There was one thing about the Hogan equipment (we’re talking about irons for the most part) that separated them from all of the other OEMs. I was working out on the PGA Tour at that time and got a chance to work with most of the Hogan staff members in my tour van since Hogan didn’t have their own. That’s a pretty impressive feat when you’ve got eight or nine staff members. In fact, one year around that time period I believe every staff member had a PGA Tour win during the same season. They had the likes of Tom Kite, Lanny Wadkins, Steve Pate, Chip Beck, and David Frost. Most of their players were at the top of their games. Different From All Other OEM’s On Tour At The Timeīack in the late 1980’s and early 90’s Hogan had a really great tour staff. It was a brand that was arbitrarily acquired when Callaway purchased Top-Flite Golf from Spalding Sports Worldwide. Today the Hogan brand is owned by Callaway Golf. It never carried the moniker as the market leader in sales but those who understood the product were always impressed with the clubs Mr. Started in 1954 by the Hawk himself, the Hogan golf club company was always known for its innovation in forged irons. Unfortunately Hogan is just a shell of the company it once was. If you have been around the golf industry for as long as I have there are few brands that resonate with purists like the Ben Hogan Company. A Look Back In Time & Inside The Design: Some of the companies they have designed for include: MacGregor, Ben Hogan, Wilson Staff, GolfSmith, Lynx, Founder’s Club, Top-Flite and many more.Īnd today you get to hear about how the great iron design of the 1999 Hogan Apex blades came to life. From tournament player designs to game improvement models the Sheets Design Group has had a hand in shaping the direction of today’s high tech golf equipment industry.
The members of the Sheets Design Group have participated in the design and development of hundreds of golf club models over the past two decades. Stite’s group, Impact Engineering, did such a fine job on the final prototypes that we were able to laser scan them for creating the forging dies.Today’s article comes to you from Jeff Sheets from Sheets Design Group. It was the first Hogan iron to be forged by Endo Manufacturing in Japan. The ’99 Apex is the epitome of a Hogan forged iron design. The second was my prototyping contractor Tom Stites, an ex-Hogan R&D staffer who would convert our CAD files to hittable specimens. The first was my CAD operator Charles Lovett who had a keen eye for blades after he had been hired away from Mizuno. I had two big assets available to me in the execution of the new Hogan Apex irons. Hogan’s design characteristics I ended up creating the infamous Hogan iron chart using a 1-megapixel digital camera and black fabric backdrop as I photographed every iron on my credenza “photo studio”. I was ready to pursue this project only after doing much homework, studying every Hogan design I could find and by interviewing past Hogan Company employees. This next club I designed must be an authentic Hogan in every aspect.
My biggest challenge in designing the next generation of Hogan products: Do NOT design a Top-Flite club with “Hogan” stamped on it. Hogan’s company and had my dream job drop into my lap when Spalding purchased the Ben Hogan Company in 1997.
This iron is one of my all time favorite designs. Material: Billet Forged 1030 Carbon Steel with Nickel/Chrome Plating
0 kommentar(er)
