PGA of Canada

26  | PGA Pro:ForMANCE Founder Ely Callaway changes company name from Callaway Hickory Stick USA to Callaway Golf. e company does $11-million in sales two years later. Callaway introduces Big Bertha at PGA Merchandise Show. e driver, with its metal head craed of stainless steel, was considered a huge departure, especially with its 190 cc driver head. "We were so backordered that over a July 4 weekend we canceled all the orders and let each customer know that instead of the 50 drivers they wanted, we could get them four," says Glen Hickey, Callaway's senior vice-president of sales. Pro:gear Mark King, CEo of TaylorMade, is aware of the perception that Callaway is on the comeback, but that's not about to change his company's course of action. "our job is to be new and cool for consumers in 2014," he says. "In terms of SLDr, it is about giving the top of the pyra- mid—touring pros and low handicap amateurs—an option. We are tied to doing things new and different that get golfers ex- cited." Callaway, on the other hand, was trying to rebound with a new focus on bringing technology-rich products to the market quickly. e company has now launched its own CG-forward lineup, including the Big Bertha Alpha, with its eye-popping $550 price tag. e lines have been drawn and both companies have pulled out their big guns. It is a driver war. "e lineup [we've] brought out includes product that really moves the needle that no one has done before," Brewer said during an interview with PRO:Formance at the start of the show. "at's why you have this level of r&D. at's what gets us excited. e relaunch of Big Bertha is a fabulous opportunity. ere are really no brand names with more resonance in the world." Not everyone is buying into Callaway's promises. In an in- dustry where executives oen refuse to even mention their competitors by name, TaylorMade's chief technical officer, Benoit Vincent, fired back at his rival. Professorial in nature, Vincent is the man behind much of the technology Taylor- Made has developed that has put the company at the top of the golf market. But he's not thrilled with the rhetoric behind Callaway's marketing spin for the new Big Bertha driver and its Alpha option. With the passion of a politician on the election trail, Vincent offered a university-style presentation on all things spin, cul- minating in the Holy Grail of drivers: the 17-1700 notion (a theory that suggests perfect launch conditions are 17 degrees and 1700 rpm, while tour average these days is closer to 2700. Vincent thinks that will drop to under 2500 by 2020). TaylorMade argues golfers should have lower-spin drivers and "lo up" to achieve preferable launch conditions, which has A short history of a big stick At the start of last December, Callaway announced it was bringing back a legend—the Big Bertha driver, which had been defunct for seven years. The company first introduced the driver that revolutionized the golf club industry 22 years ago. Here's a short history of a club that changed the way we play the game of golf. Mark Brooks wins the Greater Greensboro open using a Big Bertha Great Big Bertha driver, a titanium driver with a volume of 253 cc and featuring the war bird sole, is introduced. Fueled by demand for Big Bertha, sales at Callaway hit $849-million. Biggest Big Bertha is introduced at 290 cc.

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