About US
CLAY LONG
Clay Long is one of the most experienced and well-respected designers in the golf industry. During his 40 plus year career, he has served as Vice president of Research and Development of Macgregor Golf Co., chief designer to Progroup and The Arnold Palmer Co., Vice President of Research and Development of Cobra Golf Co., Vice President of Golf Club Development for the Acushnet Co. and Director of New Product Creation for Putters and Wedges Taylormade Golf Co. As the owner of Plus 2 International, Inc. was responsible for Nicklaus Golf Equipment and Jack Nicklaus’s golf club designs for over 10 years until 2011.
Clay attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) on a golf scholarship and finished his formal education with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1975. He began his career in the golf business with Macgregor Golf Co. in 1980 as a manufacturing engineer and moved into product development in 1983. His 40-year career has spanned a variety of product innovations and technologies ranging from hand made master models for persimmon drivers and forged irons, to today’s computer-designed titanium metal woods, cavity back investment cast irons and precision CNC made high-performance putters.
Long’s designs such as the Macgregor Muirfield metal wood would be the first metal woods Jack Nicklaus would use in competition and they would help Curtis Strange capture his second U.S Open in a row. The Macgregor T920 titanium wood would be the first major offering of a cast Titanium Driver by a U.S. manufacturer and one of the first club designs to utilize a supercomputer for analysis.
After forming Plus 2 International, Inc. in 1992 and acting as chief designer for Progroup and Arnold Palmer, Clay developed such innovations as the PHD hosel weighted iron. This design was used by Arnold Palmer, Steve Stricker, and Tom Wargo. Tom used the PHD to become the first player on the Senior Tour to win one million dollars in a single season. The hosel weighed design was later licensed and used by Cobra Golf Co. in the King Cobra II irons and woods.
Joining Cobra Golf in 1997 as Vice President of R&D, Clay helped design the Gravity Back series of woods and irons along with a number of other products. He later served as Vice president of Golf Club Development in the Acushnet organization working on titanium wood design until leaving in 2000 to restart Plus 2 International as an independent design house.
In 2001 Clay rejoined Jack Nicklaus at Nicklaus Golf Equipment where he served as chief designer for 10 years until the company ceased operations in 2011. As Vice President of R&D for Macgregor Golf Co., Clay designed clubs for golf’s greatest player, Jack Nicklaus. Some of Clay’s designs have been history makers like the Response Putter that ushered in the era of oversize and was used by Jack Nicklaus to capture the 1986 Masters Tournament. Clay also designed the Macgregor Smoothie putter that Kenny Knox used to capture the PGA Tour Tournament Putting Record in 1989, a record that stood for 16 years until 2005.
HOW WE CRAFT PUTTERS
Today Clay Long owns and operates Plus 2 International, Inc. a design firm specializing in all types of golf club design and product development in Carlsbad, California. Clay focuses primarily on his own brand of high end milled putters and world class wedge designs as well as supplying design services to other companies including Wilson Sporting Goods.
Clay Long currently has over 40 golf-related patents and has served as a charter member of Golf Digest’s Technical Advisory Panel.
Plus 2 uses state of the art tools and technology such as Computer Parametric Modeling and CNC machining as well as other time-proven techniques to produce artistic, high-performance products.
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Plus 2 International, Inc.
2790 Loker Ave. West, Unit 104
Carlsbad, CA 92010