Bridgestone and golf
Although most famous for its tyres, the Bridgestone Corporation does make a number of other high performance products, including golf balls. As well as hosting the third round of the 2010 Formula One season, won by Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel, Malaysia is one of several locations for Bridgestone golf ball production. In the build up to the Grand Prix, Bridgestone Motorsport supported Bridgestone Tyre Sales Malaysia to celebrate its tenth anniversary, by combining golf and Formula One in the MD Cup Anniversary Challenge ‘Drive for Charity’ golf event. Further details of this event can be found at: Monkey business on the golf course.
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Formula One drivers Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen attended, as well as Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, Hiroshi Yasukawa.
As a keen golfer, Mr Yasukawa was able to draw parallels between Bridgestone’s golf and motorsport activities. “Bridgestone has a long history in golf and has been producing golf balls for almost as long as we have been making tyres. Our founder, Shojiro Ishibashi, had a great passion for golf, and this has continued through the company he founded.
“Golf is a sport which rewards patience and a good tactical mind. Just like motorsport, it is a sport where you have to persevere to achieve good results."
“Many Formula One drivers enjoy and appreciate the game of golf, and it is always pleasurable for Bridgestone as a company and myself personally when we are able to combine our passions for this sport, especially when a charity benefits.”
The celebrating of Bridgestone Tyre Sales Malaysia’s tenth anniversary with a golf event was particularly relevant as Bridgestone golf balls are made in Malaysia. Bridgestone made its first tyre in 1930, and produced its first golf balls in 1935. Today, both Bridgestone’s tyres and golfing products are respected worldwide.
“Although we are most famous for our tyres, our golf products have made a very good impression on those who use them,” says Yasukawa. Just as a tyre may look as if it is a relatively simple item to an uninitiated eye, a golf ball is also actually a highly sophisticated item too.
Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, Hirohide Hamashima, also a keen golfer, explains some of the similar aspects between a golf ball and Formula One.
“Golf balls are crucial to good performance on the fairway, just as tyres are crucial to good performance on the race track."
“Starting with the outside of the ball, just like in Formula One, aerodynamics are very important, and dimple pattern can influence flight trajectory. Bridgestone golf balls have Seemless Cover Technology, SCT, which means there is a constant dimple pattern around the ball, without a seam, which helps consistency when the ball is struck."
“When the ball is struck, it deforms, just like a tyre deforms when it is under load. A high speed photograph of a golf ball being hit will show that the ball flattens next to the club, and this makes a larger contact patch to transmit the power from the club into hopefully forwards motion from the ball."
“This is very similar to a racing tyre under load, which deforms under load to make a bigger contact patch with the road. The contact patch of an F1 tyre when static is around the size of a postcard, but when under load it increases to around the size of an A4 piece of paper."
“There are other similarities. Both are multi-layer constructions. The different layers in our golf balls fulfil distinct requirements in the same way that the different layers of our tyres do, and the relationship between these different layers ultimately determines overall performance."
“Our tyres and our golf balls require very precise manufacturing to ensure consistent and reliable performance. The enjoyment of this quality is something that all golf players and Bridgestone tyre users can enjoy every day, whether they are a Formula One driver or not.”
Bridgestone is now in its fourteenth season of supporting Formula One, and its branding can be seen not only on its tyres, but also on the cars, driver overalls and circuit signage. In golf, Bridgestone supports many top golfers such as Fred Couples, Lee Trevino and Brandt Snedeker as well as the World Golf Championship event, the Bridgestone Invitational, held at the Firestone Country Club.
“Bridgestone has been a proud supporter of motorsport and of golf for many years, and this support has helped many people understand and appreciate our products,” says Yasukawa.