MacGregor Golf

MacGregor Golf is a sports equipment manufacturing company based in Albany, Georgia, which specializes in golf. MacGregor currently produces a wide range of golf clubs, bags, and accessories.[2]

MacGregor Golf
IndustrySports equipment
Founded1897 (1897) as "Crawford, McGregor & Canby Company" [1]
Headquarters
US
ProductsGolf clubs, bags, accessories
Websitemacgregorgolf.co.uk

The company roots can be traced to 1829, with the establishment of "Dayton Last Company", a maker of hand-carved wooden lasts for footwear. Adding partners in subsequent decades, current company was officially founded in 1897 as the "Crawford, McGregor & Canby Company", becoming one of the first American manufacturers of golf clubs[3]—items which also included heavy percentages of wooden components.

History

Origins
A 1922 advertisement for MacGregor golf clubs, made by the Crawford, McGregor & Canby Co. of Dayton, Ohio

MacGregor Golf dates its corporate origins to 1829, when Archibald and Ziba Crawford arrived in Dayton, Ohio, to begin the manufacture of hand-carved wooden footwear lasts for the manufacture of shoes.[3] Their product was successful and they expanded the operation to include four or five hired workmen under the firm name Dayton Last Works,[3] with a concentration on shoe lasts, which firm continued for a number of decades.[4]

The firm was joined by John McGregor in 1874 and Edward Canby in 1886 so that by 1897 the company had taken the name "Crawford, McGregor & Canby", with its base of operations remaining in Dayton,[3] being officially constituted.[1] Golf shafts of the early 20th century being made of wood rather than the metal, fiberglass, and other materials of today, in 1897 the company made the transition from footwear lasts to clubmaking, becoming one of the first American manufacturers of golf clubs.[3][1]

During the 1930s Crawford, McGregor & Canby was acquired by the Goldsmith Company to form MacGregor-Goldsmith.[4] The new owners found the name "MacGregor" to be stronger than "Goldsmith" in the marketplace and subsequently changed the name of the firm to MacGregor.[4]

Ownership changes

Having previously been owned by the Wickes Corporation, and before that the Brunswick Corporation,[5] Amer Sports acquired a majority 80% stake in MacGregor from Jack Nicklaus in the mid-1980s for a reported $8 million.[6] With MacGregor's fortunes deteriorating, in 1997 Amer sold the company to a British-led consortium.[7] The firm changed hands again the following August with its acquisition by equity investment company The Parkside Group.[8]

In 2003, MacGregor regained control of MacGregor Golf Japan from Suntory,[9] and in 2006, along with Greg Norman co-acquired the Greg Norman Collection brand of sports apparel from Adidas.[10] In May 2009, MacGregor was acquired by Golfsmith International and Norman stepped down as chairman.[11] Golfsmith owned the company until it fell into bankruptcy in 2016.[12] At the time of its demise, Golfsmith was the largest golf retailer in the world.[13]

Sponsorship deals

In addition to its long association with Jack Nicklaus, MacGregor has had endorsement deals with many top professional golfers including José María Olazábal and Lee Janzen.

See also

Footnotes
  1. History on MacGregor website, 10 Aug 2020
  2. Accessories on MacGregor website
  3. Carl V. Roberts, "This Centennial is Second Some Firms Have Seen," Dayton History Books Online, www.daytonhistorybooks.com/
  4. "MacGregor, Dayton, Ohio," Antique Golf Clubs of Scotland, www.antiquegolfscotland.com/
  5. "Wickes Sells Part Of Its Golf Unit". The New York Times. Associated Press. 6 April 1982. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  6. "COMPANY NEWS; MacGregor Sale". The New York Times. Reuters. 3 December 1986. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  7. "MacGregor Golf Company Sale Completed Today". PR Newswire. February 5, 1997. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
  8. "Parkside Group Acquires MacGregor Golf Company". Business Wire. AllBusiness.com. August 21, 1998. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
  9. "Japanese Spirits Maker to Sell Golf-Equipment Subsidiary to MacGregor". Business Wire. AllBusiness.com. September 17, 2003. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
  10. "Adidas selling Greg Norman Collection apparel business to MacGregor Golf". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. October 24, 2006. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
  11. "Golfsmith and MacGregor will focus on contemporary classic". Golf Digest. May 22, 2009. Archived from the original on June 26, 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  12. Golfsmith's bankruptcy rumors were true on Fortune.com, September 2016
  13. What Golfsmith's chapter 11 really means by Mike Stachura, 19 September 2016
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