Bridgestone Golf recently moved its entire premium golf ball manufacturing operations to its North American headquarters located at 1532 Industrial Park Boulevard in Covington.

The remainder of premium golf ball production wrapped in February 2014. Prior to the move, the company produced premium balls in Japan. It will now be manufacturing premium balls solely at its American home in Covington.

According to Director of Golf Ball Marketing Corey Consuegra premium golf balls make up roughly 90 percent of total sales. The shift, he said, is a huge benefit for the company.

“We added more jobs,” Consuegra said. “We now service the U.S. market primarily from our U.S. headquarters.”
Most of these new jobs are production-related, which Consuegra said are “highly critical to our success.”

Bridgestone begins shipment this week of a limited edition version of the e6, its best-selling golf ball. The ball will be stamped with an American flag lying within an outline of the United States.

Consuegra said the ball is designed to celebrate both the move of the best-selling e6 to the states, and the move of all premium ball manufacturing to Covington. There are 13 types of premium golf balls total, which sell for $19.99 retail price or higher.

In addition to ball-fitting, Bridgestone Golf designs and manufactures other golf equipment, including golf clubs, headwear and accessories.

Bridgestone Golf has three global manufacturing centers located in Japan, China and the U.S. It is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based rubber manufacturer Bridgestone Ltd., one of the top rubber manufacturers in the world.