They should do, right? Let's be honest, the top players are doing alright. Would these multi-millionaire golfers even know how much a sleeve of premium balls costs these days?
We digress. The answer to whether whether non-contracted players have to pay for golf balls is no. Well, kind of.
Most Tour players certainly don't find themselves having to rush into the pro shop pre round to buy a few sleeves of balls. No surprise there, of course, but where do ball manufacturers draw the line? Number one ball in golf or not, Titleist surely can’t support every professional golfer around the world.
“We will supply golf balls to pretty much any player who has earned the right to play in a DP Tour event, provided they are historical users and are going to put them into play that week,” explains Ryan Hunt, Leadership Promotion Manager, Acushnet Europe Ltd.
“Pretty much any player” doesn’t mean every player. There are “minimum requirements” and Titleist will look at a range of metrics to decide who gets supported with its balls, including both the Official World Golf Ranking and World Amateur Golf Ranking, as well as individual tours and regional order of merits.
“We support amateur golfers from the age of under 14 upwards, and this helps build lasting trust between us and the players,” adds Hunt. “This trust is lasting and works both ways, and is often a long term partnership through a players’ career.”
The players who do receive Titleist balls can also expect to take delivery of their quota well ahead of when the tournament starts, which is typically on a Thursday.
Where possible, Hunt explains, “they’re loaded into a player's locker on Monday morning”, which allows them to prepare well for the week and concentrate on their game.
Go on then, tell us how many balls a player is likely to get. Given how infrequently professionals lose balls, surely a dozen a week would be enough? That would be ample ammunition for one tournament, possibly two or three.
“Most players will receive two to three dozen depending on requirements,” says Hunt. “This may seem a lot to a weekend golfer, but if the players are at a new venue where they need to play a couple of practice rounds, play the pro-am and make the cut, they could be playing six-and-a-half rounds in a week.”
Fair enough.
There are other reasons why a player might take a delivery of three boxes on a tournament week: superstition and wear and tear. Any kind of scratch and it’s history.
“Some players believe there is only one birdie in a ball, or will change after a bogey,” says Hunt. “The golf course can play its part too. If it’s soft or sandy, players may go through more balls.”
On a typical week on the DP World Tour, around 70 per cent of the field will be playing with a Titleist golf ball, which includes contracted and non-contracted professionals. For those players not playing a Titleist ball, it's probably fair to say similar policies are in place with other ball manufacturers.
For the mere mortals, of course, the closest we get to free balls is winning a nearest the pin or long drive competition. Oh, the feeling of winning a sleeve of new balls. Make it to somewhere near the top and you'll never get that feeling again.
