The Best Golf Club Brands
If you are just starting out as a golfer, you may not have much idea about which brands produce the best quality equipment.
Making sure you invest in a good quality set of clubs is important as you want to get the best performance possible and also get clubs that will last you some time.
Let’s take a look at some of the top golf club brands from around the world.
Introduction
Best is a bit of a subjective term. For many people, it is all about performance and for others about how things look!
You might not play any better with a TaylorMade Stealth but that red face looks good!
All these major companies manufacture top-quality golf clubs, wedges and putters. You are unlikely to be disappointed with their products although sometimes even these manufacturers can make mistakes! Ping Doc putter, Cleveland VAS irons?
What Are The Best Golf Club Brands?
Ping
Founded by Karsten Solheim who had an engineering background and their clubs to this day still offer a wide array of custom fitting options.
Callaway
Founded by Ely Callaway they also produced some excellent clubs and also some excellent marketing to sell them.
TaylorMade
Formed by Gary Adams a little over 40 years ago the company was initially famous for its Pittsburgh persimmon driver which was the 1st to make serious inroads on Tour.
Titleist
Among the most popular clubs on the tour and also with elite and low handicap amateurs. Probably not the first choice for beginners although they have tried to improve their appeal in that area.
Mizuno
Another club that I would always associate with better golfers due to their high usage on the European tour plus their wonderful forged blades.
Cobra
Originally founded in the early 70s by Thomas Crow the company was bought out by Acushnet (Titleist) but then moved on to Puma. Tends to be a little cheaper than the other major brands while still offering high-quality, high-performance products.
Srixon
A Japanese company that is probably better known for their golf balls although they do make some high-quality drivers and irons.
Cleveland
Originally founded by Roger Cleveland in the 70s and probably most famous for their wages. They now offer a full range of clubs and are owned by the parent company of Srixon.
Vokey
A specialist wedge manufacturer who has seen great success with Tour players using his designs. Tour validation is one of the main ways that manufacturers try to prove the worth of their products.
Odyssey
Bought out by Callaway In the late 1990s and now offers specialist putter designs under Callaway’s umbrella. Famous for their soft inserts and their two-ball putter design.
Scotty Cameron
Another sub-brand of Titleist. Originally worked with a number of companies including MaxFli , Cleveland, Ray Cook and Mizuno. Bernard Langer used one of Scotty Cameron’s prototype putters to win the Masters which brought him to wider attention and eventually led to the association with Titleist.
Milled putters are a specialty.
What Are The Oldest Golf Club Brands?
Of the American companies listed above the oldest by far is Titleist. They started manufacturing golf balls in 1935.
Mizuno started in 1906 although they only started production of golf equipment in 1933.
Dunlop has had a long history in golf primarily with their famous golf ball such as the Dunlop 65. This was named after the 65 by Sir Henry Cotton in the 1934 Open Championship. Like many golf brands from the early days, Dunlop had fallen on hard times and changed hands several times.
Spalding was another very famous golfing brand that made all types of golf equipment. Callaway brought out the rights to the brand name when Spalding Golf fell on hard times including the Top-Flite brand name.
The St Andrews Golf Company has been going strong since 1881! You can pick up their hickory shafted clubs in their retail shop or via their website.
What Are The Most Expensive Golf Club Brands?
Honma has some ridiculously expensive clubs. The cost is down mainly to the materials used in the manufacture such as gold! Maruman, which at one time was used by Ian Woosnam, can also cost a fair bit. Their Majesty Prestigio range just sounds expensive!
Bentley. The car manufacturer produced a limited edition set of clubs for their centenary that would cost you £12,000.
Are There Any Golf Club Brands To Avoid?
Personally, I wouldn’t go chasing after any of these companies that use gold paint and the like to trick up their clubs. Unless of course you’re a multimillionaire and don’t mind wasting money!
As with most things in life you usually get what you pay for. Try to avoid cheaper manufacturers who might be using inferior materials or have poor quality control.
Obviously fake clubs and knock-offs are a no-go. Anything you see advertised that sounds too good to be true almost certainly is. Most “as seen on TV” type clubs probably fall into this category.
What Are The Best Unknown Golf Club Brands?
I suppose again it’s all relative. If you are from Europe or the US then many Japanese manufacturers will be unknown to you. There’s probably also a number of European brands that Americans have never heard of and vice versa.
Let’s start with some lesser-known Japanese companies.
Kyoei is one of the most iconic names in Japanese golf. Reputedly this is where Katsuhiro Miura learned his craft.
Another exponent of the forged iron is Fujimoto.
If you prefer a driver from Japan then you might want to check out Ryoma whose Maxima driver apparently beats competitors by as much as 15 yards.
Moving over to Vietnam a company called Katana will sell you both conforming and non-conforming clubs. These include designs that exceed the COR limit.
Grindworks currently has Patrick Reed on their books but apart from that you probably won’t have heard of them.
Here is an American company most people won’t have heard of:
Artisan Golf is the brainchild of Mike Taylor and John Hatfield. Their aim is to create a personal relationship with each player so it’s unlikely you’ll see their clubs in Costco!
Another US company that’s not that well known in Europe is Tour Edge. They were the brainchild of a former club professional in the 1980s. They now Sponsor the likes of Bernhard Langer and Tom Lehman.
Caley Golf is an up-and-coming Scottish golf brand that makes irons, wedges, hybrids and woods.
The Best Golf Club Brands: Conclusion
Hopefully, you got a better idea now of which clubs are worth looking at and which are probably best avoided either due to price or performance.
Playing golf can be expensive enough without making mistakes in choosing your supplier.
Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ]
Which Golf Brand Is Best?
There isn’t one “best” golf brand.
Each manufacturer will probably have a set of clubs that best suits your game, whether you are an accomplished golfer, a beginner or somewhere in between.
Get custom fit by one of the major manufacturers and you won’t go far wrong.
What Brand Of Golf Clubs Do Most Pros Use?
TaylorMade tends to dominate the driver counts from week to week. Titleist has a large number of pros using their irons. Don’t forget though that the majority of these players are under contract.
An anonymous survey by Golf World showed that ⅓ of respondents would use Mizuno irons if no sponsorship money was involved!
What Is The Most Famous Golf Brand?
I suppose that all depends on how you are calculating their level of fame. If we take a look at Google trends then Mizuno shows more interest than most other golf brands although of course Mizuno is involved in more than just golf.
I would expect that overall Titleist and TaylorMade would probably be the most recognized golf brands in the USA.
What Brand Does Tiger Woods Use?
For many years Tiger played Nike golf clubs but now appears to carry TaylorMade clubs including the Stealth driver.
