![]() The player needs to just find one that they like and they have confidence in, and between the ears is an important part of this game. There's different internal gussets and ribs. It's not psychology, but I think that his products are going to be good - the different sounds, drivers will sound a little bit different. Mase, help him with those psychological issues, can you? And so - it's like a lot of psychological issues going on with golf. It just - to me, it sounds better, and it gives me more confidence. He said he has a newer driver, but he left it in the car.ĪLLAN SOOBERT: This one has a cank (ph) to it. He met a golfer named Allan Soobert (ph) who was smacking balls downrange with his Ping G20. Our producer, James Delahoussaye, went to a driving range in Washington, D.C. SIMON: Oh, coffee can, no, you don't want that. I heard it characterized as the sound of hitting the golf ball with a coffee can, and that's not a good thing for the sport. That was in the stages where the drivers were getting bigger and bigger and the natural frequencies of that were just a little too low. SIMON: Now, I gather that's a driver that really gets the job done, but a lot of people didn't like the sound. ![]() SIMON: Let me ask you about the Nike Sumo. And actually some manufacturers can reproduce the sound before a product is even made. So they're looking to get certain frequencies of the vibration. And so they put a lot of work into finite element analysis, for stress analysis but also for sound. MASE: I think the people liked it and enjoyed it more and more until the point that drivers got bigger and bigger and eventually they hit a sound that was not good. Let's make it sound - instead of the thwack, let's make it a bing. And then there was a transition where they said, hey, let's not put in this urethane foam. You know, back in 1979, Gary Adams came up with the Pittsburgh Persimmon Metal driver, and they tried to make it sound like wood for most of the '80s. SIMON: Now, manufacturers work at getting that sound, don't they? But it's important to hear that sound, and it's also important from manufacturers' point of view at a point of sale. MASE: I think they care because that's part of the sound of golf and knowing that they hit it really well. SIMON: So why do golfers care about what their drive sounds like if they can smack it 300 yards? He's a professor of mechanical engineering at California Polytechnic State University. That sound's the product of a lot of research and a lot of money. SIMON: That satisfying thwack of a driver smacking a dimpled ball into the distance. (SOUNDBITE OF GOLF CLUB HITTING GOLF BALL) And with golf, there's one distinctive sound that stands above all others. ![]() Some the world's best golfers are at the PGA Championship this weekend.
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