Ask any golfer what gives them the most pleasure, and nine out of 10 will tell you it is hitting a long, straight drive down the middle of the fairway. Ely Callaway, who July 6th aged 82, made that possible for millions of golfers around the world. His drivers particularly the Big Bertha and, more recently, the ERC revolutionised the game, making it easier for handicap golfers to hit the ball longer and straighter. Look in golf bags throughout the world and, more often than not, the name on the head of the driver will be Callaway.
Ely Callaway, himself, was a maverick in the normally staid world of golf. He took pride in an unconventional approach that made his company, Callaway Golf, the biggest player in the golf club manufacturing industry. In 1997, its sales were worth a staggering 842.9 million. Only an industry downturn stopped it from becoming golf's first billion-dollar company, and it is still the biggest player in the golf market.
Born in LaGrange, Georgia, he graduated from Emory University in 1940. At 21, he joined the United States army as a reserve officer in the quartermaster corps, and served in the centralised procurement agency for textiles and clothing in Philadelphia until the end of the second World War. He then took a sales position with Milliken, a large textile firm, moving on to Burlington Industries, then the world's largest textile company. His leadership qualities soon became apparent; he was promoted to vice-president in 1960, and became president and director in 1968.
He decided on a career move in 1974, creating the Callaway Vineyard and Winery in southern California. For the next nine years he devoted his attention to wine, then got the golf bug in a huge way.
In 1983, Ely Callaway spent $400,000 on Hickory Stick USA, a small wedge and putter company. At the time, he felt he could be successful in a "nice little niche market", but, although his wedges and putters were beautiful looking products, golfers did not use them. He needed a product with mass appeal.
In 1991, he introduced the Big Bertha, a driver named after the giant first World War howitzer. It featured a bore-through shaft, in which the shaft went straight to the sole plate of the driver, a first for the golf industry. It also had a bigger clubhead than anything on the market, making it easier for average golfers to hit the ball off the tee.
Sales of the Big Bertha soared. Then came the Great Big Bertha and the Biggest Big Bertha, both with huge clubheads. Other manufacturers soon followed suit; the oversized drivers currently on the market are all a result of Ely Callaway's innovation.
Believing the average golfer should get as much pleasure out of the game as possible, his company slogan was always to produce clubs that were "demonstrably superior and pleasingly different" for the mass market. He also took a unique approach to marketing his products. While other manufacturers only employed the services of star golfers to promote their clubs, he featured celebrities such as Alice Cooper, Celine Dion and Smokey Robinson - in his adverts.
But his innovative style did not always endear him to golf's ruling bodies, particularly the US Golf Association. Ely Callaway's decision to mass market the thin-faced ERC driver last year put him at odds with the USGA. The governing body deemed the ERC driver a non-conforming club and banned it from competitive play after claiming that it produced a trampoline effect off the clubface that propelled the golf ball too far. Ely Callaway disagreed, and pushed on anyway; he even managed to persuade Arnold Palmer to back his decision.
Despite his age, he always maintained an active role in his company, even reclaiming the role of president last November.
Ely Callaway is survived by his fourth wife, Lucinda Villa, and three children.
Ely Callaway born 1919; died July 2001