From Car Trunk To Dominating Player In The Golf Club Industry
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Callaway: A Humble History
What makes Callaway golf clubs what they are? What makes them such flawless utensils of golf? From Odyssey to Warbird to Top-Flite, Callaway produces some of the most adequate golf club sets and equipment around. But how did they do it? How did they go from a man selling stuff out of his trunk, to one of the most dominating companies around?
A young man with several million dollar vineyards and who went by the name Callaway played golf often. And when he did, he always used Hickory Sticks golf clubs. The clubs, made of hickory shafts, had a steel core. Hickory Sticks was a company run by two young entrepreneurs, Richard Parente and Dick De La Cruz. Very soon, however, Hickory Sticks was running low on cash. And everyone knows money makes the world go round. Or is it love? Well regardless, the small, California company was in a tight spot. So as they began to look for investments, they sought out Callaway. Having just sold those valuable vineyards, Callaway bought half of the company and renamed it to Callaway Hickory Sticks USA. Two years later, he bought the rest of the company for a bargain price of $400,000. Callaway then moved the company to Carlsbad, California. On paper he was a company, but in reality, he was just a man selling golf clubs out of the trunk of his Cadillac.
Immediately looking to renovate the current golf design, Callaway looked to billiard cue designer Richard Helmstetter. Helmstetter became the official chief club designer in 1985. He introduced Callaway to manufacturing machines controlled by computers. They soon became the first company to use these machines to provide for uniformly flat golf putters. With the help of Helmstetter, Callaway developed the Big Bertha driver, a not only commercially successful club, but also a revolutionary design. Most drivers were still made from wood, with generally smaller heads. The Big Bertha, however, was manufactured completely from stainless steel and had a much larger head than standard golf clubs. Big Bertha was named after the German Big Bertha howitzer. It was a super-heavy, mortar-launching beast of a machine. The Germans used it in World War II to drop bombs on Paris from nearly six miles out. The Big Bertha driver ruled the driver market with nearly as much dominance. Golfers very soon were swearing by the colossal design.
In 1988, Callaway Hickory Sticks USA officially became Callaway Golf Company. By the year’s end, sales would reach $5 million. The next year, they would double, and they would double again the next year in 1990. By 1991, sales had torched to T.7 million. The next year, the company began trading stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Sales zoomed to an unprecedented $133 million. Not exactly pocket change.
In 1994, the company would use the same technology and ideas that developed Big Bertha to design a new iron. The extraordinarily expensive, graphite-shafted irons were an immediate hit. A full set at premium grade cost over $2,000. Far from discount golf clubs. And soon an abundance of golfers, amateurs and professionals alike, sent sales to an unreached mark of $449 million.
In 1996, Roger Cleveland was hired as chief club designer, and in 2002, he would launch a new line of wedges: the Callaway Golf Forged Wedges. Made from carbon steel, the wedges had a new groove design on the face. Modified U designs, allowed for more spin control.
That same year, rumors began to float around of a new golf ball from Callaway. The company soon announced the official development of a revolutionary new golf ball design. Over a period of three years, the company invested $170 million dollars into research, development, and the brand new, state-of-the-art 225,000 sq ft facility. The company recruited engineers from Boeing and used aerodynamic computer programs that were used by Boeing to examine potential designs (dimple patterns, core structure, etc). Very soon the Rule 35 Ball was development. Most ball lines have a distance ball, control ball, spin, durability, etc. These designers, however, chose to forgo this pattern and create two designs only, all-purpose designs, so that the player would not have to sacrifice one faction of play for another.
The Callaway Golf Company, from its humble beginnings in a Cadillac to the now dominating company it is today, has a fascinating history. Through boldness, perseverance, and intelligence, Ely Callaway developed one of the most powerful sports companies around today.
Tags: callaway golf clubs | callaway golf clubs | discount golf clubs | discount golf clubs | golf club sets | golf club sets | golf putters | golf putters