The assets of Henry-Griffitts Inc., a Hayden-based custom golf club maker founded in 1983, has been acquired by aboutGolf Ltd., of Maumee, Ohio, through a company it has formed called Henry-Griffitts Ltd., says Jim Hofmeister, CEO of Henry-Griffitts Inc.

Hofmeister declines to disclose the financial details of the sale.

Production of Henry-Griffitts golf clubs will be moved from the company's facility at 827 W. Prairie, in Hayden, to a location in Ohio, and a "majority" of the company's nine full-time and four part-time employees here will be retained, Hofmeister says. Henry-Griffitts Ltd.'s operations in Hayden will focus on customer-service requests and repairs and will move to a smaller, 2,300-square-foot location at 10183 N. Aero Drive, near the Coeur d'Alene airport, says Dave Lynch, the Hayden company's chief financial officer.

The purchaser, aboutGolf Ltd., will continue to manufacture golf clubs under the Henry-Griffitts name.

AboutGolf was founded in 1988 and specializes in developing and manufacturing high-tech golf simulation machines that measure the trajectory, velocity, and spin of each shot, says Chuck Winger, aboutGolf's vice president of performance products.

The simulators, which players can use to challenge themselves on numerous virtual courses, are a good tool for fitting someone for custom golf clubs, Winger says. The golf simulator and Henry-Griffitts' practice of fitting players and golf clubs "complement each other," says Winger.

Hofmeister says that Bill Bales, CEO of aboutGolf, first expressed an interest in acquiring Henry-Griffitts during a Professional Golfer's Association merchandise show, in Orlando, Fla., in 2007, and believed then that the two businesses were well-suited to be combined.

Winger says aboutGolf has roughly 50 employees at its headquarters in Ohio, and the company's Web site says it has 18 offices, including in Beijing, London, Paris, and Tokyo.

Hofmeister believes Henry-Griffitts' customers won't notice the change in ownership.

Henry-Griffits, which was owned by a group of investors at the time of its sale, was founded in Hayden by Northwest golf professionals Randy Henry and Jim Griffitts. Griffitts passed away in 1991. The business found a niche selling its custom golf clubs through a network of certified golf pros located throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe.