The Loop

Ping to be featured on CNBC

September 23, 2012

__Many of those who are inside the game know the story of the development and long-running success of Ping, which began in 1959 under the inspiration, diligence and guidance of founder Karsten Solheim.

The company still reflects Solheim's dogged pursuit of solutions to average golfer's problems and needs, even now some 12 years after his death. I thought of this when I heard the company is going to be featured on an episode of CNBC's How I Made My Millions on Sept. 24.

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As I was walking out of the office Friday, I noticed an old copy of Golf Digest, circa 1998, with a back cover ad detailing the Ping TiSI driver. What caught my eye was a small feature on the club at the time, but something that we're finding more and more important today. The club featured the option to find different hosels for different lie angles, the idea to better fit each player's specific swing and measurements. Nearly a decade and a half later the idea of adjustability in drivers is common and increasing in its complexibilty. Ping's first venture into adjustability is the Anser driver, which seems to take adjustability in a different direction from its competitors, its foundation again seeming to be about individual solutions to golfers' problems centered on fitting. It is just one of a handful of current adjustable drivers that are attempting to solve problems better than drivers ever have before (and just wait a few months, you'll see drivers that encompass a range of possibilities that haven't been seen since the days of the 33-in-1 adjustable club). I write about it in the October issue of Golf Digest.

If the CNBC show wants to know how Ping made its millions, the short answer might lie simply in finding answers to questions no one else was asking.