PING, a family-owned Arizona golf equipment company, makes some of the finest golf clubs in the world. Started as a garage business in 1959 by Karsten Solheim, PING was reportedly named for the sound Solheim heard when a club made contact with a ball. Solheim, who died in 2000, was a mechanical engineer who retired from a career in the aerospace industry to purse his passion for designing the perfect putter. He is the only golf manufacturer to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

To see what PING golf clubs are capable of in the hands of a pro, see this YouTube video about how Hunter Mahan uses the contents of his golf bag.

Learn more about PING on the official company website.

Arizona is a great place to vacation (see our Top Reasons why), but it does heat up in the summer. This can be a boon for travelers because innkeepers tend to turn up the heat on promotions. Case in point is the JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa.  This 125-acre desert resort, located in Scottsdale at the foot of Mummy Mountain is offering special “Linger Longer” weekend packages with extended check-in and check-out times, as well as a $50 credit per day for golf, dining or spa services. Camelback Golf Club, located 3 miles from the resort, features 36 rounds of championship golf.

Find out about all the summer vacation packages on the Camelback Inn website.

Golf in the beautiful Sonoran Desert of Arizona is in a class by itself.  Besides over 300 days of sunshine per year, there are so many golf courses that every golfer is sure to find the perfect challenge.  Here are our Top Reasons to plan a golf vacation in Arizona.

Read more about Arizona golf vacations on the official Arizona Visitor’s Guide website.

Besides a plethora of public golf courses, Arizona is home to scores of private courses and golf clubs. One if these is Blackstone Country Club, located in the rolling hills of Peoria about an hour from downtown Phoenix. Named for the area’s indigenous volcanic rock, Blackstone features a 30,000 square foot clubhouse and a private, walkable 18-hole championship golf course. The club is family-friendly and located adjacent to a peaceful gated community named Vistancia.

With the housing market still down, many out-of-towners are buying second homes in Blackstone’s gated community. Read about Canadians who have discovered Blackstone Country Club in this Edmonton Times article.

DuPont and Nike have joined forces to produce the 20XI, a next-generation golf ball. Instead of a traditional rubber core, the 20XI has a new thermoplastic resin core. Its resin core technology makes the ball lighter and allows it to go the distance off the tee. It also provides more control on the greens.

Find out more in this YouTube video, which features Tiger Woods, Michelle Wie, Paul Casey and several other top golfers as well as Nike designer Rock Ishii.  You can also visit the Nike 20XI website to find out more about this ball.

Politics and celebrity golf recently collided when Jerry Seinfeld pulled out of a charity tournament organized by Donald Trump’s son in protest over Trump’s recently comments about President Obama’s citizenship. Trump blasted Seinfeld for dropping out of the event and replaced him with rocker Bret Michaels. The lead singer for rock band Poison was the winner of Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice reality show in 2010.

The Eric Trump Foundation 5th Annual Golf Invitational will be held September 13, 2011 at the Trump National Golf Course in Los Angeles and will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Host of several annual PGA Tour events, including the Phoenix Open, TPC Scottsdale offers two legendary championship courses: the Champions Course and the Stadium Course. The Stadium is ranked as one of the top golf courses in a state full of great golf courses.

Both courses are open for public use and each includes a fully functional clubhouse with casual and formal dining facilities.

Each year more than 500,000 fans attend the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and Condé Nast Traveler has named TPC as one of the Top 50 Golf Resort Destinations in the World. Find out more about this world-class golf center on the TPC Scottsdale website.

Located in the Sonoran Desert at the base of the magnificent Superstition Mountains, Gold Canyon Golf Resort is home to two 18-hole championship golf courses. Dinosaur Mountain and Sidewinder each feature native wildlife and plants of the high desert environment.

Dinosaur Mountain, opened in 1997, features dramatic elevation changes and tiered greens. The course is consistently ranked as one of top courses in Arizona. Sidewinder, opened in 1982, runs through desert arroyos and dry creek beds.

Gold Canyon Resort offers visitor 85 rooms with full amenities as well as swimming pools, spa services, hiking, biking, jeep tours, a fitness center and much more.

Visit the official website to find out more about Gold Canyon Golf Resort.

What promises to be a valuable lesson from pro golfer Ian Poulter about how to shoot your way out of a tricky situation takes a turn for the worse in this YouTube video, prooving that even the best golfers sometimes have  shots that go wrong!

Poulter is an English golfer who’s part of the PGA and European tours. He’s as well known for his unique fashion style and golf clothing line as he is for his swing.

Some of the best golf courses in Arizona were paid for by the sale of surrounding homes. Playing golf near homes is a “necessary evil,” making a golf on a course that’s free of homes all the sweeter. Some of the best courses in Arizona are home-free, including the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona. Dove Mountain has recently been in the news as the site of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Instead of homes, the Dove Mountain courses are surrounded by the striking scenery of the Sonoran Desert and the Tortolita Mountains.

Read more about home-free golf courses in Arizona in at WorldGolf.com.