What do golf balls have to do with tires? If you’re talking about Bridgestone, then it turns out that they are one in the same.
In 1931 Shojiro Ishibashi founded the Bridgestone Corporation with the production of tires. (Fun fact: The word Bridgestone is the English translation of Ishibashi.) While the tires got the ball rolling for Bridgestone, Mr. Ishibashi wanted to infuse his technical knowledge with his golf passion.
Throughout the years the Bridgestone name has operated under the motto “Serving Society with Superior Quality.” Now located in Covington, Georgia, and producing balls, clubs, and accessories; Bridgestone Golf has become practically set in stone in the industry as a leading producer of golf equipment.
While cherry blossoms were budding in the early spring seventy-nine years ago, an idea was budding within Shojiro Ishibashi too—one that had started to grow when he was just seventeen. In light of the recent breakthroughs in tire technology at the time, Mr. Ishibashi saw an opportunity to apply them to golf. And so, the first Bridgestone golf ball was produced in 1935. Although the first golf ball by Acushnet, the Titleist, was released in the U.S that same year, Bridgestone quickly managed to become the number one producer of golf balls in Japan.
The first player to win a major with a Bridgestone ball was Nick Faldo at the 1992 British Open with the world’s first four-piece golf ball, the Precept Tour Double Cover. Just two years later in 1994, Nick Price won the British Open and the U.S. Open with the Precept EV Extra Spin. Faldo went on to win the 1996 Masters with the same ball that won him the British Open!
By 2003, with “only” 68 years under its belt, Bridgestone’s production of solid golf balls exceeded 1.2 billion—that’s enough golf balls to encircle the whole earth, ball-to-ball! In 2006, the Tourstage V10 ball won the Nikkei Business Daily Superiority Product and Service Award—the first time in twenty-five years the award had gone to a golf ball.
Bridgestone currently manufactures nine different golf balls: the B330, B330-S, B330-RX, B330-RXS, e5, 6, e7,
XFIXx, and the Lady Precept.You can even show off your true colors with a line of color balls, from pink to orange to yellow.
From major divisions in the United States (Bridgestone Golf USA), Australia (Bridgestone Golf Australia) and Korea (Sokio Corporation), Bridgestone golf products can be found all around the world. Bridgestone has special golf products, including the TourStage V10 Limited Golf Ball, a PHYZ line of products, and an extended line of accessories, only available in Japan and surrounding countries.
The Bridgestone Tour Team includes big names in golf like Paula Creamer, Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar, Davis Love III, Brandt Snedeker, and Lee Trevino. And, as the winner of GolfDigest’s Award for Golf Balls in 2013, the Bridgestone e6 is the number one selling Bridgestone golf ball at Lost Golf Balls—where you can build a bridge to your perfect round by rocking the Bridgestone experience.
