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[tiger_who]

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do u hav to b sponserd to use a companys ball becuase i c pros that r sponserd by ping and taylormade that use pro v's
what the deal

[golfchief]

No. I think ever since Tiger made his deal with Nike that he could play the equipment he thought was the best for his game many others started adding that clause to their contracts with club builders.

[Shindig]

  tiger_who said:

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If your contract with a sponsor says you must use their ball in competition, you must use their ball.

If your contract doesn't say that, you can't use it. To the best of my knowledge, a company cannot prohibit someone with whom they don't have a contract from using their ball. If you're a pro, and you don't have a ball-use clause in any of your sponsor contracts, you're welcome to go to the pro shop and buy a dozen B330s (or whatever you like) to use. Some manufacturers will probably be willing to give a pro any number of balls that they want, in hopes the pro will like the new equipment.

[3Putt]

The typical equipment contract covers 10 clubs with the player having the option to use his choice for putter, wedgies and driver. Just because the bag reads Callaway or Nike or Titleist doesn't mean the player uses 14 clubs and the ball from the same manufacturer.

The Golf Channel has an interesting page on their website called 'what's in the bag' containing the equipment used by tournament winners. Here's Woody Austin's bag from his Shark Shootout win:

Driver Cleveland Launcher Comp 8.5°
3 Wood Cleveland Launcher Steel
Hybrid Adams IDEA PRO 18°
Irons (3-9) Cleveland CG1
Wedge (PW) Cleveland 588 47°
Wedge (SW) Cleveland 588 DSG 56°
Wedge (LW) Cleveland 588 60°
Putter Scotty Cameron by Titleist prototype
Ball Titleist Pro V1 X

Also, the top equipment companies offer 'tee up money' to players to use their driver or fairway metals. Our club pro quailified for the national club pro tournament, he's been a Titleist guy for years and our pro shop has all Titleist and Cobra (owned by the same parent company) equipment. When he arrived at the tournament Taylor Made was offering $2,000 to any club pro that used their driver for the tournament. Our pro found the Titleist rep and asked if they were paying a 'bonus' to use a Titleist driver. They weren't so he grabbed a Taylor Made driver and used it, and the $2,000 covered his travel expenses for the week.

I've read and heard that the big equipment companies offer tour players not already under contract $10,000 per tournament in 'tee up money'. Why? So when the Darrell Survey rep on the first tee records the contents of the bag the manufacturer can claim "#1 Driver or #1 Hybrid or #1 Fairway metal or #1 Iron on the PGA Tour".