Titleist :: The story behind the logo

Ever looked at your Titleist ball or clubs and wondered how they came up with the logo? Well, it was a lot easier than you think.

Nowadays, such decisions can take weeks and months. Back in 1935, as Titleist was preparing to release its first golf balls, the design of the Titleist logo took a matter of minutes thanks to Helen Robinson, the office secretary.

The Titleist story began in 1932 when Phil Young, a dedicated amateur golfer and owner of a precision molded rubber company missed ‘a well-stroked putt’ in a match with his friend, who was head of the X-ray department at a local hospital.

Young was convinced the ball was at fault and went to the hospital with his friend to X-ray the ball that he had been using. He found the core was, as he had thought, off-centre.

From there, Young and fellow MIT graduate Fred Bommer founded the Acushnet Company. The pair spent the better part of three years designing and developing ‘the highest quality and best performing ball in the world’. The key factor being that every ball would be uniform and consistent in quality.

The last thing Young and Bommer needed to do before putting it into production was to add the now famous Titleist logo.

Read more -> Titleist updates Performance line of balls

Their thoughts immediately turned to Robinson, who they knew had beautiful penmanship. Young and Bommer asked her to write the word ‘Titleist’ on a piece of paper.

The way Robinson penned the word on the page was used for the original branding and the Titleist logo is still based on this lettering today.

WATCH -> What happens at a Vokey SM6 fitting day

To commemorate Robinson’s contribution, a plaque was presented to the Reservation Golf Club in Mattapoisset, Massachusetts. The plaque still sits alongside the first tee at the club to this day.