FAIRHAVEN, Mass. -- Hurricane Rita lashed the coasts of Texas and Louisiana earlier this month, but its impact is being felt as far away as Fairhaven, Mass.

Acushnet Company (Titleist, FootJoy, Cobra, Pinnacle) Chairman Wally Uihlein said that DuPont, a major supplier of Surlyn, which is used in the covers of many models of golf balls, sustained "significant damage'' to its Orange, Tex., facility during the hurricane. The DuPont plant was shut down Sept. 22 and has yet to re-open due to power outages in the area.

"DuPont is unable to assess the complete extent of the damage to its facility or estimate when it will resume production and shipments until power is fully restored," Uihlein added. All of DuPont's U.S. supply of Surlyn, which is also prominently used in the automotive and food packaging industries, is manufactured and warehoused in that plant.

Uihlein said that since making initial contact with DuPont representatives on Sept. 26, "we are having daily conference calls to monitor the status and discuss available options.

"Given our existing Surlyn inventory supplies, we will experience an immediate impact in Ball Plant operations,'' Uihlein said.

"We have diverted our current Surlyn inventory toward the production of the Titleist Pro V1 and Pro V1x models at Ball Plant III, and the Titleist NXT Tour and DT SoLo models at Ball Plant II," he added. "Ball Plant III will continue to operate at full capacity while Ball Plant II operates at a 40 percent capacity.''

As a result, Uihlein said there will be a "temporary contraction'' among Ball Plant associates.

"We continue to vigilantly exhaust all options to minimize the duration and affect on our people and the interruption of business,'' Uihlein said. "Because the health and welfare of our associates is of utmost importance, for the immediate future the company has decided to waive medical and dental premiums for Ball Plant II associates affected by this contraction.''

The short-term impact on shipping orders to Acushnet customers, according to Uihlein, will be minimal because the company traditionally maintains a warehouse inventory at about two months of sales.

"However, given the uncertainty of future Surlyn supply toward future golf ball production, we will begin allocating shipments to ensure the broadest distribution to our over 20,000 accounts worldwide,'' Uihlein said. "The extent and duration of this allocation will be determined once we become fully informed regarding the re-start of Surlyn production by DuPont.''