Chip leads to trip of a lifetime for Titleist loyalist

Buy a dozen Titleist balls. That was all Richard Knight had to do to earn an all-expenses-paid trip-of-a-lifetime to Titleist’s HQ in Massachusetts.

The Manor of Groves member was alerted to the ‘Take Your Game To A Better Place’ prize draw by his PGA pro, Ben Goodey, and typed in the code on the Poker Chip Marker he received upon purchase of his dozen balls into the relevant place at titleist.co.uk.

As it so happened, he was selected as the lucky winner from the UK and whisked his wife, Beth, across the Atlantic last month for the quite simply unbelievable prize.

Without making you all too jealous, it included $500 spending money, a head-to-toe custom-fitting experience at Titleist’s famous Manchester Lane test facility and a round of golf at Rhode Island Country Club.

“I’d forgotten about the competition at the time if I’m honest with you and then I got the phone call,” Richard, who has played Titleist since he was a junior, told bunkered.co.uk. “I couldn’t believe it. It was a huge shock but, as you can imagine, I was absolutely delighted.

“Right from meeting Matt from Titleist at Heathrow Airport, it was unbelievable. To see the Manchester Lane facility there was amazing and the R&D side of making the balls was so interesting.

“To see how they actually make the balls was really eye-opening and it was a lot different to how I imagined it. It was so much more scientific. It was more like being in a laboratory than a factory and after seeing the whole process, I’ll never, ever, play another ball again.

“As for the custom-fitting, it was so in-depth. The attention-to-detail was incredible and the guys there were so patient with us to guarantee that we had the perfect set-up.”

After touring the ball plant and an afternoon playing at Rhode Island Country Club with his newly kitted out Titleist gear, Richard then had a morning in Providence with his wife before travelling home that afternoon.

“There was something organised every day so it was amazing,” continued Richard. “There’s nothing much more I can say other than it really was the trip of a lifetime. It’s something I could never have walked into a travel agents and booked because of the places we had access to and the things we got to see.

“I’ve got some fantastic memories and great stories to tell people and I can’t thank Titleist enough.”