CARLSBAD, Calif., Mar 14, 2002 (BW SportsWire) -- Callaway Golf (NYSE: ELY) is unleashing the future of golf ball aerodynamics with the retail launch of its new HX(TM) Blue and HX Red golf balls. Powered by Callaway Golf's patented Tubular Lattice Network, the HX golf balls were introduced to the golf industry last October and have quickly been embraced by golfers on the world's professional tours. LPGA superstar Annika Sorenstam already has used the new HX ball in two consecutive 2002 tournament wins. Now the golfing public will be able to experience the next generation of golf ball technology when the HX Blue and HX Red golf balls arrive in selected golf shops around the world on Friday, March 15.

Callaway Golf has again partnered with UPS to ensure that golf shops participating in the synchronized launch will receive their shipments of HX golf balls by March 15. This one-day coordinated launch, similar to strategies used in the entertainment and computer industries, is the culmination of a broad-based effort to raise public awareness about this unique breakthrough golf ball technology. Top media outlets, including the New York Times, USA Today and Reader's Digest already have featured the HX ball in articles, and a widespread TV and print advertising campaign is ready to run to further build excitement and demand.

Consumers will be greeted by a substantial promotional effort at participating golf shops on March 15. Callaway Golf has provided key accounts with HX launch kits, which include posters, window and floor stickers, point-of-sale materials and special HX logo hats for sales associates. Golfers will have a chance to try the HX and the rest of the Company's exciting line of new products at Callaway Golf Demo Days being held at golf facilities across the Sunbelt and West Coast. Locations can be found using the Demo Day Locator on the Callaway Golf website at www.callawaygolf.com/locator/locator_search.asp.

Golfers who try the HX golf ball will immediately see it is unlike any other ball on the market today. The Tubular Lattice Network is a proprietary pattern of rounded, crisscrossing tubes that form a series of hexagons and pentagons, making the HX the only high-performance golf ball on the market without dimples. This configuration is more efficient than traditional round dimple patterns, which typically cover only 70 to 80 percent of a golf ball's surface. That leaves 20 to 30 percent of a traditional ball's surface devoted to flat land area, which increases drag and can impede performance. The HX achieves 100-percent surface coverage by eliminating this flat land area, reducing drag at the beginning of ball flight and increasing lift toward the end of a shot. The result is a ball that helps golfers launch shots on a high, strong trajectory with the potential for increased distance. In addition to Sorenstam, dozens of professional golfers have put the HX golf balls in play on the world's professional tours, including Hall of Fame member Gary Player, two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, Rocco Mediate, Jim Colbert, Jim Dent, Nick Dougherty, Per-Ulrik Johansson and Brian Henninger.

Callaway Golf engineers enlisted aerodynamics experts at Boeing Commercial Airplanes to evaluate the HX golf ball during the design process. Boeing President and CEO Alan R. Mulally, a longtime aerodynamic scientist, called the HX the most advanced golf ball he had ever seen. "Many of the principles that we apply in aerodynamics to the design of airplanes are being incorporated in this new golf ball -- balancing lift and drag, performance and stability, and reliability," Mulally said. "I think what we see here is the next major innovation in golf ball design."

HX Blue and HX Red golf balls conform to the Rules of Golf according to the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews and are legal for recreational and tournament play around the world. The HX Blue has a slightly softer cover and core configuration for increased spin, while the HX Red is slightly firmer for greater potential distance. Both HX models have three-piece solid-core construction with a thin cast thermoset urethane cover, ionomer boundary layer and a large, tungsten-rich rubber core. The HX Blue and HX Red golf balls are available in three-ball sleeves and 12-ball cubes. The suggested retail price for a three-ball sleeve is $14.50, and a 12-ball cube of HX golf balls has a suggested retail price of $58.

Callaway Golf Company makes and sells Big Bertha(R) Metal Woods and Irons, including Big Bertha C4(TM) Compression Cured Carbon Composite Drivers, Big Bertha ERC(R) II Forged Titanium Drivers, Big Bertha ERC Forged Titanium Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Hawk Eye(R) VFT(R) and Big Bertha Hawk Eye VFT Pro Series Titanium Drivers and Fairway Woods, Big Bertha Steelhead(TM) III Stainless Steel Drivers and Fairway Woods, Hawk Eye VFT Tungsten Injected(TM) Titanium Irons, Big Bertha Stainless Steel Irons, Steelhead X-14(R) and Steelhead X-14 Pro Series Stainless Steel Irons. Callaway Golf Company also makes and sells Odyssey(R) Putters, including White Hot(R), TriHot(TM), and Dual Force(R) Putters. Callaway Golf Company makes and sells the Callaway Golf(R) HX(TM) Blue and HX Red balls, Rule 35(R) Firmfeel(TM) and Softfeel(TM) balls, the CTU 30(TM) Blue and CTU 30 Red balls, and the CB1(TM) Blue and CB1 Red balls. For more information about Callaway Golf Company, please visit our Web sites at www.callawaygolf.com and www.odysseygolf.com.

CONTACT:
Callaway Golf Company, Carlsbad
Larry Dorman/Mick McCormick/Millie Speirs
760/931-1771

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