Founded by Eddie Darrell in 1932, Darrell Survey
has for over sixty years tracked the use of clubs,
balls, shoes and apparel on the PGA Tour. During
the 1940's and 50's, Eddie was a well-known fixture
on the circuit whose efforts brought a new credibility
to professional golf. Virginia Darrell, Eddie's wife,
handled the books until his death in 1972 when she
took his place on the road. She enlisted the young
Susan Minkley (now Naylor) fresh out of college to
join her and together the two of them embarked on
an annual odyssey in Virginia's Cadillac with three
dogs and Virginia's collection of hats. In 1980, tiring
of the travel, Virginia sold the company to Naylor,
who subsequently brought her brother John Minkley
on board. Together the two established permanent
bicoastal offices and computerized the data
gathering and management. Today Darrell Survey
has the full cooperation of every major golf tour
and individual tournament organizers. It covers the
PGA, LPGA, Senior PGA and Nike Tours, amateur
and NCAA events, and the Japanese PGA Tour.
For the past twenty years, Darrell Survey has
completed an annual consumer report, compiling
equipment choices of average golfers on public
and private courses from around the country.