After 28 years at Callaway, Roger Cleveland has returned to the company he started in 1979 and that bears his name. Cleveland Golf
Jack Nicklaus once stated that “golf is not, and never has been, a fair game.” Few people appreciate the veracity of that adage as well as Roger Cleveland.
Nearly 81 years old, the Long Beach, California, native made his bones as an equipment maker, starting in 1979 with a company that carried his last name (Cleveland Classics Golf) and building that into a full-line club concern (Cleveland Golf) that became renowned for the wedges he designed and then produced.
First came the Tour Action 485, which Curtis Strange used in 1988 to win the first of his back-to-back U.S. Opens with an up-and-down on the 72nd hole to seal victory. It remains one of the biggest pressure plays in championship history.
That same year, Cleveland launched the Tour Action 588 wedge, and company officials say that stick has been used to amass more than 400 victories on the PGA Tour. All told, they add, Cleveland Golf has sold more th...