"These clubs shall be as near perfect as modern day tools and instruments can perform." - Ben Hogan
The Ben Hogan Golf Company. Just saying those words to an equipment enthusiast usually elicits a feeling of nostalgia for the forged irons that were a staple of the company for more than 50 years.
When Hogan decided to cut back on his playing schedule and open up his Fort Worth equipment company in 1953, he noted in a letter to pro shops that he had what he believed were the "finest golf clubs ever made."
While the statement may have seemed a little presumptuous at the time, it didn't take long for Hogan to translate his grasp on the mechanics of the game and start producing simple, efficient irons that were ahead of the times in terms of innovation and design.
During the next five decades, the Ben Hogan Company produced some of the most popular iron models in golf history, from the original Apex design to the highly successful Edge that featured the feel of forged with the benefits of perimeter-weighting.
Hogan's equipment company also had a major presence in professional golf. Jack Fleck, a former municipal course pro from Iowa, stunned the golf world when he beat Hogan in a playoff at the 1955 U.S. Open with a set of custom-made Hogan irons and wedges (Hogan personally delivered the wedges).
Others would follow. Mark Brooks won the 1996 PGA Championship using Hogan irons. Justin Leonard followed the next year, winning the 1997 Open Championship. Both, fittingly enough, were Texans and proud to play the Hogan brand.
Although the Hogan line of clubs was never a juggernaut in professional golf equipment, its irons always had a loyal following amongst professionals and amateurs alike. A boutique brand, as it were.
The company enjoyed 40 years of success in the industry thanks, in large part, to that loyalty and reverence for the man who created the company. However, following a successful stretch in the late 1990s, Hogan started to lose ground to the competition after Top-Flite Golf (which owned Top-Flite, Strata and Ben Hogan) was acquired by Callaway for $125 million in a bankruptcy agreement in 2003.
Callaway eventually halted production of Hogan equipment in 2008, closing the doors on the iconic brand. For the past seven years, Hogan irons have been scooped up and stockpiled by collectors. Until recently, there was little hope within the industry that the equipment line would ever be revived.
When Callaway eventually sold its rights to Perry Ellis in 2012 — it retained key pieces of the Hogan brand like the Apex and Edge names — there was a belief that Hogan had officially disappeared into the equipment abyss.
That was until Koehler came along.
Following eight months of discussions with Perry Ellis, the two companies came to partnership agreement that will see Koehler's Eidolon Brands start producing irons under the Ben Hogan name in 2015.
Oscar Feldenkreis, the president of Perry Ellis International, says Koehler is the perfect person to revitalize the brand.
“As we became more acquainted with Terry Koehler and Eidolon Brands," Feldenkreis said, 'it became clear that this company exhibits the values, spirit and passion that Ben Hogan always represented to the golf community."
Of course, now Koehler must deliver on that promise.