Issue Seventeen · The Feature

Shape Your Shot

Cesar Diaz traded hours of Los Angeles traffic for a calmer life in Henderson. Now the marketer, former radio DJ, and self-described golf tinkerer is building 2ndShotMVP to bring more fun, and more kids, to the game.

By Benjamin Olivares

Cesar Diaz, Founder, 2ndShotMVP

Live the Good Life in Las Vegas, Issue 17

For about 10 years, Cesar Diaz spent three to four hours a day in Los Angeles traffic.

He woke up at 5 a.m. to reach the office by 6, even though the office did not open until 9. Then he stayed until 7 at night to avoid the drive home. "I was looking for a change," he says. "Really, I was."

When he got engaged, he told his future wife they had options: Riverside, Palm Springs, maybe Phoenix. But he had family in Las Vegas, he had visited a few times, and he liked what he saw. You could head to the entertainment when you wanted it, or stay off to the side where life is quieter.

In 2015, he and his wife moved from Los Angeles to Henderson to start their family. "I have not regretted it," he says.

"I should have done that much sooner."Cesar Diaz

From the Radio Booth to the Range

Cesar's career has always lived in media. He has worked in marketing, design, post-production, and analytics, and he spent time as a radio host and DJ at 107.1 FM in Los Angeles. For most of his life, he worked a corporate desk job while running his agency, Envocé Digital Marketing, on the side to help clients and friends with smaller projects.

Golf has been the constant. He picked up the game around age 20 and has played for more than 25 years. He carries a 10 handicap and admits his game does not show the years. But he has never stopped enjoying it.

Why He Started 2ndShotMVP

On the course, Cesar noticed something missing. "I saw that there were a lot of golfers who were underserved," he says. "I'm Hispanic, Latino, and I didn't see a lot of apparel or hats that were geared toward me. It was more just general market. There wasn't a lot of clothing to express personality, or just to have fun with it."

That became 2ndShotMVP, his golf hat and apparel brand. For Cesar, the point of the game is right there in why most people play it. "We're all just trying to get away from the hustle and bustle and the 9 to 5 life and enjoy ourselves out there," he says. "You're supposed to go out there and be in nature. I'm trying to let people have more fun, express themselves, and enjoy the game for what it is."

"At the end of the day, we're out golfing to have a good time."Cesar Diaz

What the Game Teaches

Cesar wants to help grow golf, especially in the Hispanic community, because of what it taught him in his early 20s. "It's all about discipline, how you act on the course," he says. "All of that translates to business, or just to your general life. You've got to control your emotions. Hitting a good shot doesn't mean it's going to be a great outcome."

Every shot, he says, is a decision. "You have to be prepared for whatever comes your way, and it's up to you to decide how you're going to take that next shot. Are you going to try something you're not skilled to do, or do something you know you can do? It's all these different things compared to life."

The Tinkerer

Cesar's obsession with golf started with spin. Growing up, he played baseball as an outfielder while his brother pitched, and he loved the idea of making a ball move. It is the same reason he plays billiards and bowls. You can put English on the cue ball, and you can curve a bowling ball.

He did not know golf worked that way until he went to a driving range at about 20 and watched other players shape shots on command. "Wait a minute, there are so many options here," he remembers thinking. "It's up to me how I get the ball to that location, and there's no one way to do it. High, left, right. That started an obsession that's still there to this day."

Over the past few years, it has gone further. He started studying shafts, flex, weight, and grips. He added lead tape to his irons so they would match the weight and feel of his wedges, the clubs that gave him the most confidence. Every iron is now built to his 7-iron length, so he can focus on the shape of the shot instead of adjusting his setup. He even bent the lofts on one set of irons to match the distances of another set he liked.

When he got his new 3-wood and driver, he spent one to two weeks on the range testing the weight kits. "This gives me more of a draw, this gives me more of a fade, this one higher, this one lower," he says. "I'm always tinkering."

His friends joke that he is playing illegal clubs. "Everything's legal," he says. "Maybe a little overboard. But you can create the gear to what's comfortable to you, and then it's up to you to execute." In baseball, he points out, the equipment is what it is. Golf lets you tailor almost everything, and then the result is all on you.

"What you do with the shot is up to you, and there's no one to blame but yourself."Cesar Diaz

Golf With Emily

His daughter, Emily, is 8, and she caught the bug watching her dad. She asked to try, which led to the first challenge: finding clubs for a kid that young. He ended up ordering a set online and took her to Topgolf to see if she liked it. He filmed her first swings with a big pink club, and by the end of that video, just two weeks later, she was hooked.

Now she asks to go to the range, and they practice on the putting green in their backyard. Cesar loves working with his wedges, and Emily copies what she sees. This year she competed in the Drive, Chip and Putt and missed regionals by just a few points.

"If that was me, I would have been really upset," he says. "But she said, 'I tried my best, and I'll try harder next year.' At 8 years old. That just tells me what the game of golf can do."

She has picked up etiquette by watching the people around her, and when she hits a bad shot, she corrects the next one on her own. "She might not know the technical aspect, but she's understanding the club head and the speed," he says. "She's figuring out her own way to get to the hole. And again, that translates to life."

Emily bowls, too, in the junior league at Sam's Town.

Dressing the Next Generation

Emily is also part of the plan for 2ndShotMVP. Cesar is designing more junior-friendly hats and apparel, and when she is out on the course, she looks like she is fully sponsored by his brand.

"I want other moms to say, 'Hey, where did you get that?'" he says. "I want kids to enjoy it out there and actually be able to pick something that meets their personality, not just wear something because it's in their size."

What He'd Change About Las Vegas

Cesar's answer comes straight from being a golf parent. Programs for young players, he says, are priced out of reach for a lot of families. "Five hundred dollars for a clinic here, a thousand dollars for a clinic there," he says. "These are kids. They're 7 or 8 years old. It's not like they're Division I college level."

He would like to see more open clinics, and better promotion of the affordable options that already exist. Emily is part of Youth on Course, which lets young players get on the course for about $5. "I had no idea until last year, and I've been here 10 years," he says. "Everyone I've told on the range has no idea what I'm talking about."

Spreading that word is part of what he wants 2ndShotMVP to do. "It takes one or two times on the golf course," he says. "It just takes that one hit when you really flush it, and you're hooked."

Where He Eats

Cesar admits he is biased toward Mexican food, and as a Los Angeles native, he has high standards. His pick is Taqueria El Gil on Boulder Highway, near Sam's Town. He stops in every other Saturday around Emily's bowling league.

"They marinate the meat like you're in Tijuana or Los Angeles," he says. "It's the best tacos, comparable to Los Angeles."

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