Tom Covino didn’t set out to develop a game-changing golf instruction product. His first love was baseball.
A native of Long Island, Covino played college baseball at St. John’s and once tried out with the Mets. When that didn’t pan out, he wanted to pivot his competitiveness elsewhere and settled on golf—a throwback to his many early weekend mornings spent among the masses parked outside Bethpage in hopes of a tee time.
“I’d get there at 4 and sit in the car, just like you’ve heard about,” he says. “We’d go eat at 5, then tee off around 7:30. All for $18.”
Bethpage’s prices have changed but Covino’s golf passion never wavered, and as he fully dove back in he was especially drawn to the art and science—and importance—of putting. He naturally viewed getting the ball into the cup as the game’s most significant task, and when he turned pro at age 30 he made the putting stroke his point of emphasis. Over the years he hung with Dave Stockton and also tinkered around and created a few training aids, including a gizmo called First Foot to help golfers start putts on line, and replica putting mats of Augusta National’s 12th and 13th greens—which ANGC remarkably signed off on for a bit before eventually reversing course.
Covino, who has been based in San Antonio for more than 30 years, continued to follow other sports even while growing his own coaching business. And over time he developed partnerships for his biggest bet that he is at last ready to launch on his site: an NFL-themed putting mat.
“It’s taken me seven years to get here—a speed that was good, a look that was good. And then I found a partner to help with the license,” he says.
It's all come together in a product called “Competitive Putting Mats,” which Covino tends to shorten to "Clutch Putts." (Covino has permission to use the NFL shield and team logos, but not the name.) He has four popular teams currently produced and ready for sale: the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he plans to roll out the rest of the NFL teams as soon as production allows.
And now, a disclosure: Covino is based about 10 minutes from my house and when I met him I was struck by his passion for improvement—and patience with kids. I hired him last year to coach my oldest son, Leo, as I'd been struggling to get him into a proper golf stance and setup. Covino nailed it in about three swings, adding an instant 20 yards to Leo’s tee shots. As they say here in Texas, giddy up. Leo's rambunctious little brother, Antonio, will also start lessons with Coach C. this fall. We're a golfing family and Covino is our coach.
So, I’m a bit biased here, as I’m pulling for Covino’s product to take off. But I tried the mats myself, and in addition to looking sweet in a man cave they roll true and are high-quality—a real practice tool, not just a novelty item. The mats have target lines, cross lines, deep and shallow holes and ramps to drop underneath to add break. They’re 10 feet long and stimp at 10.5-11.
A mat runs $99 on Covino's site and includes free shipping. Covino is also offering a discount to Sports Illustrated readers—you can order a mat through his site using the code “SI10” for 10 percent off. Covino says there are parallels to golf and football that make this crossover product a solid choice for serious players.
“I wanted NFL fans to get excited for this,” he says. “If you really want to work on the most important putts, this putting mat is it.
“And if you think about it, every great putter is actually his own quarterback.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as These NFL Putting Mats Will Sharpen a Stroke and a Man Cave.
