William Gibson

William Gibson was born in Kirkcaldy and originally worked as a blacksmith. He apprenticed with James Anderson Anstruther during the late 1880s and by 1897 was part of the small firm of Stirling and Gibson based in Edinburgh. Upon his partners death in 1899 the firms name changed to William Gibson & Co moving to Kinghorn Fife in 1903. Initially he kept to only producing cleeks but by 1905 he had launched into full club making production both irons and woods with the clubs sporting the famous star cleek mark. Gibson registered his outline star cleek mark in 1906 although he had been using it since he began his business. In 1906 Gibson started to produce what would become one of his most popular clubs and largest sellers the Genii model. The clubs were revolutionary and were patented by Hugh Logan with their offset head and goose neck hosel they could be customised to suit most players requirements. Gibsons other successful line was the easily recognisable Star Maxwell irons with their drilled hosels and flanged soles based on the patented design by Robert Maxwell. The business kept expanding and Gibson was acknowledged as one of the worlds largest producer of golf clubs. His huge success was due to him being very open minded regarding club production and new designs leading him to produce several economy brands as well as his top brands. He died in 1921 leaving his son George to continue running the business though eventually going into voluntary liquidation on 1st July 1955.