Fairhaven, MA (March 19, 2025) – Pinnacle and World Long Drive (WLD) have announced a new partnership, designating the brand as the official golf ball partner of World Long Drive tour events for the 2025 season. In addition to utilizing Pinnacle Distance as the official golf ball for WLD events, the collaboration will see the birth of the Pinnacle Series and the introduction of long drive professionals serving as Pinnacle Ambassadors. Pinnacle Distance golf balls are available in golf shops immediately.
Pinnacle will serve as the presenting sponsor for three WLD tour events in 2025. The first WLD event will also be the first Pinnacle Series event of the 2025 season, Clash in the Canyon, which will be contested in Mesquite, Nevada from March 21-23. This weekend’s contest will be the first time the Pinnacle Distance ball is used in competition.
The Pinnacle Series will also include the Bluff City Shootout (August 1-3) in Arlington, Tennessee, and the Rocky Mountain Rumble (August 15-17) in LaSalle, Colorado.
The 2024 World Long Drive World Champion Sean Johnson and World No. 4 Jack Smith will serve as official Pinnacle Ambassadors for the 2025 season. Johnson and Smith will play a vital part in promoting and showcasing the incredible distance, durability and ball-to-ball consistency of the Pinnacle Distance.
“I’ll be straightforward, I am very excited to be using the Pinnacle golf ball again,” said Johnson. “The first ball I ever played with was the Pinnacle Gold when I was 12 years old, and I appreciate the opportunity to represent the brand as I continue my long drive journey. The brand is synonymous with distance, and I look forward to hitting the Pinnacle Distance in competition.”
“I’m dedicated to becoming the best long driver I can be, and I know Pinnacle can help get me there,” said Smith. “I’ve watched old footage of many of the past World Long Drive champions – including (five-time World Long Drive champion) Jason Zuback – who were associated with the brand, and now I get the opportunity to do the same. I’ve had the chance to test this product and ‘Don’t Think, Just Rip’ is the perfect tagline for this ball and this brand. I know how it is going to react when I hit it properly so that takes one element out of my process.”
“We are excited to partner with Pinnacle and its parent company, Acushnet Company, as the official golf ball for World Long Drive tour events in 2025,” said World Long Drive Chief Commercial Officer David Livingston. “Pinnacle’s commitment to engineering a golf ball that delivers maximum distance and consistency will elevate our sport by allowing our athletes to showcase the most impressive drives in golf.”
“Pinnacle’s origin story is distance, and it will be fun to see that on the World Long Drive stage,” said Jeremy Stone, Senior VP, Golf Ball Marketing and U.S. Sales at Acushnet. “Competitors will certainly notice the distance, but it is the quality, consistency and durability that will stand out – long drive after long drive.”
It was in late 2023 and early 2024 when Pinnacle conducted golfer research, visiting with golfers to learn more about the distance/value segment. The interaction confirmed that these golfers were looking for high-quality and consistent, but low-cost golf balls. From a performance perspective, they were focused on distance above all other attributes.
“When we were determining what we could do in 2025 to reinvigorate our position in this segment, we were really focused on the message of distance,” said Courtney Walsh, Pinnacle’s Product Manager. “We had a great performing golf ball in Pinnacle Rush that aligned with golfer feedback, but it was important to send a clearer message around exactly what golfers were getting from Pinnacle.”
With that as the ‘North Star,’ the decision was made to rebrand Pinnacle Rush – a long-distance golf ball that delivers quality and consistency at a sub $20 price point – as a single model Pinnacle Distance, replacing both Pinnacle Rush and Pinnacle Soft. The Pinnacle Distance is manufactured in New Beford, Massachusetts at Acushnet Company’s Ball Plant 2.
“The decision to introduce Pinnacle Distance was driven via golfer insights in conjunction with the WLD partnership,” added Walsh. “At the same time that we were developing the Pinnacle Distance strategy, World Long Drive approached us with the opportunity to partner with their organization. This relationship is exciting because it allows us to be clearer in our messaging around distance, which includes having a prestigious long drive tour and long drive brand ambassadors to share their experiences and the Pinnacle Distance performance story. We plan to utilize our partnership with WLD and its participants to gather more golfer feedback around future opportunities for Pinnacle product development.”
The Pinnacle Distance is available in golf shops immediately in both white and yellow for $19.99 per 15-ball pack.
The 2025 World Long Drive season features eight events, beginning this week in Mesquite, Nevada, and culminating with the World Championship from September 24-28 at Bigfoot Turf Farm in La Salle, Colorado.
