WEBVTT - Episode 1: Welcome to the PING Proving Grounds 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.400 The guys from PING. They've kind of showed me how 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.120 much the equipment matters. I just love that I can 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:05.800 hit any shot. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.520 I kind of want we're gonna be able to tell 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:09.560 some fun stories about what goes on here to help 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:10.640 golfers play better golf. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.640 Well, welcome to the first episode of the Ping Proving 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.599 Grounds Podcast. I'm Shane Bacon, joined by the vice president 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.400 of Fitting and Performance Marty Jertsen. You might have heard 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.639 the name. You might have to see him play and golf tournaments, 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.239 made cuts in major championships in his career, and he's 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:25.840 also built a whole bunch of golf clubs that you've 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:27.960 played over the years. But before we kind of get 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:29.840 into what we're going to talk about today, Marty, I 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:31.480 want to hear about you. I want to find out 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:33.199 a little bit more about you and how you got 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:35.199 into this business, how long you've been at PING, and 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:36.400 what you've done over your years. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.320 Yeah, Shan, I feel like I'm in a very lucky 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.640 spot to combine what I'm passionate about along with my 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.920 technical skills. So I grew up in Arizona, Phoenix area. Yeah, 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.720 a little suburb globe, Arizona, Okay, a little small mining town, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:51.159 and the fact that it was a mining town is 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.040 important because that's when I kind of learned about, you know, 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.480 copper mining and going back to the connection to ping, 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.040 we knew that from the supply chain, some of the 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.680 copper that was mine there went into brillium copper irons. 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:05.240 They wanted to playing irons out of globe. So I 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.479 grew up in that little small town love golf. Played golf, 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:10.440 kind of turned it into my only sport, you know 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.640 about high school timeframe, and I was always kind of 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:15.679 a tier below some of the best players that grew 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.360 up in Arizona, the Charlie Belgians and the chess reviews 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.640 of the world. So I was always just below them, 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.000 not quite good enough to play D one golf or 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.319 if I did, you know, they weren't too excited about me, 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.319 you know, study engineering. So I went to the Corraail 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.720 School of Mines, awesome school in Golden Colorado, played D 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.360 two golf and was able to ski and do engineering 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.640 and then got a little bit better at golf. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.000 What year did you feel like you kind of switched 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:42.600 like it switched on for you in college. 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.000 Yeah, So I started school in ninety eight and then 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.600 year two thousand is when I kind of just got better. Okay, 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.040 you know, I was playing a lot of amateur tournaments 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.000 up there. I won the Colail Stadium, I played in 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.120 the USGA pub links that did chess, actually won out 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.480 of San Antonio, and that's where I was like, oh man. 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.360 And I was playing the Colorado Open one year and 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:04.720 one of my buddies was like, hey, what are you 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.160 gonna do when you graduate? You know, are you gonna 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:08.720 go work in an oil and gas job on an 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.280 oil rig like the rest of your guys or colleagues, 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.720 or this could be your office and we're staying this 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:17.280 beautiful course, sunning alp up in veil, and I'm like 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.280 that sounds pretty good. That was the moment I was like, 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.799 maybe I should try playing professional golf. And that kind 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.960 of made my decision literally right there, or remember being 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:27.280 on that range. I made that call. 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.880 So you get in, I mean, you go try to play, yep, 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:31.280 and how many years did you try to play? 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.400 Not that long? And I think I was wise for 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:33.800 doing that. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.400 I have a similar story in terms of my many 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.799 tour golf experiences, but my first ever Mini tour round, 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.560 I shot sixty eight. I finished Birdie Birdie here in Phoenix, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:45.640 and I was in like thirty eighth place I shot 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.880 sixty eight. I was like on Cloud one hundred, you know, 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.120 and you go, oh, I'm five back. Okay, maybe this 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:51.480 isn't what I'm what I should be doing. 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:54.200 Welcome to the Gateway Tour. You know. I did Monday 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.000 into my very first I think it was a buy 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.720 dot Com time, you know, corn Fair event today, and 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:00.480 I was like, oh man, this is going to be easy. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:02.120 I got this thing made. But I went to Q 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.560 school and I just kind of petered out, you know, 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:06.960 too much pressure on myself and all that stuff. And 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:10.040 I made the call right away to quote unquote retire 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:12.880 from trying to chase the game professionally as my full 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.400 time deal. And then I started working at Pining kind 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.680 of part time work in manufacturing, and kind of through 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:19.920 a friend of a friend, got in got in the door. 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:20.760 What year is this? 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:22.799 This around two thousand and three, okay, so kind of 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.079 got in the door. And when I decided to hang 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.400 it up from playing full time, which was which was quick, 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.440 I started. I moved into the design group here and 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.400 started shadowing under some of the other engineers and kind 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:35.200 of learning the trade, you know, and that's how we 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.840 bring on new engineers. Now, it's kind of this apprenticeship 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:41.280 model of studying under some of the more senior designers. 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.000 So when did you feel like you had this let's 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.520 call it a vision of building golf clubs, because I mean, 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.440 I know, you start off on a certain level and 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:51.800 you're trying to work your way up, but not everybody's 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:53.800 going to be able to kind of think their way 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.560 through that business and actually kind of conceptualize golf clubs 0:03:57.600 --> 0:03:59.480 in general. How did that begin for you? 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.480 Yeah? It wasn't like I went to college thinking, oh, right, 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.120 be a golf club designer. I was kind of intimidated 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.560 by how do you even get in the industry? I mean, 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:09.720 and I knew the industry and the grand scheme of 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.760 things is relatively small compared to the oil and gas 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:16.080 or automotive or aerospace where most you know, mechanical engineers go. 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.640 So you know, I kind of got lucky, you know, 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.480 and then once I got in the door here, there 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.560 was so much opportunity your colleagues that, you know, like 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.000 that's where the curiosity about making golf clothes better really 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:31.600 flourished is being in this environment. Being inside, you know, 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.640 is where it is really where you know, for me, 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.880 I've flourished and being able to ask questions or explore 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:40.800 a certain area I was curious about. 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.160 It's it's wild walking around the grounds here at pain 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.440 because you run into somebody that's been here for thirty 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.080 nine years, and nineteen years and fifteen years and forty 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.760 years in some cases. It's that environment that kind of 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:55.960 lends itself to people wanting to stay around. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.680 Yeah. I think the culture is awesome here, you know, 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.520 and I think you, Shane, you're going to since that, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.960 you know, spending time here, being around here, meeting employees, 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.719 whether it's in production, whether it's in engineering, whether it's administrative, marketing, 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.599 what have you. It's it's that culture and it's not 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.360 we're not rested on, you know, things we've done in 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.000 the past where we're loyal to our heritage, we know 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.279 what God is here, we know our core principles, but 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:20.920 we're not afraid to take chances, try things that are 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.200 going to fail. And that's that's exactly what we do 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.799 here on the proving grounds, which is where we're sitting today. 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.680 And you continue to play and you're still very good. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:31.160 And how old are you now? 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:33.440 Yeah? Forty two? You're forty two? Have you? 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.960 I know, once you turn thirty, just lose track of 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:37.719 what age you are well, And that's I mean, I 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.000 get confused. I've been off by two years at times before, 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.279 which is very sad. You still play and you're still 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.080 very competitive, and you played in multiple major championships, You've 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:47.920 made a cut in a major champions You've played in 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.200 PGA Tour events. Are you better now at your age 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.440 than maybe you were it twenty one twenty two? Trying 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:52.880 to chase it? 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:56.039 Definitely? And I think, yeah, I think about that a lot, 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.239 like why am I better now? I got a family, 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.279 I work forty plus hours a week and all these things, and. 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.200 Your boss is near, say sixty hours, it's. 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.680 Sixty seventy eighty hours a week. I have done that 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:07.720 at times. You got a big design deadline, you got 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:09.760 to you gotta ramp it up a little bit. But 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:14.080 I'm just way more efficient with my practice, my training. Obviously, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.400 I have access to some knowledge here that we're going 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.640 to share on this pod, so that to the everyday 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:20.720 golfer of some things that can be helpful from a 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.200 performance equipment training, when green reading, what have you. I 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.440 just have embraced like just trying to learn more about 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.240 this sport, every single aspect, every aspect of it, whether 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:36.280 it's design, training, fitness, equipment, strategy, stats, And I've tried 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.080 to just kind of it's kind of like compound interest. 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:39.720 You know, over all that time you just kind of 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.359 added up. And even though I'm practicing less than ever, 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:44.960 I am probably you know, still better than I've ever been. 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:46.960 Yeah, find an efficiency when you do have the time 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:48.719 away from the kids, in away from work to actually 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:50.840 spend forty five minutes on the driving range doing something 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:52.960 that's actually got to be effective because we've all spent 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:54.520 you know, spent two hours on the range. You have 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.160 absolutely no idea what you did those two hours. 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.480 Yes, what are you doing? Actually having too much time 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:00.400 is a bad thing, you know. I think you can 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:01.320 get better with less time. 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:04.120 Yeah, that whole perfect practice makes perfect in general. So 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:06.040 for people that don't know me, I mean, I've been 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.040 in the media world. I've worked a lot of golf 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.880 jobs in my life. I mean I've I've picked the 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:13.400 range in East Texas. 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:14.080 Back in the day, I. 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.000 Watched golf carts. I've worked in a pro shop, I've 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:21.440 been outside service, I've i caddied both professionally. I caddied 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.000 for SMELLPJ friends of mine. My first ever caddy job 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.360 was here in Phoenix at Papago. We made the cut, 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:27.880 by the way, it was a very very good moment. 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.560 And out of college, cadid at Saint Andrew's. But yeah, 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.280 my journey has always been kind of my adult journey 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:34.840 has been in and around golf. 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:36.880 I mean my whole life. I was a writer out 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:37.280 of college. 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:38.880 I wrote for the student newspaper in two Soon I 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.360 went to University of Arizona, tried to play, as I mentioned, 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.560 did Gateway Tour, got my amateur status back as I 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.440 learned very very quickly that professional golf is very very hard, 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:49.640 and you've got to shoot low scores all the time. 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.280 You can't go out there and shoot sixty five once 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:52.640 in a while. You've got to shoot a lot of 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.320 sixty fives. And so got into the media space, was 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.400 a writer, and then kind of got into the TV side, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.600 And yeah, I mean been podcasting and doing these types 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.760 of things over the last few years, and very very 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.760 excited to be a part of the Ping family with 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.160 the Proving Grounds podcast and our kind of you know, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.080 our ability and our goal here is to share as 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.800 much information as we can with people listening, because golf 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.240 can be hard to understand, not just in terms of 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.480 playing it, but how fast it's growing and how much 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.600 information and technology is involved in and around the game, 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:22.880 and trying to simplify that is a very hard thing 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.440 to do for people that are at home going wait, 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:27.120 what does all this mean? And what are you guys 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.320 talking about. I'm just trying to find a good driver exactly. 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:31.640 Yeah. I think it's making the complex simple because our 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.920 products got more complex, got more nuanced, we're more targeted 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.920 who we're designing for. But I think you hit the 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.560 nail on the headshand we how do we simplify that message? 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.360 And we're gonna be able to tell some fun stories 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.880 about what goes on here to help golfers play better golf. 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.320 Yeah, I mean, we're gonna tell stories. We'll interview players. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.600 We'll have some interviews coming up very soon with some 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:51.880 of the players and asking them their journey not just 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:53.840 through golf, but kind of in their experiences with ping 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.200 and how it's gone and you know, things we've learned, 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.320 and golf clubs they've used, and maybe things that have 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:00.960 changed in their game simply by proving things here on 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:02.800 the grounds. And that's something I wanted to ask you. 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.960 You hear the turn proving grounds and obviously you see 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:05.679 it on the podcast. 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:06.880 What does that mean here at Ping? 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.320 Yeah, so proving grounds is exactly where we're sitting today. 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.000 So we're sitting on the test field. This is our 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.040 driving range. We've evolved this a lot over the years. 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.600 I think the early days we had ultrasonic sensors out 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.040 on the range that measured where the balls were landing. 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:21.960 We have weather stations you can see right over there 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.520 as an antonometer, real time weather station. We're collecting tons 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.080 of data all the time. I think we look over there, 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:29.800 we have our player test going on. So if you're 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.199 an employee at Ping, you get scheduled on your outlook calendar, 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.320 show up at the range at eleven o'clock. You better 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.920 not be late, get warmed up, bring your golf shoes, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.600 and we focus you in on a specific test design. 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.320 Right That's where we validate our new product designs over there, 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:45.760 so we runt tons of player testing. We have decades 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:49.520 worth of data from player testing, and it's everything we 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.280 do on the R and D side as well. So 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.960 we have our ping putting lab that we use not 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.720 only to fit players from a putting standpoint, but we 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:58.120 run a lot of tests in there. We have a 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.679 putting robot in there covers our robot like our ping 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.360 man robot. And we have the bay there. We call 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.720 that kind of the flight in collision depot. Okay, so 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.720 that's where we can hit golf. We can hit balls 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:15.120 on our robot to validate our new product designs. We 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.400 have a machine you took a look at it called 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.200 the sling Man, so that we can use that to 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.480 test aerodynamics of golf balls, right, which is really fun. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.920 And the and our our ding Man, which is our 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.280 durability machine, is where we make sure our products durable. 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:30.600 Right. 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.120 So all of these little pieces kind of go into 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.120 the proving grounds. We have the Gold Putter Vault. 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:35.840 Uh. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.240 We have ping works where we build all of our 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.400 tour players equipment uh in Ping works in our R 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.280 and D area. So all that umbrella here is where 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.640 we're sitting. So is where we test and develop new 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.679 product We test and develop new fitting tools. Where we 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.480 test and fit with our tour players, and we try 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.320 things out, we prove them. We're not afraid to fail here, 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.040 and we have a culture of learning and that keeps 0:10:58.160 --> 0:10:59.360 driving the innovations. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:01.600 Marty, you mentioned tour players a couple times, but I 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.559 mean the average golfer is not a tour player, and 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:05.920 PING is speaking to the average golfer more than it 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.360 is somebody that can play like Victor Hovelin. When you 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.280 guys have employees come through and you're testing out in 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.840 new equipment, how important is it to get a five 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.559 handicap and a handicap and a fifteen handicap here on 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:17.720 the proving grounds to hit some golf shots and see 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:20.640 what a regular in theory golfer looks like versus maybe 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:21.440 a tour player. 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.920 Yeah, Shane, that's crucial. Like for example, I mean, what 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.360 would the point of Victor Hoblin hitting? Are our lightweight 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.640 SFT driver? Right? We have to get the golfer archetype 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.680 that's going to fit into that product. And we have 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.040 the entire spectrum of skills and handicaps that are employees 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.520 here at PING. You know the eight hundred plus employees. 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.920 We know different handicap groups. We have them all measured 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.439 in our three D motion capture system. We know people 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:46.120 who are over the top and they're not even going 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:47.840 to work on it and try to fix it. So 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.360 if we're developing a product targeted for them, we can 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.640 cherry pick that group of golfers, get them down the 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.440 range and prove it with them. Make sure make sure 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.800 the product that we're designing for meets the requirements and 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.080 is going to be better than its precessor. 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.520 There's history involved here. 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.640 I mean, it's twenty twenty three and you're looking at 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.679 very very new equipment and drivers that you know, if 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.760 you looked at it in nineteen eighty people would have 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.560 like blown their minds seeing some of the new equipment. 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:15.400 But I mean it's been a big part of the 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.080 history of ping here in terms of fitting players for 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.680 exactly what they need. And that's really the essence of 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:21.680 what this company has been about. 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:25.120 Yeah. Absolutely, it's that marriage of great designs in a 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:30.040 perfect fitting. Right. It's almost like you know a ven diagram, right, 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.360 you got great designs and then you have great fitting 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.880 where you can play your best golf is where you 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:35.520 marry those two. 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:36.959 You guys want to live in that in that overlap. 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.360 Yeah, you want to marry that together. And that's what 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:41.600 we want every golfer to have access. 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.360 To tell me about the story about this place because 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.200 you look around here and you see a range, and 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.439 you see a lab, and you see all of this stuff, 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.199 and it seems like it's just continually expanded because this 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.280 is where you know, what, are we two hundred yards 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.920 away from the first ever building? How has this expanded 0:12:57.920 --> 0:12:58.640 in your time here? 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.480 Yeah? Just a lot of time, technology, a lot of technology. 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.120 I mean, I think we're looking at a brand new 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:04.800 short game area that we just built a couple of 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.000 years ago. So that's brand new, and we want to 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.760 have an area that we could prove our wedges to 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.679 develop a game like fitting protocol that we have people 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.720 folks evaluate their shortcame right. So we're constantly upgrading the 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:22.400 facility and the technology. The putting lab was not even 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.600 built when I started here, right, So we developed the 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:29.920 putting lab. Camera technology, we've added launch monitors have come 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.360 a long way since we first started kind of developing 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.520 product and advancing all the technology that's at the proving grounds. 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:41.160 So we're constantly upgrading the facility. Technology is always advancing 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:43.720 our three d motion capture system is only about a 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.600 decade old, and we've used that to generate a ton 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.880 of insights. But with that we've had to have new 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:53.200 skill sets of employees. I think the people is what 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.200 makes the difference here at the proving grounds and with 0:13:55.280 --> 0:14:00.000 our company. We've developed this culture where the people are cure. 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.679 You come in, you go play golf on the weekend, 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:07.160 you have a frustration with a certain issue, you come 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.080 into the office on Monday morning, and you're motivated to 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.360 go solve that problem, right, And that's the culture here. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.320 It's interesting because we've talked to a lot of employees 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.400 over the last couple days in terms of that mix, 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.080 because you want to have a plus handicap golfer that 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.320 has played at the highest level, and you also want 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:24.160 to have people that don't play golf at all, and 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.600 you want to mix that in terms of what you're 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.040 going to get out of the best possible employees. 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:29.920 Is that mix. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.200 You talk about a ven diagram of really two different camps. 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.080 And so you're going to go out and play golf 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.320 on Saturday and you come back on Monday and go 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.240 this ball, did this weird thing off the face of 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:40.680 my club? 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:42.040 Let's figure out why. 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.320 And you can lean on people that don't understand what 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:46.560 a flyer is and don't understand what hitting a golf 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.720 shot fat is, but they understand the science behind what 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:50.480 you're talking about. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.280 Yeah, we have some great meetings where we have synergy. 0:14:55.080 --> 0:15:00.360 Some of our funnest meetings are PhDs literally, you know, 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:05.840 aeronautical engineers PhDs and astrophysicists that are in a room 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.520 with folks like me. I'm an engineer too, but I'm like, 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:11.800 I'm bringing in my golfer perspective, right, and the conversations 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:15.240 we have are so healthy that they can take a 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.000 look at it from a very what's called a first 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.640 principle standpoint, like what is the physics of what's going 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:21.760 on here? How can we get down to that? Having 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:23.840 that level of understanding, then you got me on the 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.160 other end, wearing my golf hat where I'm like, hey, 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.480 I don't know why it happened, but let's figure it out. 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:30.280 If this happens a lot, right, you know, and this 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:32.200 is a big problem for the golfer. 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.320 What are we trying to accomplish with this podcast? In 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.360 your mind, what is the point of this and what 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:38.880 are you hoping that the listeners get out of this. 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:42.160 Yeah, I would love to empower the listener, educate them 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.160 on what goes on at the proving grounds, and help 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.200 empower them on what's important for them to go look 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.680 at when they're evaluating new equipment. Right, And I think, 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.960 Shane you said it really goes make the complex simple, 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.160 don't be intimidated by the fitting process. Give them some 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.280 very important insights. What do you look for when you're 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.000 going to evaluate new equipment? And then understand some of 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.920 the cool you know, tools and technologies, get some really 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:08.000 fun stories of how we solve those golf problems, like 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:10.880 what's the engineering insight and then how do you evaluate 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.880 that in the fitting process, and you know everything in 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.880 between learning from our tour players and being able to 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.640 interview some experts in some key areas and go deep 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.360 on a few topics. I think we're gonna go We're 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.360 gonna have fun going deep on some physics topics. 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:27.800 Some personal questions for you. You've been around for a while, 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:32.440 what's your single favorite ping club ever made? And you can't, 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:34.920 I mean, you can say the latest stuff, but I'd 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:36.480 like you to get a little deeper in this history. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:37.240 You know what I'm saying. 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.440 I so I kind of trust my instinct on this one. 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.600 I would say the answer putter, okay, because it's the 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.040 most copy putter in golf, and it put us on 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.240 the map as a brand. The answer putter, Gotta go 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:48.760 with that one. 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.080 You've been involved in a lot of clubs. You've been 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:52.960