As we begin the new year, it’s time to celebrate Lamkin’s 85th birthday. That’s a pretty impressive amount of time to be in business, especially as a family owned company. Lamkin sure has come a long way since the early 1920s when its founders, brothers Joseph H. and E.B. Lamkin, agreed to make a set of 12 grips for a sporting goods company. That company was seeking to find a local manufacturer to duplicate the leather grips that were then being made exclusively in England. After many trial and error attempts, they eventually succeeded in producing a grip that was superior to the English model, thus launching Lamkin Leather Co.

Of course, very few golfers (maybe one!) use leather these days, but Lamkin has always managed to be innovative and seek out new technologies and materials, the latest being the new 3GEN synthetic rubber. Appropriately, 3GEN could also signify that the third generation is now at the helm–Bob Lamkin, E.B.’s grandson. Here’s to another 85 years!