By the late ‘40s, Riley merged with British sports car maker MG and that group eventually became part of the British Leyland Motor Corporation. Riley made everything from little sports cars to Rolls Royce wannabees. The Riley Car Companyįrom 1926 to 1938, the Coventry, England-based Riley Car Company made and sold a slick little British roadster called the Riley Lynx. While it might be easy to say the name “Lynx” is a play on words with “links,” the real story might be a tad more interesting. with partner Carl Ross, a former sales manager for the Arnold Palmer Golf Company.

In 1961, Riley emigrated to the United States to take an engineering job as a tooling specialist with PING.īy the end of the decade, Riley had designs on striking out on his own.

John Riley was one of the U.K.’s top amateur golfers in the 1950s, playing out of the Accrington Club in northern England. The internet is a little hazy when it comes to the birth of Lynx but the story actually starts where the brand currently sits, in England. Just how did Lynx start and how did it get its name? But would it surprise you to know that the first truly successful investment-cast club was designed and sold by Lynx?īut before we go there, let’s start at the beginning. Today it’s pretty much accepted in golf canon that Karsten Solheim is the man who made investment-cast irons a thing. History, it’s said, is written by the victors. History’s Mysteries: The First Life of Lynx Golf So let’s jump in the time machine, buckle up and take a trip back in time. The company’s journey from disruptive early ‘70s innovator to corporate cog to mothballed store brand to European niche is a fascinating one.

By our count, the current iteration of Lynx is its eighth. The lynx, of course, is a feline and we all know cats have their allotted nine lives. Today’s look back should be an adventure. It’s our effort to look back at some of golf’s bygone brands and find out what happened to them and why. Welcome to another edition of History’s Mysteries.

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