Callaway Golf Company

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. Callaway Golf intends to continue to grow the game by helping people enjoy the game. --Ely Callaway, founder, January 2001 Company claims approximately 70 percent of pro golfers worldwide use Callaway clubs. Callaway Golf Company is the premier manufacturer of golf clubs in the United States. The company sells more golf clubs than any other firm, and has the lion's share of the $3 billion golf equipment industry, eclipsing the higher-profile brand names such as Wilson, Spalding, and MacGregor. Callaway's most famous club, the "Big Bertha" Driver, is the most popular piece of equipment sold to golfers. Callaway has about a third of the U.S. golf equipment market, and its annual sales dwarf its nearest several competitors. Besides its line of drivers, Callaway also makes putters and golf balls, and licenses Callaway golf wear through apparel maker Ashworth Inc. The company began a meteoric rise to fame and fortune with the introduction of Big Bertha in 1991. The success of Callaway Golf Company is attributed to Ely Callaway, who transformed a modest company into a worldwide powerhouse. Callaway led the company until his death in 2001, at the age of 82, from pancreatic cancer. Ely Reeves Callaway, Jr., was born in La Grange, Georgia, a small town about 60 miles southwest of Atlanta. Ely's grandfather, a Baptist preacher, owned and operated a plantation with approximately 20 slaves. When the Union forces defeated the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War during the 1860s, the Callaways lost their entire fortune. Ely's uncle, Fuller Callaway, was the primary force behind the family's resurgence. He first went into farming, then into dry goods, later into banking, and finally into the cotton mill trade. Ely's father worked for his uncle, but when the young Ely Reeves, Jr., graduated from Emory University, his father advised him not to work for the family. Callaway rose quickly in his chosen profession. In 1954, after he became involved in a disagreement with Roger Milliken's brother-in-law, however, Milliken fired him unceremoniously. Undismayed, Callaway found a job at Textron Industries and, under the supervision of Royal Little, oversaw the merger of Robbins Mills and American Woolen, two large textile mills. When Textron sold Callaway's division to Burlington Industries, Callaway was part of the package deal. By 1968, Callaway was appointed president of Burlington Industries. In 1991 Callaway created the "Big Bertha" Driver, an oversized driver named for the huge gun used by the Germans during World War I to drop shells on Paris from six miles away. The principle behind Callaway's creation of the metal wood driver was that it put more weight around the perimeter of the head of the club, resulting in a thinner face. According to Callaway, this gave the golfer a greater "feel" at the time of impact with the ball. Moreover, the golfer did not have to hit the ball precisely on the button to obtain directional control and good distance. Soon golfers were swearing by them, and sales surpassed all the other brands of golf clubs made in America. At the beginning of 1995, there were only three major companies in the golf equipment industry, including Callaway Golf, Cobra Golf, and Taylor Made, a division of Salomon, which was a prominent manufacturer of skis in France. These three firms were clobbering the remaining competition. Revenues at Callaway Golf in 1994 had increased substantially over the previous year, while revenues at Cobra Golf shot up an astounding 121 percent during the same period. There seemed to be no end to the prospects for these three companies. Nearly 400 golf courses were opened i