Hoffman Forgings-What Specific Models Did They Forge?

[JDLA]

I need help from GolfWrx’ers that have known knowledge of golf irons that Hoffman actually forged back in the day. Most of you “old-timers” on here have knowledge far and well above mine. Heck, you all have forgotten more than I will ever know lol. I wish a catalog existed listing their brands and more importantly models of iron forgings. It’s a damn shame that Hoffman is sadly gone. As I always like to say, “They just don’t make ‘‘em like they use to”.  Thanks for your help. 

[elwhippy]

I think they forged for Spalding and Ram. 

[SteveNZ]

@majic's Maxfli TM-92 Australian Blades were forged there. Hogan Relines too I think.

[bma725]

Hoffman had a long relationship with Titleist, they were making forged clubs for Titleist pros like Davis Love in the 1990s back when Titleist was only selling cast irons.  I think the final head that came out of their foundry before shutting down was the Titleist 681.  From what I remember they did a bunch of work for MacGregor in the late 1980s/early 1990s, so things like the MacGregor CB-92 would have been done there.  Wilson had some irons done by Hoffman at one point but then they ended up opening their own foundry.

 

Hoffman did a ton of stuff for small component companies where they basically forged a blank head and the company would stamp their name on it, so you'd see the exact same design just with different logos and maybe a slightly different grind or finish...i.e. the exact same head was put out by Integra and the rebranded Walter Hagen that was around after Wilson dumped the trademark to someone else.

 

Hoffman also had their own line of clubs called Bailiwick, and released a set of forged CBs and a putter that Loren Roberts used as well.

[JDLA]

Wow. Fantastic information. Didn’t Hoffman have a chrome debacle issue on those 681s?  I actually have a set of Bailiwick irons with prototype Ust graphite shafts. One heck of an iron. Thanks to all who have responded this far. 

[Joe S]

15 hours ago, JDLA said:

Wow. Fantastic information. Didn’t Hoffman have a chrome debacle issue on those 681s?  I actually have a set of Bailiwick irons with prototype Ust graphite shafts. One heck of an iron. Thanks to all who have responded this far. 

 

I've heard this, but have never seen a set of 681's with messed up chrome.  I have a set that I'm assuming they forged.  Other than a little face wear they are great.   I have seen a lot of Tour Model blades with chipped chrome.  I think they would have been forged by Hoffman.  Does the forging house even do the chrome plating?  I would think that would be done somewhere else. 

[bma725]

17 hours ago, JDLA said:

Wow. Fantastic information. Didn’t Hoffman have a chrome debacle issue on those 681s?  I actually have a set of Bailiwick irons with prototype Ust graphite shafts. One heck of an iron. Thanks to all who have responded this far. 

 

They did, but not with all of them.  Hoffman did multiple batches of the 681, the first ones were totally fine but the last one had chrome issues.

 

2 hours ago, Joe S said:

 

I've heard this, but have never seen a set of 681's with messed up chrome.  I have a set that I'm assuming they forged.  Other than a little face wear they are great.   I have seen a lot of Tour Model blades with chipped chrome.  I think they would have been forged by Hoffman.  Does the forging house even do the chrome plating?  I would think that would be done somewhere else. 

 

It varied depending on the company.  Some companies, like Hogan, would receive the raw heads from Hoffman or Cornell and do the grinding and finishing themselves.  Others had the foundry do pretty much everything.

[Forged Hack]

19 hours ago, bma725 said:

Hoffman had a long relationship with Titleist, they were making forged clubs for Titleist pros like Davis Love in the 1990s back when Titleist was only selling cast irons.  I think the final head that came out of their foundry before shutting down was the Titleist 681.  From what I remember they did a bunch of work for MacGregor in the late 1980s/early 1990s, so things like the MacGregor CB-92 would have been done there.  Wilson had some irons done by Hoffman at one point but then they ended up opening their own foundry.

 

Hoffman did a ton of stuff for small component companies where they basically forged a blank head and the company would stamp their name on it, so you'd see the exact same design just with different logos and maybe a slightly different grind or finish...i.e. the exact same head was put out by Integra and the rebranded Walter Hagen that was around after Wilson dumped the trademark to someone else.

 

Hoffman also had their own line of clubs called Bailiwick, and released a set of forged CBs and a putter that Loren Roberts used as well.

I’ll second this about Titleist Tour Model’s being forged at Hoffmann…..I picked the brain of an old 1980’s era PGA teaching pro on different Tour Models from that era. He verified that my 86’ Bullet Backs were from Hoffman.  Note, on the 681’s having chrome issues, out of all my forged sets, the Tour Models are the only ones that have chrome flake issues. My 84/86’ Wilson Staffs are ok. I believe (not 100%) that  my Wilson’s  were forged at Cornell in Illinois which makes sense because Wilson was headquartered in Chicago.

Just my 2c.

[NRJyzr]

I'd always wondered if some of the Ram forgings would have come from Cornell, since Ram was also located in Illinois.

 

I suppose it's a question one could ask the Hansberger family guys that are somewhat active on the Facebook groups like Persimmon Golf Society and Forged Golf Club Appreciation...