Ray Cook Golf Company post-1970s

Hillandale1977 · February 15

bcstones · February 16

https://www.pga.com/archive/longtime-puttermaker-ray-cook-golf-hold-auction-all-its-assets

bcstones · February 19

found this in the MSU archive:

"death of Ray Cook, founder of Ray Cook Golf on January 9, 1995 in San Antonio, Texas."

(he was 76)

"...Ray Cook Golf has its second owner in less than two months. Rivington Golf Management of Austin, Tex., acquired the putter maker Sept. 12 from TelAmerica Media of Philadelphia." was dated Sept/2000

Hillandale1977 · February 27

Golf Digest February 1996. Interesting names in addition to Mr. Cook's.

Hillandale1977 · March 1

Here comes the science!

From the April 1980 issue of Golf Digest. Even the photo in the ad shows how they couldn't quite stamp the entire registered trademark symbol into the sole of these X-100s.

Hillandale1977 · March 1

This was the top part of the April 1980 ad. M-1 still still looking strong after nearly 20 years.

Hillandale1977 · March 25

Looks kind of cool.

Nice --

bcstones · March 25

2 hours ago, Hillandale1977 said:

Looks kind of cool.

Nice --

it's stylized Ping "Anser".....also, I think this is the first non-San Antonio Ray Cook company.

Hillandale1977 · March 26

1987 copyright date on the advertisement. Around the time of or just a couple years before Don T. Cameron's involvement with the company.

bcstones · March 28

On 3/26/2025 at 7:56 AM, Hillandale1977 said:

1987 copyright date on the advertisement. Around the time of or just a couple years before Don T. Cameron's involvement with the company.

That ad is from the Gen2 "Ray Cook" Company...you can tell by the logo (not the original) & Peter Kostis is a Californian...
The putter looks like the Billy Baroo & one of the Blue Goose models...and at least the Gen2 Ray Cook Company

AND I just noticed that "Cameron" is below the "United States Patent"...I do believe he designed both the Blue Goose & the Billy Baroo - IMS

Edited March 28 by bcstones

Hillandale1977 · March 29

Something odd, IMO: Ray Cook invented the M-1 mallet in around 1963, but as far as I can tell, there wasn't even a trademark registered for M-1 until the Gen2 Ray Cook Company in California obtained one in 1992.

Hillandale1977 · March 29

Even more odd than that IMO. In looking at the patent office records for inventions by Raymon W. Cook, of the 14 patents that were issued to him, the earliest was issued in 1975, and based on the illustrations in all the patent documents related to putters, none of them appear to be what was manufactured and sold as the M-1 starting back in around 1963.

Surely he filed for a patent for the M-1, because the putters are stamped Pat. Pend. But is it possible that for whatever reason, the patent office never issued a patent for the M-1? (I maybe am just doing something fundamentally wrong in searching the records. I'm not sure that the patent applications he would have filed are available to the public, I'm only seeing patents that were issued.)

Hillandale1977 · March 29

bcstones · March 29

Don't know what is so odd....all the putters I have from the original Ray Cook are marked "patent pending". IMS, the only patents he applied (& recieved) for are the DBRC Hogan putters, the Affluent line & the Ball Master line.

Edited March 29 by bcstones

Hillandale1977 · April 4

So despite the claims made in places like this 1975 newspaper ad, it doesn't appear from the USPTO records that patents were granted for what was manufactured as the M-1 mallet or the other Vi-Bra-Groov putters.

bcstones · April 4

19 hours ago, Hillandale1977 said:

So despite the claims made in places like this 1975 newspaper ad, it doesn't appear from the USPTO records that patents were granted for what was manufactured as the M-1 mallet or the other Vi-Bra-Groov putters.

Yes, despite the ad's claim...I have seen no Ray Cook putter (SA) that has a pattent & I have 2 of the Vib-Ra-Groov putters (they are one piece, not two, as the ad suggests).

Hillandale1977 · April 5

Maybe Vib-Ra-Groov 2.0s would have been two-piece.🙂

Later they had an ad in the June 1976 Golf Digest which -- read literally-- claimed that "PROS" had made millions with the puttter shown: the very same M1S that starred in the 1975 ad. I love it. (Maybe "PROS" had some sort of secret meaning and did not mean "professional golfers"?)

bcstones · April 5

7 hours ago, Hillandale1977 said:

Maybe Vib-Ra-Groov 2.0s would have been two-piece.

the 2 I have are one piece....I'm thinking the ad boys just made up something to sell the club.

The only multi-piece putters I've seen are the Klicker/Clicker/etc....and I'm guessing that the multiple denials of patent are more due to Ray Cook attempting to change the name to get by the court injunction & law suit by that info-mercial outfit for the hand clapping to turn on/off lights....Ray Cook lost that court case & had to destroy the remaining stock.

I don't understand... "Maybe "PROS" had some sort of secret meaning and did not mean "professional golfers"?" - Pros is the multiple of Pro....that the ad boys again, capitolized it, could just be PR blare.
btw - the M1S has a smaller head than the original M1....& in the 10 years that Ray Cook owned the company, he made thousands of each model, sold only in Pro shops, & was one of the most carried putters by tour pros - so it makes sense, that "millions" could have been made on the tour.

Hillandale1977 · April 6

I was really just being facetious about the "secret meaning of PROS" business. If the real overall claim of the ad was that winnings by all professional golfers who had played Ray Cook putters totalled in the millions by the date of the ad, that probably was true.

I wonder if Ray Cook Golf has ever published a list of the 200+ wins they claim on the professional tours. Would be interesting to know how many wins there were for specific models like the Asp and the Blue Goose.

bcstones · April 6

8 hours ago, Hillandale1977 said:

Would be interesting to know how many wins there were for specific models like the Asp and the Blue Goose.

Ray Cook (SA era) designed the ASP (I have the ASP - Lil Poison & an ASP 2)....the Blue Goose was 2nd Gen or 3rd Gen Ray Cook - supposedly designed by Scotty Cameron, so not part of that ads claim.

Hillandale1977 · April 7

I have the ASP - Lil Poison. It looks like he was able to get a design patent on the Asp.

Hillandale1977 · April 7

Great expectations:

Like a pro golfer, Ray’s ambition is the Grand Slam. “I wanna win the Big Four in one year.” I’ve won them all but not in the same year (He means Bruce Devlin in the 1967 British Open, Orville Moody in the 1969 U.S. Open, Dave Stockton in the 1970 PGA and Casper in the 1970 Masters).”

Cook is convinced his goal is within reach. “The Asp is the one that’s gonna do it,” he said firmly. It took five years of engineering to perfect it, but it’s designed so you can hit a short putt firmly but won’t over-roll the hole. The ball comes off the face rolling slower.”

San Antonio Express, 2/27/1973, p. 37

bcstones · April 7

19 hours ago, Hillandale1977 said:

I have the ASP - Lil Poison. It looks like he was able to get a design patent on the Asp.

Check your "Lil Poison" - does it say 'patented'? I also have one, says "pat.pend". Also have his "Asp-2" putter, pat.pend. It's different from the "Lil Poison" just has two incisions down from the top & the pack is a solid curve.

bcstones · April 7

My interest in Ray Cook clubs in really only in the original Ray Cook SA era. However I did find a number of Gen2 & Gen3 clubs in my storage area...the only ones that I'll keep oare the Blue Goose & the Billy Baroo putters. In my threqd on the SA era, I posted picks of the four Gen2 Blue Goose putters & one Gen3 Blue Goose putter....the pics should also be on this thread, so here they are...

Gen2 Blue Goose