The brand of Apollo shafts has had a long and distinguished history in the golf industry. It began in the Midlands (UK) in the 1890s, as one of the founding five members of the TI Group (Tube Investments).
The company was then known as Accles & Pollock. The company was referred to as a ‘tube manipulator’, which produced all types of steel tubing. In 1913, Accles & Pollock received a patent for the first tubular steel golf shaft. Steel shafts, being legalized by the R&A in 1927, rapidly began to replace the wood shafts that had been used since golf began.
Accles & Pollock soon worked with an American company, named American Fork and Hoe, which eventually became the present day True Temper. As a licensee of the American company for nearly forty years Accles & Pollock produced steel shafts under the True Temper name for the European and Japanese golf markets.
The agreement was dissolved in 1977, and Accles & Pollock began selling their own shaft models. In 1986 the company was split to focus more on the golf side of the business, and took on the name Apollo Golf.
In 1988, Apollo golf was the first steel shaft manufacturer in the world to also offer its own branded graphite shaft models. Britain’s only shaft manufacturer ceased trading during the 1990s, but the brand was acquired a few years ago by Summit Golf.
The original drawings of the Apollo shafts are once again in production. The flagship ‘Shadow’ shafts are available in Steel and graphite, as well as a clubmaker favourite – ‘Balistik’.