Dunlop golf clubs

[Tashyboy]

As with most of my story's I only know half of it. Anyway I was listening to summat the other day. It went along the lines of this, Gary Palyer rang a fellow pro up and said he is having a problem with his clubs. Said pro said " what make are the clubs" Gary Player said " Dunlop". Fellow pro said " well ring them" and with that he hung up. Ben Hogan rings a bell but I could be wrong. Anyway.
Now my question is " what was one of the best players in the world doing swinging sports direct beginners clubs". Now don't get me wrong they must of been decent at one time, but there not in Ping, Titliest, Callaways league now. So when did it start to go tits up for Dunlop.
I suppose the same could be said for Dunlop 65 balls as well. When and why did it start to go wrong for Dunlop

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As with most of my story's I only know half of it. Anyway I was listening to summat the other day. It went along the lines of this, Gary Palyer rang a fellow pro up and said he is having a problem with his clubs. Said pro said " what make are the clubs" Gary Player said " Dunlop". Fellow pro said " well ring them" and with that he hung up. Ben Hogan rings a bell but I could be wrong. Anyway.
Now my question is " what was one of the best players in the world doing swinging sports direct beginners clubs". Now don't get me wrong they must of been decent at one time, but there not in Ping, Titliest, Callaways league now. So when did it start to go tits up for Dunlop.
I suppose the same could be said for Dunlop 65 balls as well. When and why did it start to go wrong for Dunlop

Dunlop were big players in the golf market until the late 80's at least.

 

[guest100718]

Dunlop were big players in the golf market until the late 80's at least.

65i and all that

 

[Jensen]

Dunlop went downhill when Fat Ashley bought them out

 

[BesCumber]

Could be wrong, but wasn,t Dunlop bought by British Tyre & Rubber in the mid 80s, who subsequently cut funding in sponsorship & r&d to cut costs.
Never a good thing if you wish to remain a player in sport manufacturing. But must of made sound sense for BTRs plans...
Ashley's lot didn't aquire Dunlop/Slazenger until 2004, when they paid £40 million.
500 less than BTR paid 20 yrs previous.

 

[Robster59]

A lot of great names have gone now or been diminished by the brand being bought and put onto cheap mass produced clubs.
Dunlop, Slazenger, Maxfli, MacGregor, to name but a few. People soon forget about them and then they are seen as "cheap" brands when they were originally major players.

Slightly off topic but I used to work for ICI. A major global company, FTSE Top 100, now the younger generation have never even heard of them.

 

[chasf]

Dunlop in Japan are still big players in the golf industry. They own Srixon,Cleveland and XXIO golf brands.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Dunlop in Japan are still big players in the golf industry. They own Srixon,Cleveland and XXIO golf brands.

No they are owned by Sumitomo who also own the other brands to which you refer.

 

[power fade]

Wilson is another brand that was hugely popular and at one time more majors were won using Wilson than any other brand....... Wilson Staff is still good, but some of the other stuff they do seems to be aimed at begginers and/or budget golfer's.

 

[Foxholer]

A lot of great names have gone now or been diminished by the brand being bought and put onto cheap mass produced clubs.
Dunlop, Slazenger, Maxfli, MacGregor, to name but a few. People soon forget about them and then they are seen as "cheap" brands when they were originally major players.

Slightly off topic but I used to work for ICI. A major global company, FTSE Top 100, now the younger generation have never even heard of them.

Dunlop, Slazenger and Maxfli were all brands within the Dunlop company! Slazenger wasn't originally, but was sold to Dunlop in late 50s.

Dunlop got into Golf as an extension of their rubber product business. Likewise Tennis, through tennis balls.

Dunlop made a couple of disastrous decisions and the dodgy period of UK industrial decline certainly didn't help its cause. It was bought by an investment group, who split the company up. Virtually their first action reaped an overall profit (though tht didn't include the debt they took on). They continued to sell bits, with the Dunlop name, to various other groups - both by activity and by country. That's why the Dunlop name is now scattered all across the world!

Maxfli was, at one time, owned by TaylorMade (RBS having taken over the Dunlop-Slazenger after a 'failed' MBO), but they sold the Maxfli name (only) to a US Sports company (Dicks, the guys that sacked 500 Pros a year or 2 ago). TMag (Adidas) still own the tech/patents and the Noodle brand.

For sporting goods, Sumitomo (as in the SRI of Srixon) owns the Dunlop brand in much of Asia, shares ownership with Sports Direct International in US, but Sports Direct own the name elsewhere. Dunlop Tyres have a different, but similar, shared setup!

As further item of interest for Aussie/Kiwi 'followers' of Dunlop/Slazenger, the company that originally bought that area's brands (Pacific Sports) delisted last month from the Aussie Stock Exchange, because they were absorbed into the US Haneswear (as in clothing, notably Hanes underwear) company!

FWIW.
Sports Direct provide Slazenger balls to Wimbledon (over 50000/year)! So some sort of 'prestige' presence continues.
In NZ, I always hungered for an 'English Slazenger' tennis racquet. The quality of wood - and the finish - was much better than the NZ ones. Australian made ones were rather desirable too, the thinner neck gave more touch and feel, though that clashed with my style! Aussie Dunlop shoes (equivalent to the Blue Flash, but with Green and Yellow instead of Blue) wee far more comfortable than the virtually un-cushioned tennis shoes available in NZ at the time (mid to late 60s)!

Dunlop did eventually make a(nother) great racquet! John McEnroe used it rather successfully in his pomp, as did Steffi Graf in hers! It was such a good bat at the time that (reputedly) Navratilova negotiated use of one with her sponsors, Yonex (it had their logo) to combat any thoughts that Graf was using 'superior' equipment!

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Just shows what the future could be for TaylorMade if adidas find a buyer.

 

[Slab]

Dunlop, Slazenger and Maxfli were all brands within the Dunlop company! Slazenger wasn't originally, but was sold to Dunlop in late 50s.

Dunlop got into Golf as an extension of their rubber product business. Likewise Tennis, through tennis balls.

Dunlop made a couple of disastrous decisions and the dodgy period of UK industrial decline certainly didn't help its cause. It was bought by an investment group, who split the company up. Virtually their first action reaped an overall profit (though tht didn't include the debt they took on). They continued to sell bits, with the Dunlop name, to various other groups - both by activity and by country. That's why the Dunlop name is now scattered all across the world!

Maxfli was, at one time, owned by TaylorMade (RBS having taken over the Dunlop-Slazenger after a 'failed' MBO), but they sold the Maxfli name (only) to a US Sports company (Dicks, the guys that sacked 500 Pros a year or 2 ago). TMag (Adidas) still own the tech/patents and the Noodle brand.

For sporting goods, Sumitomo (as in the SRI of Srixon) owns the Dunlop brand in much of Asia, shares ownership with Sports Direct International in US, but Sports Direct own the name elsewhere. Dunlop Tyres have a different, but similar, shared setup!

As further item of interest for Aussie/Kiwi 'followers' of Dunlop/Slazenger, the company that originally bought that area's brands (Pacific Sports) delisted last month from the Aussie Stock Exchange, because they were absorbed into the US Haneswear (as in clothing, notably Hanes underwear) company!

FWIW.
Sports Direct provide Slazenger balls to Wimbledon (over 50000/year)! So some sort of 'prestige' presence continues.
In NZ, I always hungered for an 'English Slazenger' tennis racquet. The quality of wood - and the finish - was much better than the NZ ones. Australian made ones were rather desirable too, the thinner neck gave more touch and feel, though that clashed with my style! Aussie Dunlop shoes (equivalent to the Blue Flash, but with Green and Yellow instead of Blue) wee far more comfortable than the virtually un-cushioned tennis shoes available in NZ at the time (mid to late 60s)!

Dunlop did eventually make a(nother) great racquet! John McEnroe used it rather successfully in his pomp, as did Steffi Graf in hers! It was such a good bat at the time that (reputedly) Navratilova negotiated use of one with her sponsors, Yonex (it had their logo) to combat any thoughts that Graf was using 'superior' equipment!

If that's all you know was it really worth contributing!

 

[Foxholer]

Just shows what the future could be for TaylorMade if adidas find a buyer.

Probably a bit simpler than Dunlop, but there are other brands that might be involved! The Adams brand and even Yes Putters! Perhaps even Ashworth clothing!

 

[Tashyboy]

Fox holer that brilliant. Cheers me man. 👍

 

[MashieNiblick]

I think the original story was along the lines that Player was having trouble with his game so decided to phone Ben Hogan. Hogan had just started his own golf company. Hogan was known to be rather curmudgeonly at the time and asked Player "Whose clubs do you play?". When Player answered Dunlop, Hogan reputedly answered "Well then ask Mr Dunlop" and put the phone down. It was really a story about how difficult Hogan could be, even when approached by one of the world's best players.

For a lot of his career Player was actually signed up with John Letters, at least in the UK. Top pros then often had deals with different companies in different regions.

Thanks Foxholer for the interesting Dunlop history. They made some iconic sports gear, notably Australian Blade irons, 65 Balls and of course the Dunlop Fort Tennis Racquet used by John McEnroe and many other greats of the game.

I think originally Mr Dunlop invented or at least patented pneumatic bicycle tyres in the late 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_Dunlop


I am a great fan of MacGregor, as used by Hogan, Nicklaus etc. Sad what happened to that company once branded as "The Greatest Name in Golf". Just picked these beauties up for £30.



Not bad for 50+ years old. Lasted better than me!

Spalding is another brand which has declined, played by, and after he ended his playing career, endorsed by, Bobby Jones. Not really quite sure why those brands declined. Bad business decisions? Too niche or traditional? Sad though.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I use to love my Maxfli Australian blades and the Slazenger B51 iron. Iconic, especially the Maxfli and great looking clubs that were the top end of what was around and beautifully made

 

[Slab]

Still use Noodle balls but getting harder to source and likely to be TM Noodle rather than Maxfli Noodle

 

[Tashyboy]

I think the original story was along the lines that Player was having trouble with his game so decided to phone Ben Hogan. Hogan had just started his own golf company. Hogan was known to be rather curmudgeonly at the time and asked Player "Whose clubs do you play?". When Player answered Dunlop, Hogan reputedly answered "Well then ask Mr Dunlop" and put the phone down. It was really a story about how difficult Hogan could be, even when approached by one of the world's best players.

For a lot of his career Player was actually signed up with John Letters, at least in the UK. Top pros then often had deals with different companies in different regions.

Thanks Foxholer for the interesting Dunlop history. They made some iconic sports gear, notably Australian Blade irons, 65 Balls and of course the Dunlop Fort Tennis Racquet used by John McEnroe and many other greats of the game.

I think originally Mr Dunlop invented or at least patented pneumatic bicycle tyres in the late 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_Dunlop


I am a great fan of MacGregor, as used by Hogan, Nicklaus etc. Sad what happened to that company once branded as "The Greatest Name in Golf". Just picked these beauties up for £30.

View attachment 20320

Not bad for 50+ years old. Lasted better than me!

Spalding is another brand which has declined, played by, and after he ended his playing career, endorsed by, Bobby Jones. Not really quite sure why those brands declined. Bad business decisions? Too niche or traditional? Sad though.

Mashie that was the original story, and I can remember it being about Mr Hogans " attitude", I think when I heard about the Dunlop story it was mentioned that when he had a new house built, it only had one bedroom so he did not have/want guests staysing.
It was listening to the original story and when the Dunlop clubs where mentioned I thought how times have changed.
When I got back into golf after a 20 yr absence, I was gobsmacked how the technology had changed and how some bespoke manufacturers had all but disappeared and that sports companies like adidas and Nike had become big players.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

The demise of Dunlop, Slazenger, MacGregor, Spalding et al is an example of supply outstripping demand whilst, at the same time, more innovative suppliers such as Ping, Callaway, and Taylormade became bigger players.

With stagnation and, possibly, even contraction of the US market we could soon see some other names either disappear or move to a different market sector.

 

[delc]

When I first took up golf in the 1960's, Dunlop clubs were a premium brand of clubs, and also made the best golf ball, the Dunlop 65. Shame that they are are now bottom of the range clubs and balls sold by Sports Direct!