Wilson Staff
Golf equipment manufacturer
title: "Wilson Staff" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["wilson-sporting-goods", "golf-equipment-manufacturers", "1914-establishments-in-illinois"] description: "Golf equipment manufacturer" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_Staff" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Golf equipment manufacturer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Wilson Staff |
| logo | Wilson staff logo.png |
| logo_size | 200 |
| type | Division |
| foundation | |
| location_city | Chicago, Illinois |
| location_country | US |
| industry | Sports equipment |
| products | Golf balls, clubs, gloves, bags, polo shirts |
| parent | Wilson Sporting Goods |
| homepage | |
| :: |
| name = Wilson Staff | logo = Wilson staff logo.png | logo_size = 200 | type = Division | foundation = | location_city = Chicago, Illinois | location_country = US | key_people = | industry = Sports equipment | products = Golf balls, clubs, gloves, bags, polo shirts | susbid = | parent = Wilson Sporting Goods | brands = | homepage =
Wilson Staff is Wilson's premium golf brand aimed at tour professionals and serious players. Wilson designs and manufactures a full range of golf equipment, accessories, and apparel using the Wilson Staff, Wilson, ProStaff, Profile, Ultra and Hope brands. Wilson's other lines are generally considered to be "big box," "value," or "economy" brands, while the Wilson Staff line provides higher quality equipment used on all major professional golf tours.
Products marketed under the Wilson Staff brand include golf equipment (balls, clubs, gloves, and bags), and clothing (polo shirts).
Many of the world's top professional golfers have used Wilson equipment, including Gene Sarazen (who had a 75-year relationship with the company, the longest-running contract in sports history). Other golfers who have used Wilson Staff equipment include Sam Snead, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Patty Berg, Nick Faldo, Payne Stewart, John Daly, Ben Crenshaw, and Vijay Singh. Palmer and Crenshaw both used Wilson 8802 putters, with Crenshaw's receiving the moniker Little Ben due to his proficiency with it. Current Wilson Staff players include Open and USPGA champion Pádraig Harrington and Brendan Steele.
History
|align= right |direction= horizontal |total_width= 350 |header = |image1 = TPA XVIII putter.jpg |caption1 = TPA XVIII putter |image2 = Golfball-AM.jpg |caption2 = Ball |footer = In 1932 Wilson Advisory staff member Gene Sarazen was inspired by the aerodynamics of an airplane's wing to create a club head that would glide smoothly through sand. Sarazen welded a piece of steel to the sole of the club and ground it producing 'bounce'. This marked the introduction of the sand wedge and in 1933 alone, Wilson sold 50,000 of these clubs, marketed as the R-90, which went on to be the most popular sand wedge in golf.
In 1933 Wilson Advisory Staff member Willie Ogg created a design for distributing weight away from the heel of the club head, moving it towards the "sweet spot" of the blade. This design feature was used in the Wilson irons, the forerunner of perimeter weighted or cavity back irons.
In 1948, then Wilson Sporting Goods President Lawrence Icely provided the financial backing for Patty Berg and Babe Didrikson Zaharias to form the Women’s PGA, predecessor of today's LPGA.
In 1954 Wilson began producing the Wilson Staff ball which was seen as revolutionary due to its ability to launch up to 40 percent faster than the golf club's head speed. In 2005 Wilson Staff claims to be the first golf company to utilize nanotechnology in golf equipment.
Major championships
Wilson Staff claims that its line of irons has "more majors won than any other brand." Players using Wilson Staff clubs have won a total of 62 majors.
::data[format=table]
| Year | Tournament | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 1922 | U.S. Open | Gene Sarazen |
| 1922 | PGA Championship | Gene Sarazen |
| 1923 | PGA Championship | Gene Sarazen |
| 1928 | U.S. Open | Johnny Farrell |
| 1932 | The Open Championship | Gene Sarazen |
| 1932 | U.S. Open | Gene Sarazen |
| 1933 | PGA Championship | Gene Sarazen |
| 1935 | The Masters | Gene Sarazen |
| 1935 | PGA Championship | Johnny Revolta |
| 1936 | PGA Championship | Denny Shute |
| 1937 | PGA Championship | Denny Shute |
| 1937 | U.S. Open | Ralph Guldahl |
| 1938 | U.S. Open | Ralph Guldahl |
| 1939 | The Masters | Ralph Guldahl |
| 1941 | PGA Championship | Vic Ghezzi |
| 1942 | PGA Championship | Sam Snead |
| 1946 | U.S. Open | Lloyd Mangrum |
| 1946 | The Open Championship | Sam Snead |
| 1947 | PGA Championship | Jim Ferrier |
| 1948 | The Masters | Claude Harmon |
| 1949 | The Masters | Sam Snead |
| 1949 | U.S. Open | Cary Middlecoff |
| 1949 | PGA Championship | Sam Snead |
| 1952 | The Masters | Sam Snead |
| 1952 | U.S. Open | Julius Boros |
| 1954 | The Masters | Sam Snead |
| 1955 | The Masters | Cary Middlecoff |
| 1956 | U.S. Open | Cary Middlecoff |
| 1958 | The Masters | Arnold Palmer |
| 1959 | The Masters | Art Wall Jr. |
| 1959 | U.S. Open | Billy Casper |
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Sponsorship deals
In the past, Wilson has had many of the world best golfers under contract, including six-time major winner Nick Faldo and three-time major winner Pádraig Harrington. Wilson Staff currently has endorsement deals with many professional golfers who compete on all the major tours.
Wilson Staff also has sponsorship deals with Brendan Steele, Kevin Tway, Kevin Streelman, Kevin Kisner and Trey Mullinax.
References
References
- "Gene Sarazen develops the Wilson R-90 Wedge".
- (20 February 2013). "Gear Shifts: A Brief Chronology of Golf's Game Changers".
- "Lawrence Icely of Wilson Sporting Goods financial backing for Women's PGA".
- "Wilson Staff Ball".
- "Wilson Staff introduces nanotechnology".
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130519105712/http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/wilsonstaff/history/wilson/ More Majors Won Than Any Other Brand]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150218182709/http://www.wilson.com/en-us/golf/players/ Golf players sponsored by Wilson]
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