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Sheboygan Business On Par creates custom laser engraved golf course art

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‘There are 38,000 golf courses in the world, and I can play them all. So I have 38,000 potential golf course customers,” Bartell said.

SHEBOYGAN — Andy Bartell didn’t expect his laser engraving gig to turn into a business.

It started during the pandemic, first with cribbage boards and then with custom golf course cards, which he first made for a friend looking for a meaningful Father’s Day gift. Now Bartell is seeing a high demand for On Par Engraving’s laser engraved golf course artwork.

“It’s really amazing to be able to take the golf course and replicate it on a piece of wood,” Bartell said. “And this actually combines three things that I love. I like to work with my hands. I love golf, and I love cartography and map making.”

He has 20 years of experience in custom artwork and cartography, but to get the business off the ground he spent some time using Cedar Grove’s Laser Traditions Engraving & Gift laser and enrolled in the Sheboygan’s entrepreneurial training program County Economic Development Corporation, where he makes local business decisions, such as choosing the type of wood that would best suit his art.

“These are all things I’ve had to learn along the way,” Bartell said.

He uses cartographic software to send the desired map to a laser, which engraves the image into a piece of wood. Bartell then hand-draws and paints additional elements on the course, such as greens, fairways and sand traps. They can all be customized with a variety of details, such as a quote, anniversary date or special message. This can make any piece “more sentimental or personal,” Bartell said.

It can take two to two and a half weeks to create one engraved golf course map.

Bartell said he has engraved hundreds of golf courses from around the world, some in the U.S., such as the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, and the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.

There are personalized golf gifts on the market that people can take with them on the course, such as tees and golf balls, but Bartell wanted to offer something that could stay at home and hang on the wall.

“That’s why I started this company. I didn’t want golfers to have to buy the same thing,” he said.

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Bartell has a close partnership with Whistling Straits and offers various components of its Straits and Irish courses. He hopes to expand production capacity, adding more equipment and working with new maker spaces and golf courses.

“There are 38,000 golf courses in the world, and I can play them all,” Bartell said. “So I have 38,000 potential golf course customers.”

The possibilities for On Par Engraving are seemingly endless. Bartell said he can engrave “really anything” on wood because each piece is custom made.

He created an engraved runway map of Sundance Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for a pilot and a map of all the golf courses in Wisconsin. He can also create custom coasters, card stands and 3D laser art.

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Find On Par Engraving on social media and Etsy

Contact On Par Engraving on Facebook and Etsy and at https://www.onparengraving.com/ or [email protected].

Do you have a story tip? Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or [email protected]. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner.

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