Wilson Staff

Wilson Staff

Type	Division
Industry	Sports equipment
Founded	1914 (1914)
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois , US
Products	Golf balls, clubs, gloves, bags, polo shirts
Parent	Wilson Sporting Goods
Website	wilson.com/golf

Wilson Staff is Wilson Sporting Goods's premium golf brand aimed at touring golf professionals and serious golf players. Wilson designs and manufactures a full range of golf equipment, accessories, and apparel using the Wilson Staff, Wilson, ProStaff, Profile, Ultra and Hope brands. Wilson's other lines are generally considered to be "big box store," "value," or "economy" brands, while the Wilson Staff line provides higher quality equipment used on all major professional golf tours.

Products marketed under the Wilson Staff brand include golf equipment such as golf balls, golf clubs, golf gloves, and golf bags, and golf-oriented clothing (such as polo shirts).

Many of the world's top professional golfers have used Wilson equipment, including Gene Sarazen (who had a 75-year relationship with the company, the longest-running contract in sports history). Professional golfers who have used Wilson Staff equipment include Sam Snead, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Patty Berg, Nick Faldo, John Daly, Ben Crenshaw, Vijay Singh, and Payne Stewart. Palmer and Crenshaw both used Wilson 8802 putters, with Crenshaw even naming his putter Little Ben due to his proficiency with it. Current Wilson Staff players include Open and USPGA pro players Pádraig Harrington and Brendan Steele.

History

TPA XVIII putter

Golf glove, and balls

In 1932 Wilson Advisory staff member Gene Sarazen was inspired by the aerodynamics of an airplane's wing to create a club head that would glide smoothly through sand. Sarazen welded a piece of steel to the sole of the club and ground it producing 'bounce'. This marked the introduction of the sand wedge and in 1933 alone, Wilson sold 50,000 of these clubs, marketed as the R-90, which went on to be the most popular sand wedge in golf.

In 1933 Wilson Advisory Staff member Willie Ogg created a design for distributing weight away from the heel of the club head, moving it towards the "sweet spot" of the blade. This design feature was used in the Wilson Ogg-mented irons, the forerunner of perimeter weighted or cavity back irons.

In 1948, then Wilson Sporting Goods President Lawrence Icely provided the financial backing for Patty Berg and Babe Didrikson Zaharias to form the Women’s PGA, predecessor of today's LPGA.

In 1954 Wilson began producing the Wilson Staff ball which was seen as revolutionary due to its ability to launch up to 40 percent faster than the golf club's head speed. In 2005 Wilson Staff claims to be the first golf company to utilize nanotechnology in golf equipment.

Major championships

Wilson Staff claims that its line of irons has "more majors won than any other brand." Players using Wilson Staff clubs have won a total of 62 majors.

Year Tournament Winner 1922 U. S. Open Gene Sarazen 1922 PGA Championship Gene Sarazen 1923 PGA Championship Gene Sarazen 1928 U. S. Open Johnny Farrell 1932 The Open Championship Gene Sarazen 1932 U. S. Open Gene Sarazen 1933 PGA Championship Gene Sarazen 1935 The Masters Gene Sarazen 1935 PGA Championship Johnny Revolta 1936 PGA Championship Denny Shute 1937 PGA Championship Denny Shute 1937 U.S. Open Ralph Guldahl 1938 U. S. Open Ralph Guldahl 1939 The Masters Ralph Guldahl 1941 PGA Championship Vic Ghezzi 1942 PGA Championship Sam Snead 1946 U. S. Open Lloyd Mangrum 1946 The Open Championship Sam Snead 1947 PGA Championship Jim Ferrier 1948 The Masters Claude Harmon 1949 The Masters Sam Snead 1949 U. S. Open Cary Middlecoff 1949 PGA Championship Sam Snead 1952 The Masters Sam Snead 1952 U. S. Open Julius Boros 1954 The Masters Sam Snead 1955 The Masters Cary Middlecoff 1956 U. S. Open Cary Middlecoff 1958 The Masters Arnold Palmer 1959 The Masters Art Wall Jr. 1959 U. S. Open Billy Casper

Year Tournament Winner 1960 The Masters Arnold Palmer 1960 U. S. Open Arnold Palmer 1961 The Open Championship Arnold Palmer 1962 The Masters Arnold Palmer 1962 The Open Championship Arnold Palmer 1963 U. S. Open Julius Boros 1965 PGA Championship Dave Marr 1966 U. S. Open Billy Casper 1968 PGA Championship Julius Boros 1969 The Masters George Archer 1970 The Masters Billy Casper 1974 U. S. Open Hale Irwin 1976 U. S. Open Jerry Pate 1976 The Open Championship Johnny Miller 1978 U. S. Open Andy North 1979 U. S. Open Hale Irwin 1981 The Open Championship Bill Rogers 1984 The Masters Ben Crenshaw 1985 The Masters Bernhard Langer 1985 U. S. Open Andy North 1989 PGA Championship Payne Stewart 1990 U. S. Open Hale Irwin 1991 U. S. Open Payne Stewart 1993 The Masters Bernhard Langer 1995 The Open Championship John Daly 1998 PGA Championship Vijay Singh 1999 The Open Championship Paul Lawrie 2007 The Open Championship Pádraig Harrington 2008 The Open Championship Pádraig Harrington 2008 PGA Championship Pádraig Harrington 2019 U. S. Open Gary Woodland

Sponsorship deals

In the past, Wilson has had many of the world best golfers under contract, including six-time major winner Nick Faldo and three-time major winner Pádraig Harrington. Wilson Staff currently has endorsement deals with many professional golfers who compete on all the major tours.

Wilson Staff also has sponsorship deals with Brendan Steele, Kevin Tway, Kevin Streelman, Kevin Kisner and Trey Mullinax.

External links

• Official website