On the morning of December 12, 2017, the employees of Vice Golf’s founders and CEOs Ingo Düllmann and Rainer Stöckl stand on their new Munich office’s roof deck with a large cake. This day marks the five-year anniversary of the Munich golf ball startup that was the world’s first company to sell golf balls via direct distribution to golfers around the world – at considerably lower prices and with a dynamism and attention to detail that had never been seen before in golf.

If you had talked to Thea Hoffmeister about soccer three years ago, it would have been a short conversation – today, the Kiel native is involved in managing the Asian expansion of Borussia Dortmund, is very familiar with soccer, and commutes between Shanghai, Dortmund, and Munich. And despite all that, the recent club champion still ranks among Germany’s best amateur golfers.