Biography

Adams Golf was founded in 1987 by Barney Adams. Then a golf equipment component supplier and contract manufacturer in West Texas, Barney moved the company to Dallas in the 1990s to concentrate on custom fitting and new product development.

In the early years of Adams Golf, Barney labored in obscurity. He collected six patents for his golf products, manufacturing fine equipment but enjoying no sales. All of this changed in 1996 though, when he invented the Tight Lies fairway wood. While working as a custom fitter, his customers repeatedly asked for a club they could play from "long iron" distance, 180-220 yards to the green. Barney knew the technical secret was to lower the club’s center of gravity. He did this by designing the traditional head shape upside down, which not only lowered the club’s center of gravity, but also increased the hitting surface. The result was a club that was easier to hit, and suddenly Barney and his club, after years of diligent work, became overnight sensations.

As lean as those early years of Adams Golf were, the amazing success of Tight Lies more than made up for them. Sales skyrocketed beyond Barney’s wildest expectation, and earned Adams Golf two placements on the "Inc. 500" Fastest Growing Small Companies list, and Industry Week Top 25 Award for Growing Manufacturing Companies, several golf industry awards, and led to the largest IPO in the history of the golf industry in 1998.

More than 20 years since he founded the company, Adams Golf continues Barney's legacy of superior customer service and commitment to developing technologically innovative and high-performance products that appeal to all types of players, from tour pros to the recreational golfer.