Program on National Geographic Channel to Take a Look at Golf Ball Manufacturing

Viewers of National Geographic Channel's new series, "Who Knew? with Marshall Brain," will journey into the world of product design, manufacturing and testing in a weekly one-hour series beginning Thursday, March 13, 2008, at 9 p.m. EST. The season premiere includes a visit to the Greater New Bedford, Mass., facilities of Titleist, the world's leading manufacturer of golf balls, where Brain explores the research, development and manufacturing operations of golf balls.

From the mixing of a combination of ingredients that eventually form the cores of a golf ball, to the stamping of the Titleist script on the covers, each of the processes that go into making the No. 1 ball in golf are featured in the segment videotaped at Titleist's Ball Plant II. Every Titleist ball in the world is made at one of Titleist's two plants in Massachusetts. The two plants combine to manufacture more than 1 million golf balls a day.

Following his visit to Ball Plant II, Brain then visits Acushnet Company's Manchester Lane Test Facility where, with the help of Titleist engineers, he examines the aerodynamics of the golf ball and explains why it flies the way it does. The 15-minute segment is one of three separate features in the one-hour program.

Brain is an expert teacher, columnist and author of the best-selling book "How Stuff Works" who has earned degrees in both electrical engineering and computer science. He travels across the country to find out what happens when traditional assembly lines collide with cutting-edge technology to build familiar yet extraordinary objects in our everyday lives.