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Secret Balls at the U.S. Open

serena-5I’ve turned into a tennis junkie this week and have been addicted to the great play at the U.S. Open.  It’s been fun watching Serena, Caroline, Novak and crew smash that yellow ball around.

As ESPN makes a habit of showing the players coaches during the matches I was intrigued by a shot of Andy Murray’s coach, the great Ivan Lendl who watches each match with a face that borders on boredom.

I noticed his hat and jacket were carrying a logo I was unfamiliar with, Clear.  I thought it may be his tennis camp or school but I was wrong.  I accidentally stumbled onto an article that gives us the lowdown on Clear Sports and its a company that makes golf balls…$80 a dozen golf balls.

And not just expensive balls…but exclusive balls.  Yes, much like Augusta National and Pine Valley are out of our reach these are exclusive balls not available to the public but only to a very select few that the company, Clear decides who they’ll let play them.  Sounds odd?  You bet it is.lendl-face

From Erik Matuszewski’s article in Forbes Anybody can play the Titleist Pro-V1, which is the most popular golf ball in the world and a mainstay on the PGA Tour. But you’ll need an invitation to play the balls from Clear Sports LLC. Among the celebrities and former professional athletes who pay to use Clear’s golf balls are Sean Connery, Paul O’Neill, Jeremy Roenick and Ivan Lendl.

The company was formed by two friends, Garry Singer and Mitchell Slater, who had been highly successful in previous business ventures and wanted to create the world’s best premium golf ball.

We’re all golf fanatics,” Singer said in an interview. “ (Jim) Courier plays every day. My buddy Mitch played every day. I said that would be a fun business for us. We’ll get our buddies involved and let’s do it for us. As long as we’re not losing money and the thing is not a bottomless pit, what kind of fun would that be?
 
The plan all along was to keep Clear golf balls a bit “under the radar, just for our clients,” added Singer, who lives in North Salem, New York, and whose private club memberships include The Stanwich Club in Connecticut and Lake Nona in Florida.
“I don’t want to sound like a knucklehead, but we don’t even really talk about it,” Singer said about Clear’s golf balls. “It’s really just for our members. We keep that kind of to ourselves. We feel it’s almost like a secret society of guys who are really into their golf.”

No doubt it’s a quirky approach within the golf industry. The affable Singer acknowledges as much, saying he realizes it sounds a bit like an episode of “Seinfeld.” He wouldn’t discuss how many members Clear has for its golf ball club, but said that everybody pays, from Connery to Lendl.clear-ball

 

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