PING Factory Tour

[MadMex]

Having been retired in the White Mountains of Arizona (Pinetop) for two years, specialized healthcare is hard to come by, it’s either a drive to Flagstaff or to the Valley, I chose the later one. I went to the PING website and saw 2 openings for a tour the day after my appointment, so I sign is up.

My wife is a recent golf addict and PING player, I said “Hey, want to take the PING factory tour?”, she immediately said yes!

Just like PING irons, the facility located in the north Phoenix area is so, well, for lack of better words, plain, so much that we drove by it twice!

After finding the building on our third try, we walked into the security office and just like the building, it was rather plain, with a few exceptions, Mr. Solheim’s original milling machine, some photos and other items. First thing we did was to sign a non disclosure agreement followed by a visitor sticker with out names already on them, by the way, we could not  keep the sticker for security reasons, yes, they take their security that seriously! It seemed every employee that walked in, knew either the security guard or our tour guide Bill or simply said good morning.

The tour started by again being informed that photos would be allowed only in certain places and some history of PING, I won’t write it , as much of it is probably known by most of you.

The tour started in what is know as the production area, there was about a dozen rows with different stations, I did not count how many rows or stations were there as I was drooling over the rows of brand new PING toys, all stations were performing different steps, again, too much to describe! it should be noted that all employees change stations every 2 and half hours in order for all employees to be proficient at every task. Next to this area was the components warehouse, it looked like a COSTCO warehouse, row after row of grips, shafts, heads, etc,etc, everything needed to build a club. We were informed that most of the equipment used to assemble the clubs was designed by the Solheim family, Bill said that during one tour John Solheim happened to be on the floor and one of the guests taking the tour asked him what he did there, his answer “Well, just about everything”. The way the clubs go from one end as different components on a cart to the end as a complete club, is worthy of its own separate write up.

An hour later , it felt like 15 minutes for a geek like me, we were off to the CNC room, all along Bill was giving stories and facts, keeping it interesting and fun.

The CNC room, was rather quiet for the job that is performed there, a display showed how a block of steel is transformed into two putter heads, I asked hoping I could take a photo, the anser , no. One machine was opened and a pair freshly milled PLD ZING 2  putter heads sat on a workers table, number 63 of 88 and 64 of 88, which will be released Tuesday June 13th, the machinist showed us what tools he had used to inscribe the different details, again, no go on the photos. The next part, was were golf bags are put together  from many different components, how they make the transfers for customs bags in house and the rows of machines with embroidered panels with names and teams next to them. We headed out of the bag room and started a long walk to what can only be described as the best driving range I have ever seen! at the end of this driving range and about 300 yards was a net about 100 feet high, Bill said the net was made taller since on one of his first fitting and testing sessions, Bubba Watson was hitting drives over the net, now, some college and up and coming players are coming close to hitting drives over the current net.

Three golfers were hitting some towering high, long and straight shots , they appeared to be college students, about 6 older gentlemen were looking at every shot, writing something down ( we were about 75 yards away so we could not tell what was being said), we walked towards another plain white building, flashing red lights over a sign which simply said “Testing in progress”, seconds later the lights went off and a rolling steel door was closed, my inner geek senses started to tingle as I had an idea of the contents of that “plain” white building, should be noted that all fittings to include the VIP fittings, are free .

Walking in , I immediately got the scent of what epoxy smells like when it’s heated for a head to be removed from a club, Bill, our tour guide, saw a group walk into a room and simply said, hey, we usually don’t go in there, but let’s piggy back, the  large room held singular work stations just like the one we saw earlier, I asked Bill, “ Are we in the WRX section?”, he just smiled and nodded, tapped me on the shoulder smiled and simply said “yup”. We were able to speak with their top fitter and builder, he said when PING pros come to test and be fitted, the entire staff of about 10 can either adjust or completely build a new club for them on the spot within minutes, again, the 20 or so minutes seemed like seconds for me, we were also told of a certain putter maker who has their initials on many custom PING tour putters, the initials? JW.

Walking along the hallways, we stoped in another room, a black door, with a keypad and a 5 spoke wheel greeted us, yup, THE PING vault, another PING employee with a camera who we  learned had worked his way from the manufacturing room to social media rep. held ZING 2 putter head serial number 0, first one off the line, again, no go on the shot, but I did get to hold it, so I got that going for me. Couple of minutes later, a lady smiled at us, asked us how we were enjoying the tour walked to the black door and then asked my wife to be the “gatekeeper”, she punched several numbers and told my wife to turn the handle and open the door, I was so jealous and envious of her! Her gasps said it all , when she completely opened the door, myself and the other couple with us followed suit with a gasp, there in front of us were dozens of gold putters! We walked in and disbelieve, it got even better when Bill said, please wear these cotton gloves when handling the putters and put them back in the same spot, are you frisking kidding me!! I quickly found the gold putters of three of my favorite golfers when I took up the game, Fuzzy Zoeller , Lee Trevino and Severiano  Ballesteros, yes, am dating myself. Also I front of me, two Tiger Woods Amateur Champion gold putters. We spent at least 20 minutes in there, holding those famous gold putters. We walked out and onto the parking lot and then back to were we started, turned in our visitors stickers , thanked Bill and walked out, another item off the bucket list. The only “bummer”, no gift shop to buy some PING paraphernalia.

 

 

 

 

 

[arleeasnicar]

  

  

On 6/11/2023 at 10:06 PM, MadMex said:

Having been retired in the White Mountains of Arizona (Pinetop) for two years, specialized healthcare is hard to come by, it’s either a drive to Flagstaff or to the Valley, I chose the later one. I went to the PING website and saw 2 openings for a tour the day after my appointment, so I sign is up.

My wife is a recent golf addict and PING player, I said “Hey, want to take the PING factory tour?”, she immediately said yes!

Just like PING irons, the facility located in the north Phoenix area is so, well, for lack of better words, plain, so much that we drove by it twice!

After finding the building on our third try, we walked into the security office and just like the building, it was rather plain, with a few exceptions, Mr. Solheim’s original milling machine, some photos and other items. First thing we did was to sign a non disclosure agreement followed by a visitor sticker with out names already on them, by the way, we could not  keep the sticker for security reasons, yes, they take their security that seriously! It seemed every employee that walked in, knew either the security guard or our tour guide Bill or simply said good morning.

The tour started by again being informed that photos would be allowed only in certain places and some history of PING, I won’t write it , as much of it is probably known by most of you.

The tour started in what is know as the production area, there was about a dozen rows with different stations, I did not count how many rows or stations were there as I was drooling over the rows of brand new PING toys, all stations were performing different steps, again, too much to describe! it should be noted that all employees change stations every 2 and half hours in order for all employees to be proficient at every task. Next to this area was the components warehouse, it looked like a COSTCO warehouse, row after row of grips, shafts, heads, etc,etc, everything needed to build a club. We were informed that most of the equipment used to assemble the clubs was designed by the Solheim family, Bill said that during one tour John Solheim happened to be on the floor and one of the guests taking the tour asked him what he did there, his answer “Well, just about everything”. The way the clubs go from one end as different components on a cart to the end as a complete club, is worthy of its own separate write up.

An hour later , it felt like 15 minutes for a geek like me, we were off to the CNC room, all along Bill was giving stories and facts, keeping it interesting and fun.

The CNC room, was rather quiet for the job that is performed there, a display showed how a block of steel is transformed into two putter heads, I asked hoping I could take a photo, the anser , no. One machine was opened and a pair freshly milled PLD ZING 2  putter heads sat on a workers table, number 63 of 88 and 64 of 88, which will be released Tuesday June 13th, the machinist showed us what tools he had used to inscribe the different details, again, no go on the photos. The next part, was were golf bags are put together  from many different components, how they make the transfers for customs bags in house and the rows of machines with embroidered panels with names and teams next to them. We headed out of the bag room and started a long walk to what can only be described as the best driving range I have ever seen! at the end of this driving range and about 300 yards was a net about 100 feet high, Bill said the net was made taller since on one of his first fitting and testing sessions, Bubba Watson was hitting drives over the net, now, some college and up and coming players are coming close to hitting drives over the current net.

Three golfers were hitting some towering high, long and straight shots , they appeared to be college students By the way, I was told about this source https://studymoose.com/free-essays/hip-hop and it really seems to be very interesting, I as a college student will use it because there is a lot of useful information, by the way, there I found a lot of hip hop essay topics, this is the time of music playing on the golf course and I really liked this idea! about 6 older gentlemen were looking at every shot, writing something down ( we were about 75 yards away so we could not tell what was being said), we walked towards another plain white building, flashing red lights over a sign which simply said “Testing in progress”, seconds later the lights went off and a rolling steel door was closed, my inner geek senses started to tingle as I had an idea of the contents of that “plain” white building, should be noted that all fittings to include the VIP fittings, are free .

Walking in , I immediately got the scent of what epoxy smells like when it’s heated for a head to be removed from a club, Bill, our tour guide, saw a group walk into a room and simply said, hey, we usually don’t go in there, but let’s piggy back, the  large room held singular work stations just like the one we saw earlier, I asked Bill, “ Are we in the WRX section?”, he just smiled and nodded, tapped me on the shoulder smiled and simply said “yup”. We were able to speak with their top fitter and builder, he said when PING pros come to test and be fitted, the entire staff of about 10 can either adjust or completely build a new club for them on the spot within minutes, again, the 20 or so minutes seemed like seconds for me, we were also told of a certain putter maker who has their initials on many custom PING tour putters, the initials? JW.

Walking along the hallways, we stoped in another room, a black door, with a keypad and a 5 spoke wheel greeted us, yup, THE PING vault, another PING employee with a camera who we  learned had worked his way from the manufacturing room to social media rep. held ZING 2 putter head serial number 0, first one off the line, again, no go on the shot, but I did get to hold it, so I got that going for me. Couple of minutes later, a lady smiled at us, asked us how we were enjoying the tour walked to the black door and then asked my wife to be the “gatekeeper”, she punched several numbers and told my wife to turn the handle and open the door, I was so jealous and envious of her! Her gasps said it all , when she completely opened the door, myself and the other couple with us followed suit with a gasp, there in front of us were dozens of gold putters! We walked in and disbelieve, it got even better when Bill said, please wear these cotton gloves when handling the putters and put them back in the same spot, are you frisking kidding me!! I quickly found the gold putters of three of my favorite golfers when I took up the game, Fuzzy Zoeller , Lee Trevino and Severiano  Ballesteros, yes, am dating myself. Also I front of me, two Tiger Woods Amateur Champion gold putters. We spent at least 20 minutes in there, holding those famous gold putters. We walked out and onto the parking lot and then back to were we started, turned in our visitors stickers , thanked Bill and walked out, another item off the bucket list. The only “bummer”, no gift shop to buy some PING paraphernalia.

 

 

 

 

 

This sounds like a trip of my dreams, I too would like to do it but until I have neither the time nor the money, I would like to know how much money you have budgeted for this trip?

Edited June 28, 2023 by arleeasnicar

[MadMex]

On 6/28/2023 at 8:41 AM, arleeasnicar said:

  

  

This sounds like a trip of my dreams, I too would like to do it but until I have neither the time nor the money, I would like to know how much money you have budgeted for this trip?

Was in the area for a medical appointment,I live about 2 1/2 hrs away, I went to site and saw an opening at 8:30am , so we took it. It’s free. There is lot’s of golf in the Scottsdale/Mesa area, if you can deal with the 90’s, in May and June you get killer deals.

[dabigkahuna]

After a tour like that, I think I'd have to change my shorts in the parking lot!  Well done on your narrative!

[Headhammer]

"The only “bummer”, no gift shop to buy some PING paraphernalia."

Boy, that sounds like a Yuuuuuuggge missed opportunity to drive merchandise sales! 

[Greg77]

This is a great tour. 

We went on vacation to Scottsdale for a week at a Timeshare Exchange.  A couple of days of golf and then some day trips in the area, a PXG fitting and the factory tour.  The tour was tremendous. I signed up our group of six about 2 months in advance on the Ping Website.  I think they actually call it the Campus Tour.  It appears that they only take 8 people each day and they offer it Monday thru Thursday.  Things may have changed so it's important to check on the schedule.

Even though I was the only Golf Geek in our group, the whole group acknowledged that the Tour was the highlight of our trip.  I can't wait to go back!

As to budget for the trip, hard to comment.  Depends on where you are coming from and I'm sure the time of the year has a major impact.

[WiTerp50]

Glad you enjoyed it. It’s fun to know that the major OEM’s employ quality checks and aren’t just slapping clubs together like US cars in the 60’s. I’ve had the good fortune to visit the Titleist facility in Carlsbad. I believe they only offer club tours by invitation. Other than that, the tours sound remarkably similar. Of course, Titleist doesn’t have the “gold room” experience and the TPI center is a few miles away. Nothing that fun. 
TPI for fittings/physical evaluations and Ball Plant 3 for the Pro-V tour are available to schedule. I wonder if other OEM’s offer tours. Ping and Titleist aren’t the only equipment vendors with rabid fans. 

[TubbsIsland]

Well, now you have me signed up to go! Factory is less than 5 minutes from where I grew up so this is a long overdue day trip!