"Rather than becoming the hit it seemed destined to be, Sonartec – almost inconceivably – has halted operation."

Adam Schupak pens an exhaustive autopsy of Sonartek's demise.

National Geographic To Expose How They Paint That Little Black Line On A Pro-V1

Courtesy of our faithful readers in Fairhaven Greater New Bedford:

TITLEIST GOLF BALL OPERATIONS TO BE FEATURED IN SEASON PREMIERE OF NEW SERIES ON THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL

Who Knew? With Marshall Brain Debuts March 13

Fairhaven, MA (March 6, 2008) ? Viewers of a new National Geographic Channel series, "Who Knew? With Marshall Brain," will journey into the world of product design, manufacturing and testing in a weekly one-hour series beginning Thursday, March 13, 2008, at 9 p.m. EST.

The season premiere will include a visit to the Greater New Bedford, Massachusetts facilities of Titleist, the world's leading manufacturer of golf balls, where host Marshall Brain explores the research, development and manufacturing operations of Titleist golf balls.

Quick, factory workers: take down those Spalding-patented ball specs!  The television crews are coming! The television crews are coming!

From the mixing of a combination of ingredients that eventually form the cores of a golf ball, to the stamping of the legendary Titleist script on the covers, each of the unique processes that go into making the #1 ball in golf are featured in the segment videotaped at Titleist's Ball Plant II.

But we don't get to sit in on a marketing meeting where we hear PR gurus brainstorming "creative," figuring out how to get Vijay to say as little as possible in a 30-second spot? Boo...

Following his visit to Ball Plant II, Brain [SP.] then visits Acushnet Company's Manchester Lane Test Facility where, with the help of Titleist engineers, he examines the aerodynamics of the golf ball and explains why it flies theway it does.  The fast-paced 15-minute segment is one of three separate features in the one hour program.

Naturally, this is a show The Golf Channel should have done, oh, ten years ago. Even a technophobic crank like me is fascinated by how things are made. But that might deprive us of Road Trip: Myrtle Beach...sorry I brought it up.

UAE Dubai Prepping Bids For Future Open, Ryder Cup Venues

Thanks to reader Edward for the story, broken by The Observer's Richard Wachman:

United Arab Emirate Dubai is teeing up bids worth at least £400m for three premier Scottish golf courses: Turnberry, Gleneagles and Loch Lomond.

It is understood that Dubai World, a state-owned business with interests in leisure, property, financial services and container ports, is in advanced talks to acquire the Turnberry course and adjacent luxury hotel from its US owner, Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Turnberry, which is hosting the Open Championship in 2009, was put up for sale at the end of last year. Starwood is selling on condition it retains the right to manage the resort after a sale is agreed.

And...

A source in the Gulf says: 'Dubai is seeking trophy sporting assets. It wants to be behind leading golfing tournaments, which would help it to promote its own Dubai Desert Classic competition.'

Oh this ought to be fun.

"The typical worker has five years experience and makes about $250 a month -- a better wage than at a legitimate foundry."

I first read E. Michael Johnson's excellent Golf World story on club counterfeiting with great interest and even sympathy for the buyers who were duped. But upon further reflection and a closer reading of a few key graphs, I decided to sit down with this tragic tale, dimming the lights, burning candles and setting up an continuous Itunes loop featuring Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly With His Song.

Why? Well, apparently now that the big four have outsourced all manufacturing to China and sold out the club pro first to non-green grass accounts and now the Internet, guess what? There are big consequences. And naturally, it's all someone else's fault.

Check out this:

At a typical counterfeit operation in China, it is not unusual to see young women sifting through castings while other individuals constantly work on grinding wheels, moving through the heads at a rapid rate. Another floor might contain those doing the cosmetic work, including paint filling, shaft painting and packaging. According to Golf Digest, the typical worker has five years experience and makes about $250 a month -- a better wage than at a legitimate foundry.

Yes, that's right. The counterfeiters pay better than the legit operations. And the counterfeiters are charging a lot less than the brand names.

Oh there's more:

The owners of such shops, some a front for organized crime, others no more than a mom-and-pop operation, can make upwards of $750 a week selling the counterfeits -- a much better life than grinding the toe and heel of the latest batch of 100-to-a-tray sand wedges for 10 hours a day. Although it would be easy to label China as an ever-expanding pit of deceit where no good brand is safe, the sad fact is counterfeiting offers a better way of life for those involved -- especially when the threat of being caught or prosecuted is minimal.

Again, isn't this the price of doing business in China?

This bit warmed my heart:

In an effort to stem the supply of phony golf products, the Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group -- consisting of Acushnet, Callaway, Cleveland, Nike, Ping and TaylorMade -- was established in 2004. That golf's largest companies and fiercest competitors would come together speaks to the industry-wide dilemma. According to Rob Duncanson, moderator for the coalition, the group was formed to petition governmental authorities in the U.S., China and other countries jointly to enforce laws against counterfeiting of golf products.

 Because they surely have nothing better to do!

Some headway has been made, including several raids and criminal prosecutions, but it is a case of winning some battles while the war still is being lost.

I have an idea. Don't outsource and maybe this stuff won't happen?

Oh I forgot...those precious margins...

"That process could nullify Callaway's victory."

Golf Digest has moved Banal and Gawky's online shtik to the print edition where in the March issue they pretend to argue in cutesy fashion over issues. Their first conversation went nowhere over USGA ball testing, but this bit on the Pro V1 lawsuit was interesting related to the prospects of Callaway landing a big award from Acushnet, even if I don't really understand what this patent laws stuff is about:

Nearly two years ago, Callaway Golf sued Acushnet (parent of Titleist) in U.S. District Court in Delaware, claiming the company's Pro V1 infringed on its patented golf-ball technology (patents that Callaway acquired when it purchased Top-Flite in 2003). In December, a jury found in favor of Callaway. Now the company wants monetary damages and an injunction against sales of the Pro V1. The case is intriguing not just because it went to trial and ball category leader Titleist lost. The court's ruling contradicts U.S. Patent and Trademark Office actions, which initially found the disputed patents invalid and during an ongoing review again has found one patent invalid. That process could nullify Callaway's victory.

"I'm sure there's a constitutional law professor scratching his head wondering how this will play out," says David Dawsey, a patent attorney in Columbus, Ohio, and founder of the website golf-patents.com. "Both sides know the risks. It wouldn't surprise me if Callaway discounted what it perceives to be its value in this case by 50 percent [settles the case], knowing the patents could be declared invalid. Acushnet knows it faces the potential for a huge damage award. But there's really no predicting it."

Acushnet Sets Brand Records!

Golfweek's Adam Schupak reports the heartwarming news, which I know will help me sleep better tonight.

For the 12 months ended Dec. 31, Fortune’s golf business – which includes the Titleist, Cobra, FootJoy and Pinnacle brands – generated net sales of $1.41 billion, up 7 percent from $1.31 billion in 2006. Operating income dipped slightly to $165.5 million compared with $166 million the previous year.

For the fourth quarter, Fairhaven, Mass.-based Acushnet reported a 12.6 gain in net sales to $245.1 million, up from $217.6 million in the same period of 2006. It posted an operating loss of $6.7 million; Acushnet had an operating loss of $4.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2006.

Hmmm...attorney bills?

Acushnet does not provide specific financial details for each of its brands. However, Bruce Carbonari, president and chief executive officer of Fortune Brands, cited some of them in a news release about the year-end fiscal results.

Said Carbonari: “Successful innovations helped Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra achieve individual brand records, as we also attained sales records in every product category and in all major markets for the year.”

Golf ball sales increased at a high-single-digit rate, benefiting from a favorable product mix shift to the next generation Titleist Pro V1 and NXT families launched in 2007, said Craig Omtvedt, Fortune’s chief financial officer.

A favorable product mix shift...now that's a work of art.

"You can't grow an avid golfer in a quarter"

A couple of interesting columns have rolled in from the PGA Show and focusing on the rosy economic picture recently painted by some of the game's leaders.

Thanks to reader John for John Paul Newport's look, which included this:

So why the undercurrent of pessimism about the golf industry? Joe Steranka, chief executive of the PGA of America, which sponsors the show, suggests that the industry's outlook became a bit skewed starting in the 1990s. Many well-known golf businesses were gobbled up by investor-owned companies, which focused on short-term earnings.

"You can't grow an avid golfer in a quarter," he said. "For a while there, I think some in the industry lost sight of what the game needed for its long-term good."

And...

The possible looming recession may have only a minor effect on golf, argues Mr. King at TaylorMade. For one thing, more and more baby boomers are entering their prime golf-playing years. "The fact is that when people can't afford bigger vacations or fancier cars, they still make smaller purchases for recreation," he said. "Sometimes it means they even play more golf than they did when times were better."

Brad Klein at Golfweek wasn't quite so keen on the numbers presented...

Macro-economic studies like this serve a useful industry function in that they help generate public attention and set the stage for legislative lobbying efforts and behind-the-scenes policy bargaining. That’s precisely one purpose of this report. It will certainly be part of a widespread golf industry show and tell effort in Washington on April 16, National Golf Day. Similar, state-by-state studies have also been completed for Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia. They can help steer public policy toward pro-golf, pro-tourism efforts, and they can be powerful tools for impressing legislators and policy-makers when it comes time to decide upon water allocation, land use, tax rates and zoning provisions.  

This was interesting and a point I haven't seen written about before:

Perhaps the biggest issue facing the golf industry, which went unmentioned in the report or in the news conference accompanying its release, is the vast dependence of maintenance crews and clubhouse operations on immigrant labor for staffing. If the golf industry can effectively lobby for immigration reform to assure a steady supply of legal workers, that would be a major legislative achievement.

And it's hard to disagree with this:

But some of the numbers here in this report seem inflated, with suspect counting rules that create an unduly rosy picture. For example, the $28 billion in golf-facility operations includes weddings, banquets and all food and beverage operations. Why all of this should be attributed to golf is a legitimate question, because folks would be having meals and banquets somewhere, and it’s not as if golf created that expenditure.

More questionable is the exaggerated activity attributed to real estate: $14.97 billion in 2005, accounted in terms of 63,840 homes constructed at a cost of $11.6 billion ($181,704 apiece, plus 28 percent premium of additional value ($50,877 per home), which the report explains as “the amount a buyer is willing to pay for a home or property located on a golf course or within a golf course community.”

But why does golf get credit for all of those homes? Only 20 percent to 25 percent of homeowners at golf communities buy there for the game and play golf at the facility;

PGA Show Ecclectic

Gary Van Sickle returns from the PGA Show with a succinct overview of the more offbeat and obscure new things in golf gear.

Breaking: Golf Digest Hot List Arrives Just In Time To Spoil Holiday For Manufacturers

I know many of you wondered why GolfDigest.com bloggers Bubala and Goy took two months off from suggesting that St. Andrews and Augusta National are not worth preserving, and here's why: the now-annual Hot List has arrived to the misery of most people in the equipment industry who were trying to enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year's and who must now explain to their bosses why they didn't win a gold medal.

There's a video showing you the top secret location where the testing takes place and where Golf Digest staffers racked up a massive bar bill to get them 14-days of tech talk.

Don't miss the survey that let's you figure out what junk you should buy this year so that it can take a place of honor in your garage sale by March 2009.

Here's where the judges tell you why you should spend $500 to replace last year's noisy, offensive looking driver.

Don't forget to stock up on Gold Medal winning woods, since that's what you'll use when the new driver doesn't work. And for when you can't hit those, there are always the winning hybrids.

The ball report will make you feel better about agonizing over a $45 dozen-ball purchase even though they essentially all working off of the same patent...if you believe those dreadful juries.

Might as well pick up some irons too since we haven't heard a thing about U-grooves in a while. Which reminds me, I need to change my wedges out every two weeks like Vijay and Padraig, so maybe I'll see what the judges are recommending.

And finally, do check out all of the new blades things they say are putters but really look like rejected set pieces from Spaceballs.

"8 out of 9 of Callaway’s patent claims are valid!"

David Dawsey does a superb job breaking down each claim in the Callaway v. Acushnet suit.

Callaway v. Titleist Spin, Round 1

AP's story on Callaway prevailing over Acushnet features quotes from the company flacks:

"We have now established in court that our golf ball patents are valid, and that Titleist Pro V1 golf balls infringe those patents," she said. "We will immediately start the process of requesting an appropriate remedy, including injunctive relief and damages."

And from Fairhaven...

"The jury's mixed decision has created ambiguity that will have to be resolved post-trial," said Joseph Nauman, an Acushnet executive vice president.

Callaway Prevails In Pro V1 Patent Suit

From the wire...

Callaway sued Acushnet last year in a Delaware federal court for patent infringement relating to Callaway's three-layer golf balls. Acushnet acknowledged that its Titleist Pro V1 balls had infringed the Callaway patent, but claimed that those patents were not valid.

Clever!

A jury found that four of Callaway's contested patents were valid, while one was invalid, Bloomberg News reported today. An additional trial is expected to be held to assess damages.