Remembering MacGregor Golf

About five years ago, MacGregor golf was sold to Golfsmith International Holdings. While I was skeptical, Golfsmith vowed to re-launch the brand and elevate it to become their flagship product. When the new clubs finally arrived about a year later I found myself very disappointed with the product they turned out. I wrote a post about the new designs and lamented the obvious influence of the Golfsmith design team in the new clubs.

I predicted in that piece called “MacGregor Golf 2010 Lineup – Farewell To An Old Friend” that the MacGregor brand would soon suffer the same fate that had befallen other well known brands Golfsmith had acquired, like Lynx and Snake Eyes. That was when I got an email from David Lowe, VP of Product Development for Golfsmith who assured me that they had great respect for the MacGregor brand and its history, and had plans to help the historic brand live on. To prove me wrong, Golfsmith agreed to send me a demo set of the new irons that were due out that fall, but we never got anything.

Four years have passed since I wrote that post, and sadly, my predictions were true. The MacGregor brand as I know it from the past is dead. Golfsmith now sells MacGregor branded clubs along side their other discount clubs. The rich history, proud tradition of quality forged irons and top-notch craftsmanship has disappeared and been replaced with inexpensive full sets for casual golfers and cheap, cast stainless steel irons. Here, take a look for yourself:

http://www.golfsmith.com/search/macgregor

For a lifelong fan of MacGregor’s forged blades, this is obviously disappointing, but not unexpected. I was afraid this would happen, and to me it was inevitable. I still have two sets of “MacG” forged blades in the garage, and every now and then I enjoy taking them out for a spin, like a classic car. As far as I’m concerned however, the MacGregor name and the MacGregor brand is dead. Farewell, old friend.