Tongue twister set to shake up market

It's name, depending on your interpretation, evokes images of an alien from outer space or that of a tongue-tied visitor to the dinner table. However, in a relatively short space of time, the Srixon golf ball, which has now started to set Irish tongues wagging too, has established a niche in the most competitive consumer market of all.

Everyone needs a golf ball to play the game; and, as such, the market place is an ever-changing one. And, the big names, Titleist, Maxfli, Top Flite, Wilson, have all responded to the challenge: hence ads from Titleist for its tour distance ball which go like, "it's not just tour technology that puts our new ball ahead of the opposition, it's distance."

Then, of course, you have the Maxfli Revolution, the Wilson Staff Titanium, the Top Flite System and Strata Advance, and the Slazenger Power Control that uses titanium and magnesium in the cover. And, pretty shortly, we'll soon be teeing up with a Callaway golf ball, and the word is that it will revolutionise the industry in much the same way as the company did with club manufacturing. After all, nothing gets a customer into a shop as quickly as the Callaway name.

Others, though, will tell you that the Srixon is already leading the revolution. From a nowhere start, it has already made inroads against the high-powered opposition (shades of Callaway when they took on the big guys in club manufacturing) in the major markets of the United States and the Far East. Of course, the fact that some $10 million in promotion and marketing in the USA alone backed up the campaign might provide an explanation, too.

However, there appears to be some- thing even more tangible in its success. Simply put, Srixon is a very good ball indeed. Made in Japan, by Sumitomo Rubber Industries (hence the first three letters of the ball's name), the company actually has a very strong background in golf ball manufacturing with 40 years service in the industry: they formerly made balls for Slazenger and still make Maxfli's HT balata ball. Among those who have used SRI developed balls are Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Greg Norman and Fred Couples.

Srixon has managed to gate-crash the lucrative - and risky - golf ball market with two models, the Hi-Brid and the Hi- Spin. The Hi-Brid is a three-piece wound ball made of a solid centre about 30 per cent larger than conventional three-piece centres and has a cover that's a blend of elastomer and ionomer. The Hi-Spin is a two piece ball with a soft ionomer cover.

The name may not roll off the tongue as easily as some of its longer established rivals, but the word is creeping into golfing vocabulary - and, apparently, when Paul Azinger used the ball to shoot an opening round 69 in the Masters, the distributors in the States were inundated by calls from retailers the next day.

However, promotional money only goes so far, and the real way for a golf ball to find a long-term place in the market is for professional tour players to win tournaments using it, in much the same way as club manufacturers can say Tiger Woods won using our Titleist driver or Colin Montgomerie won using our Callaway or Mark O'Meara won using our TaylorMade or Darren Clarke won using our MacGregor irons, and so on.

Srixon are unlikely to displace the likes of Titleist and Spalding from the market shelves, but - as they've already proved - the new ball is attracting more and more customers and, in particular, the four-piece ball has quickly found a large number of disciples who will sicken you with bar stool talk about how great it is until you end up trying it for yourself. Be warned!