Jaime Parker poses with his golf cart shade screen called Shadys Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at Scholl Canyon Golf Course in Glendale. The sun shade that Parker developed can also be customized with logos or used as advertising space. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz)

LADDER OF SUCCESS

Jaime Parker

TITLE: President

COMPANY: Shadys

PRODUCT: Golf cart shade screens

LOCATION: Pasadena

PHONE: 877-742-3971

WEB ADDRESS: www.shadys.com

SECRET OF SUCCESS: The ability to take an idea, refine it and market it to businesses that can really use it


Few things can dampen a good time as quickly as the hot sun.


And for avid golfers who often spend hours out on the links, the sun can be relentless. But Jaime Parker has come up with a solution - the Shady.


These stylish golf cart shade screens offer relief from the sun while also providing prime advertising space for companies to display their logos or messages.


"From my personal experience, everyone is always looking for shade," the 40-year-old Pasadena entrepreneur said. "When you go to golf courses or airports ... all of these people who are driving golf carts are turning their carts away from the sun or hiding them behind a tree or post to get some shade."


Parker drew his inspiration from his mother-in-law, Adrienne Broch, who lives in Jupiter, Fla. Two years ago, Broch contracted skin cancer on her hand and arm.


Fortunately, she had the cancers removed and is now cancer-free. But the experience prompted her to create a golf cart sun screen that would provide her with some much needed shade as she made her way around the course.


"Without that screen you get to feeling like a hot dog on a grill," she said. "I decided I would protect myself from the sun, and I'd been experimenting with different kinds of screens, and I showed it to my son-in-law. He perfected it and made it into something more exotic."


Parker, who had a background in advertising and product branding, established a company called Shadys. The business now offers a variety of open-weave mesh Shadys that provide up to 90 percent protection from the sun and its harmful ultraviolet rays.


With 360-degree visibility and constant airflow circulation, the devices can easily be attached to the front and back roof posts of a golf cart with Velcro straps.


And the full-color designs, artwork and logos on the Shadys can be customized.


"If you have, say, a Marriott golf resort in Maui you can put a complete collage on there with a parrot in the middle," Parker said. "And the mesh material rolls up into a nice little nylon bag, so you can take it anywhere."


Parker said he's in the process of partnering with Fore-Par Group, a company that distributes golf products, and Club Car, the global leader in golf cart manufacturing.


"They own about 48 percent of the golf cart market internationally," he said. "We're a small company with a limited budget, but if we can combine ourselves with companies that have a higher presence and a big footprint in the industry, we can piggyback on their success."


Broch said the product makes sense and can help people avoid serious skins problems.


"Incidences of skin cancer are increasing even through people are being more careful than ever," she said. "I used to go to the beach and just burn up."

kevin.smith@sgvn.com, 626-962-8811, Ext. 2701