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CHANGING CLUBS
Around the years 1950-51, Ben Hogan, Jimmy Demaret, & Jackie Burke were all well known golfers. They all were under contract to MacGregor Golf Co. MacGregors’s top iron model was the Tommy Armour Blade. MacGregor had a ball, but it was not a great seller. They came out with a new model iron with the smallest blade you have ever seen. It was very compact, and it probably was one club longer than the Armour model, but you had no margin for error, and good players could not “work” the ball.
Naturally, the company expects their people to play their products for advertising purposes. These three refused to play either oF these products. Hogan told them that he had to use equipment that he could win with. (Hogan had not had his big years at that time.) All three were fired by Macgregor.
Jimmy Demaret and Jackie Burke sent their Armour irons off to have them recondition, and when they arrived at Maxwell Field for an exhibition. their clubs were there waiting for them. I don’t know what Jackie Burke did, but Jimmy Demaret signed with The Professional Golf Co., better known as First Flight. He used the new steel center golf ball, and their clubs, which were similar to the Armour's. Ben Hagan started the Ben Hogan Company.
Ben Hogan was a perfectionist and a driven man. He had a terrible time getting a iron head that would satisfy him, and finally he was running out of money. In order to get some more working capital , he sold all of the irons he had made, but stamped in big letters was the word EXPIRIMENTAL. I managed to get a couple of sets. (Oh how I wish I had them now) The majority of his clubs were sold overseas. His company changed hands a number of times, and had several individual backers at one time. That is how the Ben Hogan Company got started.
Companies pay these top pros big bucks, and they hopefully expect them to play all of their products. This is not the case any more. A prime example is Titleist. Look at your leader board and you will see that the majority of the pros are playing Titleist balls, but the rest of their equipment will be from other companies. They might have a putter deal, a wedge deal, a cap deal, etc. Years ago they used to drive the companies crazy. There would be a Wilson man on the practice tee, and he is in a slump with his driver. His buddy, a Spalding man is hitting balls next to him. He ask if he can hit a few shots with his club. He hits them great, and his buddy says “I have another one just like it in the trunk of my car.” He borrows the Spalding driver, has a great week and wins the tournament. His picture is caught on the follow through and pictured in all of the golf magazines. In full view of everyone, is the word Spalding on the bottom of his driver. It was a good policy to paint the name out before using a competitors product.
If you are a pro at a good merchandising club, you will have offers from various companies to use their merchandise. For many years, I had contracts with various companies. You would be supplied with clubs, and a bag that would have enough advertising on it to run it at Indianapolis and golf balls. There are years when the company with whom you were working would not have a great product, so it wasn’t always such a good deal. A case in point was the Hogan, Demaret and Burke situation.
We have had many cases today when name players who have been winning have changed companies and have not been able to adjust to the new equipment. The companies will custom make the clubs for them, and in many cases, almost duplicate the club of the company they previously worked for.
Pros are constantly doctoring their clubs when they are in a slump. They have always done that, and Arnold Palmer has probably spent as much time in his personal workshop, as he has on the practice tee. Adjustments are very technical now, while years ago we made our adjustment with a vise and a hammer. I have, in my possession, a pitching wedge once owned by Lee Trevino, in his earlier days, that has spent many hours making friends with a hammer. Some years ago, I was playing in a tournament, and when I went into the pro shop I could hear this loud banging coming out of the work shop. It was Jug McSpaden altering the lie on some of his clubs. He would hit it a few time, take it out of the vise, sole it, and look at it until satisfied. The next day he went out and shot sixty four. Good players, as a rule, are more particular about the appearance of their short irons.
A hustler come to my club when Macgregor had the small head. He was a good player, but you don’t come in an jump on the home pro. This person knows if he wins, the pro will pay him. If he loses, he gives him a bad check and leave town. In addition to the regular bet, I bet him that he could not play eighteen holes without shanking a shot. He made it as far as number eight before he hit his first shank. I used his check for wallpaper. Macgregor got away from that model in a hurry and came back with a very nice model later.
Tony Penna used to design their clubs for a number of years, and finally started a company of his own in Florida. Unfortunately, he came in when the aluminum shaft seemed to be the thing. The aluminum shaft required a larger bore in the heads of the club. The aluminum shaft was a good shaft that was designed to be lighter, but it fell by the wayside. Fiberglass shafts were in for awhile, but too thick looking, although Gary Player did well with them, and they were saying that Gary Player was beating them with fishing poles.