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Back in 1999

TaylorMade has dominated the golf industry for sometime. But it wasn’t that long ago when they struggled to just stay above water and survive. So…how did they get from there to where they are now? MyGolfSpy will let you in on their little secret!

Just to take you back in time for a minute it was 1999. The #1 name in golf at the time had just come out with there biggest hit the Callaway Steelhead. Orlimar was a big player with the Orlimar Trimetal. Names like LiquidMetal Golf and McHenry Metals were even coming on strong. Nike had not even made a name for themselves at the time.

Oh yeah and by the way, TaylorMade was around too. But there biggest hits at the time were the TaylorMade Burner and the TaylorMade Firesole. And my only memories of the Firesole were the nice paint job and the fact that people were lining up to trade them in.

TaylorMade’s Secret

At the time TaylorMade was fighting for the #4 or #5 slot in the industry.
But Adidas became the new owner in ‘99 and they would go undercover to try and find somebody…hell anybody that could turn this ship around. It is now apparent that they found their guy back in ‘99. Because since 1999 there was a distinct change in the style and success of their company (GolfSpy X got the info on their secret back in 2001). All of their drivers and irons started flying off the shelves. For years everyone thought that TaylorMade had all their engineers and design crew hard at work designing all of these innovative and ground-breaking clubs. That wasn’t the case, but the company wasn’t about to let the cat out of the bag. It was only because of the internet and changes in how fast a press release…

can get across the country that people started to hear about who was designing clubs for TaylorMade Golf.

A firm by the name of Priority Designs had been hired to change the face of the company and hopefully make them a powerhouse in the business. It worked…they went from selling $300 Million a year to $1 Billion and that mark was set in a down year for the golf industry. TaylorMade basically doesnt do much anymore in regards to designing their own clubs. I mean Priority Designs now designs everything from their graphics on their Tour Bus to the store fixtures. You can watch the newly released video by PriorityDesigns explaining the relationship they have with TaylorMade Golf [2] here.

Changes at TaylorMade Golf from 1999-2004