In 1979 Roger Cleveland began a small business selling bespoke replicas of the classic golf clubs of the 1940's and 1950's. Today his eponymous company has developed into one of the largest brands in golf and the world's leading manufacturer of wedges.
Indeed, it took just 16 years for Cleveland golf clubs to leave their mark on the majors. Corey Pavin's two stroke victory over Greg Norman at the 1995 US Open at Shinnecock Hills was achieved with the VAS range of Cleveland woods and Cleveland irons.
At this point, however, things at Cleveland threatened to stall. The tenacious Pavin may have increased brand awareness but the golfing public disliked the look and feel of the radical VAS design. A corporate rethink followed and in 1997 Cleveland began the fight back.
Cleveland Wedges Make Number One
Since then sales have been multiplied five times over with Cleveland also enjoying success on the Professional Tours, most notably with three time major winner Vijay Singh. 
Today Cleveland wedges continue to be ranked as number one in the world, Cleveland irons remain hugely popular and regularly figure highly in the weekly Tour counts and Cleveland drivers and fairway woods offer distance, accuracy and reliability.
For Cleveland, success has never been an excuse to rest on its laurels and the company has continued to strive to be at the forefront of technological advances in world golf. This was perfectly illustrated when Cleveland drivers and Cleveland fairway woods became the first golf clubs to use CMM, a revolutionary light density metal.
The announcement that Cleveland had been acquired by the parent company of Srixon Golf, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd, in 2008 suggests that this dynamic and forward thinking manufacturer of golf equipment is certain to be moving the game forward for many years to come.