The New Chinese Golf Clubs Could End America's Biggest Golf Brands - Here's How It Began

#AmericanFairways #golf #documentary Chinese golf clubs are cheaper than ever, and the heads inside most clubs from America's biggest golf brands already come from the same factories. But how did golf club manufacturing leave America in the first place? Real archive photos and documents, no AI footage. From a shoe-last lathe in Dayton, Ohio (1897) to Spalding's Chicopee plant, Ben Hogan's Fort Worth factory, Karsten Solheim's cast irons in Phoenix, Taiwan's Fu Sheng, and Coastcast, the last independent golf clubhead maker in the U.S., this is the story of how America built the world's golf clubs, taught others to make them, and what it means for the club in your bag today. Did you or your family work in a golf club factory? Where was the oldest club in your garage made? Tell us the club, the year and the place stamped on it in the comments. CHAPTERS 00:00 A $120 set and an $8 million sale 00:47 What is happening right now 02:08 Where was your club really made? 04:25 Dayton, 1897: a machine built to make copies 05:54 Persimmon: "American Ebony" 06:40 Spalding in Chicopee 08:01 Wilson, Burke and Kenneth Smith 09:45 Ben Hogan's factory in Fort Worth 10:34 MacGregor signs Jack Nicklaus 11:11 The first crack: Karsten Solheim's garage 12:33 The "ugly" cast irons of 1969 13:15 How investment casting works 15:10 Taiwan and Fu Sheng 15:59 "We taught them how to do it" 17:43 May 24, 1983: Spalding stops making club parts 18:47 Metal woods and the 1986 Masters 20:07 Hitchiner goes to Mexico, Hogan is sold 21:19 Big Bertha and where it was poured 22:30 Coastcast at its peak 23:15 Clones, knock-offs and Project Teed Off 25:22 Across the strait: Zhongshan 26:50 Coastcast collapses 28:21 What happened to the last American caster 29:16 Inside Worldmark 30:22 $38.50 against $499 31:58 Ping: the company that stayed 33:45 Albany, Georgia: a sandwich on a desk 34:57 Nike's Oven and Artisan Golf 36:16 The cheap Chinese club, seen clearly 36:58 Tariffs, and the golf balls that never left 38:41 Counterfeits in 2026 39:13 Could they really end the big brands? 40:52 Clone or counterfeit? 41:31 My honest answer 42:38 Back to Dayton: who controls the copy 43:47 Where was your oldest club made?