The history of Callaway Golf is one of technological innovation, shrewd salesmanship and the late 20th century golf and leisure boom in America and around the world. It is also the story of Ely Callaway, a patrician gentleman with a commoner's touch who prospered in three different businesses, but achieved his greatest success by producing Callaway golf clubs.
Beginnings
Ely Callaway ventured into the golf business relatively late in life. The privileged son of a Georgia mill owner, and a distant relative of Bobby Jones, one of the greatest golfers in the history of the game, Callaway spent World War II as an Army major in charge of purchasing 70 percent of the wartime production of cotton and ended the first stage of his business career as the president of Burlington Industries. Later, he moved to Temecula, California, to start a successful winery. A fine golfer in his younger days, he took up the sport again after selling the winery. In 1984, he bought a small golf company, Hickory Sticks, and renamed it Callaway Golf.
Big Bertha
Using space-age technology, Callaway Golf became an innovator in the golf club industry. In 1991, it introduced Big Bertha, a driver made of metal instead of the traditional persimmon wood. It was an oversize club named for the huge German war guns that shelled Paris during World War I from a six-mile distance. By putting more weight around the perimeter of the driver, the Big Bertha gave golfers better distance and accuracy, especially on mishits. Marketed as the "friendliest" club, golfers snapped up the drivers. By 1992, Callaway Golf had gone public and become the biggest name in the industry.
Mid-to-Late 1990s
With the baby boomers taking up golf in huge numbers, hundreds of new courses being built and the sport taking off around the world, especially in technology-worshipping Japan, the mid and late 1990s were the golden years for Callaway Golf. The stock surged as revenues went from $5 million at the start of the decade to about $800 million. Irons, introduced in 1994, proved to be nearly as popular as Callaway drivers. Arnold Palmer and Annika Sorenstam endorsed Callaway clubs. Late in the decade, Callaway Golf diversified into golf balls, putters and even an art book business, which did not prove as successful.
2000 to 2010
Although Callaway Golf has continued to innovate -- it introduced a driver in 2007, the ET-1, using what it calls "fusion technology" -- other companies joined the technology race, including Nike and Adams Golf. In 2001, Ely Callaway passed away at 82 from pancreatic cancer. As with other golf companies, the Great Recession late in the decade slashed into revenues and profits. The legacy of Ely Callaway and his golf company may be summed up by a statement from the founder. "Callaway Golf has always believed that the way to grow the game of golf is to make it more enjoyable for the average golfer. That is why Callaway Golf tries to design, create, build and sell the most forgiving golf clubs in the history of the game -- giving more golfers more opportunities to hit a few additional 'great' shots each round."
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