The great thing about golf is that there’s a huge number of businesses that manufacture products to make the game easier for us. That includes golf balls. There are hundreds of different golf ball brands that make millions of golf balls every day. So which brands are at the top of their game?
Golf Balls
There are hundreds of companies that deal with all aspects of golf including course management, media and apparel. But the biggest companies that have become household names are the equipment manufacturers. Most manufacturers make all the equipment in golf but there are some golf ball brands that just focus on the ball.
Major Brands
Golfers are spoiled for choice when it comes to finding which golf ball to choose. Major golf ball brands like Titleist and Callaway have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to make great products that suit different types of players. The engineers and scientists test thousands of dimple variations to make the ball travel further or spin more. They will make golf balls better for the type of player they’re trying to appeal to. So who are the major golf ball brands?
Titleist
Titleist has been the No. 1 golf ball in the professional circuit for more than 70 years. The American company Acushnet, which started in the early 1900s by Philip E. Young, established the Titleist brand in 1932 and began selling their first Titleist ball to the public in 1935.
Acushnet owns 3 golf ball manufacturing facilities that produce over 1 million golf balls per day which is a staggering number of golf balls. The most popular ball is the Pro V1 which was first played on the PGA Tour and made available to the public more than 20 years ago.
The Pro V1 changed the way golf balls were made, for ever. Golf balls were made the same way for many years which was rubber wound around a liquid filled rubber core and covered in balata. The Pro V1 was made with a solid core and a harder layer and then covered by the soft plastic, urethane. This ball combined distance and control as well as being more durable with the plastic cover. A big change was the consistency the balls offered. A balata covered ball was inconsistent and would soon start to breakdown after a few rounds. The Pro V1 was revolutionary and just over a year after being introduced, every tournament champion had won without using a rubber wound ball on any of the world’s professional tours.
Acushnet have recruited some of the best minds from many professions to come up with the No. 1 golf ball in the world. With a huge number of patents and millions of players using the Pro V1 and Pro V1x it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon.
Check out the current range of Titleist golf balls at
Callaway Golf
American golfing giant, Callaway Golf, is a premium golfing brand which generates around $3B in sales over 12 months and is obviously one of golf’s most popular brands. The company began in 1982 when Ely Callaway purchased half of the Hickery Sticks USA business. Since then they have added a number of products to their range including golf balls.
Not every golf equipment manufacturer adds golf balls to their range of products as the cost of research and development as well as production can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Callaway did invest and now is the #2 golf ball manufacturer but sitting well behind Acushnet.
In 1996, it was announced that Callaway was developing a new golf ball. Over the next 3 years, they invested $170m in research and development to create the addition to their product range. They also invested in building a 225,000 square-foot production facility that could help them develop and test the ball. The engineers, which were recruited from Boeing and Du Pont, tested hundreds of dimple patterns and variations in cores and covers to produce the golf ball called Rule 35. This was the complete-performance ball that combined distance, durability, control, and spin into 1 ball.
The Rule 35 ball was discontinued by 2002 but since then there has been a huge range of fantastic golf balls that Callaway have produced. Currently on the governing bodies R&A and USGA’s List of Conforming Golf Balls, Callaway has over 100 types. This list does count variations in colors as well markings and a number of them are not available on the Callaway website. However the huge list is still testament to the quality of the product that Callaway produces.
Check out the current range of Callaway golf balls at
Bridgestone Golf
Another major golf ball manufacturer based in the US is Bridgestone Golf which makes premium golf balls as well as other golf equipment. Japanese business Bridgestone Sports is the parent company of Bridgestone golf and was founded in 1931 by businessman Shojiro Ishibashi.
One of the main products that Bridgestone sold was rubber tires. When golf balls were filled with rubber strips it was only natural that a rubber tire manufacturer would join the industry. So in 1935, four years after the company began, Bridgestone Sports produced their first golf ball.
Bridgestone have had same major achievements in the golf ball industry. When a more durable golf ball cover called urethane was created, Bridgestone came up with a way to make the ball without a seam. Rather than use the normal casting process like all the other brands, Bridgestone invented another way where the mold is injected into shape.
Bridgestone has also invested in the customer by creating Find my Ball which is a free ball fitting service. This has been a huge success for Bridgestone in terms of information gathering. They have serviced over 3 million golfers and with this data have created clever designs to suit their needs.
The company’s tech developments in tires has lead to advances in golf ball manufacturing and they have hundreds of golf ball patents to protect it. Today both Bridgestone Sports and Bridgestone Golf sell a range of golf balls and both are listed on the R&A and USGA’s List of Conforming Golf Balls.
Check out the current range of Bridgestone golf balls at
TaylorMade
Apart from making great golf balls, TaylorMade has been a leading manufacturer of premium golf equipment for over 40 years. The US company began when Gary Adams, a salesman of golf equipment, borrowed $24k against his home and created TaylorMade Golf Company.
The company started by creating a metal wood which changed the game of golf. In 1997 Adidas-Salomon purchased the company and in 2017 the company changed hands again. This time to NY equity firm called KPS Capital Partners.
TaylorMade have released some great golf balls but their feature ones are the TP5 and the TP5x. They are both 5-layer golf balls which are not made by many manufacturers. From the R&A and USGA’s List of Conforming Golf Balls, only 3 other companies offer 5-layer designs. Kasco in Japan, Vice Sporting Goods in Germany and Scanna from Taiwan.
Manufacturers have been improving the game of golf for decades due to their new designs and advances in technology. Not surprisingly Taylormade, which revolutionized golf clubs, will possibly do the same with the 5-layer golf ball.
Check out the current range of TaylorMade golf balls at
Summing Up
This is just small sample of the greatness that golf ball brands can achieve.
