Yonex began life in 1946 as the Yoneyama Company, a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets. When the advent of plastic floats forced the company out of that market its founder, Minoru Yoneyama, vowed that his company would never again be left behind by technological advances.
The results of that vow can still be seen today in the development of Yonex golf clubs. By the early 1960’s the Yoneyama company introduced its first self branded badminton racquet and today enjoys an 80% market share among top badminton players.
As its international profile grew the company continued to modernise and officially adopted the Yonex name in 1974. It was not until 1980 that Yonex golf clubs first appeared. Inspired by the success of their new range of tennis racquets, the Yonex R-7 was the first racquet to win both Wimbledon and the French Open, the company decided to diversify into golf.
Having enjoyed success with the use of lightweight materials in badminton and tennis equipment Yonex brought the same principles to the golf world. The company immediately made an impact with the launch of Yonex drivers and the Carbonex II was the world’s first all-graphite head driver. This was quickly followed by all-graphite Yonex irons called the Carboniron.
Throughout the 1980’s Yonex golf continued to grow and develop its reputation as a pioneer of new technology and, towards the end of the decade, the company introduced the ADX Widebody golf club range becoming the first manufacturer to feature widebody club heads. Within a year an ADX driver had entered the Guiness Book of Records by hitting the longest driver ever recorded at professional tournament.
In 1996 Yonex launched the Super ADX Titanium driver and, when Yonex hybrids followed shortly later, it meant that the company now offered a complete set of woods and irons that could be used by golfers of all levels.