Callaway Golf Company History

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Callaway Golf Company History

Callaway Golf Company CEO Ron Drapeau told CBSMarketWatch, "We have become known as the company that brings innovation to the game for the average golfer. We're not focused on the elite professional players. It's been a very successful approach for us."

But that is not to say that Callaway clubs are spurned by professionals. By the end of the 2000 professional tour, Callaway Golf ranked as the most-played manufacturer of drivers, fairway woods and irons on the world's five major professional tours combined.

Best known for its Big Bertha, ERC II, C4, Hawk Eye VFT, and Steelhead drivers and fairway woods, Callaway Golf also makes irons, wedges, Odyssey White Hot and Dual Force putters, and several long-distance golf balls including the HX, CTU 30, and CB1. The company also licenses its name for apparel, golf bags, and other golf accessories.

Callaway Golf had its beginnings in 1982, when a 60-year-old recreational golfer by the name of Ely Callaway, who in earlier incarnations had served as president of Burlington Industries and founder of a world-class winery in Southern California, purchased a financially troubled company that manufactured one of his favorite golf clubs.

Given that the conventional golf club had been around for approximately 250 years, Ely Callaway figured that there was plenty of room to re-invent it. Although his new company started off manufacturing rather traditional hickory-shafted putters and wedges, by 1988 the Callaway Golf Company had introduced a remarkably innovative set of irons under the label S2H2. These irons featured hollow shafts with weight redistributed to the hitting area.

One year later, Callaway Golf introduced its S2H2 metal woods. Again, the weight of the club was distributed to optimize efficiency. The hickory shafts were by now gone, having been replaced by steel or graphite. In 1990, the S2H2 Driver was the number one driver on the Senior PGA Tour.

In the 1990's, Callaway introduced yet another new line of woods that featured the S2H2 design with an oversize head. Compared to "an oversize tennis-racket for golfers," the Big Bertha driver, which was named for a World War I cannon, permitted straighter shots on off-center hits. Pro golfers were impressed with the feel and distance they got from the club, and by the end of the 1992 golf season, the Big Bertha driver was ranked Number 1 on the Senior PGA, the LPGA and the Hogan tours. Callaway Golf was now well on its way to achieving a reputation for producing forgiving clubs that helped lower scores.

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