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Ball shortage????


tsecor

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Titleist makes Pro v1 and other balls in and out of the US.  West coast folks have found Pro v1s that were made in another country.  I believe it was Taiwan, but not 100% sure.

11 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

 

When did Titleist start manufacturing outside the US?

 

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41 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

When did Titleist start manufacturing outside the US?

Some time in 2010 they built a ball factory in Thailand. It's called ball factory 4. They still produce golf balls in the US at ball factories 2 and 3 in Massachusetts. IIRC they also have a facility in Massachusetts for their custom ball orders.

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6 minutes ago, grm24 said:

Some time in 2010 they built a ball factory in Thailand. It's called ball factory 4. They still produce golf balls in the US at ball factories 2 and 3 in Massachusetts. IIRC they also have a facility in Massachusetts for their custom ball orders.

 

How do you two know that? Do you have something to support that? How do you know where they were made? It certainly isn't the box, since Titleist ships them to other countries in boxes with the local language.

Titleist says that all of their balls are made in Massachusetts. Are they lying?

 

bought out by private equity.

capitalization, grammar and reasoning slashed as a cost reduction.

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13 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

 

How do you two know that? Do you have something to support that? How do you know where they were made? It certainly isn't the box, since Titleist ships them to other countries in boxes with the local language.

Titleist says that all of their balls are made in Massachusetts. Are they lying?

 

It is most certainly on the box where they are manufactured. It states what ball plant they are made in. Titleist ionomer balls and the Tour Speed thermoplastic urethane balls are manufactured in ball plant 2. The urethane covered Pro V1/AVX balls are manufactured in ball plant 3. Titleist does not manufacture all of their golf balls in the USA. The ball plant built in Thailand was originally built for Pro-V1 balls meant for Asia. They have made their way to the US. 

 

https://www.titleist.com/company/contact

 

https://www.wha-industrialestate.com/en/media-activities/news/customer-news/2249/acushnet-titleist-thailand-opens-new-plant-at-hemaraj-esie

 

 

Edited by grm24
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19 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

How do you two know that? Do you have something to support that? How do you know where they were made? It certainly isn't the box.

Just took these. First picture are boxes of the Tour Speed and Pro-V1.

Second picture is of the EXP-01 and TruFeel. Clearly shows what ball plant they are manufactured in.

 

20210912_231937.jpg.f5dc63219917add3a20360a55812426d.jpg

 

20210912_231920.jpg.df4316027652e6180ae03ade60dc0a1e.jpg

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14 minutes ago, grm24 said:

It is most certainly on the box where they are manufactured. It states what ball plant they are made in. Titleist ionomer balls and the Tour Speed thermoplastic urethane balls are manufactured in ball plant 2. The urethane covered Pro V1/AVX balls are manufactured in ball plant 3. Titleist does not manufacture all of their golf balls in the USA. The ball plant built in Thailand was originally built for Pro-V1 balls meant for Asia. They have made their way to the US. 

 

https://www.titleist.com/company/contact

 

https://www.wha-industrialestate.com/en/media-activities/news/customer-news/2249/acushnet-titleist-thailand-opens-new-plant-at-hemaraj-esie

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the info.

I would suspect they're in the US in violation of distribution agreements and not sanctioned by Titleist.

I also think they're advertising is disingenuous.

bought out by private equity.

capitalization, grammar and reasoning slashed as a cost reduction.

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52 minutes ago, Soloman1 said:

 

 

Thanks for the info.

I would suspect they're in the US in violation of distribution agreements and not sanctioned by Titleist.

I also think they're advertising is disingenuous.

Unlikely. Titleist (Acushnet) is the 100% owner of ball plant 4 and it's staffed with Titleist employees. They aren't contracting the manufacturing of their golf balls to some 3rd party overseas ball company. I seriously doubt there is a violation of any distribution agreements since Titleist can do whatever they wish with their own products.

Edited by grm24
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I wasn't clear. My mistake. Not distributors, but it's common practice to restrict customers from reselling anything outside of their country. If a retail location in the US was caught selling equipment overseas, they'd be cut off, and vice versa.

bought out by private equity.

capitalization, grammar and reasoning slashed as a cost reduction.

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Ball Plant 2 (MA) - all Acushnet injection molded ionomer or TPU cover models (including Titleist, Pinnacle, & Union Green).

 

Ball Plant 3 (MA) - Titleist multilayer cast thermoset urethane cover models. 
 

Ball Plant 4 (Thailand) - same capabilities as plant 3. Fully owned and operated by Acushnet. Initially meant for non-USDM fulfillment, has been used to supplement USDM ProV1 demand in recent years.
 

Ball Plant C (MA) - logo and personalization stamping. 

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15 hours ago, Soloman1 said:

 

 

Thanks for the info.

I would suspect they're in the US in violation of distribution agreements and not sanctioned by Titleist.

I also think they're advertising is disingenuous.

 

 The balls made in plant 4 are 100% legit and are sanctioned/manufactured by Titleist. I called Titleist regarding this after seeing some Pro V1 sleeves with the Plant 4 markings.  I try to buy only the Plant 3 balls.  The balls are the same, but I try to buy the USA-made ones only.

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On 8/25/2021 at 9:18 PM, tsecor said:

Has anyone been to big box retailers lately? I was at a PGA SS the other day and many brands were sold out......

 

Looked online and trying to buy directly from the Bridgestone and Callaway, there are backorders in place....

 

Is there a real ball shortage happening?

 

 

Yes, It's happening too at my place, then I ordered from online. I got the parcel very quickly, and the ball was perfect which I want actually.

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On 8/25/2021 at 11:18 AM, tsecor said:

Has anyone been to big box retailers lately? I was at a PGA SS the other day and many brands were sold out......

 

Looked online and trying to buy directly from the Bridgestone and Callaway, there are backorders in place....

 

Is there a real ball shortage happening?

 

 

Time to put the ol' ball retriever back in the bag. 

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whoops

Edited by driveandputtmachine
  • Driver - Ping G430 Max 10k - Ventus Black 6X | Ping G430 LST 10.5 - Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI TX
  • 3 Wood - Taylormade 300 Mini 13.5 - Ventus Purple X
  • 5 Wood - Ping G430 Max - Ventus Purple X 
  • 7 Wood - Ping G430 Max - Ventus Purple X | 4 iron - Srixon ZX4 MKII - Axiom 105X
  • 5 - GW Cobra King Tour - Axiom 105X
  • SW - Cleveland RTX6 55* - Fuji Tour Spec 115X | LW - Vokey SM9T 60* - Fuji Tour Spec 115X
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I've got plenty of balls, but I've been getting a couple packs here and there just to make sure I have some on hand. It truly is the "science of scarcity" or whatever that saying is with me because I have plenty, especially for now and I'm not against using found balls. I can lose 2-3 pretty easily though so it's just one of those things where I would like to know I've got plenty on hand.

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I was at Edwin Watts yesterday and they've got big stacks of balls.  Doesn't look like a shortage there, pretty much normal looking.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just visited my local Golf Galaxy and it was sad.  Most of their iron displays were empty and the golf balls were quickly disappearing from the shelves.  There was one box of white Supersoft on the shelves and the designated area for the Chrome Soft were more than half empty.  No Titleist Tour Soft and no Taylormade Tour Response and only yellow in the Soft Response.  The Titleist ProV's were there, but not in the usual numbers that I've observed before.

 

I was beginning to think this golf ball shortage was a made up thing, but now I'm believing it is for real.  

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19 hours ago, jjfcpa said:

Just visited my local Golf Galaxy and it was sad.  Most of their iron displays were empty and the golf balls were quickly disappearing from the shelves.  There was one box of white Supersoft on the shelves and the designated area for the Chrome Soft were more than half empty.  No Titleist Tour Soft and no Taylormade Tour Response and only yellow in the Soft Response.  The Titleist ProV's were there, but not in the usual numbers that I've observed before.

 

I was beginning to think this golf ball shortage was a made up thing, but now I'm believing it is for real.  

Nothing to panic about yet but the outlook still isn't great, lead times on just about everything are more likely to increase than decrease in the short term. It will be interesting to see how caught up manufacturers are able to get in the off season. Labor shortages have definitely been an issue for these manufacturers as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/30/2021 at 2:46 PM, tsecor said:

I just got this alert from Bridgestone regarding my order

 

Lead Time Update

Due to extremely high demand, please allow for shipping and handling times of up to 5-6 weeks.

We hope to get back to normal lead times soon, thank you for your patience as we work through these delays.

 

Order cancelled......

I love it when they say "due to high demand" when they mean due to limited supply. How many times when you call customer service do you get the "due to high call volumes wait times are longer than normal" aka due to limited staffing wait times are longer than normal. Unfortunately this is the new normal, covid made companies realize they could provide junk customer service and people will still do business with them, why hire more people.

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14 minutes ago, Unibrow said:

I love it when they say "due to high demand" when they mean due to limited supply. How many times when you call customer service do you get the "due to high call volumes wait times are longer than normal" aka due to limited staffing wait times are longer than normal. Unfortunately this is the new normal, covid made companies realize they could provide junk customer service and people will still do business with them, why hire more people.

Definitely don't disagree about CS. There is definitely a higher demand than previously but you're right the larger driving factor is supply chain/limited supply.

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A recent No Laying Up podcast addresses this. They report there is a shortage of ionomer, also known as Surlyn. Before you say “No problem for me. I play a urethane ball”, be aware that the mantle layer of your urethane ball is made from ionomer.

Just yesterday I asked the guy at my local golf shop if there were any golf ball supply issues. He said not a problem with top line balls but cheaper balls are getting hard to get.

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59 minutes ago, dalehead said:

A recent No Laying Up podcast addresses this. They report there is a shortage of ionomer, also known as Surlyn. Before you say “No problem for me. I play a urethane ball”, be aware that the mantle layer of your urethane ball is made from ionomer.

Just yesterday I asked the guy at my local golf shop if there were any golf ball supply issues. He said not a problem with top line balls but cheaper balls are getting hard to get.

If there ends up being a shortage of surlyn, the top of the line balls will be the ones prioritized by all ball manufacturers as those typically have the best margins. Also, the largest ball manufacturers will likely be the ones prioritized by suppliers if there is a shortage so smaller ball producers could see a squeeze. I believe Snell bumped up their prices by a couple bucks after they had a slight bottleneck a few months ago

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2 hours ago, Londo said:

 

If there ends up being a shortage of surlyn, the top of the line balls will be the ones prioritized by all ball manufacturers as those typically have the best margins. Also, the largest ball manufacturers will likely be the ones prioritized by suppliers if there is a shortage so smaller ball producers could see a squeeze. I believe Snell bumped up their prices by a couple bucks after they had a slight bottleneck a few months ago

I agree. But what happens if the cheaper balls start disappearing from the shelves? Do the guys who use them just stop playing? Or do they bite the bullet and buy a premium ball putting even more demand on production.

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