Ironfinder

"The Ironfinder" was founded in 1982 by H.H. Jones of Santa Ana, California. From its humble beginnings of working out of the family garage, the original focus of the business was providing replacement irons for golfers. H.H.'s background was in technical writing which lent well with his desire to create a printed publication. As a result, he marri... ed the need for replacement irons with a new publication and launched the self titled guides to "The Most-Wanted Pro-line Irons, Most Valuable Woods, Putters" which included pictures and/or descriptions of the most popular models at that time. The publications also listed inventories that were available for sale and also solicited owners of golf collections to list their inventories with "The Ironfinder". The first issue of "The Ironfinder" was published in 1984 in cooperation with Jim Kaplan of Vintage Golf, Northbrook, Illinois. At the time, Jim assembled three books which were collections of golf manufacturer's catalogs. His books were well received by the golf collector community. By having Jim listed in cooperation with The Ironfinder, it gave the new Ironfinder publication a little more exposure and credence. The business inventory was listed by brand and model showing whether or not an iron was available. Each model was indexed with an unique number to look-up its picture in the back pages. This small 16-page pamphlet was the beginnings of more to come. In 1985, a second, revised-look issue was published simply called "H.H. Jones' Ironfinder" with a listing of over 3,800 clubs available for sale. This issue changed the organization to show the picture right above the available inventory. At 82 pages, it was a big improvement in both size, not to mention sales. The first printing of 500 sold out quickly. A second and third printings were subsequently ordered. The following year, H.H. moved the business to Escondido, California to be closer to nature - as in lots of green nature - backing the 2nd hole of the Escondido Country Club. From this location, the ...Read More