TaylorMade started in 1979, when Gary Adams borrowed $24,000 on his house and leased a 6,000 square foot building in McHenry, Illinois. With three employees, he built a 12-degree steel driver at a time when nearly every good player used a persimmon wood. The steel club picked up the nickname "Pittsburgh Persimmon," and the company did $47,000 in sales that first year. That club is the reason almost nobody plays a wooden driver today.
Who was Gary Adams?
Adams wasn't a club designer by training. He came from the business side of golf, and he's generally credited as the inventor of the modern metal wood. He believed a hollow steel head could do what persimmon couldn't, and he was willing to bet his house on it.
Why was a steel driver such a big deal?
A persimmon head is solid wood, so most of its weight sits right behind the face. A steel head can be cast hollow, which lets a designer push weight out to the edges of the head. That makes the club more stable on shots that miss the center of the face. Steel heads are also made from a mold, so one club comes out very close to the next. With persimmon, no two pieces of wood are exactly alike.
Golfers called it the Pittsburgh Persimmon as a joke about a steel town making a "wood." The joke stuck because the club worked.
What happened to TaylorMade after Adams?
TaylorMade stayed independent only until 1984, when the French ski company Salomon bought it. Here's how ownership changed after that:
- 1984 to 1997: Salomon
- 1997 to 2017: adidas, which bought Salomon in 1997
- 2017 to 2022: KPS Capital Partners, which bought TaylorMade from adidas for $425 million, completed in November 2017
- 2022 to today: Centroid Investment Partners, which signed its agreement to buy the company in May 2022
Along the way TaylorMade moved its headquarters to Carlsbad, California, and in 2006 it passed $1 billion in revenue for the first time. That's quite a climb from $47,000 in a rented building in Illinois.
Adams went on to start other club companies, including Founders Club and McHenry Metals. He died in Carlsbad on January 2, 2000, at 56.
How did the metal wood change the clubs in your bag?
Once steel replaced persimmon, the next steps came quickly: bigger heads, then titanium, then adjustable hosels and movable weights. TaylorMade kept showing up at those turning points. Our spotlights cover a few of them:
- TaylorMade RBZ and the Speed Pocket
- TaylorMade M4 and Twist Face
- TaylorMade SIM2 and the Inertia Generator
- TaylorMade Stealth 2 and the carbon face
For the whole story across every brand, read the history of the golf driver, from persimmon to carbon.
What TaylorMade clubs are good buys used?
Because TaylorMade releases new drivers often, there are a lot of recent models on the used market, and prices drop quickly once the next one comes out. That's good news if you're buying. A driver that's a few generations old usually plays very close to the newest one, because every driver is built up to the same USGA limits. Our guide to the best used drivers under $200 has real prices.
Browse used TaylorMade drivers, fairway woods, hybrids and iron sets. Every club is listed on its own with exact specs and a 1 to 10 condition grade.
A note on the story you may have heard
Some versions of the TaylorMade story say Adams sold the company in 1988, or that the $47,000 came from orders at a single trade show. The records we could check say TaylorMade was bought by Salomon in 1984, and that $47,000 was the company's sales for 1979. We've gone with those.
FAQ
Who founded TaylorMade?
Gary Adams, in 1979, in McHenry, Illinois.
What was TaylorMade's first club?
A 12-degree steel driver that golfers nicknamed the "Pittsburgh Persimmon."
Who owns TaylorMade now?
Centroid Investment Partners, which agreed to buy the company in May 2022.
Where is TaylorMade based?
Carlsbad, California.
Have an old TaylorMade in the garage? Check its value with our trade-in value calculator and take cash or 10% more in store credit.
