags were either overpriced, under-size or second-rate quality.

I’d always had an entrepreneurial spirit, having launched a garment printing business during high school before graduating and attending design college. I called upon my experience in design and manufacturing and set out to produce a bag of my own. I planned to produce a small run of half a dozen backpacks, sell 5 and keep 1 for myself at no cost. But when the samples arrived they were higher quality and more user friendly than I had anticipated - I sensed an opportunity to bring real value to customers in a niche but growing market. Thereafter, I worked closely with a manufacturing partner to tinker with the product. On Boxing Day 2021 launched WIN.O.

Our inaugrial release of large capacity disc golf backpacks sold out in a week and a half. We’ve since expanded our product offering, launched a new website, signed our pro team and released our second run of backpacks - the Classic ProPack and SnackPack.

It's a real privilege to have the backing of some of the best players and contributors to our sport here in New Zealand. The wonderful response we received to the announcement of our pro team is testament to their influence in their local communities - both for their calibre of play on the course, but also the manner in which they conduct themselves off the course. We’re very proud to be in their corner.

WIN.O (pronounced “win-oh”) is derived from ‘winnow’, an agricultural process of seperating grain from chaff on a wheat stalk. Grain is used to make all sorts of products, including cereals to breads, while chaff is the disposable part of the stalk that doesn’t have much utility. At the time I conceptualised the brand, I was quite taken by minimalism - I’d culled down my wardrobe and done all sorts of things to reduce clutter. Furthermore, I sensed it might be wise to apply a minimalist philosophy to the design process when designing anything from a website to a product or a work of graphic design. That is, to keep only what is necessary and useful (the grain) and dispense with anything unnecessary (the chaff). I always thought that philosophy could be applied to all sorts of products and markets under the WIN.O brand."

Favourite Course: Paradise, Glenorchy

Favourite Disc: Champ Firebird (for distance thumbers)

Achievements:

2023
3rd Place - 2023 Brook Park Brave | Te Kuiti

3rd Place - 2023 Middle Earth Open | Wellington

T3rd Place - 2023 Makaripi | Rotorua

Top 4 - 2023 Coastal Cup | Waitawa, Auckland

Top 5 - 2023 Paradise Plates

Top 10 - 2023 North Island Disc Golf Championships

2022
4th Place - 2022 Battle for Pae o te Rangi | Bethels, Auckland

Top 6 - 2022 Coastal Cup | Waitawa, Auckland

3rd Place - 2022 New Zealand National Disc Golf Championships (MA1)

4th Place - 2022 Makaripi | Rotorua (MA1)