Insider: Moving Day, the Nicklaus plaque and Ping's CEO

John Solheim is the chairman and CEO of Ping, the golf company founded by his father. Karsten Solheim, who invented the distinctive Ping putter in his home garage in the 1950s, died in 2000.

At the 1969 Masters, George Archer became the first player to win a major using a Ping putter. Ping putters have been used to win the Masters 10 other times, including twice by Seve Ballesteros, and Mark O’Meara donated his Ping Anser 2 to the club after his 1998 Masters win. In 2009, Angel Cabrera became the first Ping staff player to win the Masters.

Q: How has your week been?

A: Basically, I come and visit with customers. We do have clients here, and I spend some time with them. I’ve been coming here since the late ’80s. I really enjoy it. I don’t miss many.

Q: Your father was a regular attendee, too?

A: He signed more autographs than anybody here. In fact, they got on him after they put the autograph rule in and you had to go on the other side (of the clubhouse) to sign.

Q: What’s your stance on the use of long and belly putters?

A: I think the long putter and belly putter gives relief to people who have the yips. I think it would be sad if that changed because it would take too many people out of golf. That includes some awful good players. There’s a lot of reasons to keep it. I think it’s really a good thing for the game.

Q: What’s the next big innovation for golf?

A: Sometimes it takes a lot of little things to work on. We’re working hard on changing the type of titanium we use in our clubs, a little bit lighter. Just little bits of things to increase performance. The way the i20 irons have been accepted and the number of players who are using them. Recently we introduced the Nome putter. Both Hunter Mahan and Angel Cabrera use it.