Remembering golf’s lost big brands

PROZEL · April 18, 2020

I liked the article by Ryan Barath, I wish he would have named more staff players for MacGregor, Walter Hagan & Ram though. The one issue I have is how Spaulding got left off the list, many greats played their clubs through the years!

BCC1898 · April 18, 2020

MacGregor made great irons!

I remember when I first started playing in the 80’s. I’d get catalogs from Edwin Watts or Nevada Bob’s...there’d literally be 30-40 different mfg’s with club offerings. So different from today.

nitram · April 18, 2020

NIKE. I never bagged a single one of their clubs but they made a helluva splash for the time they were here.

Thommo335 · April 18, 2020

Nick Price killed off all the smaller brands.......

CDLgolf · April 18, 2020

My first real set of clubs in the mid 80's were a 2nd hand set of Ben Hogans. The first set of clubs I bought new were Powerbilt.

Both were very good companies back in the last century.

QuigleyDU · April 18, 2020

Haha. This is funny because it is true..

Steele47 · April 18, 2020

You guys got my attention. How did Price affect the smaller brands?

QuigleyDU · April 19, 2020

It is really just a joke about unfortunate timing. He didn’t do anything..

he signed with a. Few company. Right at the end of their existence. Atrigon (spelling) and Goldwin comes to mind. It just kind of happened right in a row.

I think before that He was a ram player. So three in a row.

Steele47 · April 19, 2020

LOL Gotcha. I remember when Goldwin drivers had their day in the sun but had no idea any tour pros had em in the bag.

edit. Just occurred to me that the Goldwin drivers were the probably the first that made us want to pack a phillips screwdriver.

QuigleyDU · April 19, 2020

Lol. He signed with them for a pretty short time. They even made a set of Nick price signature blade irons. The np-57 stands for Nick Price.

dekez · April 19, 2020

I think Goldwin is still alive in the Asian market.

QuigleyDU · April 19, 2020

Maybe but I don’t think so..

dekez · April 19, 2020

You're right. I mistook Goldwin for Maruman.

Old Tom Morris · April 19, 2020

Nick Price also was with Sonartec. NP-99 3 wood. I still have one in the garage.

He had a set of Ram Irons in his bag for about 20 years.

kooch1221 · April 19, 2020

Sonartec.....I still have the original Sonartec MD hybrid.

WristySwing · April 19, 2020

My two are Nike and MacGregor. Both WELL ahead of their times in club manufacturing. MacGregror introduced the M565 forged iron in 2005, if you can, take a look at the press release for that thing. A forged, carbon steel body, 360* forged cup face, reduced offset, slightly stronger lofts (for the time), tungsten weighting, and a mid-sized head design. Read like anything familiar, aka everything player's distance on the market today?

Nike with their adjustable clubs and high-MOI designs were always pretty much ahead of the curve. They infused gel into their VPC irons in 2014...a thing nobody was really doing at the time, I don't think PXG was around at that point and the P790/P760 and Rogue product definitely wasn't out then. They had the toe-sweep wedges, which well, worked exactly like a Hi-Toe wedge without the funky elongated shape. Obviously that is a Ping design from the 80s but this one actually looked normal at address. Their putters were some of the first with groove technology that became widely accepted (Yes! and Rife were first but Nike kind of made it cool as once they did it so did everyone). They had some really cool patents that have become public domain, like a full set of SL beginner clubs, driver - wedge. The VaporStyke driver (look it up) looked incredible and I'm sure would have been a hit.

If I could get back 2 iron sets they would be the Nike Vapor Pro Combos and the MacGregor NVG2 Mids I had. Both were exceptional and probably some of the best irons I have ever hit.

dekez · April 19, 2020

The name always bothered me. What the heck does Sonar Technology have to do with golf?

dekez · April 19, 2020

I just looked up the MOIs for Nike irons based on your comment and am SHOCKED. Cripes, I never knew.

QuigleyDU · April 19, 2020

Royal collection was another brand played by Nike price that also went out of business. Haha. He is a killer.

cgasucks · April 19, 2020

Royal Collection = Sonartec = Peter Pocklington = End of an Oilers Dynasty

rgk5 · April 19, 2020

Back in 2006-07 or so, no one in Canada carried MacGregor. I made personal contact with the then President of MacGregor and worked our a deal. We bought in three demo clubs, a cast cavity back, a forged cavity back and the current blade. We (Golf Town) offered those at $699-$899 for 8 pieces, fully custom fit for lie/loft, shaft and grip . No matter how hard we worked, not a single customer would try them and none were sold over a 14 month period.

Clearly by that point in time, MacGregor was DOA, vastly disappointing to me and my associates in the business.

QuigleyDU · April 19, 2020

It’s worse than I thought..

dhen9 · April 19, 2020

I still miss my Tight Lies and even my Orlimar Tri-Metal.

NRJyzr · April 19, 2020

I had a couple of the Goldwin drivers, got an XL in my early days, and bought an XXL from GolfWorks when they had picked up some leftover inventory. Really liked both of them, the XL was the driver that gave me a personal best length tee shot for the first ten years I was playing golf. Also had the AVDP Oversize irons in my early days, and picked up the AVDP Tours in 2000.

Maybe that's part of why I still like persimmons as I do. Or maybe my liking persimmons is why I liked the Goldwin drivers back in the day. LOL

cardoustie · April 19, 2020

not big:

Hurricane Golf

Liquidmetal

Palm Springs ... Nevada Bob’s brand

Head .. big head irons

Tommy Armour was huge

Tad Moore

are Dunlop and Slazenger still doing anything?

Langert

Kennex

Mac Burrows

phil75070 · April 19, 2020

Other brands of clubs that have gone by the wayside not already mentioned, not necessarily big by any means:

Nickent

Top Flite

Foxbat

PreppySlapCut · April 19, 2020

Another good forgotten about product: McHenry Metals fairway woods.

Hat Trick · April 19, 2020

I still have my Dunlop Maxfli Australian Blades 2- PW

mahonie · April 19, 2020

Imo that MacGregor MT line was one of the most complete full bag offerings ever made. In the UK, they were hard to get hold of until the fire and before Golfsmith picked them up on the cheap as a ‘house’ brand. I drooled over the MT Pro M irons but I’ve never seen a set over here. I did manage to pick up a set of the Pro Cs, the MT Driver, 3-wood and 2-hybrid and a Bobby Grace Captiva putter but couldn’t get any of the Don White wedges. They are still in my back up bag.

rgk5 · April 19, 2020

Those models of MacGregor were outstanding values and great performers. People however flocked to Callaway and Taylor Made.

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