Thursday, March 8, 2007

Equipment: Ping's Rapture continues to gain popularity

By Jennifer Gardner
GPA Equipment Editor

For the first six months of 2006, Ping's G5 driver was a top-selling model and enjoyed success on tour.

So how does Ping top that? With the company's first composite driver, Rapture, that debuted in September.

The Rapture was in Honda Classic winner Mark Wilson's bag as he earned his first PGA Tour victory, and many of Ping's 80 contracted tour players around the world play the driver. Long driver Bubba Watson, currently first in driving distance on the PGA Tour, uses one and has since the club was first available to Ping staffers last summer.

"At the Honda, I believe we had 14 Ping drivers in the field and 12 Rapture drivers in play," said Pete Samuels, director of communications for Ping. "That gives you an idea."

Through Demo Days and a growing number of PGA, LPGA, Champions and European tour players choosing the driver, Rapture has continued to pick up steam. Ping recently announced it has more than 25 PGA Tour players on contract, the largest number in the company's history. A majority play the Rapture.

"Seeing our products on tour is the ultimate stamp of approval; that's when you know you have designed a club that truly performs," said John Solheim, chairman and CEO for Ping. "Having such a large and talented roster of players around the world is a testament to our engineers, who have designed products that so many of the world's best want to play."

Rapture's popularity on tour doesn't translate directly into sales, Samuels explained, but does helps raise consumer awareness.

"The key to our tour program is credibility and brand awareness," Samuels said. "More important than Mark winning with the Rapture was that he was on network TV. They showed him shot-for-shot for two days. The role of the tour players is to give us more awareness and credibility. In the case of the Rapture, because it's been so well received, it just helps our story at retail."

Rapture is also available in women's models, and has increasing success on the LPGA, as well. Fields Open winner Stacy Prammanasudh carries a 9-degree model.

"The LPGA plays a similar role (in increasing awareness)," Samuels said. "I'm not sure that women are as influenced by what's going on tour as men. But when they think they need a new driver, we want to be part of their consideration set. That's the goal."

The Rapture driver features a titanium crown that's infused with carbon composite to reduce weight. That weight is redistributed to the perimeter of the club to lower the center of gravity, increasing launch angle and reducing spin for more distance. Nothing earth shattering so far; other manufacturers have introduced lightweight composite drivers.

The problem with most is that they produce a muted sound on impact, more like an old persimmon driver than the metallic twang that golfers expect from metal woods today.

So Ping set about making a composite driver that had a pleasing sound. This is a little detail, to be sure, but one that golfers have identified as important to their overall pleasure when hitting a club. And something that is important to Ping, a company named after the distinctive noise that designer Karsten Solheim's early putters made at impact.

"Our research indicated a general dissatisfaction with the sound of existing composite drivers, so we made it a high priority in our design criteria," said John Solheim when the club was introduced. "Using finite element analysis (FEA), we've tuned the club's frequencies to produce a powerful sound that we believe will turn heads on the tee box."

In addition to weight redistribution and a good sound at impact, the driver has a machined variable face thickness face for the maximum amount of energy transfer from club to ball.

Ping's Rapture driver is available in 9, 10.5 and 12 degree lofts, with a 13.5-degree version set to start shipping on April 1. The Ping TFC 909D and Aldila VS Proto 65 shafts are both available exclusively in the Rapture; the Ping TFC 100D, Aldila NV 65 and Grafalloy ProLaunch 65 are also offered. Retail is $475.

For information, go to www.pinggolf.com.