Source: Blog – Alliance for American Manufacturing
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When it comes to a singularly important piece of equipment, many of the sport’s best players Buy America.
This has been a week of opening days, as fans in cities across the country flock to celebrate the beginning of the Major League Baseball season.
But while professional baseball is widely considered America’s pastime, millions of other sports fans will be tuning into another opening day – the tee-off of our nation’s most prestigious golf event, The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
Professional golfers from across the globe have descended upon the picturesque magnolia- and dogwood-lined grounds to compete today in what is considered not only the country’s premier golf event but arguably the most coveted competition in all the sport.
There is arguably no more satisfying prize for a professional golfer than taking home the Green Jacket that will be draped on the winner of the 87- year-old Masters tournament this Sunday evening.
A field of 88 international pros teed off Thursday morning and all of them, in every way possible, are trying to gain an advantage on their competition. They use an array of different equipment to gain an edge, including the clubs built to their specifications and the golf balls selected for maximum performance.
We at the Alliance for American Manufacturing are always on the lookout for products manufactured in the United States. And the clubs and equipment being used this weekend are an amalgamation of manufacturing parts made both in America and throughout the world. So we have identified four popular golf ball manufacturers that produce pro-tour quality golf balls right here in America.
Golf ball manufacturers often offer a lesser quality, less expensive golf ball made overseas, which can be more economical for the weekend duffer, but the following golf equipment companies take great pains to produce their balls right here in America.
Let’s take a look at them:
Titleist
Titleist golf balls, owned by the Acushnet Company of Fairhaven, Mass. is the most recognized and most played golf ball in the United States. Titleist has two golf ball manufacturing facilities in the U.S. where it produces more than 75 percent of all golf balls played on the Professional Golf Associations (PGA) tour.
Golf Ball Plant 2 and Golf Ball Plant 3 are located in New Bedford, Mass. and produce the Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls that are the preferred choice of many professionals around the globe. The plants are located just minutes from the company’s headquarters in Fairhaven, and it employs 750 workers in operations along with another 80-golf ball Research and Development employees.
More than half of the golf balls sold in the U.S. are the premium Titleist Made In America brand or the company’s less expensive Pinnacle brand.
The Acushnet Company started making golf balls in 1932 in Acushnet, Mass. after the original founder missed what he thought was a well-struck putt and lost his match. He owned a rubber company and felt he could make a more consistent golf ball. The first branded Titleist golf ball was introduced in 1935.
The name Titleist is derived from the word Titlist which means title holder. To keep its position at the forefront of golf ball manufacturing, Titleist has a golf ball testing facility called Manchester Lane in Acushnet, Mass. where new golf ball compositions are designed and studied. The company is always trying to improve its product.
Among the high-profile players hitting Titleist balls at The Masters this week are defending champion Scottie Scheffler who is also the number 1-ranked player in the world; Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the 2022 U.S. Open not only with his Titleist golf balls but also with an American-made Bettinardi putter; and Sunday leader board players such as Max Homa, Victor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Will Zalatoris and former multi-time champion and former Masters winner Bernhard Langer.
Bridgestone Golf
Bridgestone, perhaps better known more for its automobile tires, has been manufacturing its premium golf balls in Covington, Georgia since 2014. Previously, Bridgestone produced its golf balls in Japan but moved to top-quality production in Georgia to take advantage of the best American-made quality manufacturing.
In 2018, golfing legend Tiger Woods returned to play in the British Open after a series of back surgeries had sidelined him from regular PGA tour play. Woods’ major sponsor is Nike Sports, but during his recuperation Nike had gotten out of the golf equipment business to concentrate on apparel.
Woods is still wearing his Nike golf apparel but has been hitting American-made Bridgestone golf balls since 2018. He tested most of the top-quality balls in professional competition before settling on the Bridgestone Tour B XS Tiger Woods Edition, a ball designed for golfers with swing speeds of more than 105 miles per hour that want additional spin on the ball.
“Bridgestone is excited that all of our premium balls are now manufactured right here in the United States, particularly at a time when many traditionally American golf brands have chosen to move their operations offshore,” Bridgestone President and CEO Dan Murphy told AAM in 2018. “Like so many golf consumers, we truly value U.S. manufacturing and domestic job creation and each of these balls that are put into play will have been proudly produced right here in America.”
The Bridgestone Golf Ball factory in Georgia continues to thrive, employing 211 workers at the facility that first opened in 1990. Its business and prestige have only increased with the production of the pro-quality golf balls endorsed by Woods.
Other top pros that play the Bridgestone tour-quality balls include PGA winners Matt Kuchar, the legendary Fred Couples and LPGA star Lexi Thompson.
Callaway
Unlike Titleist, which debuted as a golf ball manufacturer and later began making clubs and other equipment, Callaway began as a maker of clubs in the 1980s before expanding into the ball manufacturing business in 2000.
In 1997, company CEO Ely Callaway stepped down as head of Callaway Golf to start his new venture, Callaway Golf Balls. The company introduced its first ball, Rule 35, in 2000, which featured a solid polybutadiene core surrounded by a layer of ionomer and encased in a shell of urethane.
It was a bit experimental at the time and original sales of the Callaway Rule 35 were disappointing. But by 2009, Callaway’s golf ball accounted for a quarter of the company’s sales and is a mainstay on the pro tour today.
All Callaway golf balls sold in America are manufactured at its nearly 400,000-square-foot facility in Chicopee, Mass and the company also has a smaller plant at its headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif. where all Callaway products are designed.
In recent years, Callaway has pioneered the low compression “soft” golf ball with its Chrome Soft product. Callaway kicked off this trend with the tagline “the ball that changed the ball.”
Among the pros who will be teeing up the Callaway “soft” balls at The Masters are Spaniard Jon Rahm, who has won four tournaments already in 2023 including three on the PGA tour. Other tour players who prefer the Callaway soft touch include Xander Schauffele and Sam Burns.
TaylorMade
TaylorMade had built a large and profitable business with its golf club line, much of which was manufactured in South Korea.
But in 2013, TaylorMade decided to enter the premium golf ball market and built a new manufacturing facility in Liberty, South Carolina. Previously, TaylorMade’s balls, introduced in 1999, were manufactured overseas.
It currently produces its pro tour-quality golf balls at its 123,000-square-foot facility in Liberty and the company has gained a respectable share of the American-made golf ball market. Headquartered and a major employer in Carlsbad, Calif., TaylorMade was purchased by a Korean private equity firm in 2021 but continues to manufacture its golf balls in America.
Only eight of the top 100 PGA Tour players strike TaylorMade golf balls but this small group has managed to win eight major tournaments with the TaylorMade orbs.
Among the world-class pros using TaylorMade balls are Major tournament champions Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Sergio Garcia, and Dustin Johnson.
When Sunday evening rolls around and the championship ceremony at Augusta National’s historic Butler Cabin gets underway, chances are the winning putt of the 2023 Masters will be sunk with an American-made golf ball.
This would only be fitting for America’s, and perhaps the world’s, most prestigious golf tournament.
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