who owns cobra golf company

Who is Cobra Golf owned by?

Is Cobra owned by Callaway?

Does Callaway make Cobra Golf clubs?

When did Titleist sell Cobra?

Where are Cobra clubs manufactured?

What brand is Cobra Golf?

Are Cobra golf clubs made in China?

Do any professional golfers use cobra?

What pros use Cobra irons?

Is Cobra a good brand?

Is Cobra still owned by Acushnet?

Who is the founder of Cobra Golf?

Cobra Golf Origins. The brand’s foundation was laid down in 1973 by a former Australian golfer, Thomas Crow. Crow was an amateur player then and spent years of his life working for the Australian golf equipment company, Precision Golf.

When did Cobra Golf start?

Although Cobra Golf started off in 1973, the company witnessed its breakthrough in 1975, with the launch of its first major product. The Baffler was a 23-degree, persimmon 7-wood club and laid the stage for the hybrid clubs that we see today.

What is Cobra Golf?

Cobra Golf is one of the world’s top manufacturers of golf equipment. The company is known to produce a full line of golf clubs ( excluding putters), along with accessories, such as golf bags. However, the brand has seen a change of hands in ownership several times since its inception.

When did Puma sell Cobra Golf Clubs?

Cobra to Puma – Second Change. In 2010, Acushnet, the parent company of Titleist, decided to sell Cobra to Puma AG in 2010. The reason for this transfer was that Cobra Golf clubs had started to compete with Acushnet’s own brand of golf clubs, instead of complementing them.

When did Cobra Golf start making graphite shafts?

In 2000, Cobra Golf developed the Airweight shaft, which was the first graphite shaft that weighed less than 50 grams. Lastly, in 2017, the company became the first big brand, after Tommy Armour Golf, to offer sets of single-length irons to consumers.

Is the Cobra King F9 a speedback driver?

Therefore, it is no surprise that the Cobra King F9 Speedback Driver is one of the most advanced drivers in the market.

Did Puma acquire Cobra Golf?

However, Puma AG made most of the acquisition of Cobra Golf and expanded its production by several folds. As a result, Puma was able to become a significant player in the manufacture of golf equipment at the back of its large distribution base in footwear.

Who owns Cobra Golf?

Today, Cobra Golf is a division of Puma, which acquired Cobra from the Acushnet Company (owners of the Titleist brand) in 2010.

What is a Cobra golf club?

Cobra Innovations. Over the years, Cobra became a name associated with game-improvement clubs on the basis of other innovations: In 1985, Cobra Golf became the first United States-based equipment manufacturer to offer graphite shafts as stock options in woods and irons; in 1992, Cobra became the first major company to offer a full set ...

What is the difference between Acushnet and Cobra?

Acushnet positioned its two major golf brands so that Titleist was the brand that focused on lower-handicappers, while Cobra was the brand that focused more on recreational golfers and game-improvement equipment. In 2010, though, Acushnet sold the Cobra brand to Puma, best-known as a sports apparel and footwear company.

What is the PGA value guide?

The PGA Value Guide can help golfers research trade-in values for their current clubs, or resale prices for used Cobra clubs.

How to contact Cobra Golf?

Cobra Golf Contact Info: To contact Cobra customer service in the United States, call toll free (800) 917-3300. Other phone numbers, as well as regional mailing addresses, can be found by visiting the Cobra Golf Web site for the region in which you live.

How much is Norman's Cobra stake worth?

Norman's initial stake in Cobra was worth $2 million at the time he acquired it. Five years later, when Cobra was acquired by a larger company (see below), Norman's stake ballooned in value to $40 million. Norman hasn't had an ownership stake in the Cobra brand in many years, but continues as a "brand ambassador.".

When did Cobra Golf start making hybrid clubs?

The company's first major product debuted in 1975 , and it's a club Cobra Golf still brings back periodically (albeit in a very different form): The Baffler. The original Baffler was a 23-degree, persimmon 7-wood, marketed as a utility club and generally considered the progenitor of today's hybrid clubs.

Who bought Cobra Golf?

April, PUMA AG purchases Cobra Golf, and creates a new company, COBRA-PUMA GOLF. The merger leverages PUMA Golf's footwear, apparel and accessories designs with Cobra Golf's advanced equipment and accessories.

What is the Cobra II?

The King Cobra II irons feature an integrated Quad system which combines four distinct technological features: A new heel-weighting hosel, dual-purpose sole, reinforced shaft tip shape, and optimal progressive weight distribution system - all to create longer, more accurate shots.

What is King Cobra SS I?

Also in January the King Cobra SS-I irons are introduced. An improved design over previous SS irons , the irons incorporate new softer 431 alloy and new undercut cavity back design filled with urethane to enhance feel.

What is a Cobra SS iron?

Cobra releases the King Cobra SS oversize irons that feature an oversize cavity back, thin face and perimeter weighting for a superior sweet spot, greater distance and accuracy. The irons boast a cavity "muscle arch" for solid feel, along with a tungsten insert in the long irons for higher trajectory.

How much does a Cobra shaft weigh?

Cobra launches the Airweight shaft, the industry's first iron graphite shaft weighing less than 50 grams.

What is Cobra's breakthrough?

This is considered the single-biggest break through in graphite shaft production in 20 years.

When are King Cobra drivers available?

King Cobra SS drivers are the No. 1-selling driver model in unit sales, for combined on-off course shops in May, June, July and August per Golf Datatech.

Who makes Cobra golf clubs?

Cobra Golf Inc. is a leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of high-quality golf clubs. Its clubs are targeted at the premium-priced market, with features like oversized heads and graphite shafts. The company also markets golf bags and other accessories that are manufactured by third parties. Cobra was a public company until it was purchased in January 1996 by conglomerate American Brands Inc.

What is Cobra golf?

Cobra's new line of clubs reflected an emphasis on design continually nourished by its founder and sustained by new management, which pursued a "golf through science" approach to design. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Cobra continued to adopt leading edge technologies that it believed helped it to create the most advanced clubs on the market. It used the most recent computer-aided design technologies, for example, as well as laser modeling, high-speed cameras, and robotic testing. Its research and development team also experimented with lightweight aerospace materials in its pursuit of the optimal club. "We believe we have the foundation laid to come out with whatever product we need to come out with," said Dave Schaefer, chief operating officer, in the November 28, 1994 issue of San Diego Business Journal. "You have a product that you're advertising and people buy it--you better make sure your testing backs up what you're producing."

How did Cobra make money in the 1990s?

High profit margins, huge demand for its oversized King Cobra clubs, and healthy sales of its existing products allowed Cobra to post big sales and profit gains in the mid-1990s. Incredibly, Cobra increased revenues more than 100 percent in 1994 to $124 million, and net income doubled to nearly $23 million. In addition to its various King Cobra club lines, Cobra was still generating revenue from its Baffler woods and traditional Cobra irons and woods. It had also introduced lines of specialty clubs, such as its computer-milled and King Cobra Mallet putters, and was marketing various apparel and accessory items. Furthermore, by late 1995 Cobra had expanded its distribution network to include about 7,500 on- and off-course shops.

How much did Cobra make in the 1980s?

Spurred by the success of its high-quality graphite-shaft clubs, Cobra's revenues were approaching $20 million annual ly by the late 1980s. Cobra had become a leading name in golf equipment throughout the world, with distributorships in Canada, Japan, Europe, and Australia (Australia accounted for roughly 20 percent of Cobra's sales in 1989). But Cobra's greatest period of growth was yet to come. In fact, between 1989 and 1993 Cobra's sales lurched from barely more than $20 million annually to about $56 million. The reasons for the expansion were multifold, but were largely the result of a savvy marketing strategy devised mostly by McClure. McClure was rewarded in 1990 with a promotion to chief executive of the company; founders Crow and Biszantz assumed the roles of vice-chairman/chief designer and chairman, respectively.

What year did King Cobra go public?

Cobra followed up with an equally popular line of King Cobra clubs for seniors and women. To help launch the King Cobra line, Cobra went public in September 1993 with a stock sale that raised $38.5 million. The cash was used to launch an advertising blitz, among other initiatives. In the summer of 1994 Cobra initiated a $5 million television network advertising campaign featuring Greg Norman and its King Cobra line. Augmenting such advertising efforts was Cobra's existing national network of 4,200 on-course golf pro shops and 900 accounts with off-course specialty stores.

When did Cobra golf clubs come out?

While riding a surging wave of demand for its Baffler clubs, Cobra began developing a new line of improved clubs in the early 1980s. In 1985 it introduced the new line of Cobra clubs, which were eventually a huge success. The clubs differed from others on the market because they sported lightweight graphite shafts. The lighter clubs allowed golfers, especially older players and women, to swing the club faster and hit the ball farther. The innovation was important, because it appealed to the fastest growing and most lucrative segments of the market, women golfers and seniors, the latter of whom spent much more on golf equipment than younger golfers. Cobra was one of the first companies to offer graphite shafts for entire sets of clubs, including woods and irons.

Who was the cobra marketing manager?

Augmenting Cobra's management team during the mid-1980s was Mark McClure, a former ski instructor and golf pro who became Cobra's marketing mastermind. Among other moves, McClure borrowed a trick that he had seen ski manufacturers use to market their new products--giving them away. He began to send Cobra clubs to pro shops with requests that the pros try them and to lend them to customers. "Like ski instructors, club pros command quite a bit of respect, and that is the strongest possible advertising," McClure said in the November 7, 1994 issue of Forbes. After using the clubs for a year, the pro shops were allowed to buy them at a significant discount or to return them. Returned clubs were simply reconditioned and sold.

Who owns Cobra Golf?

After boosting sales toward the $200 million mark in 1995, Cobra Golf was purchased by diversified, $11.6 billion conglomerate American Brands Inc., of Greenwich, Connecticut. In late January 1996, American Brands purchased the Carlsbad, California-based golf equipment company in a transaction valued at about $700 million. American Brands was known as the owner of name brands including Jim Beam bourbons, Master Locks, Swing office supplies, Benson & Hedges cigarettes, and Moen faucets. But it had also started buying what was becoming a venerable group of golf equipment holdings. In addition to Cobra, American owned well-known Foot-Joy Golf Shoes and gloves as well as the respected Titleist Golf Ball name.

Who invented the Cobra golf club?

Cobra was inspired in 1973 by Australian Thomas L. Crow. Crow, the winner of the 1961 Australian amateur golf championship, had decided to channel his passion for the game of golf into designing clubs. The idea that sparked Cobra came to Crow in the early 1970s, when he noticed that many American golfers purchased golf clubs individually; they often purchased individual clubs on impulse, hoping that the new devices would improve their golf game. In an effort to tap that high-end market, Crow rounded up $150,000 in venture capital and started a small custom club business. He designed what became known as the “ Baffler ” wood, a specialized club with a patented soleplate that helped move the ball out of difficult lies on the golf course. Importantly, Crow ’ s clubs were designed to reduce drag during the swing and to increase the lift of the ball.

What was the Cobra golf club?

The clubs differed from others on the market because they sported lightweight graphite shafts. The lighter clubs allowed golfers, especially older players and women, to swing the club faster and hit the ball farther. The innovation was important, because it appealed to the fastest growing and most lucrative segments of the market, women golfers and seniors, the latter of whom spent much more on golf equipment than younger golfers. Cobra was one of the first companies to offer graphite shafts for entire sets of clubs, including woods and irons.

Who started Cobra Golf?

Thomas Crow started Cobra Golf to become the leader in the oversize iron market aimed at golfers that lacked swing speed. To provide these golfers with more assistance, Cobra Golf shone at making graphite-shafted irons.

Where are Cobra Puma golf clubs made?

Cobra Puma Golf designs all their clubs at their head office in California whereafter the manufacturing of heads, shafts, and grips are outsourced to companies in China.

How much did Acushnet buy Cobra Golf?

This investment was to pay off handsomely when a company then known as American Brands, Acushnet’s parent company at the time purchased Cobra Golf for $700 million.

When did Cobra Golf start making graphite shafts?

By 1985 Cobra Golf became the first US-based equipment manufacturer to offer graphite shafts as standard choices in irons and woods.

When did Cobra Puma Golf start?

Cobra Puma Golf started in 1973 aiming to provide oversized golf clubs that offer more distance at an affordable price.

When did Cobra Golf release the 46 inch driver?

Cobra Golf continued its innovation with the release of the 46-inch extended-length driver in 1979. The shafts were several inches longer than the competition adding more speed and distance off the tee.

Is the Cobra Puma putter 3D printed?

Putters were never really included as part of the Cobra Puma Golf range of equipment. That is until they recently released the first 3D-printed KING Supersport -35 putter.

When did Cobra buy Titleist?

Cobra to Titleist When American Brands, then Acushnet’s parent company, bought Cobra in 1996 for $700 million it was thought to be a win-win for both companies. Cobra was a leader in the oversize iron market and in graphite-shafted irons for players with slower swing speeds. Titleist was a leader in golf balls and gloves ...

Who bought Spalding and Evenflo?

Spalding/Evenflo to KKR In 1996 noted private investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired a majority interest in Spalding and Evenflo, renaming the company Spalding Holdings Corp. Wall Street estimates pegged the amount between $900 million and $1 billion. Although Spalding was a massive sporting-goods company with strength in golf, ...

When did Callaway buy Odyssey putter?

Odyssey to Callaway In July 1997, Callaway Golf purchased putter maker Odyssey for $130 million, or nearly four times the company’s annual sales of $35 million at the time. “ [We] decided that by the end of 1997 we wanted to provide the golfing public with the best-performing putter in the market and we believe with this acquisition we have ...

Is Spalding a sporting goods company?

Although Spalding was a massive sporting-goods company with strength in golf, including the Top-Flite and Etonic brands, the company floundered to service its monumental debt load as an increasingly competitive marketplace in golf along with some business missteps put the company in a precarious position.

Is Cobra a golf brand?

Since then Cobra has grown as a lifestyle brand in golf and on tour, with players such as Rickie Fowler, Lexi Thompson and, recently, Bryson DeChambeau. Yes! to Adams. In January 2011, Adams CEO Chip Brewer landed putter maker Yes!