PING’s long-held reputation for delivering the highest quality golf equipment
can be traced to the early days of the company
in the garage of its founder, Karsten Solheim.
It was there he began his quest
to raise the standards for the way golf clubs were made.
A true craftsman dating back to his days as a shoe repairman during the Great Depression,
Karsten employed new manufacturing methods and sought the best materials
to bring golfers a level of performance from their equipment never seen before.
He soon developed his own processes,
even making his own machinery to assemble and calibrate
every PING club to his precise and exacting standards.
His insistence on adhering to this approach eventually helped him earn induction
into the World Golf Hall of Fame, the only club engineer and manufacturer so honored.
Today, that commitment carries on every day
at the company’s 50+ acre facility in Phoenix, Arizona
where hundreds of loyal and highly-skilled club builders
come to work dedicated to custom building
PING clubs for golfers all over the world.
Many with more than 30 years of experience.
Every PING driver, fairway wood, hybrid, iron, wedge and putter, is carefully
assembled and calibrated to precise specifications.
It’s a well-orchestrated process.
No detail is overlooked, as every worker
plays the role of quality inspector to ensure
the absolute accuracy of every specification.
It all starts with a work order,
which includes all the pertinent information for the individual club or set of clubs.
It serves as the instructions for the club builder
at every station in the process,
and assigns a serial number to the clubs which is recorded in the company’s database,
allowing PING to easily reference the club’s specifications
in the future, should a golfer need a replacement
or want to add a club to the set, built to the same specifications.
When that order reaches the production floor,
it begins a journey which includes multiple steps,
passing through the hands of more than 20 craftsman
before it is ready for shipment.
The work order is scanned prior to each
operation before moving down the line.
Custom building an iron set or wedges involves the most steps,
including a stop at the all-important digital loft and lie gauge,
where irons and wedges are calibrated to their specific color code
as determined in the custom fitting session.
Before it arrives there, the set is shafted using
high-strength epoxy while being properly seated into the hosel.
A brief stop in the “oven” accelerates the curing time of the
epoxy to keep the process moving at an efficient pace.
Upon arrival at the loft and lie station, the work order is scanned,
sending virtual instructions to the digital gauge,
which houses a small camera for reading the grooves of the club to measure the loft and lie.
From there, a series of adjustments are made by bending the heat-treated heads
until the proper loft and lie angles are achieved.
Importantly, the digital gauge is programmed to allow the worker to move on to the next club
only after the current one is properly calibrated,
further ensuring quality and precision in every club that leaves the factory floor.
The clubs are then custom built to length using an automated saw to trim every club
to its prescribed length.
Note the set remains together for the entire process.
At no time is the set separated throughout its journey.
The clubs are then gripped using a fascinating process
where double-sided tape is expertly applied
by twirling the club on a spindle with amazing accuracy.
This is always a favorite stop on factory tours as visitors marvel at the unique process.
The tape is then lubricated and the proper grip type and size,
also determined in the fitting process,
is slid on and squared up using a laser light.
Next up is the weighting process where the clubs are calibrated and balanced for swingweight.
Depending on the iron or wedge model,
each club is weighed and assigned specific toe and shaft
weights to achieve the desired swingweight.
At this point, the set is fully assembled and calibrated, leaving only some final clean-ups and finishing details
before it is boxed and readied for shipping.
It then moves to the shipping area, where an automated conveyor system labels and sorts the boxes,
before sending the package on its final step in the journey,
eventually into the hands of a grateful golfer.
Metalwoods and putters are custom built using similar processes
and receive the same attention to detail as irons and wedges to ensure consistent performance throughout the bag.
In the case of metalwoods, each head undergoes a multi-part inspection process
to ensure they deliver every yard of performance engineered into them.
It’s clear Karsten Solheim knew the value that came with building one club at a time
and recognized every golfer was different.
He put a premium on quality and built the foundation of his company
around the idea that clubs made with care and consistency,
using the best materials, give golfers the best chance of success.
He went on to instill that belief in his employees,
creating a culture of pride and satisfaction,
knowing their work made a difference in someone’s golf game.
He also knew his loyal employees made the biggest difference.
He knew the human touch was the best way to
make PING clubs one-of-a-kind.