- Ping (golf)
PING is a brand of high-quality golf equipment, as well as one of the few remaining American manufacturers of golf clubs, based in
Phoenix, Arizona , founded byKarsten Solheim , who was an engineer at theGeneral Electric company. In 1959, he started making his own putters in his garage inRedwood City ,California . In 1967, because of increasing demand for his putters, he resigned his job at General Electric in order to fully develop the PING company. Currently, PING produces clubs in every equipment category: drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges and putters.Beginnings
PING golf started as a garage business by company founder
Karsten Solheim . Solheim's frustration during the game ofgolf resulted from his difficultyputting with the putters of the era. The engineer fromGeneral Electric invented a new putter in his garage know as the "PING 1A".The name "PING" came from the sound that Solheim heard as the metal struck the ball. The 1A and other PING putters to come would revolutionize the putter market with newly found "heel-toe" weighting.
The success Karsten Solheim found in 1959 with the invention of the 1A would set PING on a road to be one of the great innovators in the rich history of golf technology. The PING 1A's sales and hype would peak as
Sports Illustrated named the PING 1A the "musical" putter for the sweet sound emitted.In 1961, the Solheims moved from
Redwood City, California toPhoenix, Arizona where the company would find a permanent home. Despite the increasing sales of the PING putter, Karsten Solheim continued to create his putters single-handedly in his garage after departingGeneral Electric .In the same year, he invented his first set of irons which he named "69", which he considered to be a good round of golf. Solheim continued to experiment with the effects of good heel-toe weighting in his irons and also milled a cavity into the steel back of the irons for added forgiveness.
The first
PGA Tour victory while using a PING club came in 1962 at theCajun Classic Open Invitational byJohn Barnum . Sales of the PING putters rose as the popularity steadily increased. The Golf World Cup of 1965 brought even greater sales of the garage-made PING putters as many of the top players used the PING putters during the televised event inJapan .In 1966, possibly the greatest event of the PING Corporation's history occurred as Karsten Solheim had an idea for a new putter flash in his mind. As he was unable to find a piece of paper, the design for his new putter was sketched on the dust cover of a 78 RPM record. After Solheim had finalized the design, he was still in need for a name. Solheim's wife Louise suggested the name "Answer" for the new putter as it "was an answer for the vexing problems in putting". As the name "Answer" would be too long to fit on the putter, the name was shortened to just "Anser".
The Anser would go on to be the most influential putter in golf while setting the standard for what is considered to be the "conventional" putter and racking up 500 professional golf wins and becoming the "winningest" putter in history. The cavity back and low center of gravity provided superior feel for golfers of all abilities.
PING faced a major golf obstacle at the end of 1966 as the
USGA , golf's governing body for rules and equipment, outlawed all PING putters other than the Anser for tournament and handicap play. The decision came as the other PING models had a special bend in the shaft located under the grip which was thought to give players a special advantage in the putting stroke.In 1967, Karsten Solheim resigned his position at
General Electric and moved his business from his garage to a factory calling his company the Karsten Manufacturing Corporation (KMC). The factory was still located in his new hometown ofPhoenix, Arizona . Thepatent for the PING Anser putter came on March 21st, 1967. The first major championship to be won using a PING putter came in 1969 atthe Masters . The last major innovation by PING during the 1960s came with K1 stainless cast steel iron set. [ [http://www.ping.com/global_downloads.html "Explore Our History: The PING Timeline"] ]Ping Tour Players
PGA Tour
*flagicon|ARG
Angel Cabrera
*flagicon|USAMark Calcavecchia
*flagicon|ESPAlejandro Canizares
*flagicon|SWEDaniel Chopra
*flagicon|USAChris DiMarco
*flagicon|USACody Freeman
*flagicon|AUSMark Hensby
*flagicon|USADoug LaBelle II
*flagicon|USAJeff Maggert
*flagicon|USAHunter Mahan
*flagicon|USA Ryan Moore
*flagicon|AUSNick O'Hern
*flagicon|USATed Purdy
*flagicon|USA Patrick Sheehan
*flagicon|USAHeath Slocum
*flagicon|USAChris Stroud
*flagicon|USAKevin Sutherland
*flagicon|USA Charles Warren
*flagicon|USABubba Watson
*flagicon|USA Mark WilsonEuropean Tour
*flagicon|USA Gary Boyd
*flagicon|WAL Rhys Davies
*flagicon|AUSPeter Fowler
*flagicon|FRAGregory Havret
*flagicon|ESPMiguel Ángel Jiménez
*flagicon|INDShiv Kapur
*flagicon|ENGGary Lockerbie
*flagicon|NIRGareth Maybin
*flagicon|SWEAlexander Norén
*flagicon|RSALouis Oosthuizen
*flagicon|SWELeif Westerberg
*flagicon|ENGLee Westwood External links
* [http://www.pinggolf.com Official PING Golf website]
References
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