Callaway Golf has a long history of outdoing its competition with innovative designs and novel clubs, such as the world-famous Big Bertha line of golf clubs.
The legend of Callaway golf is not one of those hundred year old tales that start in Scotland. Instead, the story begins when Ely Callaway sold his former business, a vineyard, in 1981. At first Callaway tried retirement, and like most men of his age, he took to golf to pass the time. One day, he was shopping in a golf shop in California when he spotted a pitching wedge that reminded him of the clubs of yesteryear.
To his amazement, however, instead of being just a fragile hickory-shafted club, these Hickory Stick clubs were reinforced with steel. Their core was filled with the metal, which endowed the clubs with power and steadfastness. Callaway was so taken by these clubs that he didn’t just buy a set, instead he bought half of the company.
The new company was called Callaway Hickory Stick USA. The firm spared no expense in attracting the finest talent in design, research and development, and manufacturing. It quickly developed a name for itself as a producer of high-end golf clubs. This success inspired Eli Callaway to buy the rest of the company.
In 1988 the company was renamed Callaway Golf Company and in 1992 it began to be traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol ELY.
Callaway was the first company to use computer-controlled milling equipment. The investment paid off enormously in the 1990s. It was all thanks to a little lady called Big Bertha driver. Actually, she was no lady if you were a golf ball, and she wasn’t so small when compared to other drivers of the day. In fact, Big Bertha was the first stainless steel driver with a bigger head and more forgiving sweet spot.
Thanks to this club almost alone, Callaway became one of, if not the, top golf companies in the world.
If you want to know more about Callaway Golf, visit the company website at: www.callawaygolf.com. Callaway Golf’s Media Center offers informative and entertaining TV commercials, Callaway Golf Wallpaper for your desktop, and downloadable issues of the Callaway Golf Magazine.
