Equipment
5 things you didn’t know about Callaway golf balls
Not to downplay the science and engineering behind making golf clubs, but there’s an extra-impressive complexity in the chemistry and precision necessary to make golf balls, especially when you’re making them by the millions.
There’s also an impressively off-putting, rotten-egg-like smell that emits from a golf ball factory that awakens the nostrils.
Recently, I headed to Callaway’s golf ball manufacturing facility in Chicopee, Massachusetts, as part of a GolfWRX member experience — check out the thread here for photos and info from the event — to learn more about Callaway golf balls and tour the plant.
Get the full, step-by-step process of how Chrome Soft golf balls are made here.
Below, I highlight 5 things you may not know about Callaway golf balls, the golf ball facility and the company’s history.
1) Chico-what? Chico-who?
The front entrance to Callaway’s Chicopee facility
How does one of the largest golf ball manufacturers in the world end up in a place called Chicopee?
During the Revolutionary War, George Washington fancied the area as a National Armory because of its location on the Connecticut River, according to Vince Simonds, who is the Senior Director Global Golf Ball Operations who has spent more than 30 years working at the facility. At that time, and still to this day, metal and gunmakers thrived in the area, making it a place for manufacturing business to thrive.
The building, which we know today as Callaway’s golf ball facility, was built in 1915 for car manufacturing, but Ford’s monopoly put the brakes on that business. Spalding later purchased the facility, where it made the world’s first dimpled golf ball, and Top Flight golf balls for years. The company also made other products including basketballs, volleyballs and more equipment for a variety of sports. In fact, the halls of fame for basketball (Springfield) and volleyball (Holyoake) are each located nearby. As the story goes, James Naismith invented basketball at a YMCA in Springfield in 1891… while volleyball surprised everyone in the world, including me, by having an entire Hall of Fame dedicated to the sport.
In 2003, Callaway beat out TaylorMade in an auction for Top Flight’s assets, which included patents and the Chicopee golf ball plant. And there you have it.
2) The secret’s in… the secrets
“The key to this business is the tooling,” Simonds said.
Since Callaway makes all of its tooling in house, including the cavities used to formulate the dimples — which is a trade secret with which I’m sworn to secrecy — it’s a safe bet you’d never be able to replicate a Callaway golf ball.
To make its 2016 Chrome Soft golf balls, which generate big ball speeds from a low-compression design, Callaway makes its core, mantle and outer layers from a unique type of rubber and a special mixture of Surlyn.
3) Is Truvis the truth?
Custom GolfWRX logo Chrome Soft Truvis golf balls from @CallawayGolf pic.twitter.com/Z0SgXdmCnu
— GolfWRX (@GolfWRX) October 4, 2016
Callaway’s new Chrome Soft Truvis golf balls currently represent 30 percent of sales in the Chrome Soft golf ball umbrella. THIRTY PERCENT!
We should have seen this coming, since soccer is the world’s most popular sport (about 115 million people watched the 2015 Super Bowl, while more than 1 billion tuned into the 2015 FIFA World Cup final, according to multiple sources). A golf ball designed with soccer-ball like pentagons is certainly a shift from the norm — a shift that is apparently working.
The labeling on a Truvis golf ball requires a special machine and process. When the company decided on bringing the concept to production, it planted one of the “Truvis machines” in its Chicopee plant.
“We forecasted the machine would be collecting dust by now,” Simonds said.
On the contrary, there now sits three machines in the Chicopee plant, and there’s no dust in the forecast.
Fun fact: The Truvis design is treated as a logo on a golf ball, meaning you can play a Chrome Soft regular ball (all white or all yellow) and switch in a Truvis Chrome Soft ball mid-round without violating the USGA’s one-ball rule.
*Congrats to forum user Lavaone who made his first hole-in-one using a GolfWRX Truvis golf ball!!
4) 45 degrees
Callaway has a machine that orients the logos on each Callaway golf ball the same way every time. The “seam” on each golf ball runs at a 45-degree angle to the lettering on the side of each ball. According to Simonds, aligning that seam a certain way to the target will have no effect on its flight.
5) Dimple patterns used to be designed and tested on bowling balls
Golf ball manufacturing wasn’t always the super advanced and highly technological process it is now. Callaway used to layout different dimple designs on bowling balls, as pictured above. And instead of files of feedback compiled on a computer, feedback was compiled on handwritten sheets of paper, and stashed in actual files. Remember those?
It wasn’t until later the now-famous HEX dimple was developed, but it is possible the idea was conceived on a bowling ball.
And no, the bowling balls were not made by Spalding.
-
- The front entrance to Callaway’s Chicopee facility
- LIKE764
- LEGIT78
- WOW39
- LOL26
- IDHT10
- FLOP16
- OB12
- SHANK75
- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX
Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
Equipment
Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird
With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.
On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.
Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?
Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’
So that’s why I went back.
View this post on Instagram
OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?
It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.
Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.
It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.
Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.
Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.
So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?
Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.
Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play?
Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.
There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.
It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.
Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.
And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?
Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’
If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’
My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’
I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”
And you’re going with it this week?
Hundred percent.
Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week.
Thanks, man.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
- LIKE26
- LEGIT3
- WOW1
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK2
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
Things got heated at the Houston Open between Tony Finau and Alejandro Tosti. Here’s why
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
Two star names reportedly blanked Jon Rahm all week at the Masters
Report: LIV Golf identifies latest star name they hope to sign to breakaway tour
Neal Shipley presser ends in awkward fashion after reporter claims Tiger handed him note on 8th fairway
What we know about Bryson DeChambeau’s 3D-printed Avoda irons
Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)
Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver:...
Matthieu Pavon WITB 2024 (May)
Pavon’s WITB accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Ping G430 Max (9...
WITB Time Machine: Rory McIlroy’s winning WITB, 2015 Wells Fargo Championship
Then-No. 1 player in the world Rory McIlroy began the week at the Wells Fargo Championship at 3-1 odds, if...
Akshay Bhatia WITB 2024 (May)
Akshay Bhatia what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. Bhatia is deciding between drivers. More photos...
-
19th Hole3 weeks agoJustin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole2 weeks agoLET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole3 days agoReport: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
-
19th Hole1 week agoGary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Whats in the Bag2 weeks agoTeam McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
Equipment1 week agoGolf fans left surprised by LIV’s choice of course for its 2024 individual championship event
-
19th Hole1 week ago
LIV star splits with swing coach after working together for 14 years
Dave r
Oct 23, 2016 at 7:57 pm
So how do they make a ball with interior balls and a cover without seams ? Are they one piece injected into a mould ? Who knows the answer ? Please
Golfer
Oct 22, 2016 at 4:12 pm
All their balls as good as not to be used at the tour. Most of the guys play special made callaway balls made for them. Forget and buy prov1 or x and have the real best ball.
Callaway is no real ball. Period.
John
Oct 25, 2016 at 9:40 am
Sorry to burst your bubble of hatred, but I know for fact that balls used by the tour players are the very same ones used by the likes of you and I. I know this as I used to be involved in the manual printing of their personal logos on the balls in the UK.
BIG STU
Oct 22, 2016 at 8:09 am
Pretty informative well written article. I gave it a like
Now not wanting to burst any one’s bubble but Callaway was not the first to come out with the hex dimples. US Royal did it in the early 70s with the Royal Plus 6 ball. Some of us old timers were hashing it over the other night in the Classic Golf Forum of WRX. At the time it was the distance leader hands down for Balata balls but it would balloon bad into the wind and do some funky stuff it the wind was behind you. It would also do some funky stuff out of a flyer rough lie. Normal play it would fly and spin on a approach shot as good as any other Balata ball at the time and it putted decent too. They only made them a couple of years until the US Royal golf division went belly up
Joe Golfer
Oct 22, 2016 at 11:43 pm
I remember those Royal golf balls, with the hexagonal dimples.
Back then, I was in middle school, so I played pretty much whatever golf balls I could get my hands on, regardless of brand name or type. Thus, I never really knew the difference between different brands or models of golf balls.
John O'Neill
Oct 26, 2016 at 10:35 am
Thanks for the input, I too was thinking about the Royal ball when reading the hex claim in the article! Just for fun I remember another ball that came out around the time of the Royal remember Polaris the ball that supposedly would not hook or slice? At least I think that was the claim.
Kenny
Oct 21, 2016 at 3:39 pm
I have never seen a Truvis ball on the course. Amazing that many are being sold. Is that mostly overseas?
Hack
Oct 21, 2016 at 6:14 pm
I have been playing them for over a year now and just recently had to mark my ball for the first time as another in my foursome was playing them. I can’t find them in any brick and mortar retailer and in fact have trouble finding them online except for Callaway’s site. I have a buddy that is good friends with a rep and he wanted to get me a dozen, rep told him he can’t get his hand on any.
Big Diesel
Oct 21, 2016 at 8:33 pm
Interesting, the shop at my club sells them and Dick’s has them in the shelf next to the plain white and plain yellow. I’ve been trying the truvis and I like the optics although my normal playing partners can’t stand seeing this “ugly” thing on the green.
Diesel425
Oct 21, 2016 at 8:37 pm
That’s interesting, the shop at my club sells these and I just saw a bunch of boxes at Dick’s. Wonder why your area is running low?
jim
Oct 27, 2016 at 2:55 pm
my buddy plays them, i can’t help but yell GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL when he sinks a long one
Ben
Oct 21, 2016 at 10:39 pm
Golf Galaxy carries ball in White/Red and Yellow/Black.
Troy Sheaffer
Oct 21, 2016 at 1:16 pm
Nice article and informative.
Have been playing the Chrome Soft’s since they were introduced and love them.
They have great feel on and around the greens, very good distance and are priced well.
I have found a few differences in the 2015 and 2016 models.
At least for me I found the 2015 version seemed to be longer on every shot, but only average spin around the green. I am one half club longer with my irons with this ball.
the 2016 doesn’t appear to be quite as long but has more spin/bite on approach shots and especially pitches and chips around the green.
Both versions are great to putt.
For the money, I don’t feel you can find or play a better ball.
Ben
Oct 21, 2016 at 10:40 pm
The 2015 ball is 3-piece. The 2016 is 4-piece.
Pingback: 5 Things You Didn’t Know about Callaway golf balls | Swing Update
Ob
Oct 20, 2016 at 8:50 pm
These balls have seams? No wonder they play like cr@p. The most overrated ball that changed overrated balls
Ignorant
Oct 20, 2016 at 9:44 pm
A ProV1x and pretty much any other golf ball out there has seams…
SI
Oct 21, 2016 at 3:38 am
Except for Srixons. Z Stars have none
Scott
Oct 21, 2016 at 5:26 pm
nope, srixon has seems
ACGolfwrx
Oct 21, 2016 at 5:59 pm
Bridgestone don’t have seems, that’s it.
mhendon
Oct 22, 2016 at 10:13 pm
All balls have seams they just learned how to hide it by following the dimple pattern instead of going straight
Matt
Oct 20, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Seriously want a Golfwrx dozen!!!!!!!
alexdub
Oct 20, 2016 at 2:55 pm
Sorry to be negative— but for such a cool experience, the photos accompanying this article are absolutely terrible. Doesn’t seem like much work to bring a DSLR and get something worth posting. A great opportunity shouldn’t be held back by bad content.
ooffa
Oct 20, 2016 at 3:04 pm
1 up
Boobsy McKiss
Oct 20, 2016 at 5:20 pm
You don’t think Callaway had all kinds of restrictions on what he could take photos of? Wake up. It’s called protecting your business. An engineer familiar with the business could possibly dissect important information from detailed photos. They have proprietary manufacturing processes and the writer was apt to point that out in the article. Obviously the writer incorrectly assumed readers such as yourself would be smart enough to figure out why there are so few photos to accompany the article.
Regis
Oct 21, 2016 at 12:04 pm
I’ve visited a lot of plants and facilities for all sorts of product manufacturers, shipping and routing facilities etc. I represented them in litigation. You’re not bringing a Film crew or even a DSLR into any of them. You want pictures-ask and they’ll send them to you. Matter of fact you usually are only given access when the workers aren’t present.
Luis Carrion
Oct 20, 2016 at 2:21 pm
How can we get a hold of the CS Truvis with the GolfWRX logo?
Luis Carrion
Oct 20, 2016 at 2:20 pm
How can we get some of the GolfWRX Truvis Golf Balls???
Sl
Oct 20, 2016 at 1:08 pm
Srixon: Seamless = Better balls.
Scott
Oct 21, 2016 at 5:25 pm
From Golf Digest “According to Rae, the aerodynamic properties of a ball are different in a dimpled area than they are across a seam. To help maintain ball speed in the air, Srixon developed a system that fuses the two halves of the ball together without creating a straight seam. Instead, the seam is created between, over and around dimples. By eliminating the straight seam, the ball should simply fly better, and more predictably, through the air.”
Therefore: Srixon = seem
ACGolfwrx
Oct 21, 2016 at 6:04 pm
Srixon has a staggered seam. Bridgestone is the only company that make seamless golf balls.
the bishop
Oct 20, 2016 at 12:22 pm
5 things you didn’t know about Callaway golf balls. #4 is pretty unnerving.
es
Oct 20, 2016 at 4:40 pm
i use the yellow / black truvis chrome soft balls and love it.
That said – can we have more clarification on #4, “According to Simonds, aligning that seam a certain way to the target will have no effect on its flight.” what does that mean? does that mean we should be using the lettering to line up drives? I never pay attention to how my ball sits on the tee, are you telling me I should?
rymail00
Oct 20, 2016 at 7:20 pm
Anyone which way to line the ball for limited effect?
Just curious.
Greg V
Oct 20, 2016 at 12:14 pm
So if Top-Flite sold their assets to Callaway, who is making the Top-Flite Gamer and Gamer Soft?
cgasucks
Oct 20, 2016 at 12:50 pm
Callaway…
RVA USMC
Oct 20, 2016 at 4:13 pm
Actually Top Flite is owned by Dicks and they make Top Flite and Slazenger balls.
tzed
Oct 25, 2016 at 1:22 pm
Top Flite are made overseas, I believe in Taiwan or Chine. I’ve played the Top Flite Gamer Tour, a 3-piece urethane ball. You can get 2-dozen for $35 at Dick’s (and only at Dick’s). They’re not as good as Chrome Soft or Pro V1s around the green, but better than mid-priced balls like the e6, NXT Tour Project(a).