Cover story
AMajor winnermakes aMajor comeback
When John Riley Snr started the Lynx brand in the 1970s with his innovative styling and ground-breaking designs, he didn’t realise how big the brand would become. He probably never envisaged that Fred Couples would win the US Masters playing Lynx - or indeed would bring the ‘Boom-Boom Driver’ to worldwide acclaim, either.
the name Lynx engenders in golfers of all standards – for not only was Lynx a killer beast at developing new products like Riley’s cavity-backed irons – it had remarkable prowess in the ladies’ market, as well as designing clubs specifically to help the average golfer improve. These factors explain why bringing Lynx
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clubs back to the marketplace was such an appealing idea to Steve Elford and Stephanie Zinser, managing partners of Charles Claire, the new owners of Lynx across Europe and the UK. “Lynx was always a conventional brand in
that it offered high quality, high spec gear that, especially with its custom fit, could cater for all the needs of the broad spectrum of playing golfers,” explains Elford. “There is no doubt that it was capable of servicing the demands of the very best players – as witnessed not just by Fred when he won the Masters, but also by Ernie Els when he won the US Open.” While there is no lack of evidence that the
brand could service professionals, perhaps its sweetest draw was that the regular, and even novice, players loved them too. “From the start, Lynx placed a strong emphasis on
ven though the brand has lingered in the shadows for a while, there is a distinct fondness and respect that
game improvement and product innovation,” explains Paul Walton, Lynx’s new director of sales. The Predator led the way in low profile club design in the 1980’s, and was one of the best selling clubs in its era. The Parallax models incorporated Riley’s innovative cavity-backed designs, and the Black Cat was a wonderful, revolutionary club that used advanced perimeter weighting, enhanced feel and significant vibration reduction as well as a unique flare-tip shaft.” So the Black Cat returns. But, in a spirit that follows the
inventiveness of Lynx’s founder, the brand is very strongly poised to retain its image for ground breaking development. “Conventionality is fine where it is merited,”
explains Stephanie Zinser. “We will not compromise on quality and design. We rely on great components – Aldila, Graffaloy, Dynamic Gold Shafts – all of these and more are core to the way we manufacture and design our ranges, and we will not compromise on quality. In terms of the rest, forget conventionality. We are steering this cat down our own road now.” What on earth does this mean? By this, the
owners of Lynx mean a lot. “We intend to bring Lynx back but we
won’t play catch-up,” explains Steve. “We will be constantly striving to update and improve our range, by leading design rather than copying it.” Lynx was producing white-headed drivers three years ago, before other leading
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Pro Shop Europe September 2011
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