Brands That Are Gone - Do You Miss Them?

[JB]

Over the years, companies come and go and in the golf business, some very good ones have gone for many different reasons. Over the last few decades we have seen some real "players" in the equipment world either go out of business completely or have their name become a shell of what they used to be.

Nickent - Name sold to sporting goods store
Orlimar - The Trimetal was a huge deal. Name sold.
Lynx - They were huge back in the day.
Macgregor - Name sold to sporting goods store.
Liquid Metal - These drivers were so popular.
Maxfli - One of the biggest it seems. Name sold to sporting goods store.
Founders Club - For the most part completely gone.
Top Flite - Purchased and outside of a few things, killed off it seems.
Hogan - Purchased and sadly gone.
Tommy Armour - Name sold to sporting goods store.

I think at one time or another I played clubs or balls from every single one of these brands. In fact some of my early sets were made up exclusively of a few of these.

What other brands have gone away that you used? Did you use any from this list and what were your thoughts?

 

[#Cookie]

Armour, Hogan and Maxfli were big back in the early 90's when I started playing. Hogan persimmon woods sure were pretty back then but then it seems that the Bubble Burner and Big Bertha came along and the rest is history.

Still miss seeing 845's in bags all the time. Arguably some of the best irons ever made....and are still being played by some.

 

[DCSerafin]

Went through two sets of the Tommy Armour 845's... Loved those clubs!

 

[Kobey]

When I was young, I loved Golden Ram balls. I don't know what happened, if they shortened their name to just Ram and are now sold at Walmart, but I miss those balls.

 

[Trout Bum]

Man I miss the Hogan era. I played his irons for quite a few years and still use them as the bar when measuring looks, they were awful pretty. I'm hoping the new owners will do them justice and maintain the integrity of Pre Callaway Hogan. The Maxfli revolution was my favorite ball for a while. It's amazing how much things have changed.

 

[JB]

When I was young, I loved Golden Ram balls. I don't know what happened, if they shortened their name to just Ram and are now sold at Walmart, but I miss those balls.

I forgot about Ram. They were quite big and then sold off to a big company in the 70s (colgate I believe). Then the guys bought it back and in 1997 they split into two companies. Ram Golf which was sold to Tommy Armour and Ram Golf Balls which was sold to TaylorMade. Then with the Tommy Armour stuff going the way it did, I believe it is owned by a Canadian company now.

 

[JB]

Little known fact about Liquid Metal. They were made in Michigan and were owned by a group of investors. The place they were made called "Howmet" was the same place that made drivers for Cobra, Callaway and Mizuno.

 

[Philo]

Hogan Apex (3-W) with Apex #4 shaft circa 1989 was the best set of clubs I've ever owned - by a very long way. Sold them when my golf became sporadic after having kids and regret it still. I spend a lot of time on ebay trying to find a similar set in decent condition.

Can't remember who made the Tony Penna persimmon drivers but they were nice.

Also remember in the pre-internet days looking forward to the arrival of the Austad's catalog. I bought my first set from them with paper route money. Wish I had a copy now because I remember they had fairway woods down to #11 wood that I'll bet looked an awful lot like what we currently call hybrids.

 

[blugold]

I only started playing a few years ago. Nickent and Hogan still had some products in the market, but other than that the only reason I recognize those names is from watching PGA Tour highlights from the 90s.

 

[Jman]

I miss Nickent dearly. Still the 4dx Pro's and 4dx evolver are right at the top of my list of all time favorites.

Nickent may be "still sold" now with Maltby designing clubs, but with no Hoeflitch there is no TRUE Nickent.


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[JRod]

The best golf I ever played was with my Tommy Armour 855's with Loomis graphite shafts. They were amazing.

 

[DawgDaddy]

My first set of irons were Maxfli's and I always played Maxfli Blue Max golf balls. Also owned Orlimar Trimetal & HipTi fairways, still have the HipTi's somewhere. Also playd the occasional Macgregor and Hogan club over the years, all of these were solid performers in their day.

 

[dave1269]

I putted with a Ram Zebra for years, loved it. It seems like yesterday when Nick Price was holing everything with the Zebra.

 

[MikeT]

I still have a full set of Honeycomb irons from the 70's. Don't know if that was the name of the Company or just a line of irons from another company.

 

[TRyan]

I don't remember much if any of this since I started playing golf in about 2004. I do like Nickent a lot. Their hybrids were awesome for me when I first started


TapaTalk from the iPhone

 

[marcv68]

JB when I first started playing I had a set of Lynx irons, parrallax they were called I think. Pretty good irons I had em for 4 yrs. I see a lot of Founders Club drivers at my local Golftown. Pretty interesting list of names there. Also, used quite a bit of Maxfli balls as well!

 

[bulldog]

Dunlop, use to use some of their balls.

Sent from my DROID X2

 

[BIGBALL]

One name I didn't see here, and they may still be around in some form, was Spalding? The first set my dad got me for Christmas was Spalding...

 

[Hotled]

TopFlite Tour midsize irons, best dang clubs I ever owned and they are still selling for 40+ bucks a club!

 

[Hawk]

It's interesting because my perception of many of those companies is a lot different than people who've played the game long enough to be fans. In my mind I see many of them as low-end or store brands. Obviously, that's not reality in some cases, but it's just the way it's always appeared to me.

 

[Jeanthemachine]

I played Hogan Radial irons followed by Hogan Apex Grind and still play Hogan Edge Pro irons.

MacGregor made a set of irons with a "copper" insert in the face; prettiest irons I have ever seen.

 

[Tadashi70]

Wow, this is a great thread. I haven't thought about these clubs in a very long time.
My first 'brand name' irons were the Tommy Armours. I even followed his grandson on the tour. The 845s were all that mattered to me. Couldn't tell you why but I loved them.

I also had a Founders Club 'The judge' midsize. Two of them in fact and they were bombers. The non traditional shaped head, matte black shaft was all very cool to me.

There was a ball I played but I can't remember the name. Greg Norman played it and it was hard as a rock but it spun like the dickens. I think it was Proselect or Prostage.

 

[HighSide]

I still have a full set of Honeycomb irons from the 70's. Don't know if that was the name of the Company or just a line of irons from another company.

Those irons might have been made by Foxbat.

I have a Nickent Evolver driver, but haven't played it that much. I still have an Orliimar HipTi 420 driver and Trimetal 4 wood. They are good clubs. I had a MacGregor NVG driver, but I think the shaft played too stiff for me. I had a Liquidmetal driver, but it wasn't outstanding for me.

I miss Mercury shafts and Sonartec fairway woods.

 

[Hotled]

It's interesting because my perception of many of those companies is a lot different than people who've played the game long enough to be fans. In my mind I see many of them as low-end or store brands. Obviously, that's not reality in some cases, but it's just the way it's always appeared to me.

Those TopFlites were over 600.00 a set and the 845's weren't far behind them in the beginning.

 

[adwillingham]

I've had a couple items from brands on this list in the past, and I think some of them made equipment that was on par or better with the big boys at times. I really don't care for the fact that several of the names have become store brands as I think that is misleading that the quality matches the name's legacy.