TaylorMade has laid off 70 employees, citing the current economic downturn as the reason for the staff reduction

Mark King, CEO of TaylorMade/Adidas Golf, said, "We have to align our resources appropriately to meet the unique challenges ahead. That means taking a variety of critical actions to make our organization leaner and more cost-efficient. We regret that one of those actions is to reduce our workforce, however difficult times require difficult decisions. We're confident that the steps we're taking now will allow our company to remain strong during these turbulent times."

According to the company's Web site, TaylorMade/Adidas Golf, headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., had 1,393 employees at the start of 2008.