PING Signs Chuck Cook as Engineering Consultant

(PHOENIX) – PING has signed decorated swing coach Chuck Cook, #3 on the Golf Digest list of the nation’s top instructors and a GOLF Magazine World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame member. Cook joined the company as an adviser to lend his multi-disciplinary expertise in teaching, club design, and fitting technologies. In his new role, Cook will consult with PING’s engineers and researchers on design and development of high-performance products, and advancing PING’s industry-leading fitting innovations and methods.

At his home base in Austin, Texas, Cook teaches primarily competitive players such as PING Pro Andrew Landry and a number of high-profile PGA Tour pros (his students have won multiple majors). A former PGA of America National Teacher of the Year known as “the teacher’s teacher”, he also travels the world leading teaching workshops and golf schools for all ability levels. His first Chuck Cook Golf Academy in 1980 was innovative in its holistic approach. Alongside instructors he brought in a fitness expert, biomechanical engineer, and a psychologist. “I was the first to use a launch monitor in teaching,” Cook said. “We were definitely ahead of our time, #1 in the world at the time, and that’s what drew tour players to us.”

“Chuck has a depth and wealth of knowledge from his many years teaching some of the game’s best players, and he was educated in the golf swing by some of the most famous teachers ever, so we look forward to drawing from his experience,” said John K. Solheim, PING President. “His passion for what he does is contagious. He saw the value in bridging the worlds of teaching, club design and fitting before other instructors. As an engineering-focused company, we’re excited to share ideas and learn from one another.”

Cook paid a visit recently to PING’s Phoenix headquarters, where he was fit for a set of new clubs on the research and testing range, and a new putter in the state-of-the-art PING Putting Lab. He toured the company’s ENSO room, a 3D motion-capture lab used primarily for swing analysis and custom-fitting research. Cook said he’s excited to team with PING, which he lauded for its history of innovation and the groundbreaking achievements of its founder, Karsten Solheim, whom Cook holds in the highest esteem.

“Karsten started the golf-club revolution and changed the world of golf from my perspective as an instructor,” Cook said, “and PING has stayed at the forefront ever since.” Cook said his visit to PING was an education. “As an equipment nut, seeing what PING has done here has been a real eye-opener. PING’s business model is to be admired because they don’t rush products to market; they’re 100% about performance. Everything is tested and proven, and re-tested before it’s put on the market and when it comes out it’s always better than the competition. PING makes the best-engineered equipment in the world, but it’s as much about the people here at PING. I always tell my students, ‘Surround yourself with high-quality people and that’s the quickest way to get good.’ That’s what we’re doing here.”