About Ralph Maltby

Ralph Maltby has influenced every aspect of modern clubmaking from golf club fitting to his many patented innovations in golf club design to his six best selling reference books. The first book is the definitive work called “Golf Club Design, Fitting, Alteration and Repair”. This 900 page hardcover book is the official reference manual of the Professional Golfers Association of America. The 2001 second edition of “The Complete Golf Club Fitting Plan” is also the official fitting book of the PGA.Mr.Maltby has also written the definitive golf club repair book titled “Golf Club Repair in Pictures”. This book is currently in its fifth edition, used worldwide and translated into other languages.Another book in its fourth printing is the “Golf Club Assembly Manual”.

In 2005 the first edition of “The Maltby Playability Factor (MPF) for Irons” was published. This is a monumental work that was conceived, researched and developed over a twelve year period.MPF is a rating system on golf club iron playability which uses mass and dimensional properties of a clubhead and classifies that head as to how hard or easy it is to play.

His newest book, “How Golf ClubsWork . . . & Affect Your Ability to Score”, is an expanded and updated rewrite of the original book published in 1997. The content has been increased three fold from the original and is designed to help all golfers understand their equipment better so they can play their best. All of Mr.Maltby’s books are the number one selling books on these selected subjects and have totaled hundreds of thousands of copies sold.

Graduating from the University of South Florida with a marketing degree, he also studied engineering. He played golf prior to and during his college days.While attending the university he operated a club repair and custom golf shop.

Before joining Spalding as a Product Engineer in 1969, Ralph Maltby served as a wood head finishing consultant to several major golf club manufacturers. At Spalding he designed a number of new golf clubs and later became Product Manager for golf products.

In 1973 he joined Faultless Sports as Director of Marketing. There he developed and patented a number of highly innovative club designs and was promoted to Vice President of Operations with overall marketing and manufacturing responsibilities.

In 1976,Mr.Maltby founded the GolfWorks and has been manufacturing and distributing golf clubs, machines, gauges, tools, and supplies worldwide to golf club repair shops, golf professionals, manufacturers, custom clubmakers and do-it yourselfers. In 2006 Mr.Maltby sold the GolfWorks to Golf Galaxy. He is still actively involved with golf equipment testing, further advancing golf club design technology and improving methods for fitting golf clubs to the individual. He spends most of his time in a state of the art golf club research and development studio doing this work and where he also produces educational videos on many golf club equipment related subjects.

Mr.Maltby has lectured at over 250 PGA Business Schools on Golf Club Design Principles, Golf Club Fitting and Golf Club Repair Procedures. He lectured annually at the Tour Players School with a 5 ½ hour presentation entitled “Working With Your Equipment”. He has taught basic and advanced repair and fitting workshops for the PGA, and written numerous articles for golfing publications around the world. He has also made appearances on The Golf Channel discussing golf technical information. He is a member of the GolfWriters Association of America, The Golf Collectors Society and an honorary member of the Professional Clubmakers Society.

In 1991 he was listed by Golf Digest magazine as one of the 36 most powerful men in golf. In 1996 Mr.Maltby was inducted into the “Professional Clubmakers Society” Hall of Fame and in 2005 he was inducted into the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame.

Mr.Maltby was distinguished by being appointed an honorary member of the New Zealand Professional Golfers Association in 1980.

Besides golf, his hobbies are boating, scuba diving, auto racing and flying. He has a commercial pilot’s license and advanced ground instructor’s license in addition to being instrument rated in single and multi engine aircraft. He also holds a national competition license from the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and a professional license from the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA).

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