Titleist

Titleist (pronounced /ˈtaɪtəlɪst/ "title-ist") is an American brand name of golf equipment and apparel products produced by the Acushnet subsidiary, which is headquartered in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1932 by Philip E. Young, and is a subsidiary of the Acushnet Company.

Titleist
Subsidiary
IndustrySports equipment
Founded1932 (1932)
FounderPhilip E. Young
Headquarters
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
,
U.S.
ProductsGolf balls
ParentAcushnet Company
Websitetitleist.com

The name Titleist is derived from the word "titlist", which means "title holder".[1] Several marketing mottos have been promoted for the Titleist brand, including "The #1 ball in golf", "Serious clubs for serious golfers", and "It's not how you mark your golf ball, it's how you mark your Titleist".

Acushnet is best known for its Titleist golf balls. It also produces clubs such as irons, drivers, putters (under the Scotty Cameron brand), other equipment, and apparel and accessories under the brands FootJoy and Pinnacle.

History

Phillip E. "Skipper" Young, a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded Titleist in 1932.[2] When playing a round of golf with his dentist, Young missed a sure putt that seemed to be caused by the weight of the ball. He then asked his dentist friend to X-ray the ball and the film showed that the rubber core was off-center. After this initial discovery, Young took X-rays of more golf balls and found that most were poorly constructed with off-center cores and prone to erratic shots. This inspired Young to produce his own line of golf balls, which would become known as Titleist.[3]

1930: Young developed a machine that could uniformly wind rubber string around a rubber core, making a "dead center" golf ball. He named the ball "Titleist," noting it was the "winner" of the quest to create the best for the game.

1935: The golf division of the Acushnet Process Company produced the Titleist golf ball, which had consistently been the company's most successful product.

1948: Introduced "Dynamite Thread" to increase the yardage of their balls.

1949: Titleist became the most used ball at the U.S. Open Tournament.[4]

1976: Titleist was purchased by American Brands (now known as Fortune Brands).

1985: Fortune Brands sold off the Acushnet Company's Acushnet Rubber division, which was Acushnet's original business (circa early 1900s).

2002: Titleist reached the $1 billion mark in annual revenues.

On December 8, 2010, Fortune Brands announced that it would soon sell or spin off Titleist and some other brands.[5][6][7] It was then announced on May 20, 2011 that a Korean group associated with Fila Korea, Ltd. and Mirae Asset Private Equity would purchase Acushnet for $1.23 billion in cash.[8][9][10][11]

Golf equipment

Golf balls
Titleist Pro v1 golf balls designed by Dean Snell
Scotty Cameron Mil-Spec 34/340 Ver. I & II

The Pro V1 made its debut on the PGA Tour at Las Vegas on October 11, 2000, the first week it was available to the pros. A longtime Titleist user, Billy Andrade, won that first tournament with the new ball.[12] The Pro V1 was available to the public by December. The Pro V1 was a dramatic change in innovation for the golf ball market as a whole and for the brand, which had traditionally used a wound-ball construction (with a liquid-filled core center) for its top-of-the-line golf balls.

Shortly after its introduction the Titleist Pro V1 became the most played ball on the PGA Tour and has been for the past 20 odd years, picking up the most worldwide wins from both direct brand ambassadors (meaning they play Titleist equipment) and players who are not directly under contract and considered brand ambassadors from Titleist.,[13][14][15] and three years after Titleist's initial breakthrough with the Pro V1 came the Pro V1x, a ball with 60 fewer dimples. The combination of a larger firmer core, a thinner cover, and 60 fewer dimples resulted in a ball that retained the same soft feel of the Pro V1 while reducing spin and increasing distance.[16]

In December 2007, Acushnet lost a patent infringement suit brought by Callaway.[17] The following November, Callaway won an injunction in a Delaware court, ruling that sales of the Pro V1 golf balls must be stopped from January 1, 2009, with professionals being able to continue with their use until the end of the year. Acushnet immediately announced that they would be appealing the decision.[18] Acushnet somewhat redesigned the Pro-V1 during the dispute. On August 14, 2009, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated the judgment against Acushnet and ordered a new trial. On March 29, 2010, a federal jury ruled in favor of Acushnet (Titleist), and found that the Callaway patents were invalid.[19]

Reputation

Titleist is a respected and popular golf brand, with such players as Adam Scott, Steve Stricker, Bill Haas, Geoff Ogilvy, and Jordan Spieth under contract. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Matteo Manassero, and Nick Watney were also contracted to use Titleist before moving to Nike. Phil Mickelson was also a contracted Titleist player shortly after his 2004 Masters Tournament before switching to Callaway. It is not uncommon that even if players switch equipment brands, they insist on being able to play the Titleist PRO V1 ball.

Some players like Tiger Woods also continue to use their Scotty Cameron putters. His Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS has been in his bag for 14 of his 15 major championship wins. He used a prototype Scotty Cameron TE I3 in his 1997 Masters win. Early in his Nike contract, Woods refused to use Nike drivers for a long time and continued to use his Titleist one. Up until the 2010 British Open, Woods carried a Titleist putter, but switched to a Nike Method putter; he has since reverted to the Scotty Cameron. In the 2018, his Scotty was briefly replaced by a TaylorMade Ardmore 3 putter; However, Woods has since switched back to his Titleist putter (Scotty Cameron).

Many players under contract with other brands use Titleist balls. In 2017 the professional players recorded 206 victories with the nearest competitor having 28. Out of the 206 wins, 22 came from the PGA Tour, 27 from the European Tour, 25 from the LPGA Tour, and the remaining from other notable professional golf tours around the world.[20]

Tour players

A number of tour professionals have endorsement deals for Titleist and are contracted to use their equipment, including the following:

Titleist also has a number of players who endorse their golf balls only, including the following:

References
  1. "Definition of TITLIST". www.merriam-webster.com.
  2. Echikson, William (2009). Shooting for Tiger: How Golf's Obsessed New Generation is Transforming a Country Club Sport. Public Affairs. p. 69. ISBN 9781586485788. Retrieved 22 May 2018. titleist + 1932.
  3. Fry, Erika (28 October 2016). "The Maker of Titleist Golf Balls Failed to Impress Wall Street". Fortune. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  4. Monthly, Golf (2016-06-17). "Titleist mark 68 years as the most played ball at the US Open". Golf Monthly. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  5. Aaron Smith, Jim Beam, neat, is company's new strategy, CNN Money, December 8, 2010.
  6. Fortune Brands Announces Intent to Separate Company's Three Businesses, The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2010.
  7. Fortune Brands to split into three companies Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, Lake Country News-Sun, December 9, 2010.
  8. Fortune Brands to Sell Titleist Golf Unit to Fila Korea for $1.23 Billion, Cotten Timberlake and Lauren Coleman-Lochner, Bloomberg, May 20, 2011.
  9. Acushnet to be sold to Korean group led by Fila, Gene Yasuda, Golf Week, May 20, 2011.
  10. Fila set to buy Fortune Brands' golf unit for $1.2B, Dow Jones Newswire, May 20, 2011.
  11. Fila takes swing at golf biz with Titleist buy, CBS News, May 20, 2011.
  12. "2000 Invensys Classic at Las Vegas results". ESPN.com. 2001-09-27. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  13. "Titleist overwhelmingly trumps ball count at PGA Championship". WorldGolf.com.
  14. http://www.thetourvan.com
  15. H, Rich (11 June 2011). "3Jack Golf Blog: 6.10.11 Golf Ball Data - PGA Tour".
  16. "Golf Equipment - Golf Clubs - Putters - Golf Drivers". WorldGolf.com.
  17. "Callaway wins patent infringement suit over Acushnet". International Herald Tribune. December 15, 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  18. "Callaway wins court order to halt sales of Titleist's Pro V1 golf balls". USA Today. November 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  19. "Acushnet wins golf ball suit after 4 years". pbn dot com. March 30, 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  20. https://www.titleist.com/teamtitleist/b/tourblog/posts/the-1-ball-in-golf-2017-wins

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