The place are golf balls made?
That’s a query that comes up rather a lot, and whereas I’m positive the blokes leaving feedback are doing so in good religion, the proof suggests there’s loads of confusion.
Hopefully we are able to clear a few of it up.
For now, we’re going to give attention to urethane fashions. There are fewer factories that make them and, broadly talking, whereas some to take measures to obfuscate their sources (and a few say their contracts prohibit them from disclosing their factories), they’re simpler to trace.
That stated, we’ve included some notes on ionomer fashions on the finish.
It ought to go with out saying that it’s all however inconceivable to cowl each ball in the marketplace, however this could present perception into the place the preferred balls on market are made.
The High 5
Of the High 5 producers of urethane balls, three manufacture their golf balls from core to cowl within the USA. TaylorMade does a portion of its manufacturing within the USA, whereas Srixon makes 100% of its merchandise at its factories abroad.
Listed here are some further particulars.
Titleist
The Titleist Professional V1 and Professional V1x (together with customized efficiency choices like Left Dot and Left Sprint) are manufactured at Ball Plant 3 in Fairhaven, MA. Titleist’s different urethane ball, AVX, is at present produced simply down the highway at Ball Plant 2 in North Dartmouth, MA.
Titleist additionally produces urethane balls at its manufacturing facility in Thailand. Sometimes, that manufacturing facility provides the opposite facet of the world, however when Titleist struggles to fulfill the calls for of the North American market (because it did at occasions throughout COVID), balls made in Thailand generally make it to cabinets within the USA.
After we examined the 2021 Professional V1x, one dozen of the balls we bought was made in Thailand. They have been totally undisguisable from balls made in Massachusetts.
Callaway
Like Titleist, Callaway manufactures its urethane fashions (Chrome Tender, Chrome Tour, and Chrome Tour X) in Massachusetts. The manufacturing facility in Chicopee is the one place the place Callaway’s flagship franchise balls are produced.
TaylorMade
Manufacturing of TaylorMade’s urethane choices – TP5, TP5x, and Tour Response – is break up between its factories in Korea, Taiwan, and the USA.
With TaylorMade taking possession of two abroad factories inside the previous couple of years its provide chain and manufacturing course of is a little bit of a transferring goal.
Taking a look at bins of latest TaylorMade urethane product, you’re more likely to discover certainly one of two descriptions for the nation of manufacture.
MADE IN KOREA
URETHANE COVER ASSEMBLED IN THE USA CORE AND 2ND THROUGH 4TH LAYERS MADE IN TAIWAN.
Within the case the place covers are assembled within the USA, the work is finished at TaylorMade’s manufacturing facility in Liberty, SC.
Bridgestone
Bridgestone’s TOUR B Sequence (TOUR B X, TOUR B XS, TOUR B RX, and TOUR B RXS) is manufactured on the Bridgestone manufacturing facility in Covington, GA. Bridgestone additionally has a manufacturing facility in Japan that additionally produces TOUR B.
Like Titleist, the abroad manufacturing facility doesn’t sometimes present stock for the US market, however when capability is pushed, some Japan-made product could discover its option to cabinets right here within the USA.
Srixon
Manufacturing of Srixon’s Z-Star Sequence is break up between its factories in Japan and Indonesia. Most of what we’ve examined has come from Indonesia apart from the Z-Star Diamond the place our samples have been manufactured in Japan. The info we’ve collected from Ball Lab means that the consistency of product is a bit higher from the Japanese manufacturing facility
Smaller OEMs
Maybe the cleanest line between the High 5 and everyone else is that whereas the larger manufacturers personal their factories, smaller manufacturers rely totally on third events to supply manufacturing. That’s to not say there isn’t R&D behind these merchandise. To various levels, these smaller manufacturers have some in-house R&D however lack the services to mass-produce a ball from core to cowl.
Mizuno
Mizuno’s RB Tour and RB Tour X are produced in Vietnam by Feng Tay. Notably, Feng Tay additionally produces balls underneath its home RZN model. As you would possibly extrapolate from the identify, RZN is a continuation of Nike’s mental property, which Feng Tay acquired from Nike when the corporate exited the golf trade.
PXG
PXG is a relative newcomer to the golf ball market. Lower than two years in, the corporate simply launched the second iteration of its Xtreme Tour together with a brand new Xtreme Tour X.
PXG balls are manufactured by SM Parker in Vietnam (beforehand in China). Notably, SM Parker has additionally produced each iteration of the Kirkland Signature 3-piece ball.
FYI, the unique 4-piece ball was produced by Nassau, which is now TaylorMade Korea.
Wilson
Wilson’s Employees Mannequin and Employees Mannequin X urethane balls are, in my view, among the many most underappreciated and neglected within the recreation. Each are manufactured by Foremost in Taiwan, which Ball Lab knowledge and robotic testing suggests is the most effective of the non-OEM owned factories.
Foremost can be the one non-OEM-owned manufacturing facility of notice that produces balls with solid urethane covers. For those who’re questioning, each Titleist and TaylorMade leverage solid urethane covers whereas most rivals use an injection molding course of.
DTC Manufacturers
First, let’s begin with a disclaimer to acknowledge that the road separating direct-to-consumer manufacturers from conventional golf ball manufacturers is blurry at greatest. There isn’t a single model on this listing that doesn’t promote golf balls by way of their web site, so in that respect, each golf ball model is a DTC model.
That stated, whereas I suppose we might reclassify as conventional vs new, my hunch is that almost all golfers perceive the excellence we’re making an attempt to make.
One other level of separation, I suppose, is that for our DTC corporations, it’s not unusual for dimple patterns to be shared throughout fashions and throughout manufacturers. For instance, you’ll discover the identical Foremost 308 dimple sample on the Maxfli Tour, Vice Professional, and OnCore ELIXR.
Foremost’s different go-to sample – a 336 dimple design – is commonly discovered on 4-piece and better compression golf balls and is frequent to the Maxfli Tour X, Vice Professional Plus, and SEED SD-01 and SD-02 amongst others.
To an extent, cowl sharing is an comprehensible compromise on condition that making a viable dimple design is likely one of the most complicated challenges in golf and the truth is that the manufacturers on this portion of our listing lack the R&D horsepower to do it. And even when they may, producing the molds together with the added manufacturing facility effort required to combine them into the manufacturing course of could be cost-prohibitive.
Lastly, Foremost is notable for being the one third celebration manufacturing facility that Ball Lab outcomes suggests meets or exceeds the standard of a few of the High 5 producers.
With that out of the best way …
Vice
Whereas the information is spotty, Vice is believed to be the most important of the DTC manufacturers. Its present lineup of urethane balls (Vice Professional, Vice Professional Plus, and Vice Professional Air) are all manufactured by Foremost. This has been the case with each Vice urethane ball apart from the Vice Professional Zero which was produced by Feng Tay.
Maxfli
Just like the Vice choices, Maxfli’s extremely regarded Tour, Tour X, and Tour S are all produced by Foremost.
Snell
The primary couple of generations of Snell MTB choices have been glorious. Apart from the short-lived MTB Crimson, they have been all produced by Nassau in Korea. When TaylorMade bought Nassau, Snell had little possibility however to take its enterprise elsewhere.
We’re nonetheless monitoring down that manufacturing facility that produces the present Prime sequence. Now we have narrowed it right down to a probably candidate, however till we are able to verify, we’ll merely say it’s not one of many bigger factories on this listing.
Volvik
On inspection, the 336-dimple sample on the brand new Volvik Condor, Condor X, and XT Tender seems to match that of the Vice Professional Plus. Paired with the nation of origin (Taiwan), this strongly means that Volvik’s latest fashions are additionally produced by Foremost.
OnCore
Deciphering the place OnCore’s urethane fashions are made requires a little bit little bit of effort. The Vero sequence (each X1 and X2) are produced by Foremost. Of the 2 ELIXR fashions at present listed on its web site, the ELIXR 2020 is produced by Foremost.
The 350-dimple different ELIXR was produced by Launch Applied sciences. A hearth destroyed that fireplace a 12 months in the past (they’re within the strategy of rebuilding), which possible explains the shortage of stock for that mannequin.
And talking of Launch Applied sciences
Launch Applied sciences (AKA: “LT”) is arguably the most effective of the remainder on the listing of third celebration producers. It’s definitely the most important.
Whereas a superb little bit of what comes out of Launch Applied sciences are 2-piece ionomer choices, LT-produced urethane choices embody the LA Golf Ball, Odin X1, and the Sugar Pure.
Dimple counts are extraordinarily useful in figuring out the manufacturing facility that produced the ball. With that in thoughts, in the event you’re taking a look at a 350-dimple ball with a urethane cowl, there’s a greater than good likelihood it was made by Launch Applied sciences.
The opposite guys …
That successfully covers the most important factories. That’s to not say these are the one factories. The listing is extra intensive than you would possibly suppose, however within the urethane house, Kerichem (Belief), NEXEN (SaintNine) and Scana (Inesis) are essentially the most notable of the remainder.
What about two-piece and different ionomer choices?
As you’ve possible observed, the quantity of two-piece and three-piece ionomer choices is considerably larger than urethane.
Monitoring down each certainly one of them borders on the inconceivable, and whereas it might be value a deeper dive later, for now, we’re going to share a number of ideas written with a really giant brush.
Titleist/Acushnet is the one producer to supply 100% of its golf balls, together with 2-piece choices and Pinnacle vary balls at its personal factories – primarily Ball Plant 2. Everybody else outsources some, if not all, of their cheaper stuff.
Bridgestone makes a few of its 2-piece product in-house, but in addition outsources a good quantity to a number of abroad factories.
Callaway has traditionally produced its lower-priced choices at plenty of factories together with Launch Tech, GTS, and Qingdao Oudun. Most notably, its best-selling Supersoft was produced at LT (as have been Topgolf balls). Since not making Supersoft wasn’t an possibility, manufacturing has since shifted to different factories.
Launch Applied sciences additionally produced decrease priced fashions for Mizuno, and MG. Additionally they produce a good quantity of vary balls for manufacturers you understand.
Along with Callaway, GTS has produced balls for TaylorMade, Lower, and DICK’S Sporting Items.
Portray once more with broad strokes (once more), as the price of a golf ball decreases, so does the standard. So, whereas ionomer balls are sometimes considerably cheaper than urethane, usually you get what you pay for.
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