#ThrowbackThursday

It’s #ThrowbackThursday, and time to take a look back at some of the applications for boron fiber in sporting goods from the “old days.” While the history of boron fiber’s use in aerospace is rich with such well known platforms as the F-14 Tomcat, the F-15 Strike Eagle, the B-1 Bomber, Mirage fighter and the space shuttle, what may be less well known is boron fiber’s equally rich history in sporting goods.

The Prince Boron tennis racquet was one of original applications for boron fiber in sporting goods and saw a successful run with widespread use among both pros and amateurs. Another early application for boron fiber was in fishing rods, where its inherent ability to provide “feel” to the angler had almost a cult-like following among the advocates who swore by the rods containing boron fiber.

But perhaps the greatest application for the use of boron fiber in sporting goods was in golf shafts in the early 1990s. Like fishing rods, there were strong advocates for the use of full-length boron in golf shafts for feel, most notably in Japan. The use of boron fiber really took off, however, with the introduction of Callaway Golf’s Big Bertha driver. It was an instant hit with many golfers, but there were some breakage issues in the golf shaft because the club had no reinforcement where the shaft entered the clubhead. By inserting a small “flag” of boron fiber prepreg at that area of the golf shaft, the problem was solved and the use of boron fiber by most of the golf original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) came to be. Textron Specialty Materials (the precursor to what is now Specialty Materials, Inc.) introduced the Boron Certified Program to verify to golf consumers that golf shafts with the ‘Boron Certified” sticker on it had enough boron fiber to provide added strength. Eventually, most golf shaft manufacturers outsourced their manufacturing to lower-cost facilities in China and the era of wide-spread use of boron fiber in golf shafts ended. 

But just because that era of boron use in sporting goods has concluded doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for boron in the industry today. Ultra-lightweight golf shafts and fly fishing rods still take advantage of boron technology. We are now introducing a new generation of boron fiber products into the sporting goods arena for enhanced product performance, strength and durability. These new products will support the pro playing in front of 10,000 screaming fans and the everyday athlete biking around their neighborhoods.