Tommy Armour

Tommy Armour the golfer and Tommy Armour the club brand never overlapped. He was an Edinburgh-born professional who lost the sight in one eye to mustard gas in the First World War, won the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the first Open played at Carnoustie, then taught at Medinah and wrote a best-selling instruction book. He died in 1968. Clubs carrying his name didn't appear until the decade after.

What fixed the name in golf was the 845, a cavity-back iron of the mid to late eighties that hid a forgiving perimeter-weighted head inside a shape better players would still look down on. It sold past six hundred thousand sets. Ownership then ran through TearDrop, Huffy and others before the brand settled in as a Sports Authority house label, and it went quiet when that chain liquidated in 2016. Dick's Sporting Goods relaunched it two years later with BMW's Designworks on the look, and it's a house brand again, sold through Dick's stores and Golf Galaxy. The range is a full one now, drivers through putters and complete sets, pointed at mid and high handicaps. Getting the 845 badge back onto the irons was step one.