The History of the Taylor Made Golf Company

In terms of influencing how millions of golfers across the globe play the game today, Taylor Made Golf have had as big an influence on the clubs you have in your bag as any other major golf company. How can a company that was only formed in 1979, have had such a global impact on a sport that is several hundred years old?

Read on to find out.

The Taylor Made Golf Company was the brainchild of an American entrepreneur and very keen amateur golfer called Gary Adams. Throughout the 1970s, Adams had been a keen player and he had noted that the development of the two-piece golf ball, which we highlighted in our article on Titleist a few weeks back, was making players hit the ball straighter and further.

Yet something vexed Adams; the ball may certainly have been updated but the clubs that golfers were using, specifically those for striking the ball the furthest distance, had changed surprisingly little over hundreds of years. Adams reckoned that if the golf ball could be radically redeveloped, then perhaps it was time for the 1-wood to receive the same attention.

Adams reckoned that allied to new golf ball technology, the further a player could hit the ball, especially with the club designed to do that most effectively, then the better chance they would have of scoring a lower round. Putting his entrepreneurial mind to work, he began to experiment with using different kinds of materials to make a 1-wood with.

Through his research, Adams soon found that compared to the traditional wooden clubs, a driver with a metal head produced a much longer tee shot. The differences between the clubs were huge and Adams was convinced that metal-headed 1-woods were the way forward.

Of course, there’s a problem in naming a club a 1-wood, when it is essentially made of metal, hence the time “driver” began to usurp the more traditional name for the longest club in the golf bag.

By 1979, Adams had enough conviction in his prototype to begin what would become arguably the most radical change in modern golf. In 1979, he set up his first Taylor Made Golf Company headquarters in McHenry Illinois and began mass production of the first ever metal-headed driver, Taylor Made Metalwood.

The clubs were first showcased at the PGA Merchandise Show in 1979 and initially, golfers were sceptical that these radical new clubs would offer them any advantage. Those at the show seemed wary and felt that the metal-headed clubs were merely a gimmick and one that would eventually fade over time.

Yet, those who actually placed a ball on a tee and used the clubs to hit the ball, did notice a considerable improvement in the distance they hit the ball, but Adams knew that such a lukewarm reception for a fledgling company was not likely to bring in the orders his company needed to make the venture a success. Adams realised he needed top-level endorsement of his products from the very best players, in order to appeal to a wider audience.

Shortly after the Merchandise Show, Adams began a campaign to get as many tour professionals to try his new clubs as possible. 47 agreed and began using his clubs in the 1979 PGA Club Professional Championship. Suddenly, players hitting the ball 30 to 50 yards further than the opposition gained nationwide notice. Attitudes towards metal-headed clubs began to shift and more professionals began to enquire about these new clubs.

Throughout the 1980s, Taylor Made’s metal clubhead technology saw them gain further acceptance both in professional and amateur golf. In 1984, the company was purchased by Saloman S.A, a large skiing equipment manufacturer based in France. The extra funds provided by this buy out gave Taylor Made the opportunity to invest more in research, design and production.

The real breakthrough for the company came in the same year when Lee Trevino (below) won the US PGA Championship at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club for the second time, using a Taylor Made metal driver. That success was followed by several more in top golf tournaments through 1985.

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then Taylor Made will have been pleased. By now other companies were developing their own range of metal drivers, but Taylor Made remained the most popular brand. Their new designs, Burner and Burner plus, were the most popular drivers used on the PGA Tour in the mid 80s and the company began to develop its own range of putters and irons around this time too.

The growth in the company saw them move to their current base in Carlsbad California. Demand for their products was such that a large 90,000 square foot production plant was built to allow the company to keep up with demand for its clubs.

After a relatively quiet period, the next big development came in 1994, when their Burner Bubble driver, with a new type of shaft that allowed golfers to swing faster, adding even more yards onto its already prodigious length and its popularity was enhanced when it was the driver of choice of Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal.

Sales continued well and in 1997, Saloman sold their controlling interest in the company to Adidas. The company built and moved to new facilities in Carlsbag in 1998. Since then almost every new release of Taylor Made driver has been feverishly endorsed by players, amateur and professional alike.

Taylor Made’s success story continued only this past week as US Open Champion Justin Rose, a Taylor Made staff player, used a bag full of the companies clubs to win his first ever Major title at Merion East Course, Pennsylvania, including the famous R1 driver (above) and RocketBladez Irons.

Images Courtesy of Taylor Made-Adidas, Lee Trevino Wikipedia Page,