Leader In Golf Ball Technology Unveils “best Ever”
Ben Hogan Apex Tour
PGA Tour Players Instrumental in Design, Ball Testing and Market Launch

New 4-Piece Design Takes Golf Ball Technology into a New Dimension and Paradox: “How Can a Ball Go this Far and Spin So Much?”

Chicopee, MA, June 25, 2002 . . . The great Ben Hogan once said, “There are no shortcuts in the quest for perfection,” stated Jim Craigie, CEO and President of Spalding Sports Worldwide. “Keeping consistent with his vision and philosophy, today we’re introducing the industry’s first four-piece TPU urethane golf ball with an energy transfer core. This ball is our quest for perfection, and it warrants the Ben Hogan name -- the BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball.”

PGA tour professionals Hal Sutton, Bernhard Langer, Len Mattiace, Mark Brooks, Luke Donald, Craig Parry, Dennis Paulson, and serious golfers will play the BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball. It will reach select golf shops and sporting goods outlets where Ben Hogan products are sold by July 3.

“The BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball is a welcome addition to the Ben Hogan brand family and joins a group of products known for the finest quality craftsmanship and product excellence available in the market today,” added Craigie. “Along with this great brand, we will continue to develop premier products under our portfolio of the STRATA and TOP-FLITE golf brands.”

The BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR’s four-piece construction consists of an exclusive, patented soft energy transfer core for improved distance and feel, an outer resilient super core for consistency, a high velocity inner cover for superior distance, and a HC350 urethane cover (the thinnest thermoplastic polyurethane cover) for exacting spin and control. The BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball extends the capabilities of the STRATA TOUR ULTIMATE patented Concentrated Core and Multi-Layer Technologies. According to Craigie, Spalding will continue to develop premier products under its portfolio of the Strata and Top-Flite golf brands.

“Our company has a history of innovation and firsts in the golf industry,” said Mike Ferris, executive director of golf balls for Spalding. “The BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball is simply the finest performing golf ball we have ever produced, and we anticipate many golfers will ask, ‘How can a ball that goes this far spin this much?’ ”

PLAYERS IMPROVE DRIVING DISTANCE WITH BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR BALL
Tour players are driving the ball farther than ever as evidence of their player rankings* for driving distance. Since playing with a prototype version of the BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball, Craig Parry has improved 95 positions from 157 to 62nd; Len Mattiace jumped 71 spots from 154th to 83rd; Dennis Paulson moved 61 spots from 72 to 11th, and Bernhard Langer improved 47 spots from 179th to 132.
*= Rankings are through the Buick Westchester Classic (June 9, 2002)

OVERALL PRODUCT PREFERENCE
The BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball beat Titleist’s Pro V1 in overall product performance with a preferred 57:39 rating and was also the preferred ball in driving, chipping, and putting consumer testing. Pro V1 users chose the BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball as the preferred product. The conditions for the HOGAN, Pro V1, ProV1 (star) machine driving test were as follows: launch angle 10.0 degrees; ball velocity 232 feet/second; and spin rate 3025 RPM, used with a 9.5 degree 310cc driver.

PRODUCT AVAILABILITY
With a limited allocation of product, the BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball will be sold only in channels that carry Ben Hogan products and will be available July 1, 2002, for a suggested retail price of $58.00. The BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR golf ball features a cleanly scripted HOGAN signature and will be packaged in a black box with chrome, gold, and red designs and shipped in a very Hogan-like pre-pack display. "Our goal is to expand our contact points with the BEN HOGAN brand name," added Ferris. “We have a very strong group of golfers who are aware of the BEN HOGAN name, and now we want to connect them with the golf ball.”

MARKETING LAUNCH
Spalding will launch an extensive marketing and advertising campaign for the BEN HOGAN APEX TOUR ball in 2002. A $20 million annualized budget featuring seven tour players will include the theme, “You’ve never hit a ball like this.” A supporting line, “rip it and stick it,” connotes the solution to the paradox, "how can a ball go this far, and yet spin this much." Print advertising will begin July 8th, while television advertising is slated in time for the British Open.

Spalding Sports Worldwide has been at the forefront of every major golf ball innovation, introducing the first American golf ball, the first US dimpled golf ball, the first three-piece design golf ball with a vulcanized balata cover, the first two-piece golf ball, the first oversized golf ball, the first multi-layer, solid golf core golf ball in America, and the first golf ball with Concentrated Core Technology. Throughout history, Spalding has owned innumerable patents in the golf ball category, and golf ball manufacturers have followed Spalding’s lead in making a better golf ball for the consumer. Under the Spalding umbrella are the STRATA, TOP-FLITE, ETONIC, BEN HOGAN and DUDLEY brands. To find more information on Spalding, visit our website at http://www.spalding.com or call the Consumer Relations Department at (800) 772-5346.