It started less than a week ago with a simple social media post. Their previous post was of Bernhard Langer winning on the Champions Tour back in 2015.
Seemed like an odd coincidence, could the once prominent brand be coming back from the dead?
Adams was purchased by adidas Golf (at the time owner of TaylorMade) back in 2012. Fans struggled with the direction Taylormade was taking them and with in just a couple of years, the name was sidelined.
What made Adams Golf gain a following? Was it Barney Adams entrepreneurship that led the way? Was it the leadership of Chip Brewer, who served as CEO of Adams since 2002? Was it the research and development team that included Michael Vrska? Adams was still on the board at the time of the sale in 2012, however Brewer and Vrska had previously left the brand.
Sadly, little has come from Adams in years, which goes back to that original social media post that awakened quite a few people.
The social media account didn’t stop with the single tweet as just a handful of days later, this one appeared.
Some light digging showed Trademark filing for Adams Golf by Ram Golf LTD out of Hong Kong. Listed for rangefinders and golf accessories back in May of 2020. That just leaves more questions than answers unfortunately.
Could the Adams brand be making a comeback? Or is this just a minor awakening to gauge interest in the equity of the brand? Time will tell and we will certainly be updating THP as we found out more.
Probably true to an extent. It is very hard to rebound losing your CEO and head of R&D at the same time. See what happened to TaylorMade when many exited, they were sold for peanuts of what they once were just a few short years earlier.
50 million in capital 15-20 years later after their one hit wonder (which spanned 5 years) along with record setting sales, does nothing but show positive.
Nike’s annual sales revenues are approximately $38 billion.
Callaway, Taylormade, Titleist, and Ping’s combined annual sales are approximately $4 billion.
Nike exited the golf club and golf ball business because it is too small of an industry to have any meaningful financial impact on Nike’s overall business.
No I think Nike exited the golf club business because their products we not as good as Callaway, Cobra, Titleist, etc…. to say they bailed on golf bc it has no meaningful impact on their overall business, then why sell apparel, shoes and soft goods for golf?
The crazy thing is that the last line of Nike golf clubs were actually good / competitive.
Back in 98, with the company not making a ton of money (according to Barney Adams), Adams went public, raising 100 million to help infrastructure and develop products to keep up with larger R&D teams. I was sent a link to funding universe which has a full breakdown of the public offering.
In 1999, their sales went from 84 million to 54 million causing the need to raise funds.
I am speaking strictly as a golf company. As an entire sporting goods company Nike is huge. They could have stayed in the game as long as they wanted. Just like Wilson and mizuno. Both huge sporting goods companies with a golf OEM segment.
Nike’s annual sales revenues are approximately $38 billion.
Mizuno’s annual sales revenues are approximately $1.7 billion
Wilson’s annual sales revenues are approximately $700 million.
adidas (approximately $27 billion annual sales) is the only sporting goods company near the size of Nike. And like Nike, adidas realized golf hard goods equipment (clubs and balls) was too small of an industry to make any materially significant impact to the company’s top or bottom line.
Nike and adidas remain in the golf soft goods business because shoes and clothing are their core product lines,, is very profitable, enhances brand image etc…
Alll of that is fact. But, I am not sure what your point is. Sorry, fairly stupid person here..
My first set in college I had the Orlimar woods. They were awesome from what I remember. My best friends uncle was a local pro and got them by the boatload. They were awesome. His bag still has these in them.
They are just toying with us..
They were definitely true players clubs, the mini and the DHY. Demanding to an extent.
It’s true that overly rapid growth can sink a small to mid-size company. How do I know? I worked for one! We weren’t in manufacturing, we were wholesale alcoholic beverage distributors. We found a wine that we knew would be a hit! We had a bit of a rocky relationship with the supplier, but we knew that we had to have this product. We were struggling, and we felt it could save us. It did eventually save us, but it nearly sank us at the same time.
We introduced it to the market, and it took off like a skyrocket! Suddenly, the demand for capital was overwhelming! For inventory, wages and salaries to handle demand, and we needed more warehouse space! We worked our asses off! But, we survived. And we didn’t even need an R&D department!
What I remember most about Adams is that they, as far as I know, introduced hybrids to the golf world. Once I couldn’t get a 2 iron up off the ground higher than the gutters on a ranch house, I bought an Adams "Hi-Bore" 2H that I still have in my bag to this day! One of the easiest clubs to learn to hit that I’ve ever bought.
Do you mean Orlimar woods made of actual wood ?
Throught the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s Lou Ortiz was handcrafting persimmon drivers and fairways woods from his SF Bay Area work shop. A player could order whichever loft and face angle he/she wanted and Orlimar would produce and ship the woods within 4 to 6 weeks time.
The early 90’s onslaught of metal woods killed Orlimar’s business until Lou Ortiz son Jesse Ortiz resurrected the brand by being the first company to offer extra long shafted fairway metal woods. The "new Orlimar" had a strong 2 year run in the late 90’s but Jesse made the mistake of reinvesting the $100 million cash back into the business , instead of taking the money and running.
Also, Jesse sourced Orlimar’s maraging steel face extra long shaft fairway woods thru Jennifer King (KZG GOLF), who had control of the Taiwan factory that produced the maraging steel fairway woods.. So, that late 90’s two year run of phenomenal Orlimar fairway metal sales produced a cash windfall for both Orlimar and KZG.
#cultfollowing #adamsfansforlife
What am I saying? I don’t even twitter?
me too! won’t selling it, just in case it needs to go back in the bag!
Awaiting the next cryptic post.
I believe RAM was part of the Sports Authority bankruptcy back in 2016. Tommy Armour, etc.
Sadness.
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Well, it does say drivers, and I was thinking irons at the time, so maybe there is still hope?
i just want a big ass red & white RAM bag (not this big though)
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I am referring to his sons run in the late 90s. They were metal woods. Although I am sure the relationship originally from the father.
My little set of Ram Tom Watsons… my first little set ever…
I dont think they are still linked.
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also had a set of Idea OS12 ? (I think that was the name); Tom Watson 3 wedge set.
If its out of Hong Kong, who knows if it would see American markets. Not sure how much exposure some "American" brands got overseas through the years? Maybe RAM was hot in Asia back then too and could still sell to huge golf populous in Asia?
That Speedline Driver…had a Fubuki shaft in one. Just spun like crazy, but it was so straight I didn’t care. Took it out on calm days and just mashed on it.
Can’t remember, might have had a FUKAWI shaft.
Sure it’s possible, but that would make the Twitter posts rather odd don’t you think?
Oh sorry I only get exposed to the social media via your guys’ posts here.
Didn’t look to see which "market" they were aimed at. I’m just not all that savvy with that stuff.
Phones are too tiny.
I don’t have a Twitter account, either. Or Instagram. Or Facebook, or anything, really. THP along with a few other personal interest forums are the extent of my social media presence.
https://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/index.php?threads/off-course-episode-21-phil-and-tiger.8922818/
Like this one?
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Hell yes.
oh man I love my blue irons, got them for a steal too at under $200 for the whole set new….thinking of moving into the new B21 Berthas as they look similar in style but might wait to see if Adams makes a comeback
I also have a speedline driver, xtd hybrid, two of their reds, and a full set of the tight lies irons as spares….couldn’t hit the Red’s at all and dumped them for a Callaway Rogue X hybrid and picked up the Rogue driver…I agree with the poster that it opened a door for Callaway as they are replacing all of my Adams clubs
More choices are never bad for consumers
what wine?