December 3, 2025 • 29 mins
Shane and Marty are joined by Alex Kump, PING Soft Goods Design & Development Director, for a gear-focused discussion on golf bags, headwear and accessories, all of which are designed by his team at PING HQ. They dive into the origins of the iconic L8 and Hoofer golf bags, the R&D behind the new PING Reserve carry bag, and headwear insights from his team's partnership with our PING pros.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how
much the equipment matters.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I just love that I can hit any shot I
kind of want.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about
what goes on here to help golfers play better golf.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, everybody? Welcome back to the Ping proven
Grounds Podcast. Shane Bacon alongside Marty Jersey and Marty A
lot of the time we talk about golf clubs. We
talk about golf club design not going to be the
case today.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yeah, we got Alex comp here. Alex is one of
my one of the most creative co workers I have
here at PING. I always look up to the amount
of creativity of product development coming from Alex's group. He's
the Soft Goods design and development director. And Alex just
give us the little review. What does soft goods do?
(00:43):
What do you guys develop in the soft goods world?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Look? What is soft goods? To begin with?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Well, the way I well, thank you for your introduction,
the way I the way I understand it to be.
It's pretty much everything that's not a golf club. So
you know, we're making apparel, T shirts, headwear, golf bags,
headwear are major businesses there head covers.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So if it's not a golf club and somebody needs
something like even tour or something like that, Christian or something,
those guys our team makes it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I mean I think about you know, I mean, Marty
were similar age, you know, coming up as a as
a young golfer, junie golfer, you kind of weren't a
great player unless you had a Ping golf bag. And
I think about golf clubs within Ping. I mean, of
course Ping dabbled in the golf ball business back in
the day, but the golf bags have always been so
integral in the business. And I always think about the
(01:37):
Ping golf bag. It's the best bag out there, and
it's always been the best bag out there. Can you
talk us through the history of the Ping bag and
the importance it's had, not just in golf, but really
in terms of the way we think about golf bag.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah, I'll do my best. I've only been here ten years,
so a lot happened before I got here. Where's Rob
Griffin when you need them? So, I think I would
say nineteen eighty nine is when you see those first
patents with.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
John A's name on them.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
And that is the original drawings for what became the
L eight. I think nineteen ninety and Marty you probably
know too, or you might know as well. I think
nineteen ninety is around when that bag started coming out,
and I'm pretty sure John A basically designed that bag
along with the help of Greg Schmidt. The conference room
in our area right now is named after Greg Schmidt.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
But I think those two really brought that concept to light.
You know, it had the you know, had the deployable
legs so you could put pressure on it and the
legs came out. And I think I'm pretty sure there
was a stand bag out there, probably in Britain someplace
that had the you know, the mesquite sticks, you know
that you crossed over and you could stand the bag up.
(02:47):
But I think the L eight was really the first
modern lightweight stand bag. It's it's a pretty amazing bag
when you when you go back and look at it
and you look at the history.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
The L stands for light.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I'm pretty sure the eight stands for an eight inch
diameter top. So I think back then we categorize our
bags by the size of the top, and I think
that's how that it was just real sort of you know,
just economical.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
The way they named it and.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Thought about it, and the and the genius of that
bag is really how simple it is, and it's really
informed to this day everything that we do because and
we can get into it later, but what it really
is is it's a trade off of functionality and durability
at the end of the day, having all those parts
(03:38):
internal when they're not external. You know, there's no kickstands.
We don't do that thing. We don't put you know,
we don't put creases in our bases and those sorts
of things, and there's there's a trade off there. But
that L eight is, Yeah, it's in our area today
and we keep looking at it and.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's where the bottom and then also the bottom of
the bag stayed flat to the ground, right Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
So I mean I look at that as sort of
a signature silhouette of our bags and we think about
that a lot, you know, and especially in the way
that those legs deploy out the distance they have, you know,
there's a certain distance that we're looking for that for
maximum stability and actually to have that base come all
the way down.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But yeah, that's that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Alice. You think about testing, and Marty and I talk
so much about testing with golf clubs. You think about
Ping Man and just how much we put into the
testing there the first big tour I remember I did
here at ping. I mean there's a there's a there's
a machine that tests the durability of the golf bag. Yeah,
basically slams the golf bag up and down to see
how many rounds if you will, or I guess how
(04:39):
many times you pick it up and down that a
golf bag can live.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Yeah, exactly, I have twenty thousand times. Yeah, So I
mean that's yeah, I mean that's a big deal. I
mean we're able to leverage analysis and testing here. You know,
obviously the bulk of that goes to the clubs, but
we get, you know, we get to bend their ear
for a little bit of time every year when we
have things we want to take care of and test
out and take a look at.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So, yeah, we are doing that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
What other type of tests are done, like, for example,
like on the materials and things of that nature.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Yeah, so we're looking at you know that test you're
talking about, We're looking at durability. How many you know
that leg spring and how it goes and how long
that handle's going to hold up. Abrasion resistance is a
big one, figuring out, you know, how long.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
That fabri is gonna last.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
And we have certain parameters that we know we need
to be within for it to be a ping bag
and offer the lifespan that we wanted to, So that's
a big one. And then functionality, So there's you know,
and that's that's one that's kind of a moving target.
When you're trying to do something new and different or innovative,
or when you want your bag to be lighter or
more robust with materials, you're kind of trading off some
(05:45):
things every now and.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Then when you're thinking about innovation with a golf bag,
where are you looking these days? Is it all about weight?
Is it about durability? Is about longevity? What is kind
of the focus as you guys are continuing to try
to innovate this.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Space, those are sort of obvious ones, right, I mean,
and everybody's doing that. You know, you're starting to see
lightweight sections in these golf shops and that kind of
ebbs and flows, right, You're seeing a lot of these
fourteen waight tops now be categorized as hybrids. You're seeing
what we used to call Sunday bags now they have legs.
(06:17):
I think our team thinks of it more as like
a balancing of requirements. There's a lot of different golfers
out there who play a lot of different ways high handicaps,
low handicaps, walkers, cart guys, you know. So we're trying
to figure out what is the best feature set for
each of those players that we have that we think
we have in our demographic. And that's the real challenge.
(06:40):
I mean, I can tell you we're looking at things
like water resistance zippers, We're looking at lighter weight fabrics
with the same abrasion resistance qualities. But at the end
of the day, I think we're trying to figure out
how to make the bag more functional, more useful, and
more enjoyable for a golfers. You know, if you think
about golf, it's pretty mature sport, pretty mature industry.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
The customer base isn't that big. You get a lot
of repeat business, you know. So that's kind of what
we're thinking. It's a balancing of requirements.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Marty the moon Lander, which I've been using most of
this season because I walk a lot in the Northeast
and Alex, I got to give you some credit here.
The drink pocket or the water bottle pocket has been
just a game changer for me because I've always been
a lightweight carry bag guy. I love the fact that
the bag weighs, you know, minimal, but you have the
double straps and you can do that. But the water
(07:34):
bottle pocket has not always been there in the golf bag,
especially in the carry bag. You have to stuff it
in a pocket or you to find a place for it.
That thing has been incredible. I've sold tens of these
things to my buddies because I'm like, you got a
place to put your water bottle.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
So the number one complained about that bag though, is
that it has no ball pocket.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So you've taken so that was the replacement. Nowhere to
put the golf balls, but you can put your Yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
We're thinking, okay, this is going to be a lighter
weight bags. We know it's gonna off a little bit
more durability than let's say, are crazy light. But you
need to make some sacrifices. You need to you need
to change thought.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
We thought we put the balls in here, or what
are these people talking about.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
That's what our team thought. But you know, if you
think about, you know, how traditional golf is. People been
playing with a bag that has a ball pocket for
a really long time. Yeah, you know, so, I mean
I see both sides of it.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, funny, Shane. I kind of look at bags similar
to like our irons. We're back, you know, a long
time ago. We just had the I too, you know. Uh,
And now we have seven seven different models, all diverse.
We could we can customize them more to the specific player, Alex.
How many different like kind of categories of bags do
we do we offer now?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Well, I think we have three, but I mean that
that results in about fourteen different bags, and we're always
kind of trying new things. Moonlanders new for us. We'll
see how it does. It's been doing pretty well for us.
So but then we've you know, we've got the d
LX that's in that higher range along with the Staff bag.
But you know, the real work course of what we
do and the real focus is in that Hoofer line.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
With the Hoof for light.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
It does a really good job of balancing feature set
and price really for what you get and the functionality
of it. So Yeah, there's about fourteen bags in there,
and there's it's you know, the guy who loves to walk,
he's low handicap, I'm guessing, and and the guy who's
got his cart bag in his cart sitting in a
casita in Lakina, PGA West for the better part of
(09:31):
the whole year.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Not even the car. I want all my stuff in it.
I want to know where everything is. Obviously, I mean
over your right shoulder is something that's new for ping.
The reserve bag. It is a space that I feel
like a lot of i'll call him country club golfers
have moved into. It's that like beautiful standbag, that beautiful
(09:52):
walking bag, and it's cool to see Peeing kind of
dive into that space. What was the reasoning for that.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Well, obviously it was a trend in the marketplace, but
and it took a long time for us to get
it to market. I think we were trying to build
on the success with the DLX, that higher end bag.
For us, it just keeps going and it keeps getting
more expensive based on the materials, and so we're trying
to figure out, okay, if we did do this in
a in a standbag, you know, situation, what would it be. Ultimately,
(10:21):
we decided to tailor it to a higher end sort
of green grass club that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
We made a couple of controversial decisions. One is having
the shorter apparel pocket.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Of the reason we.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Did that as we felt probably these customers are going
to have a caddy and that caddy's gonna be carrying
two bags and he's better off not having the entire
apparel pocket on his wat. But you know, and it's
it's it's hard to get that bag light because of
the durability of that material. But that was the idea,
(10:54):
and we did put the ball pocket on it, and
if you look at the inside of that, it also
has the cooler material, so it's gonna keep it's going
to keep your water bottle little bit cooler than just
a standard ball pocket.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
But that's kind of what we were thinking.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I mean, so it looks looks beautiful, Alex. I'm excited
to get give it a go myself.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
I mean so that you know, the two bags that
you guys are bringing up, the Moonlander and the Reserve,
I mean, they're tight bags, they're small. You know, they're
meant to be people who are not worried about, you know,
having a space for everything, and you know, their clubs
getting tangled up and those sorts of things.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
It's a huge challenge for our team, Marty.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
The golf bag, to me has always been a telltale
sign of the type of golfer you are. Yeah, it
really is. And you talk about like management of the
golf bag. And even on my golf trips I go on.
I go on a golf trip of alex every year
in January to southern Arizona and it's sixteen buddies and
we go and the place offers to keep your bag,
(11:51):
you know, in the cart shed overnight as we're there. Yeah,
and all the good players take their bags back to
the room and all the high handicap guys leave them
there because you want to go through the bag. You
want to refresh balls, you want to take stuff out
that's unnecessary. And I almost think that bleeds into the
way we think about the bag philosophies. Is you know,
the player that's carrying a specific bag is thinking about
certain things that maybe other players aren't with other types
(12:13):
of bags.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
It's just when you get into gear, it gets geeky.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Well, you know, like so you know, like a lot
of our team they you know, one of the things
people do here in Arizona is mountain bike, right, and
these you know a lot of our industrial designers beside golfing,
they mountain biking and they're super into gear. They're super
into tack, you know, and they come up with names
for people who are into certain aspects of those sort
of things, you know, and it's we think.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
About that stuff a lot. But you're right.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I mean, you know, most entry level golfers, I think
if you don't have someone kind of guiding you long
and you know, are picking up that fourteen way top.
But most when you get farther down the line, I
think most people agree, it's kind of more trouble than
it's worth.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, Alex tell us a little bit about the
mark even outside the US market, like you know, things,
things and priorities that might be different in Japan, for example,
or Europe.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Japan's all about bling. You know, they got quality bags.
We we look at those.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Bags, we prove them. We don't design all of the
bags for Japan. They have their own process over there,
but they love to use a logo. I mean they
you know, it's badges and mister ping and ping and
those sorts of things. And this is subtle compared to
what they do. But they're super creative and they have
some really great ideas as far as functionality. But you
(13:34):
do see those things that are geared towards like the
subway and going to the driving range, and you know,
you'll see a cart bag with wheels built into the
base of it and all pull up luggage handle and
those sorts of things, and you know, you look at them,
they're created and like our team loves to go through
them and feel them and give suggestions and edits and
those sorts of things. But there's just the American golfer
(13:57):
I think is just a little bit more traditional in that.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Alex we talked so much about soft goods. We've focused
so much on bags. You mentioned hats earlier. Yeah, in
terms of let's say R and D with hats. Does
that exists, do you guys think? Also search development in
the hat world.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Not not as much. It does exist. There's a lot
of suppliers.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
If you're a larger company like that, they come to
you and say, hey, we've got some great ideas.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
You know, we should we should be thinking about. But
hats are another one that's difficult.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
It's sort of one of those things where you're gonna
buy it because you went to a you went to
someplace and you want to rep you want something to say,
you know, whatever you want to say, but it's it's
hard to do, you know. So we're really looking for
breathable fabrics. We're looking for things that will take that
sweat and push it towards the endervisor we're looking for
stretchability venting those sorts of things. But then you know,
(14:54):
there is this sort of other aspect of paying which
is sort of has a really cool history, you know,
and it's got this heritage. So we're gonna throw mister
ping on a hat and it's going to be more
like a lifestyle hat than it is going to be
like a performance based hat.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
So the lifestyle hats have been great. When I go
on the truck every time I go to a tour event, yeah,
sneak it in there and see what like sneaky good
lifestyle hats.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Oh yeah, And Christian's been good and Ken's they've been
good about stocking those, so that's it's been pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I'm a hat guy. You know, I mean I love
a good hat.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, what about the shirts? I mean, Shane's got on
a pretty sweet little city right there.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, So this is more you know, I know, and
that you know, we this is kind of where we're
focusing now.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
We had Carson Apparel come out for a year and
a half or so, we got a little bit of
a leash that to work on a new project. Super
fun project to work on. We did pretty well with it,
but kind of when we got to the end of
it and we said, okay, what do we what are we.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Really going to benefit from here?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Yeah, we thought a little bit more about branded merchandise
that was maybe just a little bit more affordable. So
you know, if you're already a fan of Ping, you
already owned that G four forty driver, you know, and
you want to partake in the brand just a little
bit more, you could maybe afford to buy that hoodie.
So we're kind of looking more in that world right
now for appareallel branded kind of merchandise. It just kind
(16:08):
of supports the overall brand messaging.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The T shirt world. I mean, my my closet these days,
we were joking about it earlier today, my closet. In
terms of pink T shirts, you.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Hang your T shirts?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
No, no, no, I fold them? Why hangs them? I
fold them? But I've got a lot more she does.
I'd say now it's probably eighty percent pink T shirts
that long sleeves of hoodies. But it's the material. It's
the material is so soft and so good. Speaking of
my my Buddy's trip every year, now, I do the
T shirt thing. It's one of the gifts to my buddies.
They don't have anything about our golf trip. They're just
pink shirts because all the guys like them so much,
(16:42):
because they're so comfortable.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Well, the human race has gotten really good at T shirts,
and you know, has the population has gotten more casual.
You know, we've gotten really good at it. Yeah, yeah,
so yeah, I think that that makes me feel good.
I'll let the creative team know. You know, they'll they'll
be stoked of it.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
In my email for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Alex talk a little bit about like customization back. It's
always been a big part of our DNA yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Thing, so you know, you go on.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
You guys have been in our group on the bottom
floor there. I don't know, it's probably up to sixteen
embroidered machines. Now we're even doing sort of that eco
screen printing. Now we've got the Hoofer zip, which has
been actually really popular where you can actually take your bag,
decide what color accessory pocket, what color apparel pocket you want,
and will color ball pocket. So it's been really great
(17:30):
for our mascot program, if you will, so collegiate high school,
those sorts of things. But every product we make now
has to fit in a frame and being able to customize.
So right now we've got VHT, which is vinal heat transfer,
which allows you to do some really creative things. And
then next coming through the line, so innovating in that
(17:52):
customization zone, we've we're taken a little queue from the
hard gets and we're bringing some lasers over, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
In the reserve.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
We got the metal badgings, so we'll be able to
do like really tight small like club logos or or
player names and those sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, I mean, it's just again kind of going back
to you want need your thing to be your thing,
you know, I go, yeah, to like you want your
club logo on it, you want your name or initials
on it. People love that. I mean We've seen it
with wedges, We've seen it now with putters in terms
of PLD customization, getting names, initials, colleges, all that stuff
on there. Of course, it's going to bleed in the bags.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Yeah, No, it's and it's I mean I think we're
one of the best at doing it. We accommodate a
lot of people and the things they want, you know,
now we're doing it online.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
So yeah, everything we do now has to be able
to be customize. I mean that's the directive right now
for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Alex talk a little bit about working like with tour
maybe on on our staff bag, right and do you
work with the players or the caddies or the reps,
I mean, what are some of the inside everyone.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Special on tour? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Is that something they told you.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
They're they're great to work with and they're very i
mean they're very eager to put out in the world
what we're making. So they've been super supportive. Like when
we have those sort of special capsule drops, you limited
edition things, you know, Ko and Christian, they're always eager
to get that on the players, which is great.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
But yeah, we get special requests. I mean, Victor has
a special hats different.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
It's just it's the way he likes it, and he's
just sizing or.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yeah, sizing. Yeah, and he's great about it. Yeah, he's
he's been great about it. And we want to get
those guys what they want. We want them to play well,
we want them to be comfortable. You know, Christian out
idea last year for the US Open bag so that
was always that was fun, you know, So we worked
on that with him and the team. And they're a
big supporter of the apparel and all that kind of
stuff too, So yeah, they're a big They're a big
(19:43):
part of our marketing arm.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
You know.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
So our best selling hat is the you know what
I call the Pin Candy Bar Tour cap Tour vned cap.
And the reason it sells so well is because you
see it on TV at least for you know, four
days a week.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yeah, I mean it is interesting, Alex. I mean the
tour guys always wear that hat. Yeah, I mean maybe
in different color ways or whatever the case may be,
but it's always the big lettered ping hat. Is there
a reason for that? And is there any option for
those players ever to wear a different style, maybe a
LifeStyle's type of ping hat.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
So I think sort of out of my zone, but
I'm they probably have a little bit more leeway Monday
through Wednesday. But it's really about showing the brand name
off and letting people watching from home know that this
player plays Ping Irons or those sorts of things. So yeah,
it's about visibility, and it's sort of a little transition.
(20:31):
When I first got here, we have the standard Ping logo,
just the separate embroidered logo, like separate and broidered letters,
and then kind of moved and our team moved it
to that what we call sort of that candy bar look,
and it's just done really well for us, and I
think people really liked it, So that's been exciting for
our team. Actually, it's probably about eight years old now,
but it's still there and I'm sure it's going to
change at some point.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, I love it. Alex was talking about the hats.
I mean, I think we're talking to Tony Serrano about
the importance of the eyes. But there's a there's something
to probably with Victor or other players, like the way
their visual system works with like the shape of the
bill of the hat and things of that nature, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
And the underside of the hat so I mean that
that's actually a big thing that actually John A you know,
made it very clear at the very beginning, like hey,
we want no glare.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
So it's all sort of those hats that they weren't
too are more performance based, and I would say branding based,
you know, than any of those other hats.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, Alex, when you I know, you know, you're you're
you're working in this business for the golfer. But when
you get accolades like what you got from my golf
spy last season in terms of how much they kind
of respected the bags across the board, not just with
a carry bag but cart and carry and all that stuff,
what does that do for you guys in the team.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
I mean, we're proud of our our progress there. I
think one part of that is, like we don't take
huge swings, right, there's an interative process because as I
said before, like you know, even the best the Hoofer
is a very mature bag, right. So the Hoofer came
out probably nineteen ninety and that really kind of took
(22:07):
the ergonomics to the strap to the next level, the
double strap. We started seeing a little bit of a
ball pocket there. I think even before that with the
K fifty six and then the handle on the hoofer
and those sorts of things, and I think, and we
haven't changed much of that, most of that, most of
those bags we work on functionality.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
But I would say it's.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Just it has a lot to do with our customers
in the way that they enjoy that bag and the
way they talk about that bag, about those bags, and
it just it's it makes our designers and our destrial
designers in particular pretty proud in our in our developers
as well. So yeah, it's a big deal. I mean,
I think I look at my golf spy all the time.
I think they've got really good feedback and really interesting
(22:46):
ideas about what's going on in the golf space. So yeah,
anytime that happens, it's great. I think part of it
is that durability and knowing that it's gonna be there
for you for a long time. You know, there's a
dependability with our bags.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
For sure, we've seen I've seen it certainly seen Alex
some some brands or maybe in our kind of R
and D process. If you chase too light, what problems
can you run into? Let's if you're chasing the number,
keep it under X number of pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You know, we've done that, so.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
I mean, you're still gonna put what thirty eight pounds
worth of you know, clubs in your bag something like that.
So that's probably wrong, but it's close to me. But
we look at that a lot, and I think that
this is the hardest part we look at this and
we talk about balancing the requirements, is that in order
for the bag to be light, the real trade off
(23:41):
there is simplicity, right, So, and you're going to be
paying a higher price for things like carbon fiber or
some sort of aluminum top that's you know, super light.
So it's really hard to convey. It's hard to convey like, hey,
the reason this bag is more expensive is because there's
less of it, you know, but the materials are higher.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Quality to get you to that weight.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
So we're still working on projects like that. The Crazy
Light was actually really well received and released it during COVID,
right before COVID, so that kind of that was hard
to make that happen. But then it boomed and you
didn't have enough of them and all that, you know,
all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
So and how much of that bad way that bag
we got under four under four.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yeah, so but I mean there's light. I mean there's
some light bags out there, but then you pick it
up and it's light and you're like, okay, because how
long is this gonna last?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
That goes through? Yeah, even with reserve, I mean you
can go singles strap with the reserve, right, something that
yeahs part of the double caddy thing. Is that kind
of the way.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, it comes with both.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
And you know, we work with kind of hardcore golfers
and I know guys that wore their golf bags you know,
like on their back differently and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Because we can just drop it.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Down, and so we wanted to have that that acts
us to do two different straps.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
And I'm imagining when you think about innovation within a
golf bag, I think probably looking at the strap is
something you guys probably, I'm assuming think about a decent amount.
I mean I've seen companies with that, like the almost
the air bag within the strap. Yeah, making sure it
obviously stands a lot of rounds of golf and it's
comfortable and it doesn't rip it or rub on the
clothing as well.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Yeah, So like even like our gle bags for women,
they have their own different you know, because a lot
of times they're shoulderless, right, so they have it they
have a different liner on those straps. But yeah, I
mean also there's preferences, right, There's like some people like
a wider strap, some people like a thinner strap, you know,
so that's very difficult to sort of get through. We
(25:41):
think that hoofer strap and the team has done a
great job of just refining that and getting it.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Better and better every year.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
But yeah, I mean that's the big I mean ergonomics.
With the advent of the hoofer, I think we started
really looking at ergonomics. And this is before my time,
you know, I think twenty thirteen is when we first
put the big handle on that, on the.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Twenty twelve or something.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
So that's that's really kind of where when we started
really looking at that, you know, in a big way.
And that's you know, that's what you know, most of
our team, the biggest part of our team are industrial
designers and that's what they went to school to do,
and that's what they've been working on, is ergonomics.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It's a it's a it's a big thing.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
So we're always looking at different ways of doing straps,
and you know, how can you make them better?
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Does your team do our do the travel bags as well?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Yeah, we do the travel accessories as well. That's always
a hot topic.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Tell them thank you for letting it fold up so small.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
One of our designers did that a while back. It
was and it just kept getting smaller and smaller.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
And the hotel room it's the best.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And a lot of that's like listening to like golfer
spouses to saying like, there's no place to put this thing.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, so so like, but.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
When you think about innovation, you know, we we knew
we had a good thing with the with the fabric
and the durability and those sorts of things in the padding,
you know, but you're like, okay, well where can we
really make improvements?
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, what if you could slip it under your bed
or something? If you get you know, like, that's.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
The best travel bag I've ever used. And I think
most of that is because I can make it very
very small in a hotel room.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And the other part is of stuff there easy to pack.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, I mean you get the single zipper travel bag
really yeah, tough to pack it.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
A great job with that.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, I've had the travel bags that have like the
side pockets, and while those are you know nice and
all that stuff like your stuff and everything in the
bag anyway, you know, your shoes, your coats, your best
all that stuff's going in the bag to begin with.
Plus it gives it a little extra you know, cushion
if you will. When you're a exactly around the.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Country, you're using it the right way. Yeah, sure, all right, Alex.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
My most important question for you as the bag guy,
as a soft goods guy.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
You know there's there's better bag guys in my group.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
What what what bag do you use? What bag do
you use when you play?
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Right now, I'm using a just a prototype Hoof for
light from twenty that's going to be out for twenty
twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, So I mean that's part of our job, right.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
What if somebody photographed, I mean, the guys out here have.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Some of these bags, I think you know they're not
you know, not all of them are branded. But no,
I think it's it's important to get those bags out there.
So we have time between the pre pilot and the
regular pilot to get these bags out and if we
need to make some feedbacks, if we miss something, here
or there. It's important that we play him right. I mean,
that's always been the deal. We get them out a
(28:27):
lot of the hard goods. Guys give us feedback. You
got a lot of feedback from those guys because there's
a lot of.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
This guy right here.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
He's carrying all the time, James always carrying his bag around,
was probably slamming it down every now and ago. He
makes it vogue to make a whole bunch of them.
The leech is the leg technology ever changed anything? Les?
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah, So the leg technology, I think James, he's our
lead designer on the hoof for he changed that technology
probably about six seven years ago.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Different material or what.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
We're going through that process right now. I mean there's
things crazy things going on in the world right now.
So like aluminum has like a three hundred percent you know,
tarifuna right now, no matter where you get it from.
So we have to look at different ways to think
about it. And it's great because it helps you sort
of think differently and innovate in different spaces. But yeah,
the big change with those legs was instead of being
(29:18):
completely straight, is that we we kind of turned them
just a little bit and it kind of gave you
that more stable, sort of like platform when those legs
come out.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's as I've said off the top,
the golf bag is the best out there. It's always
been my favorite. It's one of my favorite parts about paying.
And your team does a great shot and tell them
to keep making the long sleep soft hoodies. I'm upset. Yeah,
they continue to multiply in the closet. But Alex awesome,
thanks so much for the time, man, congrats and everything.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
This is the Ping proven Grounds Podcast.
The guys from Ping. They've kind of showed me how
much the equipment matters.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I just love that I can hit any shot I
kind of want.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
We're gonna be able to tell some fun stories about
what goes on here to help golfers play better golf.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, everybody? Welcome back to the Ping proven
Grounds Podcast. Shane Bacon alongside Marty Jersey and Marty A
lot of the time we talk about golf clubs. We
talk about golf club design not going to be the
case today.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yeah, we got Alex comp here. Alex is one of
my one of the most creative co workers I have
here at PING. I always look up to the amount
of creativity of product development coming from Alex's group. He's
the Soft Goods design and development director. And Alex just
give us the little review. What does soft goods do?
(00:43):
What do you guys develop in the soft goods world?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Look? What is soft goods? To begin with?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Well, the way I well, thank you for your introduction,
the way I the way I understand it to be.
It's pretty much everything that's not a golf club. So
you know, we're making apparel, T shirts, headwear, golf bags,
headwear are major businesses there head covers.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So if it's not a golf club and somebody needs
something like even tour or something like that, Christian or something,
those guys our team makes it.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I mean I think about you know, I mean, Marty
were similar age, you know, coming up as a as
a young golfer, junie golfer, you kind of weren't a
great player unless you had a Ping golf bag. And
I think about golf clubs within Ping. I mean, of
course Ping dabbled in the golf ball business back in
the day, but the golf bags have always been so
integral in the business. And I always think about the
(01:37):
Ping golf bag. It's the best bag out there, and
it's always been the best bag out there. Can you
talk us through the history of the Ping bag and
the importance it's had, not just in golf, but really
in terms of the way we think about golf bag.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Yeah, I'll do my best. I've only been here ten years,
so a lot happened before I got here. Where's Rob
Griffin when you need them? So, I think I would
say nineteen eighty nine is when you see those first
patents with.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
John A's name on them.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
And that is the original drawings for what became the
L eight. I think nineteen ninety and Marty you probably
know too, or you might know as well. I think
nineteen ninety is around when that bag started coming out,
and I'm pretty sure John A basically designed that bag
along with the help of Greg Schmidt. The conference room
in our area right now is named after Greg Schmidt.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
But I think those two really brought that concept to light.
You know, it had the you know, had the deployable
legs so you could put pressure on it and the
legs came out. And I think I'm pretty sure there
was a stand bag out there, probably in Britain someplace
that had the you know, the mesquite sticks, you know
that you crossed over and you could stand the bag up.
(02:47):
But I think the L eight was really the first
modern lightweight stand bag. It's it's a pretty amazing bag
when you when you go back and look at it
and you look at the history.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
The L stands for light.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
I'm pretty sure the eight stands for an eight inch
diameter top. So I think back then we categorize our
bags by the size of the top, and I think
that's how that it was just real sort of you know,
just economical.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
The way they named it and.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Thought about it, and the and the genius of that
bag is really how simple it is, and it's really
informed to this day everything that we do because and
we can get into it later, but what it really
is is it's a trade off of functionality and durability
at the end of the day, having all those parts
(03:38):
internal when they're not external. You know, there's no kickstands.
We don't do that thing. We don't put you know,
we don't put creases in our bases and those sorts
of things, and there's there's a trade off there. But
that L eight is, Yeah, it's in our area today
and we keep looking at it and.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's where the bottom and then also the bottom of
the bag stayed flat to the ground, right Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
So I mean I look at that as sort of
a signature silhouette of our bags and we think about
that a lot, you know, and especially in the way
that those legs deploy out the distance they have, you know,
there's a certain distance that we're looking for that for
maximum stability and actually to have that base come all
the way down.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
But yeah, that's that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Alice. You think about testing, and Marty and I talk
so much about testing with golf clubs. You think about
Ping Man and just how much we put into the
testing there the first big tour I remember I did
here at ping. I mean there's a there's a there's
a machine that tests the durability of the golf bag. Yeah,
basically slams the golf bag up and down to see
how many rounds if you will, or I guess how
(04:39):
many times you pick it up and down that a
golf bag can live.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Yeah, exactly, I have twenty thousand times. Yeah, So I
mean that's yeah, I mean that's a big deal. I
mean we're able to leverage analysis and testing here. You know,
obviously the bulk of that goes to the clubs, but
we get, you know, we get to bend their ear
for a little bit of time every year when we
have things we want to take care of and test
out and take a look at.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
So, yeah, we are doing that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
What other type of tests are done, like, for example,
like on the materials and things of that nature.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Yeah, so we're looking at you know that test you're
talking about, We're looking at durability. How many you know
that leg spring and how it goes and how long
that handle's going to hold up. Abrasion resistance is a
big one, figuring out, you know, how long.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
That fabri is gonna last.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
And we have certain parameters that we know we need
to be within for it to be a ping bag
and offer the lifespan that we wanted to, So that's
a big one. And then functionality, So there's you know,
and that's that's one that's kind of a moving target.
When you're trying to do something new and different or innovative,
or when you want your bag to be lighter or
more robust with materials, you're kind of trading off some
(05:45):
things every now and.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Then when you're thinking about innovation with a golf bag,
where are you looking these days? Is it all about weight?
Is it about durability? Is about longevity? What is kind
of the focus as you guys are continuing to try
to innovate this.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Space, those are sort of obvious ones, right, I mean,
and everybody's doing that. You know, you're starting to see
lightweight sections in these golf shops and that kind of
ebbs and flows, right, You're seeing a lot of these
fourteen waight tops now be categorized as hybrids. You're seeing
what we used to call Sunday bags now they have legs.
(06:17):
I think our team thinks of it more as like
a balancing of requirements. There's a lot of different golfers
out there who play a lot of different ways high handicaps,
low handicaps, walkers, cart guys, you know. So we're trying
to figure out what is the best feature set for
each of those players that we have that we think
we have in our demographic. And that's the real challenge.
(06:40):
I mean, I can tell you we're looking at things
like water resistance zippers, We're looking at lighter weight fabrics
with the same abrasion resistance qualities. But at the end
of the day, I think we're trying to figure out
how to make the bag more functional, more useful, and
more enjoyable for a golfers. You know, if you think
about golf, it's pretty mature sport, pretty mature industry.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
The customer base isn't that big. You get a lot
of repeat business, you know. So that's kind of what
we're thinking. It's a balancing of requirements.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Marty the moon Lander, which I've been using most of
this season because I walk a lot in the Northeast
and Alex, I got to give you some credit here.
The drink pocket or the water bottle pocket has been
just a game changer for me because I've always been
a lightweight carry bag guy. I love the fact that
the bag weighs, you know, minimal, but you have the
double straps and you can do that. But the water
(07:34):
bottle pocket has not always been there in the golf bag,
especially in the carry bag. You have to stuff it
in a pocket or you to find a place for it.
That thing has been incredible. I've sold tens of these
things to my buddies because I'm like, you got a
place to put your water bottle.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
So the number one complained about that bag though, is
that it has no ball pocket.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
So you've taken so that was the replacement. Nowhere to
put the golf balls, but you can put your Yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
We're thinking, okay, this is going to be a lighter
weight bags. We know it's gonna off a little bit
more durability than let's say, are crazy light. But you
need to make some sacrifices. You need to you need
to change thought.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
We thought we put the balls in here, or what
are these people talking about.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
That's what our team thought. But you know, if you
think about, you know, how traditional golf is. People been
playing with a bag that has a ball pocket for
a really long time. Yeah, you know, so, I mean
I see both sides of it.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, funny, Shane. I kind of look at bags similar
to like our irons. We're back, you know, a long
time ago. We just had the I too, you know. Uh,
And now we have seven seven different models, all diverse.
We could we can customize them more to the specific player, Alex.
How many different like kind of categories of bags do
we do we offer now?
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Well, I think we have three, but I mean that
that results in about fourteen different bags, and we're always
kind of trying new things. Moonlanders new for us. We'll
see how it does. It's been doing pretty well for us.
So but then we've you know, we've got the d
LX that's in that higher range along with the Staff bag.
But you know, the real work course of what we
do and the real focus is in that Hoofer line.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
With the Hoof for light.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
It does a really good job of balancing feature set
and price really for what you get and the functionality
of it. So Yeah, there's about fourteen bags in there,
and there's it's you know, the guy who loves to walk,
he's low handicap, I'm guessing, and and the guy who's
got his cart bag in his cart sitting in a
casita in Lakina, PGA West for the better part of
(09:31):
the whole year.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Not even the car. I want all my stuff in it.
I want to know where everything is. Obviously, I mean
over your right shoulder is something that's new for ping.
The reserve bag. It is a space that I feel
like a lot of i'll call him country club golfers
have moved into. It's that like beautiful standbag, that beautiful
(09:52):
walking bag, and it's cool to see Peeing kind of
dive into that space. What was the reasoning for that.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Well, obviously it was a trend in the marketplace, but
and it took a long time for us to get
it to market. I think we were trying to build
on the success with the DLX, that higher end bag.
For us, it just keeps going and it keeps getting
more expensive based on the materials, and so we're trying
to figure out, okay, if we did do this in
a in a standbag, you know, situation, what would it be. Ultimately,
(10:21):
we decided to tailor it to a higher end sort
of green grass club that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
We made a couple of controversial decisions. One is having
the shorter apparel pocket.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Of the reason we.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Did that as we felt probably these customers are going
to have a caddy and that caddy's gonna be carrying
two bags and he's better off not having the entire
apparel pocket on his wat. But you know, and it's
it's it's hard to get that bag light because of
the durability of that material. But that was the idea,
(10:54):
and we did put the ball pocket on it, and
if you look at the inside of that, it also
has the cooler material, so it's gonna keep it's going
to keep your water bottle little bit cooler than just
a standard ball pocket.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
But that's kind of what we were thinking.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
I mean, so it looks looks beautiful, Alex. I'm excited
to get give it a go myself.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
I mean so that you know, the two bags that
you guys are bringing up, the Moonlander and the Reserve,
I mean, they're tight bags, they're small. You know, they're
meant to be people who are not worried about, you know,
having a space for everything, and you know, their clubs
getting tangled up and those sorts of things.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
It's a huge challenge for our team, Marty.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
The golf bag, to me has always been a telltale
sign of the type of golfer you are. Yeah, it
really is. And you talk about like management of the
golf bag. And even on my golf trips I go on.
I go on a golf trip of alex every year
in January to southern Arizona and it's sixteen buddies and
we go and the place offers to keep your bag,
(11:51):
you know, in the cart shed overnight as we're there. Yeah,
and all the good players take their bags back to
the room and all the high handicap guys leave them
there because you want to go through the bag. You
want to refresh balls, you want to take stuff out
that's unnecessary. And I almost think that bleeds into the
way we think about the bag philosophies. Is you know,
the player that's carrying a specific bag is thinking about
certain things that maybe other players aren't with other types
(12:13):
of bags.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
It's just when you get into gear, it gets geeky.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Well, you know, like so you know, like a lot
of our team they you know, one of the things
people do here in Arizona is mountain bike, right, and
these you know a lot of our industrial designers beside golfing,
they mountain biking and they're super into gear. They're super
into tack, you know, and they come up with names
for people who are into certain aspects of those sort
of things, you know, and it's we think.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
About that stuff a lot. But you're right.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I mean, you know, most entry level golfers, I think
if you don't have someone kind of guiding you long
and you know, are picking up that fourteen way top.
But most when you get farther down the line, I
think most people agree, it's kind of more trouble than
it's worth.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, Alex tell us a little bit about the
mark even outside the US market, like you know, things,
things and priorities that might be different in Japan, for example,
or Europe.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Japan's all about bling. You know, they got quality bags.
We we look at those.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Bags, we prove them. We don't design all of the
bags for Japan. They have their own process over there,
but they love to use a logo. I mean they
you know, it's badges and mister ping and ping and
those sorts of things. And this is subtle compared to
what they do. But they're super creative and they have
some really great ideas as far as functionality. But you
(13:34):
do see those things that are geared towards like the
subway and going to the driving range, and you know,
you'll see a cart bag with wheels built into the
base of it and all pull up luggage handle and
those sorts of things, and you know, you look at them,
they're created and like our team loves to go through
them and feel them and give suggestions and edits and
those sorts of things. But there's just the American golfer
(13:57):
I think is just a little bit more traditional in that.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Alex we talked so much about soft goods. We've focused
so much on bags. You mentioned hats earlier. Yeah, in
terms of let's say R and D with hats. Does
that exists, do you guys think? Also search development in
the hat world.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Not not as much. It does exist. There's a lot
of suppliers.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
If you're a larger company like that, they come to
you and say, hey, we've got some great ideas.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
You know, we should we should be thinking about. But
hats are another one that's difficult.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
It's sort of one of those things where you're gonna
buy it because you went to a you went to
someplace and you want to rep you want something to say,
you know, whatever you want to say, but it's it's
hard to do, you know. So we're really looking for
breathable fabrics. We're looking for things that will take that
sweat and push it towards the endervisor we're looking for
stretchability venting those sorts of things. But then you know,
(14:54):
there is this sort of other aspect of paying which
is sort of has a really cool history, you know,
and it's got this heritage. So we're gonna throw mister
ping on a hat and it's going to be more
like a lifestyle hat than it is going to be
like a performance based hat.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
So the lifestyle hats have been great. When I go
on the truck every time I go to a tour event, yeah,
sneak it in there and see what like sneaky good
lifestyle hats.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Oh yeah, And Christian's been good and Ken's they've been
good about stocking those, so that's it's been pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I'm a hat guy. You know, I mean I love
a good hat.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah, what about the shirts? I mean, Shane's got on
a pretty sweet little city right there.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, So this is more you know, I know, and
that you know, we this is kind of where we're
focusing now.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
We had Carson Apparel come out for a year and
a half or so, we got a little bit of
a leash that to work on a new project. Super
fun project to work on. We did pretty well with it,
but kind of when we got to the end of
it and we said, okay, what do we what are we.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Really going to benefit from here?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Yeah, we thought a little bit more about branded merchandise
that was maybe just a little bit more affordable. So
you know, if you're already a fan of Ping, you
already owned that G four forty driver, you know, and
you want to partake in the brand just a little
bit more, you could maybe afford to buy that hoodie.
So we're kind of looking more in that world right
now for appareallel branded kind of merchandise. It just kind
(16:08):
of supports the overall brand messaging.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
The T shirt world. I mean, my my closet these days,
we were joking about it earlier today, my closet. In
terms of pink T shirts, you.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Hang your T shirts?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
No, no, no, I fold them? Why hangs them? I
fold them? But I've got a lot more she does.
I'd say now it's probably eighty percent pink T shirts
that long sleeves of hoodies. But it's the material. It's
the material is so soft and so good. Speaking of
my my Buddy's trip every year, now, I do the
T shirt thing. It's one of the gifts to my buddies.
They don't have anything about our golf trip. They're just
pink shirts because all the guys like them so much,
(16:42):
because they're so comfortable.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
Well, the human race has gotten really good at T shirts,
and you know, has the population has gotten more casual.
You know, we've gotten really good at it. Yeah, yeah,
so yeah, I think that that makes me feel good.
I'll let the creative team know. You know, they'll they'll
be stoked of it.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
In my email for sure.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Alex talk a little bit about like customization back. It's
always been a big part of our DNA yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Thing, so you know, you go on.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
You guys have been in our group on the bottom
floor there. I don't know, it's probably up to sixteen
embroidered machines. Now we're even doing sort of that eco
screen printing. Now we've got the Hoofer zip, which has
been actually really popular where you can actually take your bag,
decide what color accessory pocket, what color apparel pocket you want,
and will color ball pocket. So it's been really great
(17:30):
for our mascot program, if you will, so collegiate high school,
those sorts of things. But every product we make now
has to fit in a frame and being able to customize.
So right now we've got VHT, which is vinal heat transfer,
which allows you to do some really creative things. And
then next coming through the line, so innovating in that
(17:52):
customization zone, we've we're taken a little queue from the
hard gets and we're bringing some lasers over, you know.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
In the reserve.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
We got the metal badgings, so we'll be able to
do like really tight small like club logos or or
player names and those sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Yeah, I mean, it's just again kind of going back
to you want need your thing to be your thing,
you know, I go, yeah, to like you want your
club logo on it, you want your name or initials
on it. People love that. I mean We've seen it
with wedges, We've seen it now with putters in terms
of PLD customization, getting names, initials, colleges, all that stuff
on there. Of course, it's going to bleed in the bags.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Yeah, No, it's and it's I mean I think we're
one of the best at doing it. We accommodate a
lot of people and the things they want, you know,
now we're doing it online.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
So yeah, everything we do now has to be able
to be customize. I mean that's the directive right now
for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Alex talk a little bit about working like with tour
maybe on on our staff bag, right and do you
work with the players or the caddies or the reps,
I mean, what are some of the inside everyone.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Special on tour? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Is that something they told you.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
They're they're great to work with and they're very i
mean they're very eager to put out in the world
what we're making. So they've been super supportive. Like when
we have those sort of special capsule drops, you limited
edition things, you know, Ko and Christian, they're always eager
to get that on the players, which is great.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
But yeah, we get special requests. I mean, Victor has
a special hats different.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
It's just it's the way he likes it, and he's
just sizing or.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yeah, sizing. Yeah, and he's great about it. Yeah, he's
he's been great about it. And we want to get
those guys what they want. We want them to play well,
we want them to be comfortable. You know, Christian out
idea last year for the US Open bag so that
was always that was fun, you know, So we worked
on that with him and the team. And they're a
big supporter of the apparel and all that kind of
stuff too, So yeah, they're a big They're a big
(19:43):
part of our marketing arm.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
You know.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
So our best selling hat is the you know what
I call the Pin Candy Bar Tour cap Tour vned cap.
And the reason it sells so well is because you
see it on TV at least for you know, four
days a week.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yeah, I mean it is interesting, Alex. I mean the
tour guys always wear that hat. Yeah, I mean maybe
in different color ways or whatever the case may be,
but it's always the big lettered ping hat. Is there
a reason for that? And is there any option for
those players ever to wear a different style, maybe a
LifeStyle's type of ping hat.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
So I think sort of out of my zone, but
I'm they probably have a little bit more leeway Monday
through Wednesday. But it's really about showing the brand name
off and letting people watching from home know that this
player plays Ping Irons or those sorts of things. So yeah,
it's about visibility, and it's sort of a little transition.
(20:31):
When I first got here, we have the standard Ping logo,
just the separate embroidered logo, like separate and broidered letters,
and then kind of moved and our team moved it
to that what we call sort of that candy bar look,
and it's just done really well for us, and I
think people really liked it, So that's been exciting for
our team. Actually, it's probably about eight years old now,
but it's still there and I'm sure it's going to
change at some point.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, I love it. Alex was talking about the hats.
I mean, I think we're talking to Tony Serrano about
the importance of the eyes. But there's a there's something
to probably with Victor or other players, like the way
their visual system works with like the shape of the
bill of the hat and things of that nature, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
And the underside of the hat so I mean that
that's actually a big thing that actually John A you know,
made it very clear at the very beginning, like hey,
we want no glare.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
So it's all sort of those hats that they weren't
too are more performance based, and I would say branding based,
you know, than any of those other hats.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, Alex, when you I know, you know, you're you're
you're working in this business for the golfer. But when
you get accolades like what you got from my golf
spy last season in terms of how much they kind
of respected the bags across the board, not just with
a carry bag but cart and carry and all that stuff,
what does that do for you guys in the team.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
I mean, we're proud of our our progress there. I
think one part of that is, like we don't take
huge swings, right, there's an interative process because as I
said before, like you know, even the best the Hoofer
is a very mature bag, right. So the Hoofer came
out probably nineteen ninety and that really kind of took
(22:07):
the ergonomics to the strap to the next level, the
double strap. We started seeing a little bit of a
ball pocket there. I think even before that with the
K fifty six and then the handle on the hoofer
and those sorts of things, and I think, and we
haven't changed much of that, most of that, most of
those bags we work on functionality.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
But I would say it's.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Just it has a lot to do with our customers
in the way that they enjoy that bag and the
way they talk about that bag, about those bags, and
it just it's it makes our designers and our destrial
designers in particular pretty proud in our in our developers
as well. So yeah, it's a big deal. I mean,
I think I look at my golf spy all the time.
I think they've got really good feedback and really interesting
(22:46):
ideas about what's going on in the golf space. So yeah,
anytime that happens, it's great. I think part of it
is that durability and knowing that it's gonna be there
for you for a long time. You know, there's a
dependability with our bags.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
For sure, we've seen I've seen it certainly seen Alex
some some brands or maybe in our kind of R
and D process. If you chase too light, what problems
can you run into? Let's if you're chasing the number,
keep it under X number of pounds.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You know, we've done that, so.
Speaker 4 (23:17):
I mean, you're still gonna put what thirty eight pounds
worth of you know, clubs in your bag something like that.
So that's probably wrong, but it's close to me. But
we look at that a lot, and I think that
this is the hardest part we look at this and
we talk about balancing the requirements, is that in order
for the bag to be light, the real trade off
(23:41):
there is simplicity, right, So, and you're going to be
paying a higher price for things like carbon fiber or
some sort of aluminum top that's you know, super light.
So it's really hard to convey. It's hard to convey like, hey,
the reason this bag is more expensive is because there's
less of it, you know, but the materials are higher.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Quality to get you to that weight.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
So we're still working on projects like that. The Crazy
Light was actually really well received and released it during COVID,
right before COVID, so that kind of that was hard
to make that happen. But then it boomed and you
didn't have enough of them and all that, you know,
all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
So and how much of that bad way that bag
we got under four under four.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Yeah, so but I mean there's light. I mean there's
some light bags out there, but then you pick it
up and it's light and you're like, okay, because how
long is this gonna last?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
That goes through? Yeah, even with reserve, I mean you
can go singles strap with the reserve, right, something that
yeahs part of the double caddy thing. Is that kind
of the way.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yeah, it comes with both.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
And you know, we work with kind of hardcore golfers
and I know guys that wore their golf bags you know,
like on their back differently and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Because we can just drop it.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Down, and so we wanted to have that that acts
us to do two different straps.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
And I'm imagining when you think about innovation within a
golf bag, I think probably looking at the strap is
something you guys probably, I'm assuming think about a decent amount.
I mean I've seen companies with that, like the almost
the air bag within the strap. Yeah, making sure it
obviously stands a lot of rounds of golf and it's
comfortable and it doesn't rip it or rub on the
clothing as well.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Yeah, So like even like our gle bags for women,
they have their own different you know, because a lot
of times they're shoulderless, right, so they have it they
have a different liner on those straps. But yeah, I
mean also there's preferences, right, There's like some people like
a wider strap, some people like a thinner strap, you know,
so that's very difficult to sort of get through. We
(25:41):
think that hoofer strap and the team has done a
great job of just refining that and getting it.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Better and better every year.
Speaker 4 (25:49):
But yeah, I mean that's the big I mean ergonomics.
With the advent of the hoofer, I think we started
really looking at ergonomics. And this is before my time,
you know, I think twenty thirteen is when we first
put the big handle on that, on the.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Twenty twelve or something.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
So that's that's really kind of where when we started
really looking at that, you know, in a big way.
And that's you know, that's what you know, most of
our team, the biggest part of our team are industrial
designers and that's what they went to school to do,
and that's what they've been working on, is ergonomics.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It's a it's a it's a big thing.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
So we're always looking at different ways of doing straps,
and you know, how can you make them better?
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Does your team do our do the travel bags as well?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Yeah, we do the travel accessories as well. That's always
a hot topic.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Tell them thank you for letting it fold up so small.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
One of our designers did that a while back. It
was and it just kept getting smaller and smaller.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
And the hotel room it's the best.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And a lot of that's like listening to like golfer
spouses to saying like, there's no place to put this thing.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah, so so like, but.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
When you think about innovation, you know, we we knew
we had a good thing with the with the fabric
and the durability and those sorts of things in the padding,
you know, but you're like, okay, well where can we
really make improvements?
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, what if you could slip it under your bed
or something? If you get you know, like, that's.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
The best travel bag I've ever used. And I think
most of that is because I can make it very
very small in a hotel room.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
And the other part is of stuff there easy to pack.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, I mean you get the single zipper travel bag
really yeah, tough to pack it.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
A great job with that.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, I've had the travel bags that have like the
side pockets, and while those are you know nice and
all that stuff like your stuff and everything in the
bag anyway, you know, your shoes, your coats, your best
all that stuff's going in the bag to begin with.
Plus it gives it a little extra you know, cushion
if you will. When you're a exactly around the.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Country, you're using it the right way. Yeah, sure, all right, Alex.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
My most important question for you as the bag guy,
as a soft goods guy.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
You know there's there's better bag guys in my group.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
What what what bag do you use? What bag do
you use when you play?
Speaker 4 (27:50):
Right now, I'm using a just a prototype Hoof for
light from twenty that's going to be out for twenty
twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, So I mean that's part of our job, right.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
What if somebody photographed, I mean, the guys out here have.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
Some of these bags, I think you know they're not
you know, not all of them are branded. But no,
I think it's it's important to get those bags out there.
So we have time between the pre pilot and the
regular pilot to get these bags out and if we
need to make some feedbacks, if we miss something, here
or there. It's important that we play him right. I mean,
that's always been the deal. We get them out a
(28:27):
lot of the hard goods. Guys give us feedback. You
got a lot of feedback from those guys because there's
a lot of.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
This guy right here.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
He's carrying all the time, James always carrying his bag around,
was probably slamming it down every now and ago. He
makes it vogue to make a whole bunch of them.
The leech is the leg technology ever changed anything? Les?
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah, So the leg technology, I think James, he's our
lead designer on the hoof for he changed that technology
probably about six seven years ago.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Different material or what.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
We're going through that process right now. I mean there's
things crazy things going on in the world right now.
So like aluminum has like a three hundred percent you know,
tarifuna right now, no matter where you get it from.
So we have to look at different ways to think
about it. And it's great because it helps you sort
of think differently and innovate in different spaces. But yeah,
the big change with those legs was instead of being
(29:18):
completely straight, is that we we kind of turned them
just a little bit and it kind of gave you
that more stable, sort of like platform when those legs
come out.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yeah, yeah, I mean it's as I've said off the top,
the golf bag is the best out there. It's always
been my favorite. It's one of my favorite parts about paying.
And your team does a great shot and tell them
to keep making the long sleep soft hoodies. I'm upset. Yeah,
they continue to multiply in the closet. But Alex awesome,
thanks so much for the time, man, congrats and everything.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
This is the Ping proven Grounds Podcast.
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