Titleist Consolidates HP Balls

Titleist has announced plans to consolidate its popular range of HP golf balls in time for the 2001 season.

The world's No.1 manufacturer of premium golf balls plans to rationalise the three balls in its HP familyto two to simplify the options and maintain the appeal of this very successful ball range.

During 2000, Titleist's HP range consisted of the HP Tour, the HP Eclipse and the HP Distance balls but, in an effort both to streamline the range and remove a perceived performance overlap that existed between the current HP Distance and the HP Eclipse, Titleist have decided to make three changes: firstly to remove the HP Distance from the line with immediate effect, secondly to retain the innovative construction of the HP Eclipse but rename it HP Distance as a name more descriptive of the performance, and thirdly to update the packaging for both the new HP Tour and HP Distance balls.

Thus, the new HP Distance ball will feature the advantages of dual core technology, bringing its target audience an unsurpassed combination of distance and accuracy, low driver and iron spin, soft feel and cover durability- yet with a measure of control on half shots around the green. It will be available in gold packaging with red accents.

In contrast, the construction of the hugely popular HP Tour ball will remain unchanged, meaning that it still combines soft feel and shot-shaping spin with the advantages of 2-piece distance and consistency; its packaging has also been upgraded with the introduction of an attractive new gold package with black accents.

From January, both the HP Tour and the new HP Distance will be available in golf shops. The new pricing gives a full Recommended Retail Price of £31.00 per dozen or £7.75 per 3-ball sleeve.