Ping 50th anniversary

Golf uber-brand Ping has plenty of candles to blow out today as its employees celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary.

It is 50 years today since Karsten and Louise Solheim, the founders of Ping, shipped the very first Ping putter from Redwood City in California, creating the beginnings of a business that would see Ping become one of the best known names in golf.

The engineering behind that first putter set the standard for club design and it was the first in several groundbreaking manufacturing and design advances put into practice by Ping.

Karsten Solheim’s engineering achievements have earned him the only place ever to be given to an engineer in the World Golf Hall of Fame, handed to him two years after his death in 2000.

Amongst his greatest achievements were the Ping Anser Putter and Ping Eye2 Irons

“It’s fun to look back on those early years working with him while I was a teenager,” says John A. Solheim, the youngest son of Karsten and Louise.  “When we were in our garage, which was just outside of the Phoenix city limits at the time, I remember my dad watched the late news every night. At the same time, I’d be doing my homework and getting ready for bed. As soon as the news ended, I’d get a knock on the window of my bedroom, which happened to be connected to the garage. When I heard that, I knew it was time to go to work.”

Ping today is one of the most succesful golf companies of all time with 1,000 workers creating such award winning golf equipment as the Ping G10 and Rapture ranges of clubs and Ping putters.

>> Keep an eye on todaysgolfer.co.uk over the coming months for news on a possible and very special Ping 50th Anniversary range…