PING’s Secret Side Hustle

PING isn’t your typical golf company. They release products on their own cadence, don’t sell clubs through their own website and remain one of the few major manufacturers that are privately owned.

But that’s not the weirdest thing about them.

Did you know PING owns a secret skateboard company, Slek? Tucked inconspicuously under the ZING WRX name, Slek specializes in longboards and cruiser board completes. Similar to how PING manufactures clubs, Slek does everything in house. They make the boards, wheels and trucks.

I’ve spent the last three months trying to get a hold of someone, anyone, at Slek to talk to me about what they do and the connection to PING. It’s been nothing but crickets.

To me, it seems like PING doesn’t care for anyone to know. Or maybe they don’t WANT anyone to know. Whatever the reason, I haven’t been able to find any info on why Slek even exists.

But it does exist. And that’s reason enough to write about it.

I can speculate for days as to why. Perhaps one of the Solheim family members is really into skateboarding? Or maybe PING’s machinery sets up well for pouring urethane longboard wheels. But the fact that on PING’s campus there exists a room presumably dedicated to making world-class skateboards is a funny visual that I can’t get out of my head.

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A similar tech story

PING is all about innovation, right? That same “we can make it better” attitude has clearly dripped down into the way Slek designs boards.

I’m an occasional rider (like once a year) but something about Slek’s patented FLOAT-TEC has me itching to grab a board and hit the pavement.

Simply put, FLOAT-TEC is a second set of wheels that sits at the front of the board to help you seamlessly “float” over cracks, divots and rough terrain. Slek’s demo video makes very clear the capabilities that FLOAT-TEC offers.

Seems pretty ingenious, if you ask me. It’s almost like the company that never stops pushing performance boundaries on the golf course is trying to secretly do the same thing for skateboarding.

But that’s not where the similarities between the companies ends. Heck, when you buy a Slek board you have a choice between two flexes … care to guess?

Yep. Regular or stiff. Cue the audible gasp.

All right, I’m being a little too hasty with the comparisons. It’s just funny. If gave you 10 guesses to tell me which golf club manufacturer owns a skateboard company, PING wouldn’t be on that short list.

And that is why it’s so novel. PING is as traditional as it gets. Owning a secret skateboard company is anything but.