Ben Hogan Clubs are Back in a Big Way

In 1953, Ben Hogan won The Masters, the U.S. Open, and the one and only Open Championship (at Carnoustie) he ever played in. He couldn’t win the PGA Championship that year because it actually overlapped with the Open Championship.

The other significant thing Ben Hogan did in 1953 was started the Ben Hogan Golf Company. Production began in 1954 in Fort Worth, Texas, and, as legend has it, Mr. Hogan himself actually had the entire first production run of clubs destroyed because they did not meet his standards.

In other words, this was not something that Ben Hogan was going to slap his name on just to make some money. This was his company and it was going to reflect his personality and demand for perfection.

Fast forward to 1997, at this point the company has been bought and sold five times. With Spalding Top-Flite owning the company at this point. In 2004, Spalding ran into its own issues, filing for bankruptcy and selling off Ben Hogan Golf once again, this time to Callaway. Callaway would finally discontinue the Ben Hogan line in 2008.

In May of 2014, the Ben Hogan Golf Company was resurrected. And today the “new” Ben Hogan Golf Company is striving to meet the same as expectations that Mr. Hogan himself had back in 1953. He promised to do things differently and to manufacture clubs ‘as near perfect as modern-day tools can perform.’

The new Ben Hogan Golf Company is also challenging what has become the status quo of  a complicated equipment purchase process and high-pricing.

What they have decided to do is fore-go the middlemen. They don’t sell to golf courses or big box stores so they can mark-up the prices to consumers. Instead, they sell direct to golfers straight from the factory, passing the savings to us. That means no mass production of clubs. What Ben Hogan does instead is manufacture golf clubs specifically for me and specifically for you.

Obviously, the challenge with a direct-to-consumer model, is the want for golfers to test clubs prior to purchasing them. And Ben Hogan gets that. They have designed and implemented a simple, 14-day demo program for us.

Overall, what Ben Hogan Golf Company delivers is high-end, hand-crafted equipment at a far lower price point than its competitors. The cost of these clubs fall within the more mass-produced, more generic clubs you find on a wall at some big-box store, while simultaneously meeting or exceeding the standards of forged, made-to-order clubs that are well beyond the average golfer’s price range.

I took a few of their Equalizer wedges, Edge irons, and Ft. Worth Black Irons out both on the range and for a field test at Bartlett Hills Golf course in Bartlett, Illinois recently and was thoroughly impressed with their performance.

It may take an extra step or two to confirm the quality and playability of the Ben Hogan equipment for yourself, but with the level of quality versus the pricing, it’s well worth giving them a try.

Ben Hogan Golf Clubs are Back in a Big Way

In May of 2014, Terry Koehler of Eldolon Brands purchased the right to use Ben Hogan’s name for a line of clubs. Just as Ben Hogan did in 1953, Terry wasn’t just going to use the name to sell clubs. Instead, the new company was going to strive to meet the expectations when Mr. Hogan founded the company.